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j0ebr0wn.bsky.social
Joe Brown
@j0ebr0wn.bsky.social
350 followers 230 following 250 posts
Professor, UNC Department of Environmental Sciences & Engineering. Interim Director, UNC Water Institute. Environmental health microbiology, pathogen transmission, environmental epidemiology, global health engineering. Art. http://tarheels.live/brown
tarheels.live
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j0ebr0wn.bsky.social
Joe Brown @j0ebr0wn.bsky.social · 1d
j0ebr0wn.bsky.social
Joe Brown @j0ebr0wn.bsky.social · 7d
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/01/w...
In East Timor, U.S. Retreats From Plan to Build ‘Lifesaving’ Sewage Plant
www.nytimes.com
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j0ebr0wn.bsky.social
Joe Brown @j0ebr0wn.bsky.social · 12d
www.nytimes.com/2025/09/24/t...
The Next Big Thing in Pop Culture: Public Bathrooms
www.nytimes.com
Reposted by Joe Brown
joshuasweitz.bsky.social
Joshua Weitz @joshuasweitz.bsky.social · 12d
NSF GRFP is out 2.5 months late w/key changes

1. 2nd year graduate students not eligible.

2. "alignment with Administration priorities"

3. Unlike prior years, they DO NOT specify the expected number of awards... that is a BIG problem.

a brief 🧵 w/receipts

www.nsf.gov/funding/oppo...
NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP)
www.nsf.gov
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j0ebr0wn.bsky.social
Joe Brown @j0ebr0wn.bsky.social · 27d
My dog Daisy (x.com/DaisyFetch) is an anti-rabies-vaccine activist

Y'all should check her out
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j0ebr0wn.bsky.social
Joe Brown @j0ebr0wn.bsky.social · 27d
I can only clap at this news

Sorry, I guess that's gonorrhea. Maybe I will hold my applause until we finally have a solution to the epidemic of koala gonorrhea
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Reposted by Joe Brown
willporter.bsky.social
William Porter @willporter.bsky.social · Sep 3
Water pollution doesn't necessarily stay in the water, and downwind communities suffer. Proud to have been a part of this study led by Ben Rico and the Prather team at UCSD, and hoping for some effective action to clean things up soon.

@kprather.bsky.social

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Heavily polluted Tijuana River drives regional air quality crisis
Industrial chemicals and untreated sewage have polluted the Tijuana River for decades, recently causing >1300 consecutive days of California beach closures. In summer 2024, wastewater flows surged to ...
www.science.org
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j0ebr0wn.bsky.social
Joe Brown @j0ebr0wn.bsky.social · Sep 3
Horrific & stupid. Polio will come back to Florida.

By the way, everyone should just follow WHO guidance on vaccines. They are there (despite recent funding losses as America leaves the chat) to guide everyone, including folks in fragile states or in other places that lack competent leadership.
States Go Their Own (and Contradictory) Ways on Vaccine Policy
www.nytimes.com
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j0ebr0wn.bsky.social
Joe Brown @j0ebr0wn.bsky.social · Aug 28
This is the sort of work this administration is halting with their ridiculous, backward policies.

Public health scientists solve important problems and help people.
In a Lab, the Hunt for a Killer: The Legionella Germ Causing an Outbreak
www.nytimes.com
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j0ebr0wn.bsky.social
Joe Brown @j0ebr0wn.bsky.social · Aug 28
These monsters are undoing decades of progress. We will all be sicker. More people will die. Needless suffering brought on my willful ignorance, grievance, spite, & cruelty.

I have no words to describe how distressing this all is. There is just no point.

Never let the pigeon drive the bus.
Kennedy Sought to Fire C.D.C. Director Over Vaccine Policy
www.nytimes.com
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j0ebr0wn.bsky.social
Joe Brown @j0ebr0wn.bsky.social · Aug 28
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j0ebr0wn.bsky.social
Joe Brown @j0ebr0wn.bsky.social · Aug 28
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j0ebr0wn.bsky.social
Joe Brown @j0ebr0wn.bsky.social · Aug 28
They objected to a propsed change to the vax schedule
j0ebr0wn.bsky.social
Joe Brown @j0ebr0wn.bsky.social · Aug 21
Just assume flood water has poo in it, because it universally does, though human versus animal & the amounts differ a lot. But any flood water carries exposure risks.

www.nytimes.com/2025/08/18/w...
The Unseen Dangers of Floodwaters
www.nytimes.com
j0ebr0wn.bsky.social
Joe Brown @j0ebr0wn.bsky.social · Aug 21
Today on the sanitation beat: cave remediation

www.nytimes.com/2025/08/20/c...
A Miles-Long Cave in Kentucky Was a Smelly Disaster. Now It’s Spectacular.
www.nytimes.com
Reposted by Joe Brown
nytimes.com
The New York Times @nytimes.com · Aug 20
New Jersey scientists are testing mosquitoes after a resident may have contracted malaria locally, which health officials said would be the first known instance in decades of someone being exposed while in the state.
New Malaria Case Prompts Testing of Mosquitoes in New Jersey
A Morris County resident may have contracted the illness locally, which would be the first known instance in decades of someone being exposed while in the state.
nyti.ms
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j0ebr0wn.bsky.social
Joe Brown @j0ebr0wn.bsky.social · Aug 21
Excellent points! And the number 51 is my favorite example of a number that seems like it should be a prime but isn’t 😃
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j0ebr0wn.bsky.social
Joe Brown @j0ebr0wn.bsky.social · Aug 20
One of the students in my wife’s 3rd grade math class is headed for disappointment
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j0ebr0wn.bsky.social
Joe Brown @j0ebr0wn.bsky.social · Aug 18
Clear victory on the field of battle
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j0ebr0wn.bsky.social
Joe Brown @j0ebr0wn.bsky.social · Aug 18
Today on the sanitation beat: near constant shitting

Birds have to top the list of daily defecation by body mass, as observers of Canada geese & chickens will attest. But some clearly top the league tables.

"Streaked shearwaters ... [shed] about 5 percent of their body mass every hour."
These Majestic Seabirds Never Stop Pooping
www.nytimes.com
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j0ebr0wn.bsky.social
Joe Brown @j0ebr0wn.bsky.social · Aug 18
I’m not assigning this one - I teach in the UNC Department of Environmental Sciences & Engineering - but this is a fantastic collection, & not just for the name-brand authors like John Cage & Bucky Fuller. Plenty of folks I had never heard of, truly a delight to read!

Well done!
The Anthology of Black Mountain College Poetry
Founded in 1933 near Asheville, North Carolina, Black Mountain College fostered experimentation and interdisciplinary learning, placing the arts at the heart...
uncpress.org
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j0ebr0wn.bsky.social
Joe Brown @j0ebr0wn.bsky.social · Aug 14
A hero sandwich
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j0ebr0wn.bsky.social
Joe Brown @j0ebr0wn.bsky.social · Aug 13
Today on the sanitation beat: sanitation as public art:

"You don’t want to scream ‘sewer pipe’ at people"

Actually yes, yes I do!

www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...
World’s swankiest manhole covers? A thrilling tour of the new embankments concealing London’s £4.6bn super sewer
Built to tackle 18m tonnes of rising excrement, the Tideway project has also generated dramatic new public spaces dotted with giant artworks. Our writer takes the ‘stink tower’ tour of the capital
www.theguardian.com
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j0ebr0wn.bsky.social
Joe Brown @j0ebr0wn.bsky.social · Aug 8
On the plus side, we finally have bullet trains?
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j0ebr0wn.bsky.social
Joe Brown @j0ebr0wn.bsky.social · Aug 4
Back to real life from time away pondering the universe. Night sky in Idaho's Frank Church - River of No Return Wilderness.
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