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Reposted by Laura Williams

Caitlin Rivers @cmyeaton.bsky.social · 4d

The government shutdown interrupted CDC's disease updates, so Team Force of Infection spent our Saturday going to the websites of all 50 health departments to check on Covid-19, flu and RSV. caitlinrivers.substack.com/p/cdc-data-i...

CDC data interrupted, so we went state by state

A look at Covid-19, flu and RSV trends in each state

caitlinrivers.substack.com

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Reposted by Laura Williams

CosmicRami 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ @cosmicrami.com · 5d

4 October (today) is International Observe the Moon night!

It's super easy to do - just head out and look up at our celestial companion who has been with us for nearly all of our time. Without it, our world would be very different.

*There's a whole other world that just hangs in our sky for us*

International Observe the Moon Night

Join NASA and lunar observers around the world in a global celebration of the Moon.

moon.nasa.gov

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Laura Williams @laurawilliams.bsky.social · 6d

A terrible, avoidable tragedy.
Per the article, the infant was too young to get the vaccine, therefore dependent on protection from a vaccinated community.
State Health Officer: “We do believe that declining vaccination rates are impacting this.”

Matthew Herper @matthewherper.bsky.social · 6d

Mississippi Baby Dies of Whooping Cough, the State’s First Pertussis Death in 13 Years www.mississippifreepress.org/mississippi-...

Mississippi Baby Dies of Whooping Cough Amid Rising Cases

A baby in Mississippi has died of whooping cough for the first time since 2012. The baby was less than two months old—too young for vaccination.

www.mississippifreepress.org

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Laura Williams @laurawilliams.bsky.social · 7d

That is a “you have 15 minutes to reach minimum safe distance” color.

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Laura Williams @laurawilliams.bsky.social · 7d

Anytime I feel like things are temporarily going my way but likely soon to collapse, I say “Everything’s coming up Milhouse!”

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Laura Williams @laurawilliams.bsky.social · 7d

I saw this thread and thought “I cannot read this thread at work or I will be in floods of tears by the end”.
It’s not even the book! I can’t even read the thread! Honestly, I feel the verklemptness starting, and all I’ve done is think about it.

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Laura Williams @laurawilliams.bsky.social · 7d

I was furloughed from USDA postdoc position in 2013 shutdown. We were told clearly and firmly we should not conduct any official work or even check our gov’t email.

This time around, I’ve read furloughed feds may be allowed/instructed to check email to see if they’ve been fired. Grim stuff.

Laura Williams @laurawilliams.bsky.social · 7d

Posted by NSF on LinkedIn:

“Due to a lapse in government funding, NSF will not post content or respond to any comments/replies until the government reopens.”

Confirmation of expected: non-essential functions must cease during a shutdown. NSF personnel cannot perform any official work.

Screenshot of LinkedIn post. Text is: Due to a lapse in government funding, NSF will not post content or respond to any comments/replies until the government reopens.

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Reposted by Laura Williams

National Association of Science Writers (NASW) @sciencewriters.org · 8d

DEAL ALERT: Take advantage of early bird rates for #SciWri25! For writers, editors, authors, journalists, institutional writers, communications managers, students, and anyone working to translate science for the non-scientist. Join us.

Early bird rates end tomorrow, Oct. 1

sciencewriters2025.o...

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Laura Williams @laurawilliams.bsky.social · 8d

Thinking of my USDA colleagues today, who are facing the prospect of a government shutdown and ongoing uncertainty about their jobs and projects.

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Laura Williams @laurawilliams.bsky.social · 8d

Published this month:
Antibacterial activity of Bdellovibrio isolated from urban watersheds against Salmonella serovars responsible for outbreaks of foodborne illness.
First author Yewande Ajao led this work while an ORISE postdoc fellow at USDA.
journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...

Antibacterial activity of two newly isolated Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus strains on Salmonella enterica serovars of food safety concern | Microbiology Spectrum

Bdellovibrio is the most studied obligate predatory bacteria. It has potential for use as biological control of gram-negative bacteria in health, agriculture, and the food industry. Most basic researc...

journals.asm.org

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Reposted by Laura Williams

Jason Williams @jasonwilliamsny.bsky.social · 9d

The new #NSF #GRFP application now excludes 1000’s of students, including those who were told they could apply this year, or who planned to apply next year.

We have a new specific petition urging #NSFGRFP undo this harmful action. If you are impacted sign here: laurenkuehne.github.io/grfpChanges/

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Laura Williams @laurawilliams.bsky.social · 9d

Excellent! Thank you! Looking forward to reading these.

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Guy Leonard @guyleonard.bsky.social · 9d

Oooh and this olivia.science/ai from bsky.app/profile/oliv...

Critical AI

On this page are some resources for Critical AI Literacy (CAIL) from my perspective.

olivia.science

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Guy Leonard @guyleonard.bsky.social · 9d

Some recent papers/articles:
1. zenodo.org/records/1706...
2. www.chronicle.com/article/some...
3. www.wsj.com/tech/ai/ai-b...
4. www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
5. www.theverge.com/report/78717...
6. www.civicsoftechnology.org/blog/no-ai-g...

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Laura Williams @laurawilliams.bsky.social · 9d

Re-upping this short thread because I am confident people have recommendations for my reading list on AI technologies and their impact on society.

What should I read to be better informed?

Laura Williams @laurawilliams.bsky.social · 10d

I want to be more informed about AI, so I started a reading list.
So far, I’ve read:

Co-intelligence: Living and Working with AI by Ethan Mollick (2024)

AI Snake Oil: What Artificial Intelligence Can Do, What It Can’t, and How to Tell the Difference by Arvind Narayanan and Sayash Kapoor (2024)

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Laura Williams @laurawilliams.bsky.social · 10d

Up next

Empire of AI: Dreams and Nightmares in Sam Altman’s OpenAI by Karen Hao (2025)

I welcome other suggestions of books or long-form journalism pieces. What have you read on AI that helped you get a handle on these technologies and their impact (for good and ill) on our society?

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Laura Williams @laurawilliams.bsky.social · 10d

I want to be more informed about AI, so I started a reading list.
So far, I’ve read:

Co-intelligence: Living and Working with AI by Ethan Mollick (2024)

AI Snake Oil: What Artificial Intelligence Can Do, What It Can’t, and How to Tell the Difference by Arvind Narayanan and Sayash Kapoor (2024)

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Reposted by Laura Williams

Edward Elderman @elderman.bsky.social · 12d

This only happens to you once

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Laura Williams @laurawilliams.bsky.social · 12d

It wouldn’t bother me to focus NSF GRFP on undergrad and first-year grad students
IF IF IF
there was also a separate funding mechanism for “middle stage” grad students.
(And this mechanism distributed funding broadly rather than concentrating it at a handful of institutions.)

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Laura Williams @laurawilliams.bsky.social · 12d

There’s some language in there about joint bachelor’s-master’s programs, but my brain isn’t parsing it very well.

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Laura Williams @laurawilliams.bsky.social · 12d

NSF GRFP solicitation out.
App deadlines now in November.
As others noted, eligibility rules for current graduate students now exclude 2nd year grad students. See the solicitation - they’ve emphasized “first year” and “less than one academic year” in grad program.

www.nsf.gov/funding/oppo...

NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP)

www.nsf.gov

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Dr. Kat Napaaqtuk❄️ @napaaqtuk.bsky.social · 12d

New eligibility requirements? "First-year graduate student in their first graduate degree program with less than one academic year completed in the degree program (according to institution’s academic calendar)"

Stacy Farina @stacyfarina.bsky.social · 12d

Whyyyyyyyyyy did NSF have to drop GRFP updates right before my grad writing class. *groans in professor*

New, later deadlines btw. www.nsf.gov/funding/oppo...

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Laura Williams @laurawilliams.bsky.social · 12d

So many cool posts about plasmids on my feed recently.
Plasmids! My first scientific love - I did my PhD on them.
I might reunite with plasmids over coffee this weekend. Read some of these new papers, catch up on what plasmids are doing these days.

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Laura Williams @laurawilliams.bsky.social · 12d

I have a lot of questions.
I assume (hope?) whatever AI detector they use is local only (uploading proposals to AI tools is as much a no-no for NIH as for reviewers).
Will NIH disclose evidence of AI use to proposal writers?
Will they allow proposal writers to challenge conclusions?

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