Stephanie Pappas
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sipappas.bsky.social
Stephanie Pappas
@sipappas.bsky.social
Freelance science writer - Scientific American, Live Science, APA. I will be on my deathbed still looking up whether it's "Proceedings of the National Academies of Science" or "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences"
My person was temporarily replaced by a being of pure light roaring "science journalists exist" when I got to this section
November 24, 2025 at 5:53 PM
Neat neat neat
It's been 4.5 billion years since protoplanet Theia (probably) collided with Earth & created the Moon. But chemical traces make it possible to study the attacker.

It seems Theia was a neighbor from the inner solar system--possibly forming right alongside Earth. 🧪🔭

www.mps.mpg.de/theia-and-ea...
November 24, 2025 at 5:10 PM
Reposted by Stephanie Pappas
CDC website edited to say that maggots spontaneously generate from spoiled meat, and all studies demonstrating this fact have been ignored by science authorities.
CDC website edited to say that the Sun revolves around the Earth, and the heliocentric model of the universe is not evidence-based.
November 21, 2025 at 5:07 PM
Reposted by Stephanie Pappas
Measles could officially become endemic again in the U.S. The country (and Canada) risk losing their measles elimination status if they have a year of continuous transmission, which could have happened already. By @sipappas.bsky.social@sciam.bsky.social www.scientificamerican.com/article/meas...
North America May Soon No Longer Be Officially Measles-Free, Experts Say
A meeting of the Pan American Health Organization this week will address the resurgence of measles in the Americas
www.scientificamerican.com
November 5, 2025 at 4:07 PM
Reposted by Stephanie Pappas
Good morning.
I don't know who did this, but I love you.
November 3, 2025 at 3:01 PM
Reposted by Stephanie Pappas
Baby KJ, in a tiny tuxedo, shows up at the #STATSummit. His parents Kyle and Nicole Muldoon give an update on how he’s doing after his life-saving CRISPR treatment for a rare liver disease earlier this year.

Read their story: www.statnews.com/2025/05/15/c...
October 15, 2025 at 3:44 PM
Reposted by Stephanie Pappas
after the 10th radioactive shrimp recall in 7 weeks, i decided to do some digging

little did i know it would lead me to an underreported industrial accident that may have released an airborne plume of radioactive debris over swaths of indonesia
www.consumerreports.org/health/food-...
What Is Really Going on With All This Radioactive Shrimp? - Consumer Reports
Here’s the latest on how shrimp and spices got contaminated with cesium-137, how the FDA has responded, and why consumers should not panic.
www.consumerreports.org
October 9, 2025 at 7:05 PM
I'm just gonna leave this decade-old information here: www.sciencemediacentre.org/expert-react...
October 9, 2025 at 6:36 PM
I love her.
A literary Iguanodon at the Earth Sciences Library. Do any other libraries have dinosaurs or other antediluvian creatures carved into the furniture?
October 9, 2025 at 6:30 PM
Reposted by Stephanie Pappas
“And that’s what makes this movement so smart. Grandparents have the lived experience. Grandchildren still have the capacity to listen. Together, they cut through the noise.”
open.substack.com/pub/theunbia...
Grandma Knows Best: The Generation That Survived Polio Has Something to Say About Vaccines
67 million grandparents remember what we’ve been lucky enough to forget
open.substack.com
October 8, 2025 at 5:55 PM
This is why everyone should just be watching 'Kingdom,' which is very specifically about how the only way to survive a zombie apocalypse is to stop being selfish and start being self-sacrificing. Also, it's ridiculously good.
in retrospect i think the "zombie" tv/movie craze that encouraged everyone to fantasize about how theyd murk all their neighbors, hole up in their house and eventually run into the woods , was a mistake
October 8, 2025 at 3:36 PM
Ooh this looks like a cool book
***giveaway*** this signed, Advance Reader Copy of TIGERS BETWEEN EMPIRES (pub date 4 Nov 25 from @fsgbooks.bsky.social)! Like/Reskeet to enter! US addresses only! Will pick random winner on Thurs, 9 Oct 25 and ship quick. 🐅 #booksky
October 4, 2025 at 11:54 PM
Reposted by Stephanie Pappas
A shovel nosed Spathacalymene trilobite from the Silurian Massie Fm. of Indiana. These trilobites are usually found upside down, so you can only see the outside edge in the field.

There's lots of speculation on the purpose of the shovel. Maybe to stir up the ocean floor sediment.

#FossilFriday
September 23, 2025 at 7:36 PM
Reposted by Stephanie Pappas
Nick Kristof went to talk to some of the moms losing their beloved children to Trump’s aid cuts. We are paying storage on already existing food rather than release it to starving kids. “I loved my child so much” www.nytimes.com/2025/09/20/o...
Opinion | Trump’s Most Lethal Policy
www.nytimes.com
September 20, 2025 at 12:27 PM
Reposted by Stephanie Pappas
Here’s a really nice alluvial fan I thought you should see
September 4, 2025 at 6:14 PM
Reposted by Stephanie Pappas
Apparently Guillermo Del Toro has ruined Frankenstein by… being relatively faithful to the source material.

Oh my.
September 2, 2025 at 5:18 PM
Reposted by Stephanie Pappas
Media has been hollowed out from the bottom and a lot of that was beat reporting and grassroots stuff. The top is left without much to support it. There are about a fifth as many reporters per capita compared to 25 years ago.
This is something I’ve thought about A LOT lately- the kinds of essential reporting that large traditional media has inexplicably stopped doing. For example, why aren’t there more reporters in the streets of DC, describing what it’s like? It’s truly dumbfounding
Investigative stuff is why I subscribe to independent media, including the handbasket. For me reason, large media with 1000x the resources will never do what I want, which is tell me what's what, who's who, and who's a little bitch.
August 31, 2025 at 5:13 PM
This is what I and many other parents I know have been looking for! Thanks @meghanbartels.bsky.social
August 27, 2025 at 9:49 PM
Absolutely scandalous that these ACIP members supported vaccination over… *checks notes* drowning in your own lung fluids while fever wracks your brain. Smdh
You can't make this up: Kennedy's anti-vax goons say the old ACIP members were biased because they think vaccines are a good public health tool—something they call "ideological uniformity" but what most other people call settled truth.

publichealthpolicyjournal.com/was-firing-a...
August 18, 2025 at 1:59 PM
Reposted by Stephanie Pappas
Abundant Eocene fossils of plants and animals are found in the Green River Formation of Wyoming, Colorado and Utah. This fossil Pseudosalix Hanleyi, with stems, leaves and flowers preserved, is harder to find than a T-rex tooth!
August 16, 2025 at 6:59 PM
Reposted by Stephanie Pappas
Read up for the full thread, but this is the core.
Meta's actions are telling and appalling here, but the solution isn't better guidelines/more content moderation: it's less (read: no) fake people.
August 14, 2025 at 5:21 PM
Reposted by Stephanie Pappas
To celebrate its 180th birthday (!!) @sciam.bsky.social is running a photo contest (details here: sciam.com/180contest) to take #SciAmInTheWild. Where do you read about science?
August 13, 2025 at 5:31 PM
Reposted by Stephanie Pappas
August 5, 2025 at 9:41 PM