David Miles
variolator.bsky.social
David Miles
@variolator.bsky.social
Once an immunologist who went to interesting places to do interesting things.

Now an author who writes about people who went to interesting places to do interesting things.

https://www.variolator.com/
Many years ago, I was planning a study around influenza vaccination that I remember calling the 'flujab' study for short.

Maybe it's a British thing but I don't think the word is particularly associated with antivax here. These days, it's as likely to mean semaglutide as a vaccine.
January 5, 2026 at 10:04 AM
Ah, sorry. I misunderstood your point. The barrels of cash make even more sense now.
December 30, 2025 at 3:14 PM
Fully agree with the list, including the last one.

Would you add clean water and clean air?
December 30, 2025 at 2:56 PM
Was Banks saying everyone else got drunk and he didn't? That doesn't sound like Banks at all.

Or was this him saying 'I wasn't drunk, it was all of you lot who were drunk'?
December 25, 2025 at 10:25 AM
Exceptions to the known pathogens tend to come through the animal house, where someone caught something from a live animal.

But, as Elizabeth said, new pathogens emerge naturally all the time.
December 20, 2025 at 11:32 PM
Lab leaks have happened, certainly, but what leaks are usually known pathogens kept in the lab. That's very different to some new and unknown pathogen emerging from a lab with no explanation for how it got in there in the first place.
December 20, 2025 at 11:32 PM
I was thinking they're infallible on their own terms. Skynet didn't do what it's designers intended but when it decided to kill everyone, it was very good at it. Though I don't remember Data or Murderbot having any trouble counting fingers.
December 19, 2025 at 9:04 PM
That's very kind of you.
December 19, 2025 at 7:20 PM
The irony being that a lot of novel viruses are artificial in the sense that they arise out of our agricultural systems or wild-caught animal trade. Nobody seems to be nearly as concerned about that.
December 19, 2025 at 6:49 PM
Hollywood's spent years telling us that apocalyptic viruses come from idiots in labs so when an apocalyptic virus appears, everyone's primed to think lab leak.

Hollywood's also spent years telling us that AI is omniscient and infallible so...
December 19, 2025 at 6:49 PM
How the hell is this going to work? What ERB, in Denmark or Guinea, is going to let them withhold the birth dose in a region where there's endemic vertical transmission?

There's no grantholder named in the linked document which makes me wonder if this is even a real study or some sort of grift.
December 17, 2025 at 6:05 PM
In fairness, it's not for the first time although maybe Trump is the most extreme example. Carl Sagan said that nuclear weaponry makes us dependent on the 'sanity and sobriety' of our leadership.

It's one of the most terrifying statements I've ever heard.
December 17, 2025 at 11:43 AM
There's solid evidence that a FFP2/N95 masks keep filtering for at least 40 hours. By then, they're probably starting to smell even if the straps haven't broken but as you say, the reuse makes them a lot more affordable.

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Can disposable masks be worn more than once?
Disposable facemasks are a primary tool to prevent the transmission of SARS-COV-2 during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, plastic waste generated from …
www.sciencedirect.com
December 12, 2025 at 7:33 PM
No idea! All four could be about either. Now I have to read the substack to find out.
November 23, 2025 at 4:47 PM
Every time Sweden comes up, I think aha, they mean the Swedish approach of free healthcare, generous public services and mandatory paid sick leave.

Then I remember who they are. And what they are.
November 15, 2025 at 11:23 PM