Just in case you were having a good week, here's some insane body horror that you now know can happen in real life! gizmodo.com/the-biologic...
Posts by Ed Cara
A person in silhouette
I'm not that Nicole Carpenter
aftermath.site/nicole-carpent...
Last Sept, RFK Jr. announced the govt had linked autism to taking Tylenol during pregnancy, to much derision. But he also stated the govt would approve an old drug, leucovorin, for autism.
For my latest feature, I took a deep dive into why leucovorin's probably a dud.
gizmodo.com/what-rfk-jr-...
Over the weekend, Florida surgeon general Joseph Ladapo endorsed the use of “structured” water—a fictional form of water that doesn't seem to actually exist, much less have any added health benefits. gizmodo.com/floridas-sur...
@drdemetre.bsky.social added: "Decisions about your child’s health should be grounded in medical expertise and familiarity with your circumstances, not dictated by federal political appointees."
The Trump administration's unilateral decision to shrink the childhood vaccine schedule is "dangerous and unnecessary," Andrew Racine, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, told me. gizmodo.com/trump-rfk-jr...
uh holy SHIT?
My latest on the ACIP's tearing down of a policy that has kept kids safe from hepatitis B for 30 years: gizmodo.com/we-are-doing...
As for the #ACIP meeting today, this is the only thing you need to watch.
And, to be clear, you do need to watch this.
finally back
yep!
ACIP just took an unplanned break, in part because its own members are complaining that they're not sure about what they're voting on today. So things are going great so far.
A raccoon was found passed out in the bathroom of the Virginia ABC Store in Ashland after breaking in and ransacking shelves, according to Hanover County Animal Protection and Shelter.
You may have heard that the tale of cat domestication began some 10,000 years ago. But new research today throws a furry wrench into that assumption, suggesting our pet cats aren't quite as ancient as we thought.
gizmodo.com/the-story-of...
Don't get so distracted by the Nuzzi sex stuff, @melodyschreiber.com writes, that you forget about the dead kids.
newrepublic.com/article/2035...
The CDC is lying to you about vaccines and autism sciencebasedmedicine.org/the-cdc-is-l... by @gorskon.bsky.social
"The CDC webpage about vaccines and autism now misrepresents the science and lies to the public about vaccines and autism.
It’s all part of RFK Jr’s "continuing war on vaccines."
underrated bit of handwaving in the lizza blog
But now that we are in the full fury of American media prurience and self-righteousness, I am going to risk my neck on a slightly contrarian view. Reporters have all sorts of compromising relationships with sources. The most compromising of all, and the most common, is a reporter’s fealty to someone who gives them information. That’s the real coin of this realm. Sex barely rates.
ben smith’s take from last year when the nuzzi/rfk story first broke aged like cheese on a dashboard
Olivia Nuzzi is an overwrought writer, frequently unethical journalist, and quite possibly the world's dumbest adulterer. www.telos.news/p/part-1-how...
Nothing - and I mean nothing - will prepare you for how this ends
The experts I spoke to would appreciate more research looking into the causes of mass shootings, and the data at the CDC's disposal could certainly yield a lot of important observations. But with RFK Jr.'s track record, it's unlikely we will get any reliable answers from this fishing expedition.
That's not to say that poorer mental health can't be a contributor to mass shootings. But other research has suggested the most relevant factor isn't severe mental illness or even depression, but suicide ideation.
Just this past September, Columbia researchers examined one of the largest databases on mass shootings. And they actually found a substantially lower rate of antidepressant use among shooters than the general public. The exact opposite pattern you would expect if these drugs had any role.
Kennedy has been hinting at this study since the summer, following a mass shooting in Minnesota. Contrary to his accusation that this is a "taboo" question scientists won't touch, though, research on this topic dates back at least a half decade. And most, if not all of it, hasn't shown a clear link.
Earlier this month, RFK Jr. said he would task the government to study whether SSRIs are fueling mass shootings, while implying that scientists have been afraid to find out. But several studies have already tried to look for this link and haven't found much of anything.
gizmodo.com/rfk-jr-wants...
A Sharon Begley byline, almost 5 years after her death.
Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written."
Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating.
🧪🧬🧫
If you read one thing today about public health, make it this one from Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, on the CDC under RFK Jr and how we go forward.
“We should practice detachment from the organizations and focus on the mission. And the mission is the health of the public.”
halloween couples costume: monday 6am embargo and friday night news drop