Cambridge’s Regent House — the University’s main decision-making body of academics — must approve any move to close the Vet School
Mischievous attempts to bypass it undermine our governance and threaten what remains of tenure
@jw132.bsky.social
21percent.org?p=3216
Posts by James Wood
Battle for Veterinary Science at Cambridge
The Vet School needs £20m to survive, allegedly
It's a disputed figure but dwarfed by recent yearly increases in central administration spending
Cambridge has a priorities crisis not a funding crisis
@jw132.bsky.social
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Please RT. Post-doc opportunity alert! 💥 closing soon 10th December.. Come join our team (www.thelowlab.org) at Imperial, London, working on the structure and mechanism of bacterial secretion systems.
For more details and to apply please see
www.imperial.ac.uk/jobs/search-...
Silence over Sudan 🇸🇩 : why do Manchester City’s owners get away with so much?
www.theguardian.com/football/202...
The new UNEP report is out with the latest estimates of 2100 warming outcomes under current policies, NDCs, and net-zero targets. Here is how it compares to both the IPCC scenarios and other estimates (CAT and IEA, who will release their own updates soon!).
Two PhD student positions on Fire Resilience of Amazon Forests (Application deadline Nov 26), Wageningen
@masha-vandersande.bsky.social @w-u-r.bsky.social
www.wur.nl/nl/vacature/...
If you're looking for a faculty position at the intersection of ecology and computing (both broadly defined), please apply to this joint search between the CEE Department and the College of Computing at MIT: cee.mit.edu/people/share...
UK government opts out of key fund to stop deforestation...... 🤷♂️
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Wrote this on the train home from Metascience. Can’t quite believe this one needed saying, but I really think that if conversations about research integrity and open science don’t take academic bullying seriously, we’ll keep perpetuating the same system that science reform was trying to change.
UK warned it’s on course to fail in efforts to wipe out bovine TB | Science, Climate & Tech News
https://www.europesays.com/uk/396299/
Controversial efforts to eliminate tuberculosis (TB) in cattle are likely to fail unless there’s greater urgency and funding…#uk #news #uknews
It’s 100 years since efforts to control bovine TB began & 50 since badgers got the blame. Review after review after review & still the #WarOnWildlife continues. We need a new approach - one which manages risk rather than one which seeks to eliminate the hazard. www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Professor Sir Charles Godfray CBE FRS, Chair of the 2025 Review of the Bovine Tuberculosis Eradication Strategy for England, will deliver the keynote address at a conference at the University later this month.
🖱️ tinyurl.com/4em9n73j
@aberdlsagb.bsky.social #AberTB #bovineTB #bTB #TB
I think we need action and regulation, not research on this. It is clear what is needed re live mixed animal trade.
An important reminder that H5N1 isn’t just a risk in North America. Six people have died just this year.
Quick thread on the WHO's SAGO report on the origins of COVID-19, highlighting key points and even *new* data.
Their summary is that a zoonotic origin of COVID-19 is best supported by available data. This is consistent with most scientific reviews and statements in the rest of the literature.
The Guardian view on China, Africa and disappearing donkeys: an unexpected crisis offers a clue to perils ahead
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Traded wild animals are often sick & teeming with potential pathogens
Several Chinese teams found coronaviruses in confiscated pangolins, including those that share 92% of their genome with SARS-CoV-2
The viruses caused covid-like symptoms in pangolins, and have the potential to infect humans
4/
Like it or not,such human-wildlife interfaces are here to stay
Without understanding how viruses jump species & why some jumps cause outbreaks & others don’t,you’re really flying blind,says @mvankerkhove.bsky.social @who.int
“You’re making recommendations that may not be the most appropriate”
2/
Wildlife trade acts as a vast global network of unregulated natural laboratories,with ample opportunities for viruses to circulate & evolve to become more dangerous
We can either turn a blind eye or try to understand & mitigate the risks
My latest in @nature.com
1/
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Some scientists like @jw132.bsky.social recognise the “small possibility” that research-associated activities could have triggered the pandemic.
But that “should not prevent us for focusing on the bigger picture”: the wildlife trade poses a much greater zoonotic risk than do lab accidents.
3/
BREAKING: In a serious blow to US pandemic flu preparedness, HHS has cancelled a contract with Moderna to test and license prototype vaccines for #H5N1 #birdflu and other potential pandemic viruses.
In a pandemic, mRNA is the fastest way to vaccine doses. www.statnews.com/2025/05/28/m...
#H5N1 #birdflu found its way into 1 of California's few remaining herds that hadn't been infected. CA's total is now 767, of which 630 have recovered & cleared quarantine.
Cumulative national total: 1073 herds in 17 states.
Wisconsin soon to join the milk testing program. Watching with interest.
The number of confirmed #measles cases in the US this year had risen to 1168 as of 6/5.
Given we're not yet half way through 2025, seems likely this year's tally will exceed that of 2019, currently the highest single year tally since measles elimination in 2000. www.cdc.gov/measles/data...
Important new piece by @janeqiu.bsky.social in @nature.com describing the live animal markets that we continue to allow to put us all at risk
I don't know if there is a more appropriate goodbye to Loretta Swit, than her last scene in MASH in the series finale.
Loretta won two Emmy's for her role as Major Houlihan.
This documentary covers the current bird flu situation. Clearly presented, realistic and where necessary with nuance. Interviews by Neil Cairns & team with @linekebegeman.bsky.social, Tom Frieden, @jw132.bsky.social, Jim Paulson and myself.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5XK...
The Razor Science Show provides cutting-edge science and technology stories, including the documentary "Bird flu - the next pandemic?". Neil Cairns interviews @drtomfrieden.bsky.social , @jw132.bsky.social, @linekebegeman.bsky.social, and @debbyvanriel.bsky.social.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5XK...