But, this first step towards just changing the way we think and talk about these types of experiences and where they come from, is by itself one I believe to be really important.

Currently, we're trying to work out individualized tests of some of the specific mechanisms that may be causing both the physical and mental/cognitive symptoms - and that we might be able to treat directly.

That people with a higher burden of past trauma exposure report more persistent autonomic symptoms after COVID-19 or other viral infections, even adjusting for symptoms of PTSD or similar symptoms prior to COVID.

And while these changes may interact and reinforce each other, they can both be real, without one necessarily being the "real" or primary effect.

This paper tests a relationship we've been seeing in our clinical work for years but that hasn't been well studied or recognized:

Instead, we need to be able to consider how both psychological stress and trauma and physiologic stressors (e.g. COVID infection, TBI, etc) can both turn on changes in our brain and body's stress-threat response systems that can affect both physical and mental health.

But, that's not nec'ly how it works. Treating PTSD, anxiety etc can help substantially with physical symptoms & I will advocate for effective MH treatment all day long. But it doesn't mean that your physiology is now the same as if it hadn't happened - & if it's not, you're just doing it wrong.

eg, so many people I see with PTSD have sig physical symptoms - & they have a list of diagnoses (hypertension, IBS, heart palpitations or POTS, etc), or there's an assumption that if they treat their mental health diagnoses and "manage their stress better" then their physical symptoms will be gone.

But even when our medical system recognizes that physical and mental/cognitive symptoms are connected, it's assumed that either the physical symptoms are the "real" and primary experience and the psychiatric symptoms are "secondary", or visa versa.

It's obvious to most people that you can experience physical symptoms after a stressful event or a trauma - and that physical illness can cause anxiety, insomnia, cognitive changes, etc.

Impact of Prior History of Traumatic Stress on Autonomic and Multi-System Symptoms Following COVID-19 Infection - Rebecca C. Hendrickson, Christine S. Cheah, Marlene L. Tai, Kathleen F. Pagulayan, Kat... Background Persistent symptoms of autonomic dysregulation are common after COVID-19 infection and may result from alterations in central and/or peripheral auton...

tl;dr: Our medical system constantly wants to silo physical and mental health, but they are fundamentally intertwined more than we know how to talk about - and things that cause both physical stress and psychological trauma can interact with each other.

journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

I was on NPR last week talking about a new publication that is really important to me - part of our larger effort to change the way we think and talk about both mental and physical health, and how they relate to each other, after stress and trauma.

www.knkx.org/2026-01-28/u...

#IDSky

First person with H5N5 has died :(

10/ After 14 years of working on this topic, I tell you this with confidence:

Highly invasive mercenary spyware is a power abuse machine.

It's incompatible with Americans constitutional rights and freedoms.

And our legal system and civil society is not prepared for the next chapter.

Trump-Allied Prosecutor Sends Letters to Medical Journals Alleging Bias (Gift Article) An interim U.S. attorney is demanding information about the selection of research articles and the role of N.I.H. Experts worry this will have a chilling effect on publications.

1. The DOJ has sent threatening letters to several medical journals, focused around whether these journals are spreading misinformation that harms the American people and suppressing alternative viewpoints.

I study how the norms and institutions of science facilitate discovery and self-correction.

My post flag (9’x17’) flying upside down as a signal of distress at the edge of the rally at Bainbridge Island’s waterfront park on Eagle Harbor.

We opted to join Bainbridge Island’s rally, which had well over 1K+ protestors. One of the speakers we heard was a Japanese American internee who, in 1942, was removed from Bainbridge Island to an internment camp with her family. Her closing words:

“Never again is now.”

Rutgers study debunks argument that guns make people safer | Video | NJ Spotlight News Interview: Mike Anestis, executive director of New Jersey Gun Violence Research Center

Defensive gun use is rare but gun violence exposure is far too common. Check out this interview re: our new study in @jama.com Open from @mikeanestis.bsky.social.

Watch the full interview for important thoughts on very real threats to our work @ the GVRC.

www.njspotlightnews.org/video/rutger...

I’m am adaptation scientist and here’s what I had to say about this—many years ago already.

Mandatory high school civics class that isn’t just like “how a bill becomes law” or whatever but also “how NOAA powers your phone’s weather app” and “NIH helped make your asthma inhaler”

Trump is LYING about Social Security right now. Elon Musk called Social Security a "Ponzi scheme."

They are cutting staff drastically at Social Security to make it harder for seniors to get their benefits.

These corrupt billionaires need to keep their HANDS OFF Social Security!

On climate, did you know that only 11% of people in the US (and even smaller percentages in Canada, the UK, Australia and beyond) are dismissive?

Yet because their voices are so loud and persistent, people often think they’re 50%.

This is why I advocate so strongly for using YOUR voice!

A quote from the paper stating that their results extend my advice about the importance of talking about climate change

Researchers found 15 people in Kansas City who had changed their mind about climate change, and asked them why. Fascinating!

link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Mechanosensation of the heart and gut elicits hypometabolism and vigilance in mice - Nature Metabolism Scott, Tan et al. characterize the neural circuits that link mechanic stimuli in the heart and gut with whole-body energy homeostasis and vigilance.

Mechanosensation of the heart and gut elicits hypometabolism and vigilance in mice | Nature Metabolism

www.nature.com/articles/s42...

Psilocybin induces sex- and context-specific recruitment of the stress axis Psychedelics have reemerged as potential treatments for mental health disorders, yet their impact on stress-related brain regions remains poorly understood. Here, we provide the first real-time, in vi...

Exciting new data on psilocybin effects on hypothalamic CRH neurons @gergelyturi.bsky.social Tamas Füzesi &
@stressynomics.bsky.social

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Dirty air, dementia, and other adverse brain effects
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
new Feature @nature.com open-access

Frequency, recency, and variety of gun violence exposure: Implications for mental health and suicide among US adults Gun violence exposure (GVE) is a pervasive public health issue in the United States, with significant implications for mental health. This study exami…

New study out now in SS&M from our team @njgvrc.bsky.social! Both frequency + recency of gun violence exposure influence mental health and suicide.

More national evidence of the extensive toll that gun violence takes on our collective health and well-being.

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Hippocampus does not appear to be a major target of thalamic nucleus reuniens The prefrontal - hippocampal - entorhinal system is perhaps the most widely-studied circuit in cognitive and systems neuroscience, due to its role in supporting cognitive functions such as working mem...

My new year's resolution was to work through the pile of almost-finished papers so... #PrePrintAlert #NeuroSkyence. This is an update to one we put out late 2021, which got delayed with Lilya (lead author) going on maternity leave (yay, lab baby! 🥰). A brief 🧵 1/

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Sex-specific fear acquisition following early life stress is linked to amygdala and hippocampal purine and glutamate metabolism - Communications Biology This study models early life stress (ELS) to observe sex-specific effects on fear memory formation using innovative unsupervised classification together with cellular metabolism alterations in key str...

We've uncovered sex-specific effects of early-life stress (ELS) exposure on fear memory, HPA-axis regulation, and brain metabolism🧠. Unsupervised clustering shows that fear responses are more than only freezing.
@mathiasvschmidt.bsky.social
nature.com/articles/s42...
Highlights in thread👇

five time series of global mean surface temperature changes starting low and noisy in the 1850s - rising clearly since the 1960s - and showing 2024 was clearly the warmest.

All surface temperature products for 2024 are now live.

All show 2024 is the warmest year (very clearly).

The estimates of the change since the pre-industrial (1850-1900) are more uncertain but range from 1.46 to 1.62ºC.

It is therefore *likely* this was the first year that exceeded 1.5ºC.

Even 1 drink a day elevates your cancer risk – an expert on how alcohol affects the body breaks down a new government report The government linked alcohol with seven types of cancers, prompting the US surgeon general to call for warning labels on beer, wine and liquor.

The Conversation asked me to share my thoughts on the new U.S. Surgeon General Advisory around alcohol and cancer & to break down some of the science in an accessible way. Check it out here: theconversation.com/even-1-drink...