Donald Trump forcing medical scientists to pander to the half-thought out whims of one time UFC commentator Joe Rogan is a pretty damning indictment of where we are. When future historians write about this period of the idiocracy, the role of halfwit podcasters will be subject of many PhDs..

True, and a problem with media in general. Numbers don't actually speak for themselves, and statistics always require context for interpretation. Data literacy is fundamental to make sense of numbers, and good reporting should frame things in context, but that doesn't generate clicks, does it? 😜

Academics, anyone else noticed a decline in basic editorial standards at major journals? Just had one reject an already accepted manuscript for "duplicated references", turned out to be an AI hallucination in their proofing software. Another asked me review a manuscript I'm author on..

Finally happened; bike nicked in Dublin 🤨 On Jervis St, under 2 CCTV cams. If anyone sees a suspicious Decathlon 500 folding bike offered for sale, let me know..

Experts fear ‘unethical’ vaccine trial in Africa is ‘prototype’ for US studies under RFK Jr Danish researchers whose work on effects of vaccines has been called into question are at center of US vaccine policy

I didn't think much that RFK Jr does could shock me anymore, but it's difficult to overstate how unethical this is. This isn't a trial, it's a piece of antivaccine theatre that will cause severe harm, and everyone involved is contemptible.

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

Report is here - already spotting some pretty serious problems with it, you will see even more I've no doubt! www.hydrantprogramme.co.uk/assets/NPCC-...

..I am a little confused by report this arises from, which seems to assert lack of evidence for satanic abuse is due to under-reporting rather than, ya know, not actually existing. Also they seem to dispute existence of false memories. Thoughts @profchrisfrench.bsky.social @deevybee.bsky.social ?

ChatGPT driving rise in reports of ‘satanic’ organised and ritual abuse, UK experts say Exclusive: ‘Witchcraft, spirit possession and spiritual abuse’ offending typified by sexual abuse, violence and neglect

Uh oh. This appears to be an old moral panic reanimated by modern technology - I've written extensively on "satanic panic" and how leading questions led to false memories of abuse in suggestive populations that never happened. ChatGPT is that on steroids...

www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

Elon Musk posted about race almost every day in January Many social media posts by Tesla CEO on his platform are indiscernible from those of white supremacists, say experts

Elon Musk's content indistinguishable from that of white supremists, surprising no one. Is there a fundamental law that requires those pathetic enough to assert ostensible racial superiority be the most underwhelming specimens imaginable? www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

Prasad overruled FDA staff to reject Moderna's flu vaccine application The rejection is the latest instance of Vinay Prasad overruling career FDA scientists to place vaccines under harsher scrutiny.

Prasad overruled FDA staff to reject Moderna’s flu vaccine application www.statnews.com/2026/02/11/m... via @statnews.com

"Vaccine skepticism is emanating into FDA from the top, as health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is a known vaccine critic [read: antivaxx zealot]."

Ivermectin is an article of faith in the MAHA gospel, and one of their defining characteristics is deep antipathy towards vaccination. The lauding of ivermectin began in part as an "alternative" to vaccination - this & Moderna rejection are sheer regulatory capture 😐

I remember once respecting VP for his work on oncology trial replication. The pandemic taught us that some people are contrarian for the sake of it rather than because they actually care about health problems..

The fact that this comes hours after approval of an "Ivermectin for cancer" trial is a damning indictment of the ideological capture the worst people from the pandemic now have over health in the USA...

I'm old enough to member VP being respected for his work on oncology trial quality... how the mighty have fallen.

Hi Michael, ok to DM you something related?

Whoever does Santa's logistics is the final boss of the Travelling Salesman Problem

I just saw this tweet after listening to your episode on it and it's made me furious. BTW, drop me a DM if you want to know more about the lab leak conspiracy stuff that's even DUMBER than these people already acknowledge

I noticed the likely deliberate ambiguity, but the moral cowardice of the University will have long-lasting impact: they got played by a bad actor testing the resolve of institutions, and failed badly

..also, this was not citing in any academic sense; it was loose invocation of the bible to justify bigotry. But the outrage and riling her base was the point. The University of Oklahoma have given her the victory she wanted, and showed they will fold to bad faith extremists. That never ends well

This is pathetic by the University of Oklahoma; If you acquiesce like this to obvious hard-right grifters, they will be emboldened to erode things further. Popper's paradox of tolerance strikes again, institutions cannot make the mistake of trying to entertain those who exist to undermine them..

F.D.A. Attributes 10 Children’s Deaths to Covid Vaccines

The FDA made this assertion without releasing an iota of data to support it or uttering a word about risk-benefit. This is what science by press release looks like, a damning indictment of the ideological capture RFK Jr has enforced

www.nytimes.com/2025/11/28/h...

Happy Thanksgiving for those who celebrate. The perfect opportunity to remember the 1997 Macy's parade, when Barney the dinosaur committed public seppuku and the Cat in the Hat put someone into a Coma..

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1997_Ma...

Who the hell was stupid enough to think that giving Robert F Kennedy power over medical scientists would make him listen to them? No - mendacious idealouges like him always abuse that power to force their lies on everyone else. We fucking told you so

www.reuters.com/business/hea...

Fish go walking, fish get shoez

..the housing and cost of living crisis isn't being caused by immigrants or asylum seekers: it's a consequence of decades of poor governance, nimbyism, and greed. The hard right do not care about solutions, they just want a scapegoat to blame and resultant anger to direct.

Hard-right love "Ireland being overrun" narrative on immigration. But as @fotoole13.bsky.social notes, actual numbers small: here's log-plot of raw inward migration [2024-2025] in terms of Croke Park. As @csoireland.bsky.social
explain, net immigration falling too.. t.co/lxq09kU7XU

..also, RJK Jr is *so much* worse than many of us realise, and is the most perversely unsuited person imaginable to hold such office. We must resist the temptation to accept any of this as normal, when it is frankly obscene

"Make America Healthy Again" will make not only America but the entire world sicker. RJK Jr and the MAGA movement are modern Lysenkoists, and the consequences of their anti-science agenda will be severe, as I write in @emboreports.org www.embopress.org/doi/full/10....

So @jamesheathers.bsky.social & I answer the burning question: does Cake cause Herpes? No, but one can torture the data to give that impression, and that's a problem. Promiscuous dichotomisation in biomedical science hugely increases spurious findings, best avoided
link.springer.com/article/10.1...

James D Watson, who co-discovered DNA’s twisted-ladder structure, dies aged 97 Nobel prize winner shaped medicine, crimefighting and genealogy, but later years marred by racist remarks

Seems everyone has a James Watson story. I met him when I was 27 in Oxford and he told me to fuck off after a joke at his expense, which admittedly I half deserved 🫠 www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...