In July a FDA panel voted to loosen restriction on the production of “peptides” in the United States. (In an absurd level of conflict of interest, the members of that FDA panel consisted largely of people who sell peptides.) Peptides are an extremely broad class of biological molecules that consist
A confession — Twitter used to be my favorite platform for science communication, by far. But the Twitter that once was is now gone, and it hasn’t really been replaced. The robust #medtwitter and science communities that lived there have spread to various platforms including Bluesky, Threads, and LinkedIn, meaning
Two days ago I decided to throw out my bagged greens and strawberries due to the ongoing cyclospora outbreak and give them to my chickens. I thought that might make a nice reel explaining the outbreak, so I filmed it. Shortly after posting it, along with many comments worried about
Welcome to Episode 5 of The Communication Lab — my series teaching you science communication on social media (if you’re new to this series, start here). This week we’ll dive into the world of reels and carousels (yes, despite falling down an Instagram rabbit hole a few weeks ago,
Let me tell you about a small snippet of hell called new mom instagram. I didn’t announce my pregnancy for some time, and most people not in my immediate vicinity found out only after he was born. But my algorithm knew — it was remarkably precise tracking through first trimester,
Welcome to Episode 4 of The Communication Lab — my series teaching you how to do science communication on social media (if you’re new to this series, start here). This week is all about newsletters: how do you build a successful newsletter from the ground up? Starting a newsletter or
Welcome to Episode 3 of The Communication Lab — where I’m going to teach you how to use social media for science communication (if you’re new to this series, start here). This week we’ll start digging into the nuts and bolts of scicomm, beginning with selecting a social
Welcome to Episode 2 of The Communication Lab — where I’m going to teach you my tips and tricks for science and health communication on social media (if you’re new to this series, start here). This week we’ll dive into something everyone in scicomm struggles with at the
Communication Lab
The Communication Lab episode 1: Imposter syndrome, vulnerability hangovers, and just getting started Welcome to the first episode of The Communication Lab — my series teaching tips and tricks for science communication (scicomm) on social media! Later in the series we’ll dive into the how to’s of scicomm (topic
A blog about science in a world of untrue facts.
Over the past several months I’ve been working on a few new projects, and I finally get to share them with you. The first one is the most exciting of all — a project I’ve been working on for 9 months which has finally been published — this tiny little
I'm sending this not because I'm worried, but because the internet is stressing The internet is stressing over the hantavirus cruise ship outbreak. But the hype does not match the risk — currently, my level of concern for the US population is low. Here’s a quick
Nope. A look at an interesting AI study that has led to some very overhyped headlines. Yesterday a new study was published in Science comparing the diagnostic capacity of several AI tools to physicians. It made headlines for including something novel — they fed the AI tools and clinicians real-world
Last month I wrote about 5 logical fallacies that are trending right now in the world of health, and there was a resounding request for round two. So here you have it! But first: why should you care? Learning to identify logical fallacies is a form of prebunking. There are
By now you have likely heard the news: a U.S. District Court Judge has blocked many of RFK Jr.’s vaccine policy changes from the last year. Yesterday, the court issued a preliminary injunction, meaning the Plaintiffs in the case (the American Academy of Pediatrics and other medical organizations)
Last year I took a train ride down from Connecticut to New York, passing the time creating this video on my iPad. As I was drawing the pertussis graph, the kind elderly gentleman seated across the table saw it and asked me what I was working on. 0:00 /1:
An announcement: I've officially launched a new newsletter called Public Health Roundup! I’ve learned that if I have the same idea 20 times over the course of a year I should probably just do it. This newsletter is that idea. The news right now is INSANE. It
How do we address the firehose of inaccurate information that is flooding the internet right now? It’s tempting to try to play whack-a-mole, tackling one rumor after another, and there is certainly value in addressing individual claims. But emerging research shows a better (and less exhausting) method:
There’s been a lot of speculation and hype around the role of AI tools in medical care, with Dr. Oz going so far as to say AI avatars could meet healthcare needs in rural areas. In January, ChatGPT got into the health game and launched a new product called
What faith has to do with trust in science, and what we can do about it Last week I got to participate in an incredibly unique event: The Evidence Collective brought together scientists and doctors with what may seem like unlikely partners: pastors, priests, and faith leaders. We spent a
Vaccine requirements, vaccine recommendations, and "shared decision-making" Last week RFK Jr’s HHS announced a change to the childhood vaccine schedule in attempt to more closely align it with Denmark. Several of the vaccines including those for influenza and rotavirus were changed from “recommended” to “shared decision-
“Where do I find accurate health information?” This question has becoming increasingly common over the last year, especially with the recent changes to the CDC website. And I’ll confess — I find it pretty difficult to answer. Common advice says to 1. rely on reputable sources (such as academic or
