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jonploug.bsky.social
Historian. Studying historical epidemics & pathology collections at Roskilde University and PandemiX (Center of Excellence) in Denmark.
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Our Head of Commercial Operations Sara joined the ‪@history-hit.bsky.social‬ folks on the 'After Dark' podcast to talk about the complex and often deadly world of Victorian surgery. Listen now at the link below! 🔗 pod.link/1705694900/e... #HistoryHit #AfterDark #AfterDarkPodcast #OldOpTheatre

Hvem begyndte på den mærkelige tradition, at det er familien og ikke rektor eller lærerne, der giver studenten huen på, og hvorfor er det blevet fast tradition? Er det måske moster eller bedstefar, der forestår eksaminerne, repræsenterer institutionen og overbringer titlen?

We've just released Text Titan I ter, the latest version of our popular Text Titan Super Model for English, French, Dutch, and other languages in the Latin script. But this time, we also wanted to know how it compared to ChatGPT, Gemini and other LLMs. Here's what we found out 👇

I have now read a lot of primary sources about the plague from 1346 until 1819 (Ottoman plague epidemic). Not a single source of all these many different types of sources, in all these hundreds of years, speaks of rats. Wouldn't someone have noticed a massive rat die-off?

1/3: This isn't fake news: Transkribus can now be taught to identify the documents in a collection written by a specific person 😲

Live-animal markets are a natural laboratory for viruses to evolve and spark deadly outbreaks, yet scientists lack support to study the risks they pose https://go.nature.com/455pSTt

I don't think we understand the history of epidemics. We assume infectious diseases were always a constant threat, but this isn't true. New pathogens emerged and joined the existing pool of epidemic diseases. When Bruegel completed this work in 1562, the world was experiencing unprecedented chaos.

For most of human history, pregnancy and childbirth were very risky; mothers would die in at least 1 in 100 pregnancies. Since the average woman would have at least four or five children, the lifetime risk of dying from maternal causes would be at least 1 in 25. This was true everywhere.

"The team found that the proportion of rats that tested positive for coronaviruses was tenfold higher at the markets and restaurants where they’re sold than in the fields where they’re caught." www.nature.com/articles/d41...

This is very well written and worth a read. Who decides, and how do we decide, how much someone who wants assistance in ending their life should continue to suffer?

I’ve been speaking to Prof. Scott Border for the Teaching and Scholarship podcast - listen here! meinpodcast.libsyn.com/cat-irving

Who needs AI for inspiration when you can marvel at things human beings made, and that librarians, archivists, curators, and photographer preserved, catalogued, and digitized at institutions like @rcsedlibandarchive.bsky.social? 💙📚 🗃 #histsci #histmed #archives #libraries

Patients with CVID are at increased risk following infection with virus, due to poor B cell function. The pandemic allowed us to examine how CVID patients reacted to a novel antigen. Here we characterized B cell function. across multiple immunization events. www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1...

“Again” media.newyorker.com/photos/59095...

Few things are more heartbreaking than the death of a young child. For most of humanity’s past, these tragedies occurred all too frequently — half of all children died. This was true no matter where in the world a child was born, even in the richest countries.

Largest-ever ancient DNA study on a medieval cemetery reveals 1,000 years of genetic history in the Low Countries 'Particularly striking is the presence of five individuals... from Ireland or Scotland, which were found in the oldest layers of the cemetery. ' nieuws.kuleuven.be/en/content/2...

Due to other pressing events, such as wars, we may have overlooked the issue of emerging diseases. However, it is crucial to remain vigilant about the risk af swine and avian influenza. I am not fully convinced that we are doing enough to protect ourselves. www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/publicati...

I’m grateful to have a leader like Ursula during these challenging times. She is undeniably wise and serves as a rock for our security. Moreover, she appears to care more about the people she leads than about her own interests or those of her in-group. This quality is incredibly rare.

De første kiruger: "Her aarelades, Igler og Blodkopper paasættes, Lavrement gives, Ringe indsættes i ørene, Ligtorne og indgroede Negle helbredes, samt alt til Barberfaget henhørende udføres." Fra Borgergade. Københavns Museum.

What's this, good news??? www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Just re-join. Let's forget the whole sordid business.

Hello all Americans. Please stop Trump if he tries to invade Greenland. That's It. That's the skeet.

If somebody sticks their neck out here, as Harvard does, they need public solidarity, outrage and attention on their side and in their fight to resist these illegal actions of an authoritarian regime. Fight early and hard, because every day will get more difficult the longer it goes.

Mon ikke også, at vi gradvist vil se flere og flere antividenskabelige men magtfulde Kennedy jr. typer i DK og Europa i takt med at færre og færre mænd læser på de videregående uddannelser? Folk nu, er bedøvende ligeglade med, at kun 1/3 af studerende er mænd, men er det klogt på den lange bane?