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sweetsciencewriter.bsky.social
Science journalist, with bylines in Nature, National Geographic, the New York Times, the Washington Post and the Houston Chronicle. I cover a mixture of health topics, with a focus on conditions such as autism, ADHD, ME/CFS, POTS and Long COVID.
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The FDA has finally approved Novavax’s Covid-19 vaccine, but in doing so has placed restrictions on it that its two competitors in the U.S. market do not face. www.statnews.com/2025/05/17/f...

submitted 1 day ago • 10 comments

Thank goodness. The mRNA vaccines give me bad fevers, which means taking at least a full day off work, while the Novavax does not.

submitted 1 day ago • 0 comments

🧵The largest plantation in the South burned down this week. And the way white folks—especially wedding vendors—are mourning “memories” and “brides who won’t get to have their special day there”? It’s giving cognitive dissonance. Because let’s be real...

submitted 3 days ago • 711 comments

Science explains why orange cats are orange. Now they just need to figure out where the one brain cell has gone.

submitted 4 days ago • 0 comments

Interesting turn of events: RFK Jr is a believer in long COVID. Of course, given his full-throated embrace of pseudoscience, the recommendations that will come out of his office to treat long COVID are unlikely to be evidence based.

submitted 5 days ago • 4 comments

Every member of Congress should be required to live on SNAP benefits for one month. Let’s see them survive 31 days on $291 without calling their donors.

submitted 4 days ago • 92 comments

Quite disheartening to return from 10 days working with some of the most important and relevant #MECFS and #LongCOVID researchers in the world and to read this drivel being allowed through from @bmj_latest. Let's be unambiguous about this: BMJ has www.bmj.com/content/389/... 1/

submitted 4 days ago • 11 comments

Those seven-year olds need to stop mooching off the system and get a job, amirite? (THIS IS SARCASM, THIS SHOULD NOT INFORM ANY POLICY. EVER.)

submitted 4 days ago • 0 comments

Please do not fall for these lies. RFK Jr has cut funding to Long COVID research, disbanded Long COVID committees, and spread misinformation about COVID vaccines and treatments. He can not be trusted to meaningfully advance Long COVID treatments, and will only exploit vulnerable communities.

submitted 5 days ago • 16 comments

If RFK Jr actually cares about Long COVID, then he’s got a funny way of showing it.

submitted 4 days ago • 0 comments

this guy is out here proudly being a eugenicist freak while people at mainstream and "respectable publications" make excuses for him or even muse about whether he has a "few good points"

submitted 7 days ago • 647 comments

About the new pope: I appreciate the Catholic Church’s willingness to continue the tradition of papal disapproval of JD Vance. Seems like an appropriate choice, all things considered.

submitted 10 days ago • 0 comments

Our society demands perfection from victims, and bends over backwards excusing abusers.

submitted 22 days ago • 0 comments

Nothing says Make America Healthy Again quite like suspending salmonella testing for poultry. Food poisoning FTW, amirite? www.seattletimes.com/business/usd...

submitted 24 days ago • 1 comment

people want to argue with me on this about whether deconditioning causes POTS. if you *have* to regularly exercise or you feel unwell, that's not deconditioning. most people can get away with just living their lives, working, doing chores, running errands, sitting like a lump in front of the TV.

submitted 24 days ago • 3 comments

I do think it’s important to point out that immunocompromised people can’t get the MMR vaccine, along with babies. These are the people that we should be protecting with herd immunity.

submitted 24 days ago • 2 comments

Well, I’m not going anywhere any time soon.

submitted 24 days ago • 0 comments

Women’s health is already in the dark ages, because historically we’ve mainly studied men. This will just make the problem even worse. www.science.org/content/arti...

submitted 25 days ago • 0 comments

"In Texas, the largest state to ban abortion, the trend is most pronounced: In 2022, the first full year Texas had outlawed most abortions, pregnancy-related deaths went up by 56 percent" #txlege

submitted 26 days ago • 1 comment

$5,000 won’t even cover the hospital bill, let alone allow for taking family leave or paying for daycare. And then there’s our country’s criminally high maternal mortality rate, which is just getting worse.

submitted 25 days ago • 1 comment

Still thinking about this - here’s one reason why there’s been an increase in ADHD diagnoses - because we used to just write off a lot of people by calling those who struggled to learn or focus stupid, lazy and hyper. Now we look for reasons why people have certain behaviors.

submitted 34 days ago • 6 comments

Scoop from me @thesicktimes.bsky.social: Last month's Trump administration cuts to public health funding for state & local health departments have hurt Long COVID programs in several states. This impacts state-level research, outreach, partnerships with community orgs, and more.

submitted 34 days ago • 1 comment

I’m glad to see Harvard is actually using its power and resources to take a stand. I just hope others will follow in their footsteps. www.harvard.edu/president/ne...

submitted 35 days ago • 0 comments