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quammen.bsky.social
Author and journalist. The Song of the Dodo, Spillover, The Reluctant Mr. Darwin, The Tangled Tree, Breathless, and other books. Most recently, The Heartbeat of the Wild. Bunch of magazine work since 1981.
157 posts 2,714 followers 191 following
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Posts 48 Comments 2

Ouch. That's very sad and important.

submitted 2 days ago • 1 comment

After the absolute longest fortnight ever, it's here... The Bad Piano Player Podcast's latest episode: Oscar Hammerstein! Could that man write some lyrics? By God, he could; my God, he could. Enjoy.

submitted 2 days ago • 0 comments

First case of H5N1 avian influenza in an arctic fox recorded in North Iceland this week.

submitted 32 days ago • 0 comments

"History will remember this day— when an American President and Vice President abandoned all we stand for."

submitted 5 days ago • 3188 comments

submitted 5 days ago • 2838 comments

As of today, a new term has entered our language. A “rubio” is a spineless lump of nothing. Example: Don’t be such a rubio.

submitted 5 days ago • 3220 comments

"downsizes" is a weak way of saying "forced to cancel dozens of programs, which jeopardizes future STEM careers of talented undergrads" @science.org www.science.org/content/arti...

submitted 5 days ago • 203 comments

A One Health Investigation into H5N1 Avian Influenza Virus Epizootics on Two Dairy Farms #IDSky

submitted 5 days ago • 1 comment

Five weeks into what has been a constant onslaught on science, working on a paper seems like such a privilege, which many of our recently fired colleagues no longer have. And a rebellious act. But mostly it's self-care. (Give yourself permission to turn off the news for the weekend.)

submitted 6 days ago • 6 comments

Nailed it www.nytimes.com/2025/02/28/o...

submitted 5 days ago • 1853 comments

submitted 6 days ago • 7 comments

KYIV INDEPENDENT: “It’s time to say it plainly. America’s leadership has switched sides in the war. The American people have not, and they should speak up.” kyivindependent.com/editorial-a-...

submitted 5 days ago • 683 comments

I don’t even know how this could be presented as being in service of anything other than hindering scientific progress.

submitted 5 days ago • 438 comments

submitted 5 days ago • 364 comments

DOGE Is a Cruel Joke. The Punchline Is Making Life Hell for Veterans Veterans are still losing their jobs and benefits as Elon Musk disassembles the federal government www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol...

submitted 7 days ago • 5 comments

Given that Bezos just did a full takeover of @washingtonpost.com and now it can only report that America and money are great--today is a great day to cancel if you have it, you check to make sure you aren't paying for a forgotten subscription.

submitted 8 days ago • 303 comments

Part of the project to privatize government and “run it like a business” attempts to define citizens as “customers” of a gov-corp—instead of what we are, which is the owners.

submitted 7 days ago • 1 comment

The black-footed ferret has been coming back from the brink of extinction thanks to the work of US government scientists. They just got fired. www.vox.com/down-to-eart...

submitted 7 days ago • 7 comments

This news truly breaks my heart. We are calling on HHS to take immediate action. Secretary Kennedy needs to bring back weekly measles tracking from the CDC, rehire the health experts, and roll out a serious vaccine campaign. Our kids' safety is on the line! abcnews.go.com/Health/1st-m...

submitted 7 days ago • 1504 comments

Medicaid covers: - 21% of Americans nationally - 83 million low-income Americans - 4 in 10 children - 1 in 4 adults with disabilities - Nearly 50% of kids with special needs - 41% of births nationwide - 5 in 8 nursing home residents - 32% of people in Mike Johnson's home state

submitted 9 days ago • 33 comments

Ps, Yes it is good to have MMWR back ... especially if we have it back at full candor?

submitted 7 days ago • 0 comments

This is important, and the current CDC made a move to bury it.

submitted 7 days ago • 0 comments

Congratulations to Dr. Peter Hotez. I've had conversations with Hotez. Not only is he a brilliant man, but also a very kind human being. houston.innovationmap.com/peter-hotez-...

submitted 7 days ago • 300 comments

3/2 [There's always a 3rd post of 2 becuz I think of something more.] All right, yes, I've been reading James Baldwin again. Damn, how we miss him.

submitted 8 days ago • 1 comment

2/2 . . . same sense of dread that Black women & men in America have waked up to each morning for the past 300 years? Seems to me it might be. If so, I guess we need to ask them if we may stand with them, now finally, in this crisis, howling for the outrage they know and we're learning.

submitted 8 days ago • 2 comments

Plz let me pose a question, however naive or presumptuous it may seem. This deep sense of dread that many of us now feel—that our Constitutional rights are endangered, that doltish but powerful men are in charge, that law & justice & morality are being flouted—isn't that the same sense . . . 1/2

submitted 8 days ago • 0 comments

Correct that to *could use* Sorry.

submitted 8 days ago • 0 comments

Ps, We use one or two at the cabinet level, replacing certain doofuses.

submitted 8 days ago • 0 comments

Thanks. Good. We need more molecular evolutionary virologists.

submitted 8 days ago • 0 comments

To [email protected] 1. I saw things you people wouldn't believe. 2. I monitored attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. 3. I watched c-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate. 4. I lost moments in time. 5. I memorialized tears in rain.

submitted 10 days ago • 18 comments

Monday: Never gave you up Tuesday: Never let you down Wednesday: Never ran around and deserted you Thursday: Never made you cry Friday: Never said goodbye Saturday: Never told a lie and hurt you (Dedicated to all the fantastic colleagues at NIH, NSF, and CDC)

submitted 10 days ago • 1 comment

RT if you agree with this plan

submitted 11 days ago • 0 comments

"...a civilization is not destroyed by wicked people; it is not necessary that people be wicked but only that they be spineless." Sound familiar? James Baldwin (1962), "The Fire Next Time," echoing Edmund Burke.

submitted 9 days ago • 2 comments

Thanks for clarification. No. I am interested in the cause. I am not interested in your "merch." Jeez. Caveat emptor.

submitted 9 days ago • 0 comments

@fed-up-studio.bsky.social What do you mean, on your profile, by (merch in bio)?

submitted 9 days ago • 1 comment

“Fraud” is a crime. We’re still waiting for all the arrests. ⏰ www.publicnotice.co/p/despite-th...

submitted 10 days ago • 786 comments

Young voters really don't like Elon Musk. His unfavorability is 54% with all voters. 67% with voters under 30. Feels important for a party that needs to win a much bigger share of young voters.

submitted 14 days ago • 229 comments

Remember, everything is part of the same story. They need to destroy our democracy and crush dissent because letting billionaires take over the government in order to steal from us isn't popular and a functioning democracy wouldn't allow it.

submitted 14 days ago • 75 comments

The quickening pace of corruption - the brazen use of the White House to enrich himself and his friends - is stunning. Soon, before we know it, government will no longer serve us at all. It will just be a mechanism to enrich billionaires loyal to Trump.

submitted 14 days ago • 149 comments

It was perhaps Jimmy Carter's most significant heritage: it was the Carter Center that was crucial in the path towards dracunculiasis elimination. An Alien-like parasitosis that few, in the developed world, knew or cared about (images are derived from its site) 1/n

submitted 66 days ago • 1 comment

History repeating? I wrote for @bulletinatomic.bsky.social how US future health under RFK Jr may be a 3rd major episode of science denialism, post Soviet Lysenko times and Thanbo Mbeki’s South African HIV-denial (obliged to @mattyfield.bsky.social ) : 1/n thebulletin.org/2024/11/lyse...

submitted 99 days ago • 1 comment

Where are Bill Clinton, George Bush, & Barack Obama—and why aren't they screaming about this stuff? Rather than just saying "Donate Now."

submitted 11 days ago • 0 comments

How are you feeling about what you bought, America?

submitted 12 days ago • 1 comment

Medicaid is a lifeline for 72 million Americans — putting health care within reach for the elderly, Americans with disabilities, and children. Last night, Republicans refused to protect Medicaid and moved one step closer to slashing its funding.

submitted 13 days ago • 21 comments

Thank you, Moo Dog.

submitted 13 days ago • 2 comments

I'll be Goddamn! Credit, where credit is due. Bravo!!

submitted 14 days ago • 218 comments

Blumenthal: "What world is he living in? It is not only contrary to the facts and the truth but utterly despicable. A disgusting betrayal of a country that has bled and fought and died for freedom ... the president's surrender is pathetic and weak."

submitted 15 days ago • 1379 comments

Senators Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, Joni Ernst, etc: You’ve seen Hegseth, RFK Jr, and others give worthless assurances. You’re now seeing the US appease Putin, and DOJ guardrails crumble. Are you going to let Kash Patel use the FBI against his enemies list and further destroy the rule of law?

submitted 15 days ago • 2104 comments