Mark Hayward

The administration’s war on children won’t be a surprise to a lot of folks but here is a nice summary of the major attacks children are experiencing.

Many thanks for writing this piece. The administration is truly engaged in a war on children.

Some days-maybe most days-it feels like academia and science are being asphyxiated.

I’m very excited to visit!

I think it’s time to re-read Orwell’s 1984. Best to be prepared for the 2nd year of the Trump regime.

Fascinating. Thanks for posting!

Association between shingles vaccination and slower biological aging: Evidence from a U.S. population-based cohort study Abstract. There is growing interest in whether adult vaccines such as shingles vaccine may slow biological aging beyond preventing acute infections. Using

There is increasing interest in whether vaccines have broader benefits for aging and health beyond their specific disease infection. Here's a recent study linking the shingles vaccine with biological aging, pointing to systemic benefits of a vaccine. academic.oup.com/biomedgeront...

I just wrote my first external tenure review letter for 2026. I don’t want any of my academic colleagues to assume that I will be equally available (or quick) in the months ahead. Just saying.

As an IU alum (PhD 1980), I’m happily stunned by the Rose Bowl halftime score. I have too much respect for Bama to assume they won’t come back. But this is a once in a lifetime event. The program with almost the worst historical record up on a legendary successful program. I’ll relish this moment.

It’s disturbing that values are transactional. Just like pardons.

The lack of understanding of how health influences individual and collective wellbeing overall is shocking to me. And healthy workers are productive workers. Health doesn’t become an individual value until a person confronts a serious condition.

I’m a demographer who studies US mortality. Looks like 2026 is shaping up to be a banner year, with vaccination rates crumbling and people foregoing health insurance because of rising costs.

Why isn’t health an American value?

Today was Pearl Harbor Day. Not a peep in the NYTs or Washington Post. It was a day that changed our country and the world. But now it’s invisible since history has become passe.

Simply appalling. Sadly a daily occurrence. Their cruelty knows no bounds.

I agree. It seems like the swings are getting wider.

I’m a Boomer who has watched the US come apart at the seams (eg, Vietnam), then lace itself together, only to come apart at the seams!(Watergate)…and it still continues. This dynamic is crazy making both domestically and internationally. But at least I have perspective LOL.

I’m curious what Dems think the response should be to a party that will starve Americans, destroy airlines, create bankruptcies and willingly kill thousands of Americans. It’s not your mom and pop’s GOP. The barbarians are at the gates.

I’m so sorry about your grandma. Dementia is one of the most socially malleable conditions out there. Her onset could be due to a myriad of exposures as well as genetic risk.

I didn’t mind the repeat visit. It’s the mom’s encouragement that took me aback somewhat. 😂

My research team has published research showing that malnutrition and hunger in childhood are long-term risk factors for dementia decades later in life. Makes me think about the long-term health consequences of withholding SNAP benefits from families.

I asked one set of kids who came to our door on Halloween if theyd already been at my house. They said yes they had…but their mom said it was OK to swing by a second time. Hmmm…some parents need parenting lessons.

I love their formalism. But ignoring decades of work in other fields is not acceptable. A google scholar search will reveal this. Once an economist wrote a paper based on my work. I told him the editor wouldn’t allow him to cite me. He didn’t believe me. I was right and he was stunned. I wasn’t.

Nothing in social science is real until an economist says it. Just ask sociologists and psychologists. As a former social science journal editor, I can attest that the sin is quite common.

I never realized that Trump owned cattle ranches and soy bean farms in Argentina. Who would have guessed?

Before he left, he confessed that he was a polio survivor. It was evident as he walked out of the bar. Yes, we had a lot in common when it came to vaccines.

I gave a keynote at a conference & have been relaxing at the hotel bar. I struck up a conversation with a guy next to me. He asked what I do for a living and I hesitated. I’m a biodemographer and social epidemiologist. This led to an amazing conversation about our nation’s health.

My lab group met today. Grad students and postdocs engaged in cutting edge research on health and aging topics. Every meeting it seems that they have a new article accepted or fascinating results. They’re provocative and fun! The next generation in this area of science. I love it!

I continue to be stunned at how poor health literacy is in the US. You’d think folks would have learned something during the worst of the pandemic. It almost seems the opposite. Perhaps the COVID “worm” ate people’s brains.

Today in my mortality grad seminar, we focused on what transpired in the US & comparisons with high income countries.The students were shocked by how devastating COVID was to US life expectancy compare to Europe. Then we discussed the Great Barringron Declaration. They were stunned.

A brilliant summary. Thanks.