Ingfei Chen

Reposting one of the above screen grabs that got cut off

More details from @kffhealthnews.org on the #ACIP's discussion of #hepB birth dose vaccination policy at its 9/19 meeting kffhealthnews.org/news/article...

YouTube video by Monterey Bay Aquarium Sea Otters Don't Give a Shell | Sea Otter Awareness Week 2025

Happy sea otter awareness week, to those who celebrate. 🦦https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wEIBgyO-XM #ラッコ #seaotters

Wildfire smoke will kill nearly 1.4m each year by end of century if emissions not curbed – study Separate research found that at the current rate of global heating, more than 70,000 people will die in the US by 2050

"Over 71,000 people are expected to die annually in the [U.S.] by 2050 due to wildfire smoke on current warming trends. California, scene of many huge fires including current blazes that threaten the state’s storied sequoia trees, will bear the brunt" www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

A Cancer-Causing Virus Hiding in Millions of Americans Why does hepatitis B, which can lead to liver cancer, often go undetected, even though tests exist?

Chronic #hepatitisB has left a traumatic wake across generations in many families, as the story of the Doan family sadly illustrates
www.newyorker.com/science/anna...

Dying from any preventable infectious disease is a tragedy. But death by chronic #hepatitisB infection is its own special category--it can silently foment liver cancer decades later. Without the universal birth dose #HBV vaccine, the virus is easily transmitted from infected mother to baby at birth

'We are rookies': Day 2 of CDC vaccine meeting opens with a reversal and a surprise RFK Jr.'s reshaped ACIP vaccine panel re-did a vote from yesterday on the MMRV vaccine and scrapped plans for another vote on the hepatitis B birth dose.

"Although some on the committee seemed enthusiastic about pushing the first dose recommendation for #hepatitisB later in life, after some discussion, there was a revolt against tackling the issue at all."
www.npr.org/sections/sho...

Are We Taking A.I. Seriously Enough? There’s no longer any scenario in which A.I. fades into irrelevance. We urgently need voices from outside the industry to help shape its future.

Right now, feels like we have little time to consider the AI transformation about to engulf us. "But if we don’t attend to it, the people creating the technology will be single-handedly in charge of how it changes our lives"
www.newyorker.com/culture/open-questions/are-we-taking-ai-seriously-enough

The CDC Has Been Gutted Thousands of CDC employees who worked on things like preventing HIV and lead poisoning have been told they were subject to a reduction in force. Experts say people will die.

"Dozens of other programs throughout the CDC’s ... centers for Chronic Disease Prevention & Health Promotion; HIV, Viral Hepatitis, STD, & Tuberculosis Prevention; Environmental Health; Immunization & Respiratory Diseases; & the Global Health center were also impacted"
www.wired.com/story/cdc-gu...

Today is a very dark day. More destruction of the backbone of our country's health.
#StandUpforScience

Wrapping up with a Big Bang Rob Irion, longtime UC Santa Cruz senior lecturer and former Science Communication Program director, wrapped up 25 years of teaching this past fall, capping a career that helped create the leading …

Delighted to have been able to contribute some comments to this wonderful tribute to Rob Irion, director emeritus @ucscscicomm.bsky.social
magazine.ucsc.edu/2025/02/wrap...

Renowned scientific integrity investigator endows fund to support fellow sleuths Microbiologist Elisabeth Bik donates $200,000 to support training, travel

Thrilled to announce the creation of the @elisabethbik.bsky.social Science Integrity Fund to provide "funding for training programs, grants, or awards for science integrity advocates."

Thanks to @science.org for covering this.

Help us grow the fund with a tax-deductible donation.

USAID Lifesaving Aid Remains Halted Despite Rubio’s Promise A new directive puts further exemptions on hold. Aid workers also say the U.S. government has made it impossible to pay partners around the world.

Top USAID officials are trying to create a false narrative that life-saving aid has continued despite Trump’s blanket halt to foreign aid. Our @nytimes.com reporting shows the exact opposite. USAID even issued an internal email to stop applications for waivers: www.nytimes.com/2025/02/12/u...

Texas measles outbreak rises to 48 cases. It's the state's worst in nearly 30 years The ongoing measles outbreak in West Texas has doubled in size to 48 cases, mostly in children and teens, making it the state's worst in nearly 30 years.

And while politicians are decimating our nation’s public health infrastructure, meanwhile: “The ongoing measles outbreak in West Texas has doubled in size to 48 cases, mostly in children and teens, making it the state’s worst in nearly 30 years… Thirteen people have been hospitalized.”

Major storm to bring high risk of debris flows in SoCal wildfire zones, with some flood risk elsewhere - Weather West California's extraordinary precipitation dipole has persisted into mid-Feb with only slight attenuation Well, it has finally rained in Southern California this winter. But nearly the entire region remains woefully behind average. And the much-discussed north-south precipitation dipole has persisted all the way through mid-February, with NorCal remaining exceptionally wet (with some locations in the northeast

New Weather West post out: Major storm to bring high risk of debris flows in SoCal wildfire zones, with some flood risk elsewhere. This will be "textbook" mid-latitude storm, complete w/rapidly deepening low pressure center & warm atmospheric river. #CAwx weatherwest.com/arch...

Opinion | The Pharmaceutical Industry Heads Into Elon Musk’s Wood Chipper Who needs N.I.H. grants? A lot of red-state universities, for one.

Slashing NIH's funding for "indirect" research costs "doesn’t make even cynical political sense. It’s a decision that would endanger Americans’ health... and could torch one of the nation’s most astounding, productive and envied industries."
www.nytimes.com/2025/02/11/o...

Weather and climate office hour 02/11/2025: Upcoming heavy SoCal rain & post-fire debris flow risk - YouTube The latest in a recurring series of live, virtual, & interactive "office hours" hosted by Dr. Daniel Swain on various topics related to extreme weather and c...

I'll have a livestream on Tuesday, Feb 11 at 4pm PT to discuss the major storm inbound to Southern California, which will likely bring a period of very heavy rain capable of producing significant/dangerous debris flows in/near recent wildfire areas. #CAwx youtube.com/live/RPe...

The End of “END RACISM” in the End Zone In the same week it was revealed that the slogan would be missing from the field at the Super Bowl, the N.F.L. commissioner defended the league’s diversity efforts.

“Racism has ended! Have you heard? Or maybe ending racism has ended,” @louisathomas.bsky.social writes in her Sporting Scene column this week. www.newyorker.com/sports/sport...

How Should Health Care and Public Health Respond to the New US Administration? This Viewpoint discusses scientific, medical, and public health actions, including withdrawing from the World Health Organization, taken so far during the first week of the Trump administration.

With each day bringing worse news for #NIH & the scientific enterprise, I'm wondering when researchers will galvanize in mass protest. "Is there a bridge too far, a point where it is no longer appropriate for medicine & public health to accede?" asks Steven H. Woolf
jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

Trump's first term birthed the March for Science. Where are the science activists now? Eight years after the first March for Science, there are no plans for another march at the dawn of a second Trump administration

ICYMI: "The same ingredients that were in the pressure cooker that led to the historic March for Science are present. But at the moment, there seem to be no cooks in the kitchen. There are no plans for another march." www.statnews.com/2025/01/31/t...

Pathogens don't respect politicians: US federal disruption poses a new threat to global public health We are facing a new threat to global health.

"The sudden sabotage of disease control efforts has profound & immediate effects... While protest—especially during such a chaotic and rapidly evolving crisis—can feel like shouting into an abyss, silence is not a legitimate response." By @suwang88.bsky.social et al. #globalhealth buff.ly/4hsVANG

I work at NIH. The fear among staff is palpable. "It felt like all functions of our job had just been completely stripped away, like the system had been completely crippled."

“There was no central, clear message. It felt a little bit like that was part of the plan.”

“I think a lot of people are worrying, what is my backup plan?”

An NIH researcher describes the chaos of the Trump administration’s first 10 days: www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

EXCLUSIVE: NSF starts vetting all grants to comply with Trump’s orders Grantee accounts remain frozen, while union accuses NSF of ignoring rules governing peer review

NSF officials have "temporarily blocked institutions and scientific organizations from getting access to money they have been promised while vetting projects." But there's been no written guidance re: criteria for deciding if a grant violates a presidential directive
www.science.org/content/arti...

Inside the Fight Against a Los Angeles Inferno A reporter embeds with wildland firefighters during one of the deadliest blazes in California history.

Wildland firefighters "have access to a ground truth that is out of reach for the general public, and even for many scientists, about how our world is changing." Gripping read by M.R. O'Connor. And it's shocking how little they get paid for life-threatening work...
www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

Caregiving is taking a toll on the mental health of millions of Americans Millions of Americans provide unpaid care for their loved ones at home. NPR's Ayesha Rascoe speaks with reporter Kat McGowan and social worker Dawn Shedrick about the mental health burden of taking th...

The loneliness and emotional toll of #caregiving for ailing family members. Worth a listen, from @mcgowankat.bsky.social and @npr.org
www.npr.org/2025/01/26/n...

Still of the cat video, in which I have marked two sets of repeating patterns in plank print of the laminate (or vinyl?) floor, with red and blue boxes. There is also a tabby cat in the photo, looking into the camera.

Who can spot more?

A Cancer-Causing Virus Hiding in Millions of Americans Why does hepatitis B, which can lead to liver cancer, often go undetected, even though tests exist?

Superb piece on #HBV
by in the New Yorker by @ingfeichen.bsky.social!

She does a great job covering so many important aspects of #HepatitisB. Hoping this article brings much needed awareness to #HepB!
www.newyorker.com/science/anna...

What the Hell Is Going on at NIH? Scientists sound the alarm about Trump’s unprecedented “Big Brother” research crackdown.

“It sounds like Big Brother,” one NIH researcher said.

According to reporting by Science and email memos reviewed by Mother Jones, upcoming meetings where studies are officially greenlit were suspended. That puts new funding for all sorts of research, from cancer to the opioid crisis, on hold.

Trump’s claims about California water and L.A. fires are inaccurate and misleading, experts say Southern California reservoirs are near full, and hydrant problems are unrelated to the Delta and fish, they note

Trump's claims about California water and LA fires are inaccurate and misleading, experts say

www.mercurynews.com/2025/01/24/t...

Trump Pauses Disbursements to Program Supplying H.I.V. Treatment Worldwide (Gift Article) Pepfar, which is estimated to have delivered lifesaving treatment to as many as 25 million people in 54 countries, faces a funding delay of as long as 180 days.

The Trump administration has halted disbursement of funds from a program that supplies most of the treatment for HIV in Africa and low-income countries worldwide for at least 90 days.

www.nytimes.com/2025/01/24/u...