Hilda Bastian

Adjusting to the Changing Internet When ads flooded some parts of the internet, I adjusted by avoiding those places when I recognized the signs—or hitting the back button quickly when I hadn't. When "AI" scrapers led to an explosion of sites making me wait while checking if I'm a robot, I got used to it, though it's a drag. And so on it goes. Now it seems cyber surveillance could advance in ways that might require bigger behavioral adaptation.

Adjusting to the Changing Internet

When ads flooded some parts of the internet, I adjusted by avoiding those places when I recognized the signs—or hitting the back button quickly when I hadn't. When "AI" scrapers led to an explosion of sites making me wait while checking if I'm a robot, I got used…

Apricot-tinged pink tea rose in full bloom, with rain drops. Rosebud in the background.

The rose is hands down the prettiest flower in the rain today 😍

#BloomScrolling

Thanks, but they're not comms issues - it's ethical aspects (given commercial aspects of pharma) and scientific issues about minimizing biases.

Thanks! I do, but I don't like being public about that till I'm really sure - I am starting to think about a way to tackle that, though.

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Progress for "Universal" Vaccine & More NextGen Covid Vax News (Update No 38) - Absolutely Maybe This month, there are phase 2 results for a self-amplifying mRNA vaccine from Japan—and that vaccine’s developers have recently completed a phase…

News-packed update on nextgen Covid vaccines this month at my @plos.org blog:

- Preclinical results for an intranasal "universal" vaccine that provided some protection from coronaviruses, H1N1 flu, some bacterial infections, and an asthma allergen... 1/2

absolutelymaybe.plos.org/2026/03/01/p...

Progress for "Universal" Vaccine & More NextGen Covid Vax News (Update No 38) - Absolutely Maybe This month, there are phase 2 results for a self-amplifying mRNA vaccine from Japan—and that vaccine’s developers have recently completed a phase…

- Phase 2 results for a self-amplifying mRNA vaccine from Japan (with a phase 3 trial for the vax recently closed off)

- Opportunities to participate in intranasal vaccine trials in Finland and the US

And much more:

absolutelymaybe.plos.org/2026/03/01/p...

Progress for "Universal" Vaccine & More NextGen Covid Vax News (Update No 38) - Absolutely Maybe This month, there are phase 2 results for a self-amplifying mRNA vaccine from Japan—and that vaccine’s developers have recently completed a phase…

News-packed update on nextgen Covid vaccines this month at my @plos.org blog:

- Preclinical results for an intranasal "universal" vaccine that provided some protection from coronaviruses, H1N1 flu, some bacterial infections, and an asthma allergen... 1/2

absolutelymaybe.plos.org/2026/03/01/p...

Presumably yes, if there's enough. (At a cost.)

I think it's too hard to predict what's going to happen in the US in the near future, but it's business as usual elsewhere (including Canada). We might get a better idea of what the next vaccines to make it market could be this year, and how long it would take.

She is amazing - I'd like to read the book. But it needs someone with a lot of time on the ground in the US to go through archives. (I live in Australia now.)

Catharine Deaver Lealtad - Wikipedia

@macalestercollege.bsky.social I've written a Wikipedia page for Catharine Deaver Lealtad, as well as a blog post:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cathari...

absolutelymaybe.plos.org/2026/02/20/d...

Photographic portrait of Catharine Lealtad in high school.

Year book photographic portrait of Catharine Lealtad, 1915.

Photographic portrait of Catharine Lealtad in The Crisis, 1920.

Photo of Catharine Lealtad in 1979.

...Ground-breaking class valedictorian to first African-American graduate of Macalester College, Minnesota, she found her calling in medicine, graduating from the University of Paris at 38.

I've created a Wikipedia page for her, too:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cathari...

#BlackHistoryMonth #BHM

Dr Catharine D. Lealtad (1895-1989): An Outspoken Life of Humanitarian Action - Absolutely Maybe When Catharine Deaver Lealtad died at the age of 93, an obituary for her in the New York Times led a listing…

For #BlackHistoryMonth, I've written about a remarkable woman who blew me away. Meet Dr Catharine Deaver Lealtad (1895-1989) in my new post @plos.org:

absolutelymaybe.plos.org/2026/02/20/d...

She was a lifelong activist and international humanitarian...1/2

#BHM

Yep - 'cept you say it devvo, not as in Devo #WhipIt

Wish we could trade some!!! Our summer has been super hot and dry. 🌞☀️🌞☀️🌞☀️🌞☀️🌞

@jomorrison.medsky.social Hmmm.... If the below is true (and it seems likely it was, given the whole MAHA thing), it wasn't spent on * medical * costs: bsky.app/profile/medc...

It is, and if you had a sensible pharmacist/GP etc, then they'd make it easy (and free). But I'm just not sure how many are, especially with anti-vax flames being fanned all over the place.

I haven't thought enough about the complexities for school programs. But I think that even just going to a pharmacy etc to ask for the vaccine should automatically make you "a mature minor" — it's far too restricted www.health.vic.gov.au/immunisation...
Mostly, we need to turn the parents around

A Blue-Banded Bee curled around the innards of a red salvia. Three of its blue bands are visible, as well as her shiny clear wings.

My best photo yet of a native Blue-Banded Bee! 😍 😍 😍 Doesn't do the brilliance of the blue justice, though.

They are buzz pollinators, so as usual, I heard it before I saw it. (Buzz pollinators shake the pollen off by vibrating.)

More about them: www.australiangeographic.com.au/blogs/creatu...

Cartoonists Keep Meeting the Moment So many people in a position to do something are failing us, when it matters the most. The disappointments in cultural and political leadership just keep rolling in. Some parts of the culture keep meeting the moment, though—including many prominent political cartoonists. The assignment is to speak truth to power, and it takes an enormous amount of courage: Stepping on a…

Cartoonists Keep Meeting the Moment

So many people in a position to do something are failing us, when it matters the most. The disappointments in cultural and political leadership just keep rolling in. Some parts of the culture keep meeting the moment, though—including many prominent political…

A somewhat shabbily dressed man, sitting in "The Thinker" pose, thinking, "I take the piss, therefore I am." (Cartoon by Jon Kudelka.)

Vale, Jon Kudelka (1972-2026).

A computer is frowning, saying "Is it a number? Secret code?" A robot is looking over its shoulder: "Gibberish! Why can't they make their research user-friendly?" (Cartoon by Hilda Bastian.)

Really good blog posting from @hildabast.bsky.social on some of the most recent trends in #PeerReview, headlines topics in her 🦋 Skeet 👇

Major Milestone for Pancoronavirus Vaccines and More (Next Generation Covid Vax Update No 36) - Absolutely Maybe This month, the first clinical trial for a pancoronavirus formulation of an existing Covid vaccine was registered. Although it’s just on the…

Thanks! It's not the first, and I've included it in my updates. (It was first announced in October.) Here's my December post: absolutelymaybe.plos.org/2025/12/31/m...

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5 Things We Learned About Journal Peer Review in 2025 - Absolutely Maybe Back in 2019 I wrote a couple of posts summarizing what we had learned from research about peer review at journals. Since…

Lots to think about in my annual roundup of peer review research:
- AI, mostly bad; some suggestions of ways it may help
- Evidence on financial rewards for peer review
- Influence of editors' biases
More on equity & diversity; librarians & systematic reviews
absolutelymaybe.plos.org/2026/02/02/5...

I don't, sorry. The search below won't find all of them, and while they're listed as open or still-to-open, that status isn't necessarily up-to-date. They're not all in the US, or nextgen vaxes. But you could scroll through a few dozen possibilities here: clinicaltrials.gov/search?cond=...