Laurel Oldach

^ not enough characters for a close quote and a 💀

“A critical aspect of the original scientific revolution was the recognition that people have to deal with facts that are incompatible with their prior beliefs. It’s probably not a great idea to have a 2nd scientific revolution led by people who appear to be struggling with a key feature of the 1st.

NIH head, still angry about COVID, wants a second scientific revolution Can we pander to MAHA, re-litigate COVID, and improve science at the same time?

Taking advantage of a rare both-kids-napping window to catch up on “read later” tabs. @jtimmer.bsky.social’s analysis of that MAHA/NIH event last month, and what it says about how Bhattacharya’s goals fit into the administration‘s, is worth your time.

arstechnica.com/science/2026...

FDA launches multipronged attack on flu vaccines Regulatory moves come when manufacturers would normally gear up for 2026/7 season

ICYMI yesterday: how this week's news that the FDA won't review Moderna's mRNA vaccine fits into a broader pattern of regulatory restrictions around influenza prevention.

cen.acs.org/safety/drug-...

A reporter on a LinkedIn for Journalists training call I attended yesterday wrote for the SuperYacht Times. You, too, can subscribe for just E299/year.

I hope you're right about the other vaccines - as a US parent with two under three, I'm sure concerned.

And this is from their latest half-year statement- it covers the 6 months ending in June, whereas the public health campaigns here usually start in September/October.

Table screen-capped from an annual financial statement. Annotated with a box higlighting revenue in millions of euros for influenza vaccines sold in Europe (52), the US (54) and other countries (108).

Looks like the US market accounted for about a quarter of Sanofi's global flu vaccine sales for the first half of 2025.
www.sanofi.com/assets/dotco...

Beyond amyloid: Emerging drug targets for Alzheimer’s As current drugs fall short, companies are exploring new targets to treat the neurodegenerative disease

Half my team seem to be on the US vaccine beat at the moment, but they are also working on other stories. Like this from @laureloldach.bsky.social, on new targets for treating Alzheimer's disease #chemsky 🧪
cen.acs.org/pharmaceutic...

FDA’s rejection of Moderna threatens to stifle broader vaccine industry Experts say the FDA "moved the goalposts" on Moderna, creating "a destructive precedent that will undermine the future of vaccine development" in the U.S.

FDA's decision not to accept Moderna's flu vaccine filing has sent shock waves through pharma. "When there’s uncertainty about the path to approval & the reliability of the process, that really has pretty serious consequences,” one player told @jasonmast.bsky.social. www.statnews.com/2026/02/12/f...

FDA launches multipronged attack on flu vaccines Regulatory moves come when manufacturers would normally gear up for 2026/7 season

The FDA’s refusal to review Moderna’s flu vaccine candidate is sending shock waves through biotech- and meanwhile, with new safety warnings of dubious value and no word on strain selection for next season, the agency is destabilizing already approved flu shots too.

cen.acs.org/safety/drug-...

This. And also "just start a paid newsletter" requires that you, yourself, are a BRAND that other people want to pay for! It's a possible niche for op-ed writers or culture.

Most reporters are not that. Most reporters are names at the top of a news story you skip right past.

Read this article this morning. Chilling.

Confirming these are regular-to-smallish pepperonis. These slices at departmental "happy" hour kept me going in the lab on many a Friday night

Definitely not, because every time I interview a basic scientist, they make the same case.

Also, and not for nothing, I dug the Sunday morning paper bringing my family all this journalism out from under 6” of snow in my driveway

Wake up. Make breakfast. Do email. Watch a murder. Go to a party for a 5 year old. Laugh with my daughter. See a different angle of that murder. Hear govt officials slander the victim. Play Barbies with my kid. Feed her dinner. Tear up at that victim reading last honors to a vet. Put kid to bed. USA

Genetic Data From Over 20,000 U.S. Children Misused for ‘Race Science’

🚨🚨🚨 "At least 63 times since 2007, data from some of the 28 human genomic repositories that the N.I.H. controls was improperly released to researchers, used for unapproved purposes or made vulnerable to theft..." (Gift Link) www.nytimes.com/2026/01/24/u...

The funds that fueled chemistry: A visual history Explore a visual tour through the history of chemistry research funding, from alchemy to AI

cen.acs.org/policy/resea...

Oh what a fabulous question. The Annabel Lee tavern in Baltimore- it was in a corner at the end of a block of row houses, with gloomy Poe themed decor. I always ordered the salad (beet and goat cheese and greens, I think) and duck fat fries.

Stereochemical secrets of secalosides A and B revealed at last After almost 30 years, chemists fully decipher the structures of a pair of natural products

Good morning. Do you want a feel-good story about ingenuity and a determined graduate student cracking a decades-old total synthesis problem? If yes, @bethanyhalford.bsky.social spins a yarn you may enjoy.

cen.acs.org/biological-c...

Ken Burns on how his film “The American Revolution” took longer to make than the war itself If journalism is the first draft of history, the prodigious documentarian’s work records how the past echoes into — and rhymes with — the present.

"In my editing room, we have a neon sign that says, “It’s complicated.” Human events are complicated. It’s important to find out new and destabilizing information. Facts outweigh story and artistic considerations. We’ve always rolled that way."

depthperceptionbyll.substack.com/p/filmmaker-...

A targeted protein degrader that doubles as a cancer vaccine One molecule combines two approaches to waken dormant immunity against tumors

Meanwhile, in the lab: intratumor vaccination (or, if you will, "chemical reprogramming") guided by a PD-L1 degrader, all wrapped into one molecule

cen.acs.org/pharmaceutic...

Gentle reminder that you can turn off autoplay on videos so you don’t have to be traumatized by graphic images without your consent:

Settings — content and media — autoplay videos and gifs

Image with a red, spiked circle and white chemistry flask with a red ampersand in the middle above text that reads, “Chemical & Engineering News is forming a union,” in all caps

We are proud to announce the formation of the Chemical & Engineering News Guild. We represent staffers across the editorial and operations teams at C&EN. 1/6

The vaccine news we have been anticipating is now here: www.hhs.gov/press-room/c...

‘Chinese Peptides’ Are the Latest Biohacking Trend in the Tech World

"Biopharma people are shockingly the most reserved - they're a little too deferential to the FDA." - an anonymous peptide supplier quoted in this piece.

That's, uh, that's one way of explaining it.

www.nytimes.com/2026/01/03/b...

👀

Neal Stephenson’s “Fall: Dodge in Hell” has some interesting ideas about the possible near future of our shared information space.

Theorists: this shouldn’t happen!

Biology: bet.