Laura Williams

“Keyboard. How quaint.”

DeKalb County police officer killed in CDC shooting awarded Purple Heart, Medal of Honor The Purple Heart is awarded to those hurt or killed in action, while the Medal of Honor is the country’s highest award for military valor.

DeKalb County police officer killed in CDC shooting awarded Purple Heart, Medal of Honor

When I taught Micro, we talked a lot about how drug-resistant infections are a serious challenge for 21st century medicine. Standard healthcare (for example, surgical procedures) relies heavily on effective antimicrobials.

Satellites Are Leaking the World’s Secrets: Calls, Texts, Military and Corporate Data With just $800 in basic equipment, researchers found a stunning variety of data—including thousands of T-Mobile users’ calls and texts and even US military communications—sent by satellites unencrypte...

New from @agreenberg.bsky.social and me: For three years, security researchers pointed a satellite at the sky and found highly sensitive data being sent unencrypted

They found: calls and texts on T-Mobile’s network; military info from the US and Mexico; in-flight Wi-Fi browsing, and a lot more

U.S. measles cases continue to climb, with outbreaks across the country In South Carolina, more than 150 unvaccinated schoolkids are under quarantine after being exposed to measles. Across the U.S., total case counts could be even higher than the official number.

“CDC has confirmed 44 measles outbreaks in 41 states this year…The vast majority of cases were in people who were unvaccinated; 27% percent have been in children under the age of 5. About 1 in 8 measles cases have resulted in hospitalization.”

Vaccination is so important to protect our communities.

Forgot to start culture

Threw away the pellet

NOOOOOOOOO!

Good grief.
The first seven paragraphs of this.
I’m heartbroken for the dedicated public servants at CDC. I’m heartbroken for U.S. public health.
Just awful.
Thinking of fed workers at other agencies, too.

I'm the incoming SSE president and am behind this idea -- if you're interested in putting together an app and have questions, pls reach out!

A flyer with a dark blue and black gradient background, with five faint microbes decorating it. White bold text, in a curved line reads "Do you want to see more from us?" Beneath it is the BMA logo, and yellow neon style text saying "Donate". Undeneath that in bold white text it says "to support our mission of equity in microbiology. Link in bio"

#BlackInMicro Week is more than just an event; it's a hub for connection. The need for strong communities like ours has never been more urgent. Donate today to show your support: tinyurl.com/GiveBiM (all links in bio) #BIMWeek2025 #HARMONY

CDC data interrupted, so we went state by state A look at Covid-19, flu and RSV trends in each state

The government shutdown interrupted CDC's disease updates, so Team Force of Infection spent our Saturday going to the websites of all 50 health departments to check on Covid-19, flu and RSV. caitlinrivers.substack.com/p/cdc-data-i...

International Observe the Moon Night Join NASA and lunar observers around the world in a global celebration of the Moon.

4 October (today) is International Observe the Moon night!

It's super easy to do - just head out and look up at our celestial companion who has been with us for nearly all of our time. Without it, our world would be very different.

*There's a whole other world that just hangs in our sky for us*

A terrible, avoidable tragedy.
Per the article, the infant was too young to get the vaccine, therefore dependent on protection from a vaccinated community.
State Health Officer: “We do believe that declining vaccination rates are impacting this.”

That is a “you have 15 minutes to reach minimum safe distance” color.

Anytime I feel like things are temporarily going my way but likely soon to collapse, I say “Everything’s coming up Milhouse!”

I saw this thread and thought “I cannot read this thread at work or I will be in floods of tears by the end”.
It’s not even the book! I can’t even read the thread! Honestly, I feel the verklemptness starting, and all I’ve done is think about it.

I was furloughed from USDA postdoc position in 2013 shutdown. We were told clearly and firmly we should not conduct any official work or even check our gov’t email.

This time around, I’ve read furloughed feds may be allowed/instructed to check email to see if they’ve been fired. Grim stuff.

Screenshot of LinkedIn post. Text is: Due to a lapse in government funding, NSF will not post content or respond to any comments/replies until the government reopens.

Posted by NSF on LinkedIn:

“Due to a lapse in government funding, NSF will not post content or respond to any comments/replies until the government reopens.”

Confirmation of expected: non-essential functions must cease during a shutdown. NSF personnel cannot perform any official work.

DEAL ALERT: Take advantage of early bird rates for #SciWri25! For writers, editors, authors, journalists, institutional writers, communications managers, students, and anyone working to translate science for the non-scientist. Join us.

Early bird rates end tomorrow, Oct. 1

sciencewriters2025.o...

Thinking of my USDA colleagues today, who are facing the prospect of a government shutdown and ongoing uncertainty about their jobs and projects.

Antibacterial activity of two newly isolated Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus strains on Salmonella enterica serovars of food safety concern | Microbiology Spectrum Bdellovibrio is the most studied obligate predatory bacteria. It has potential for use as biological control of gram-negative bacteria in health, agriculture, and the food industry. Most basic researc...

Published this month:
Antibacterial activity of Bdellovibrio isolated from urban watersheds against Salmonella serovars responsible for outbreaks of foodborne illness.
First author Yewande Ajao led this work while an ORISE postdoc fellow at USDA.
journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...

The new #NSF #GRFP application now excludes 1000’s of students, including those who were told they could apply this year, or who planned to apply next year.

We have a new specific petition urging #NSFGRFP undo this harmful action. If you are impacted sign here: laurenkuehne.github.io/grfpChanges/

Excellent! Thank you! Looking forward to reading these.

Critical AI On this page are some resources for Critical AI Literacy (CAIL) from my perspective.

Oooh and this olivia.science/ai from bsky.app/profile/oliv...

Some recent papers/articles:
1. zenodo.org/records/1706...
2. www.chronicle.com/article/some...
3. www.wsj.com/tech/ai/ai-b...
4. www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
5. www.theverge.com/report/78717...
6. www.civicsoftechnology.org/blog/no-ai-g...

Re-upping this short thread because I am confident people have recommendations for my reading list on AI technologies and their impact on society.

What should I read to be better informed?

Up next

Empire of AI: Dreams and Nightmares in Sam Altman’s OpenAI by Karen Hao (2025)

I welcome other suggestions of books or long-form journalism pieces. What have you read on AI that helped you get a handle on these technologies and their impact (for good and ill) on our society?

I want to be more informed about AI, so I started a reading list.
So far, I’ve read:

Co-intelligence: Living and Working with AI by Ethan Mollick (2024)

AI Snake Oil: What Artificial Intelligence Can Do, What It Can’t, and How to Tell the Difference by Arvind Narayanan and Sayash Kapoor (2024)

This only happens to you once