Keith Darce

Pro rugby season officially began yesterday here in #SanDiego with a big win by #SDLegion. Nice distraction now that football is done.

Your brain is full of microplastics: are they harming you? Plastics have infiltrated every recess of the planet, including your lungs, kidneys and other sensitive organs. Scientists are scrambling to understand their effects on health.

Great read about micro/nano plastics in the environment … the science is still evolving but we’re running out of time to do something about it.
www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Great background on the recent #birdflu #H5N1 spillover in Nebraska dairy cattle and why it’s an important development.

www.aphis.usda.gov/sites/defaul...

Yup. 4 days a week.

Stuff I see from my desk.

Top panels: graphs showing increases in spillover events, extinction rates, and temperature anomalies over the last few centuries. Bottom panel: a map of 10 pandemics since the year 1900. Four were linked to agriculture, two to wildlife use, and one to climate change.

🚨😷🧪 NEW: A growing body of evidence shows that pandemics, biodiversity loss, and climate change are part of a broader polycrisis - but there are no simple solutions. A sweeping overview of "Pathogens and planetary change" for the first issue of @natrevbiodiv.bsky.social, out now 🔓 rdcu.be/d6lHl

This from a guy who represents a state that is completely dependent on regular disaster bailouts from the federal government.

That’s sad! What about Tobasco?

Even Adults May Soon Be Vulnerable to ‘Childhood’ Diseases Outbreaks among the unvaccinated are a predictable consequence of falling immunization rates. But even vaccinated adults may be vulnerable to some illnesses.

#Vaccination is not a “personal choice.” It’s a benevolent proactive decision to help protect your family, your friends and your community from vicious and potentially dangerous diseases that are easily preventable.

www.nytimes.com/2025/01/13/h...

Looks like the Miramar Fire here in #SanDiego is under control 😁

Miramar fire burning right now in #SanDiego at Miramar Air Station.

In Praise of California It has its flaws — what place doesn’t? — but it plays a big role in America’s greatness

"California paid in a lot more [to the federal government] than it got back — $83 billion in total. So did Washington state and much of the Northeast. Most red states were in the reverse position, getting much more from DC than they paid in return."

How Lagging Vaccination Could Lead to a Polio Resurgence (Gift Article) In its original form, the virus survives in just two countries. But a type linked to an oral vaccine used in other nations has already turned up in the West.

This morning, my colleagues and I published a trio of articles. One talks about the very real threat of polio. Even though we think of it as nearly eradicated, it is still circulating in some parts of the world, including in Europe. (1/3)

www.nytimes.com/2025/01/13/h...

Adaptive behavior in response to the 2022 mpox epidemic in the Paris region The 2022 mpox outbreak saw a rapid case surge among men-who-have-sex-with-men (MSM) in previously unaffected regions, driven by heterogeneity in sexual networks. A sudden decline followed, but its dri...

#mpox vaccination research out of France with implications for responding to future outbreaks. A significant drop in risky behavior by MSM was the main factor in stopping the 2022 epidemic.

www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1...

Already below the measles herd immunity threshold 😢

Ditto! Still need to do it in person one of these days

Yay!

Hey! Who’s this?

Happy Friday from the office cube

Tim was there in October. Just missed you.