Jennifer Leman

This Year’s Medicine Nobel Goes to Discovery of Why the Body Doesn’t Attack Itself Mary E. Brunkow, Fred Ramsdell and Shimon Sakaguchi shared the Nobel prize for their work on peripheral immune tolerance, a process that is key to organ transplants and treatment of autoimmune disease...

It's Nobel week! Here's @laurenjyoung.bsky.social with a great explainer on the science of today's winners, who developed our understanding of how the immune system avoids attacking the body: 🧪 www.scientificamerican.com/article/2025...

"But months later, the results are in: of more than 160,000 students enrolled, only 43 families chose to opt out of LGBTQ+ education districtwide."

"this crusade is not a mass movement. It’s the obsession of a vanishingly small minority"

Exclusive: ex-CDC director talks about why she was fired “I would never do that, as a scientist,” Susan Monarez says of being asked to approve changes to vaccine recommendations without knowing the details.

EXCLUSIVE: In her first interview all year, Susan Monarez, CDC director for only 29 days, tells me why Trump/RFK fired her and where this is all headed.

The CDC director is an “inherently political position, but that doesn’t mean that it has to be politically compromised”, she tells @nature.com.

If you know other cases where DHS/ICE and other agencies demanded data about an activist's online accounts, I'm still digging. My Signal is shawnmusgrave.82

Wow! Brilliant for writers!

ACTION: NewsGuild-CWA joins calls on DHS to withdraw journalist visa proposal | The NewsGuild - TNG-CWA The NewsGuild-CWA calls on DHS to withdraw its proposed rule that would change the I visa program for foreign journalists working in the United States.

🚨 ACTION: The U.S. should welcome foreign journalists—not kick them out.

DHS is trying to gut the journalist I visa program and weaken press freedom at home and abroad.

▶️ Will you join over 13,000 and submit your own comment?:

newsguild.org/action-newsg...

1/ I’m Till Eckert, a ProPublica reporter. For the past 2 weeks, I’ve been going to the same NY immigration courthouse.

Nearly every time, I see ICE agents arresting immigrants. Today, a woman was slammed to the ground after begging officials not to take her husband away.

Thread 👇

Lots of chemists work in the US on H-1B visas. The new $100,000 fee is likely to prevent many brilliant scientists from coming here, which would be a huge loss.

My latest for @cenmag.bsky.social

cen.acs.org/careers/empl...

For science and health coverage, add @thexylom.com, @sequencermag.bsky.social, @thesicktimes.org to this list.

Finding your book's main characters - Nieman Storyboard Megan Greenwell's “Bad Company,” annotated. Plus: What makes dialogue work on the page?

My Friday @niemanstoryboard.org newsletter: @greenwell.bsky.social on finding your book's main characters + @mdbell79.bsky.social on dialogue, @skyepillsbury.com talks to @kalilaholt.bsky.social about "Heavyweight"'s return.

niemanstoryboard.org/2025/09/19/f...

#booksky #longreads #podcasts

Breaking news: Thirty-one journalists were killed in Israeli airstrikes on a newspaper complex in Yemen last week, according to a new report by the Committee to Protect Journalists.

They say it was “the deadliest strike on journalists in the Middle East.”

An illustrated guide to getting the vaccines you need in RFK Jr.’s America The right questions to ask about your family’s vaccinations.

An illustrated guide to getting the vaccines you need in RFK Jr.’s America www.vox.com/health/46052...

USGS Unveils New National Geologic Map In a significant advancement for geoscience, the U.S. Geological Survey has released the most detailed national-scale geologic map of the country to date, offering a unique regional view of geology at...

incredible new national geological map for the U.S. just got released, mobile functional too, meaning you can get incredibly detailed geological information on the go, pretty fuckin' rad
www.usgs.gov/news/nationa...

In a new era of wildfires, the Air Quality Index needs a revamp

During and after wildfires, people often rely on the local Air Quality Index (AQI) to make informed decisions about their health and safety. But AQI doesn't include many toxic gases; can it be expanded? cen.acs.org/environment/...

#chemsky 🧪

Here's what the third day of elementary school looked like in Mount Pleasant, Washington DC.

Top CDC Officials Resign After Director Is Pushed Out The exodus has set off alarms among CDC staff: “My main concern is they will be replaced with puppets.”

Not great! Not great at all! www.wired.com/story/center...

it's never been a better time to be listeria 🦠💅

Delivery Drivers ‘Targeted’ During Trump’s Militarized Takeover Of D.C. Police Some of the highest-profile arrests during the D.C. “crime emergency” are of immigrants — especially delivery workers for companies like DoorDash.

>> On Friday in Columbia Heights, HuffPost observed masked federal agents detain a man insisting he had legal status and pleading that his wife had recently given birth and couldn’t walk.

www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-...

The Mysterious Origins of the Most Energetic Neutrino Ever Detected Two years ago, Earth was hit by the most energetic neutrino in history. Scientists thought it might be a measurement error, but a new study has confirmed this “ghost particle” was real.

Two years ago, Earth was hit by the most energetic neutrino in history. Scientists thought it might be a measurement error, but a new study has confirmed this “ghost particle” was real. www.wired.com/story/the-my...

The caption says it's Willow Creek Jasper, but it looks like meat and pickles and onions and sauce on a flatbread

I'm sorry, but I need you to see this rock that looks like a sandwich that I just found on Instagram.

A striking image of the plasma jet in the blazar PKS 1424+240, seen head-on. The jet is threaded by a nearly perfect toroidal magnetic field (visualized in orange). Due to special relativity, high-energy gamma rays and neutrinos are strongly beamed toward Earth, even though the jet appears slow-moving from our perspective.

15 years of radio observations yielded this amazing view down the throat of a black hole.

We're looking into a jet of plasma shooting out from a supermassive black hole, called PKS 1424+240. The lines depict intense magnetic fields threaded through the jet. 🧪🔭

www.mpg.de/25171297/eye...

Atlantans Sound Alarm Over Federal Cuts, Misinformation, Deadly CDC Shooting A week after a deadly shooting at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) rattled the nation, Atlanta residents flooded the streets again Saturday morning to protest against the Trump adm...

I said earlier there's not enough coverage of the CDC shooting, so have to add that it, and reactions, are being covered by @thexylom.com , a 7-yo newsroom that is ATL-based, science-focused, and entirely Asian-American run, and people should check them out.
www.thexylom.com/post/atlanta...

Blue granite - Colorado

Another pic, perhaps better light. Guess what’s the blue mineral? ⚒️

Screenshot of a vox media union logo over the Eater logo. The heading reads, "Eater isn't essential without journalism."

Screenshot (condensed for Bluesky word limit): On August 8, without warning, Vox Media laid off 15 members of Eater, Punch, and Thrillist, the award-winning food, drink, and travel news and recommendation sites, while management celebrated Eater’s 20th anniversary. The cuts decimated local coverage, including Chicago, the country’s third-largest market. This is the second restructuring at Eater in less than 10 months. The cuts come not only one month after the Vox Media Union ratified its new collective bargaining agreement, but also two months after the James Beard Awards, where Eater and Punch earned four nominations and two wins. The firings came a week after Jim Bankoff claimed in an interview there would be no imminent layoffs. Eater says farewell to a cohort of award-winning and dedicated journalists who fought tooth and nail to keep the wall between editorial and advertising intact. We sound like a broken record, but we are once again grateful to have bargained for industry-leading severance language in our latest contract. This GoFundMe is organized by members of the Vox Media Union. All funds raised will directly benefit union members impacted by the August 7 layoffs, and will be distributed in equal shares to those who opt-in to receive funds. The organizers will be reaching out to those impacted in the coming days with details. Our union is committed to supporting our colleagues who were laid off, and will hold management accountable for how these layoffs were conducted. With these funds, we hope to ease the financial burden that these layoffs have placed on our colleagues some of who face mounting medical bills and are charged with being their family's primary caretakers. The Vox Media Union layoff fund is being overseen by a committee of Vox Media Union members, including Ashok Selvam, Jaya Saxena, and Amy McCarthy. The fund will operate transparently, with full accounting of all donations that are received and distributed.

Our Eater GoFundMe is up! We all know this has been a difficult year for Vox, but the folks at Eater have been extremely dedicated in their support for each of their colleagues, past and present. Let's support them now!!! #unionstrong #voxunion #1u

gofund.me/04932462

Exclusive | White House to Vet Smithsonian Museums to Fit Trump’s Historical Vision Top White House officials will scrutinize exhibitions, internal processes, collections and artist grants ahead of America’s 250th anniversary.

BREAKING WSJ:

The Trump White House plans to conduct a far-reaching review of Smithsonian museum exhibitions, materials and operations ahead of America's 250th anniversary to ensure the museums align with "Trump's interpretation of American history." www.wsj.com/politics/pol...

Hidden in Plain Sight: Using Public Documents to Report on Elusive Stories - The Open Notebook People, companies, and government agencies don’t always return your phone calls. To investigate secretive subjects, reporters can make creative use of documents that are out in the open. Lawsuits, Ins...

In which @stephaniemlee.bsky.social reports for @theopennotebook.bsky.social on using public documents for investigative science journalism. With @laurenweberhp.bsky.social @naveenasadasivam.bsky.social @primateyell.bsky.social @dangaristo.bsky.social & more:

www.theopennotebook.com/2025/08/12/h...

Damn, so sorry to hear this!

Should You Worry the New Chikungunya Virus Outbreak in China Could Reach the U.S? Experts say the painful infection, spread to people from mosquitoes, can get to many countries if it finds the right hosts

Should you be scared the big chikungunya virus outbreak in China could reach the U.S? The infection is really painful. And yes it could hit the US, I report today in @sciam.bsky.social. We have the mosquitoes that carry the virus. But there are outbreaks much closer. Plus we have vaccines. 🧪🩺

Israel kills Al Jazeera journalists in targeted Gaza City airstrike - Committee to Protect Journalists New York, August 10, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists is appalled to learn of the killing today of Al Jazeera journalist Anas Al-Sharif, Mohammed Qreiqeh, camera operators Ibrahim Zaher and M...

By CPJ’s count, 186 journalists have been killed in Gaza since October 2023. Other estimates put the figure well north of 200.

cpj.org/2025/08/isra...

Every reputable expert I know considers mRNA vaccine technology to be one of the most revolutionary advances in medicine in our lifetimes. Its inventors won the Nobel Prize in 2023. Shutting it down now is pointless self-harm to humanity.