adam whalen, mph 🐳

next up, trans rights!

A medical journal says the case reports it has published for 25 years are, in fact, fiction A Canadian journal has issued corrections on 138 case reports it published over the last 25 years to add a disclaimer: The cases described are fictional. Paediatrics & Child Health, the journal…

This story is nuts

The journal ‘Pediatrics and Child health’ has been published an article type, for case reports, that are made up and fictional without having any clear notice 😱

retractionwatch.com/2026/03/03/c...

congrats dude!! there is hope after all lol

no shade to michael at all obviously, but every time I see a post or article like this, I’m like, why am I killing myself to write a dissertation grant again? 🙃

Q. In the top of our story, we talk about the rally you attended in Managua and a wire report at the time said that there were anti-American chants from the crowd. The United States at that time - I don't know how much you know about this — was actively supporting the Contras to overthrow the government. So that there's anti-American sentiment? I remember that, I remember that event very clearly. You do recall hearing those chants? I think the wire report has them saying, "Here, there, everywhere, the Yankee will die." hey were fighting against American -- Huh huh--yes, what is your point? I wanted to —— Are you shocked to learn that there was anti-American sentiment? My point was I wanted to know if you had heard that. I don't remember, no. Of course there was anti-American sentiment there. This was a war being funded by the United States against the people of Nicaragua. People were being killed in that war. Do you think if you had heard that directly, you would have stayed at the rally? I think Sydney, with all due respect, you don't understand a word that I'm saying.

Bernie Sanders interviewed by NYT's Sydney Ember published on May 18 2019

one other reason why we don’t use causal language in observational epidemiology studies is because we are explicitly told by journals and reviewers not to, even when appropriate. nice to have another piece of ammo for responses!

sure the pedophile felon president just illegally bombed a country that may have nukes while federal forces under his command murder and harass people in america and immigrants are tortured and he moves forward with plans to build concentration camps and sorry idk where i was going fuck all of this

watching the traitors reunion, good to be reminded that Michael Rapaport is a complete douchebag

Scouts recently allowed girls, including trans and nonbinary kids, to join (hence dropping the "Boy"). hard to see this as anything other than complete capitulation to a bigoted regime and selling out these vulnerable kids

at the same time, they're affirming their association with the "Department of War" and the military, committing to hosting jamborees on military bases and eliminating membership fees for military families. I know that they likely don't have much of a choice, but as an Eagle myself, this is a sad day

Citizenship in Society Merit Badge Discontinuance The Citizenship in Society Merit Badge will be discontinued effective Friday, February 27, 2026. Beginning on February 27, 2026, Scouts will no longer be able to start requirements on the Citizenship ...

the badge was previously one of a select few that are *required* for attaining the rank of Eagle Scout, the most prestigious honor in Scouting. update from the org here: www.scouting.org/program-upda...

likely to get missed, but to comply with Trump's anti-DEI EO, Scouting USA (formerly the Boy Scouts) is discontinuing their Citizenship in Society merit badge effective today. the badge was designed to "Realize the benefits of diversity, equity, inclusion, and ethical leadership"

lol. there was no way this was going to be good, but I am a little excited to see Mandy Patinkin play Odin.

Cover of The Lancet:

@thelancet.com
www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...

I feel like they'll almost certainly downplay the spartan saga because tv, but they can't ignore it completely, because kratos as stranger in a strange land is kind of essential to his character. but yeah, the "going back to the old me" part really only hits if you ~know~

Brinda Adhikari 51:42 Okay, so Jay, what would you say to Michael Green in that situation? Jay Bhattacharya 51:47 I’d say that he didn’t take advantage of the opportunity to rethink his grant. Like, we gave him the opportunity, and he didn’t take advantage of it, right? So he again, I didn’t know this grant specifically, but, like, I’ll tell you, like, based on the title, what I hear is a grant where it has as a premise, something that, in principle, couldn’t have a control group. And so does bad science. So I, you know, I do again- Brinda Adhikari 52:09 So what would have made us better? Jay Bhattacharya 52:11 Just okay for let me just finish Brinda. So I think if, if I say that, I provisionally, because, again, I’ve not read his grant so, but based on that 90 second snippet, he had the opportunity to be more specific about his hypotheses, make them actually scientific, give them give make arguments for control groups. We gave him that opportunity, and he didn’t take it. That’s what I’d say.

Bhattacharya: ...And the total dollar amounts, the total total sort of commitment they have, is much less, just as a total, as a as just a matter of again, math and so and the other thing I’d say is, for young researchers, you know, in the 1980s the NIH, the typical first large grant, the age of researcher getting first large grant. The NIH was in the mid 30s, and now it’s in the mid it’s in the mid 40s. It’s been creeping up for now decades. We have essentially, and that young researcher that you had play, right? That’s, that’s, you can see, you can hear the angst in his his voice about this the you know, because he was applying for a postdoc, we now require one, two, three postdocs before you can try your ideas out. That’s something I’m I absolutely want to fix at the NIH it’s and it’s a cultural shift that’s taken decades to get to this point. And what that means is that we have to start funding early career researchers. We have to start funding researchers with newer ideas. And that means that there’s going to be upheaval. People who are used to getting grants that are, you know, for one, two, three, four renewals, 20 years in, where they’re doing marginal science, are now going to have a harder time getting research dollars than researchers that are, that are with brand new with brand new ideas that potentially can make a tremendous difference in the health and well being of people. Alzheimer’s disease, type two diabetes, rare diseases, you know, we Parkinson’s disease, we need to, we need new ideas to advance our, these areas, because there’s tremendous suffering. Brinda Adhikari 1:09:42 And I tell you, Jay, I love that that was the first part of your priorities, was training future biomedical scientists. I think the only thing I just want to press you on, just to explain, is that I did see NIH data to show that in 2025 there were, there were, like 20% fewer early stage investigators funded than the previous year. What is the explanation? Because I know you …

It is was so discouraging to hear the NIH Director respond with sneering condescension, dismissing a young researcher's work as "bad science."

He then had the audacity at the end of the podcast to use Dr. Green as an example of someone whose "angst" he is trying address, providing no plan to do so.

I had to renegotiate my F99/K00 award twice in 6 months, and on both occasions I asked what specifically “DEI activities” means. I didn’t get clear answers, so I was hopeful the person that directive came from could specify (the NIH Director). I asked the on @whyshoulditrustyou.bsky.social podcast

walmart is a menace to society. but not for the reason you think,

Inside this latest Trump-Mamdani meeting: -Last time the two met, Trump asked him to return with ideas to build big things. Mamdani came back with a massive housing proposal -Mamdani's team created mock headlines to show Trump how such a project would be received. He was "very enthusiastic." -Mamdani pushed for release of Columbia student detained today, Trump calls him later to tell him she's being released -Mamdani gives Susie Wiles a list of four other students he wants help with, all targeted in pro-Palestinian protests https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-zohran-mamdani-new-york-housing-3835daca395dbe46c2f3da2433ec24f4 Quote Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani

Fascinating

BREAKING: Protests have erupted at Columbia University after the school says DHS agents detained a student after making "misrepresentations to gain entry" to building.

4-panel cartoon of 2 people and a dog: Panel 1: Person in green shirt looks apprehensively at the dog and asks the person in blue shirt "Does your dog bite?" Panel 2: Person in blue shirt replies "No, but it can hurt you in other ways." Panel 3: in an apparent demonstration of how the dog can hurt you without biting, the dog says to the green shirted person: "Just because you can draw a DAG does not mean that the relationships depicted are causal." Panel 4: the green shirted person is crying while the blue shirted person and dog look on.

hey @pwgtennant.bsky.social - thanks for your delightful talk at BU today on "Have DAGs Fulfilled their Promise in Epidemiology and Health Research?"

One of my fav bits:

10 hour study with me at Columbia showing lunch

Her in the library

DHS illegally arrested me please help Text against image of her knees

Columbia student detained today is a day-in-the-life influencer with 100K followers. Her stories right now go from her studying for a Genetics exam in a nicely edited "ten hour study with me at Columbia" video, to a photo of her knees with the caption "dhs illegally arrested me please help"

DHS agents detain Columbia student after entering University-owned residence, Shipman reports <i>This is a developing story. Check back for updates. </i>

www.columbiaspectator.com/news/2026/02...

Feds Lied Their Way Into Dorm to Arrest Student, Says Columbia President The agents entered the campus at around 6:30 this morning, just before a neuroscience researched posted that “Dhs illegally arrested me. Please help.“

NEW: Federal agents with the Department of Homeland Security apparently lied their way into a Columbia university dormitory and arrested a student there, the university’s acting president Claire Shipman said in a statement Thursday morning.

www.thecity.nyc/2026/02/26/e...

would be cool if columbia cared about its students half as much as the famous male researchers it pays to pal around with jeffrey epstein

February 26, 2026 Dear members of the Columbia community: This morning at approximately 6:30 a.m., federal agents from the Department of Homeland Security entered a Columbia Residential building and detained a student. We are working to gather more information, working to reach the family, and providing legal support. Our understanding at this time is that the federal agents made misrepresentations to gain entry to the building to search for a "missing person." We are working to gather more details. It is important to reiterate that all law enforcement agents must have a judicial warrant or judicial subpoena to access non-public areas of the University, including

It is important to reiterate that all law enforcement agents must have a judicial warrant or judicial subpoena to access non-public areas of the University, including housing, classrooms, and areas requiring CUID swipe access. An administrative warrant is not sufficient. If law enforcement agents seek entry to non-public areas of the University, ask the agents to wait to enter any non-public areas until contacting Public Safety. Public Safety will contact the Office of the General Counsel to coordinate the University's response. Do not allow them to enter or accept service of a warrant or subpoena. We will update our community as additional information becomes available. Sincerely,

BREAKING: Columbia President Claire Shipman says DHS agents entered a residential buliding this morning and detained a student.

"Our understanding at this time is that the federal agents made misrepresentations to gain entry to the building to search for a 'missing person.'"

more info about this morning's ICE kidnapping on Columbia's campus from a friend:
- they posed as NYPD
- they claimed to be looking for a missing person but did not have a warrant for the search
- the public safety officer let them into the building anyway
- it was an undergraduate student

email from acting president shipman that DHS agents lied their way into a Columbia residence and abducted a student early this morning. horrifying and despicable and begs the question: what is Columbia doing to protect its students from ICE? clearly not enough

I think it’s maybe still worth a shot—this is a pretty glaring issue, and you can ask for leniency in the cover letter. plus at 250 words, your thread is pretty much the whole letter lol