Gregg Mitman

was reading a poli sci book about the US response to the 2013-16 Ebola outbreak and the challenges to (not just) experts (but expertise), was also a function/subset of challenging sovereign authority. Just who’s in charge - or should be - during health crises? Whose/what knowledge is valued?

Collage of three images. The first reads: "Max Planck Institute for the history of Science. Career. We're hiring." The second image shows a researcher presenting at the March 2025 Publications Slam. The third shows a group of people at the institute's courtyard. Second image by Anna Ruhnow, MPIWG 2025. Third image by MPIWG, 2021.

Department "Knowledge Systems and Collective Life" seeks a Collaborative Research Coordinator!

🤝 Help expand its community-based, publicly engaged research
🎤 Advise researchers on cooperative methods
📋 Coordinate cooperation agreements

🗓️ Deadline: Sep 28, 2025
🔗 bit.ly/45FXu8R

#HistSci #EnvHist

Thank you, Libby!

Appropriations Senators Retain Vertebrate Status Even Susan Collins voted to fully fund NIH and CDC and give no money to MAHA

There are still many ways that the MAHA movement can crush the NIH, but the Senate Appropriations Committee—including most of the GOP—grew a spine & rejected one of the biggest ones yesterday: a full rebuke of proposed budget cuts & reorganization of the NIH.

open.substack.com/pub/rasmusse...

The graphic shows cultivated lands bordering on a river/wetland and collections of trees (credit: AXIO-IMAGES from Getty Images) in the background of text bubbles. The text summarizes key details of the conference. Please read the description and the full call on the RCC website for this information.

We are looking for multidisciplinary panels to be presented at our upcoming conference "Beyond Dualism—Thinking Creatively Across Worlds," which takes place in July next year.

The full call can be found in the news section on our website: www.carsoncenter.uni-muenchen.de/news/news_ev... (1/?)

Mutual Aid in the Age of Fascism - Boston Review As people are being deputized to do violence, building connections is political resistance.

“A fascist society is one in which some people are deputized to do violence, and everyone else is forced to defend themselves.”

Medical Research Funding — Unbreaking How the administration is breaking the government, and what that means for all of us.

I urge everyone to read Unbreaking’s new page on everything the govt is doing to destroy & diminish medical research funding.

It’s the best thing I’ve read on this topic: @lizneeley.bsky.social & co have such done an incredible job.

unbreaking.org/issues/medic...

I subscribe to the @newyorker.com, I was part of ACT UP, I knew Larry Kramer well and know Tony Fauci too. Daniel Immerwahr's piece on RFKJr, features this and other passages that need a reponse. 1/

“Ugly, Destructive, Deadly”: Bishop William Barber Slams Bill Cutting Medicaid, Medicare As a Republican-sponsored budget bill advances through Congress, we hear from Bishop William Barber about how the bill hurts low-income people. “It is about death-dealing and destruction to the poor...

"A Big, Ugly, Destructive, Deadly Bill": Bishop William Barber Slams Bill Cutting Medicaid, Medicare

Trump’s ‘fear factor’: Scientists go silent as funding cuts escalate Many worry about retribution. But for others, speaking out is worth the risk

“It’s the next generation we have to protect and care about,” Gregg Gonsalves. Thankful to @gregggonsalves.bsky.social, who has never shied from speaking truth to power.

Trump’s ‘fear factor’: Scientists go silent as funding cuts escalate | Science | AAAS

"Women are PIs on 58% of the canceled grants, although they are PIs on only 34% of all active NSF grants.

Similarly, Blacks are PIs on 17% of the terminated grants, although they make only 4% of the total pool. Hispanic PIs and those with disabilities were twice as likely to lose a grant."

Why I’m Resigning from the NSF and Library of Congress I cannot participate in systems that require dishonesty as the price of belonging.

"For me, the answer now lies in refusal, the withdrawal of participation from systems that require dishonesty as the price of belonging."

Today I am resigning from the National Science Board and the Library of Congress Scholars Council.

I wrote about my decision in TIME.

time.com/7285045/resi...

'How come I can’t breathe?': Musk's data company draws a backlash in Memphis The company’s turbines — enough to power 280,000 homes — run without emission controls in an area that leads Tennessee in asthma hospitalizations.

Poisoning the air of a Black community for a fucking chatbot.

Trump’s NIH Axed Research Grants Even After a Judge Blocked the Cuts, Internal Records Show A lawsuit led by the Washington state attorney general offers an unprecedented view of the termination of more than 600 NIH grants, including transgender research grants threatened by Trump’s…

Internal records show that the NIH axed grants for research about transgender people despite a court order barring the cuts.

Agency officials also testified that DOGE was involved in directing grant terminations.

By @anniewaldman.bsky.social

Bird flu isn't as silent as we think — experts caution the pandemic threat is still growing It's been months since a major update in H5N1 news, but that doesn't mean the virus has disappeared

So we haven't heard much in the news about H5N1 lately...is it because the threat is gone?

I don't think so. Viruses don't just go away when you stop looking for them.

I spoke with @carlynzwaren.bsky.social @salonnewsroom.bsky.social about it 👇

www.salon.com/2025/04/30/b...

Exclusive: NSF stops awarding new grants and funding existing ones US science funder also plans to screen grant applications for compliance with ‘agency priorities’.

Nature reports that the National Science Foundation has stopped awarding new grants and allotting funds to existing ones. All of them. @colincarlson.bsky.social says that unless the freeze is lifted, it “is going to destroy people's labs.” 2/10
www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Anthropology of Infectious Disease Emergence and Epidemic Control: A review Traditional biomedical and epidemiological approaches have been crucial in preparing for and responding to infectious disease epidemics. But biologist…

"Anthropology of Infectious Disease Emergence and Epidemic Control". A review by Tamara Giles-Vernick and Jules Villa www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Sex-for-Work Allegations Hang Over Tycoons’ Rubber Plantations Hubert Fabri and Vincent Bolloré own plantations accused of land appropriation and labor abuses. Their company says it has taken steps to improve matters, but a trip to West Africa shows sexual coerci...

My latest: sexual violence/harassment, land appropriation, labor rights violations at African plantations co-owned by French billionaire Vincent Bollore.
Rubber made by this woman, "Rebecca," who faces daily sexual coercion, is imported by Michelin for US tires.

www.bloomberg.com/features/202...

Thanks!!

Planetwalker In 1971, John Francis witnessed an oil tanker collision in the San Francisco Bay. The incident caused him to give up motorized transport and speaking. He spent the next 17 silent years earning the nam...

As hate, vengeance, and greed are driving decisions devastating the planet and those most vulnerable, I highly recommend this Oscar-nominated doc on John Francis, a remarkable person, whose presence of being and message of kindness, are so needed today.
#envhist

www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/...

Stanley added: “You’ve got to just band together and say an attack on one university is an attack on all universities. And maybe you lose that fight, but you’re certainly going to lose this one if you give up before you fight.

RFK Jr.’s Prescription for Bird Flu on Farms: Let It Spread (Gift Article) The health secretary has suggested allowing the virus to spread, so as to identify birds that may be immune. Such an experiment would be disastrous, scientists say.

Gift article about why it is a TERRIBLE idea to let H5N1 spread on farms, because it will 1. kill the birds 2. make them suffer 3. provide more opportunities for mutation 4. be a disaster to clean up because they would just be leaky feathered H5N1 bombs. www.nytimes.com/2025/03/18/h...

Biodiversity treaty: UN deal fails to address the root causes of nature’s destruction Global summits to arrest Earth’s deteriorating health look increasingly farcical.

The UN’s new biodiversity deal aims to protect 30% of Earth by 2030—but does it tackle the root causes of nature’s destruction? Without addressing economic expansion, pollution & systemic issues, conservation alone won’t be enough. #Biodiversity #NatureCrisis theconversation.com/biodiversity...

POSTDOC ALERT! Postdoc in the history of modern medicine or public health at Wisconsin: details at the link below. 2 years, excellent conditions. #Skystorians #HistMed #medhum please repost widely!

mhb.wisc.edu/2025/02/25/p...

Musk’s takeover of US health agencies raises pandemic threat, experts warn Doge wreaks havoc on HHS and CDC as Trump seeks to grant committee sweeping governmental powers

"The entire first-year class of the CDC’s Epidemic Intelligence Services officers, known as “disease detectives,” has been laid off! An incredible group of talented healthcare professionals devoted to help people and stop the spread of outbreaks around the world. Senseless.
#histmed

Opinion | I Shudder to Imagine Kennedy Running Our Health Agencies. (Gift Article) We have to go toe-to-toe with this administration and resist its attacks on public health.

"We will have to go toe-to-toe with this administration ... challenging its attacks on science in the courts, finding ways to protect public health through state and local action." Huge respect for Gregg Gonsalves, fighting for global health equity for decades.

www.nytimes.com/2025/02/13/o...

The Path to American Authoritarianism What comes after democratic breakdown.

Clear-eyed and useful overview of our descent into authoritarianism from Levitsky and Way www.foreignaffairs.com/united-state...

Trump maintains funding freeze at NIH, defying court order The Trump administration is still prohibiting National Institutes of Health (NIH) staff from issuing virtually all grant funding, an NIH official tells Popular Information.

BREAKING

The Trump administration is maintaining a funding freeze at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in defiance of two federal court orders.

The ongoing freeze was confirmed by an NIH official and internal correspondence reviewed by Popular Information.

Screenshot of grant guidelines with highlighted funding restrictions that include promotion of gender ideology, promotion of discriminatory equity ideology, promotion of dei or deia activities or initiatives, and environmental justice initiatives or activities.

NEH has posted updates to the funding restrictions for some grant programs.

This account is for sharing info with US scientists, both extramural and intramural to NIH, about attacks on science in the US.

Education is power, and we can help advocate for science and medicine together. 💪🧪

We are a team of NIH people. Please ask us questions you might have.