Ann Finkbeiner

It was bad at FDA 5 months ago, it has now become a total disaster. 90% of senior staff gone.

In all honesty, I think the best we can do as individual scientists, given the current situation, is to refuse to participate in peer review panels, unless this policy is reverted.

Only we, as individual scientists, can influence change and it is on us to do so.

If we don't, who will?

From the AskHistorians community on Reddit Explore this post and more from the AskHistorians community

OK, so for the next few hours, I will be answering questions on Reddit's AskHistorians forum about my new book -- feel free to pop over there if you are so inclined! reddit.com/r/AskHistori...

Do I know anyone on here who might be able to get me a digital image of a page (or a few) of a manuscript in the Library of Ahmed III (in Istanbul)? The library doesn’t appear to have digitized much (or any) of the collection?

🗃️

"USCIS directed its employees to halt adjudicating all immigration pathways for people from 19 countries deemed to be 'high risk.'"

“People are devastated and they’re frightened. People were plucked out of line. They didn’t cancel the whole ceremony.”

Not to defend Olivia Nuzzi, who broke every rule in journalism and promoted a charlatan to his current position. But it's incredibly telling that she will lose her job, but RFK Jr. gets to stay in his job despite the reports of his drug use, his affairs and his defenestrating of public health.

Iphones making scary noises and their being no trembling was a big topic in my corner of the foothills yesterday. bsky.app/profile/sacb...

AAP on the ball and already out with comments about the ACIP meeting:

www.aap.org/en/news-room...

In honor of the late Tom Stoppard, I re-posted a Last Word on Nothing essay of mine about art, science, and his masterpiece Arcadia. I met him once and told him I teach the play in creative writing classes. I hope his seeming delight was the real thing. lastwordonnothing.com/2025/12/05/b...

It is my great honor to receive my medal at the first annual Olivia Nuzzi Prize for Black Hole Science ceremony, I promise to only fall asleep briefly during the festivities

The media has cast it as a sex scandal so they're mostly focusing on the smutty texts but it's an extremely straightforward ethics scandal: "If Trump gets elected my boyfriend has a job."

I agree. This is "actually" important.

Can't at the moment think of any episode in my (long) journalistic experience of comparable interference with results.

(George Will sharing debate notes with Bush campaign microscopic, by comparison.)

‘Summertime’: A Mother’s Transcendent Lullaby With George Gershwin’s melancholy melody and DuBose Heyward’s colloquial poetry, the opening aria from ‘Porgy and Bess’ remains, 90 years after its premiere, among the most beloved songs in American music.

With George Gershwin’s melancholy melody and DuBose Heyward’s colloquial poetry, the opening aria from ‘Porgy and Bess’ remains, 90 years after its premiere, among the most beloved songs in American music. on.wsj.com/49VUGIE

I would wager he shuts down any public meetings if not #ACIP itself. (Not sure what the legal reps are).

The only upside for RFK is this is a public airing of MAHA grievances. Maybe he gets brownie points.

But that sham show has killed any residual respect for the now defunct ACIP, CDC.

I don’t think there will be another #ACIP. That was a disaster for RFK.He gains no respect or influence from having his friends at ACIP be intellectually naked and universally ridiculed by serious people. RFK is a charlatan but he wants some legitimacy. His team were total fools.

Sec. Kennedy must appear before the HELP Committee to explain why his vaccine advisory committee, in strong disagreement with the medical & scientific community, voted to end a decades-long recommendation that newborns receive the hepatitis B vaccine.

This vaccine saves lives.

Our latest polling averages over at 50+1 show Trump hitting a new low in his job approval rating (39.4% among adults) and Dems meeting their previous high in the generic ballot (+4.4) fiftyplusone.news/latest-polls

wtf is a FIFA peace prize? that's like being an NFL laureate in physics

From the IAmA community on Reddit Explore this post and more from the IAmA community

Live now - got any questions? www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comme...

I’ll be hosting an “ask me anything” session on Reddit this afternoon at 2pm ET. AMA about the future of public health. We’re facing tremendous headwinds, but there are still areas where we can make health progress.

Frank O. Gehry, Titan of Architecture, Is Dead at 96

RIP Frank Gehry. Thank you for your incredible work.

www.nytimes.com/2025/12/05/a...

AAP is not changing its recommendations in response to the CDC vaccine panel; they diverged on covid shots as well

The decision by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to downgrade its recommendations to protect infants from hepatitis B is a dangerous move that will harm children.

Click here to read AAP's full statement: bit.ly/3Y9ZQJT

People of Virginia:

Go ahead with the 10-1 Dem-Rep gerrymander of your commonwealth.

It's the only fair thing to do. It's your duty to history.

(My home state of Calif pioneered non-partisan re-districting commissions, but that was then.)

Pretty wild stuff here. How did the peer reviewers not realize that the figure was total nonsense? This is a Nature journal, for pete's sake

The ACIP should keep ideological, dangerous ideas away from the protection of our children.

Targeted vaccination for hepatitis B, which is what was recommended today, is a strategy that has been tried, and it has failed. Since universal vaccination, infection rates have decreased by as much as 99%.

We have a safe vaccine and a strategy that has worked. I encourage people to seek information on hepatitis B and other childhood vaccines from reliable sources such as the American Academy of Pediatrics.

The hepatitis B virus can survive for a week on surfaces and can spread through household and other close contact; 1/4 of infections among children occur through transmission other than from the mother, and up to 14% of pregnant women in the U.S. don’t receive the recommended hepatitis B screening.

Now obstetricians, pediatricians, insurers, state health departments and others should stand up for fact-based care, protect our children, and not mess with success — not accept this misguided and dangerous recommendation.