Alan Regenberg
@aregenberg.bsky.social
Bioethicist, etc: Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics. Ethics & emerging biotech. Curator: @bermaninstitute.bsky.social. Baltimore enthusiast. He/Him.
Reposted by Alan Regenberg
Vice President JD Vance gets roundly booed at the opening ceremony of the Milano-Cortina 2026 Olympics. "Those are a lot of boos for him, whistling jeering," says the presenter. US athletes receive a warm welcome from fans, though.
February 6, 2026 at 9:13 PM
Vice President JD Vance gets roundly booed at the opening ceremony of the Milano-Cortina 2026 Olympics. "Those are a lot of boos for him, whistling jeering," says the presenter. US athletes receive a warm welcome from fans, though.
Reposted by Alan Regenberg
Former FDA commissioner Robert M. Califf: HHS leadership is focused on policy-based evidence, not evidence-based policy. Personal experience and observation are no replacement for outcomes data. www.statnews.com/2026/02/06/a... via @statnews.com
Former FDA commissioner: HHS leadership is focused on policy-based evidence, not evidence-based policy
“Doctors are not a flock of free-range chickens wandering about offices and hospitals and making up best practices, one clinician at the time,” writes Robert Califf.
www.statnews.com
February 6, 2026 at 6:54 PM
Former FDA commissioner Robert M. Califf: HHS leadership is focused on policy-based evidence, not evidence-based policy. Personal experience and observation are no replacement for outcomes data. www.statnews.com/2026/02/06/a... via @statnews.com
Controversial Danish vaccine research group faces new allegations | Science | AAAS www.science.org/content/arti...
Controversial Danish vaccine research group faces new allegations
Researchers say they couldn’t find complete data for 10 trials that together enrolled tens of thousands of children in Guinea-Bissau
www.science.org
February 6, 2026 at 6:46 PM
Controversial Danish vaccine research group faces new allegations | Science | AAAS www.science.org/content/arti...
Reposted by Alan Regenberg
NIH research is in the red zone. $561M in grants for cancer and heart disease is frozen, and 304 trials are defunded. Vacancies in 15 director roles create a leadership gap that stalls medical progress here in the US.
#MedSky 🛟 #AcademicSky
#MedSky 🛟 #AcademicSky
Trump admin is "destroying medical research," Senate report finds
In a Senate hearing Tuesday, NIH director dismissed concern about research chaos.
arstechnica.com
February 6, 2026 at 4:51 PM
NIH research is in the red zone. $561M in grants for cancer and heart disease is frozen, and 304 trials are defunded. Vacancies in 15 director roles create a leadership gap that stalls medical progress here in the US.
#MedSky 🛟 #AcademicSky
#MedSky 🛟 #AcademicSky
Reposted by Alan Regenberg
I strongly encourage everyone to read these two pages from Bernard E. Trappy, M.D., for Minnesota Physician Voices.
In brief, this NEJM article describes #physicians' observations and experiences in the wake of ICE's occupation and mass operations in Minnesota.
www.nejm.org/doi/pdf/10.1...
(1/5) 🧪
In brief, this NEJM article describes #physicians' observations and experiences in the wake of ICE's occupation and mass operations in Minnesota.
www.nejm.org/doi/pdf/10.1...
(1/5) 🧪
We Do Care | NEJM
Physicians throughout Minnesota bear witness to the devastation that U.S. Immigration
and Customs Enforcement is wreaking. They implore physicians everywhere to raise their
voices.
www.nejm.org
February 6, 2026 at 5:32 PM
I strongly encourage everyone to read these two pages from Bernard E. Trappy, M.D., for Minnesota Physician Voices.
In brief, this NEJM article describes #physicians' observations and experiences in the wake of ICE's occupation and mass operations in Minnesota.
www.nejm.org/doi/pdf/10.1...
(1/5) 🧪
In brief, this NEJM article describes #physicians' observations and experiences in the wake of ICE's occupation and mass operations in Minnesota.
www.nejm.org/doi/pdf/10.1...
(1/5) 🧪
Reposted by Alan Regenberg
Global #FoodEthics & Policy Program Weekly Roundup | Whole Milk, Widespread Collapse, SNAP, Scaling Up Aquaculture, Women Farmers in Guatemala, Farmers Share Challenges, Coping Strategies, Satellite Data, + More mailchi.mp/jhu/we3frp22...
Global Food Ethics and Policy Program: News Roundup
mailchi.mp
February 6, 2026 at 4:51 PM
Global #FoodEthics & Policy Program Weekly Roundup | Whole Milk, Widespread Collapse, SNAP, Scaling Up Aquaculture, Women Farmers in Guatemala, Farmers Share Challenges, Coping Strategies, Satellite Data, + More mailchi.mp/jhu/we3frp22...
AI Agents do not possess intentions or goals and draw their abilities from large swathes of human communication...“It is still worth studying because it tells us something important about how people imagine AI, what they want agents to do...” Neves adds. www.nature.com/articles/d41...
OpenClaw AI chatbots are running amok — these scientists are listening in
Artificial-intelligence agents have their own social-media platform and are publishing AI-generated research papers on their own preprint server.
www.nature.com
February 6, 2026 at 4:32 PM
AI Agents do not possess intentions or goals and draw their abilities from large swathes of human communication...“It is still worth studying because it tells us something important about how people imagine AI, what they want agents to do...” Neves adds. www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Vaccine Advisers Take Aim at Covid Shots. Advisory committee panelists have said — contrary to scientific consensus — that they believe the Covid shots are dangerous and should be taken off the market. They are also reviewing research on vaccines for pregnant women. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/06/h...
Federal Vaccine Advisers Take Aim at Covid Shots
www.nytimes.com
February 6, 2026 at 4:02 PM
Vaccine Advisers Take Aim at Covid Shots. Advisory committee panelists have said — contrary to scientific consensus — that they believe the Covid shots are dangerous and should be taken off the market. They are also reviewing research on vaccines for pregnant women. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/06/h...
2-pronged approach to make it harder to get an abortion - 1) undermine Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers by questioning their credibility and block their funding. 2) try to ban mifepristone in part by saying it’s unsafe (despite ample evidence). theconversation.com/federal-and-...
Federal and state authorities are taking a 2-pronged approach to make it harder to get an abortion
Four years after the Supreme Court’s Dobbs ruling gave states the power to ban abortion, further restrictions are arriving through legislation and litigation.
theconversation.com
February 6, 2026 at 3:33 PM
2-pronged approach to make it harder to get an abortion - 1) undermine Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers by questioning their credibility and block their funding. 2) try to ban mifepristone in part by saying it’s unsafe (despite ample evidence). theconversation.com/federal-and-...
Reposted by Alan Regenberg
‘One officer told me that I "had no chance of returning to Minnesota" and that "the best thing for (me] is self-deportation." …
She offered me $2600 to self-deport.
I refused.
I wanted to talk to my attorney.
They didn't tell me the judge had already ordered my release and return to Minnesota.’
She offered me $2600 to self-deport.
I refused.
I wanted to talk to my attorney.
They didn't tell me the judge had already ordered my release and return to Minnesota.’
![…
25. This Cibola jail was horrible. It was cramped. I was chained up again.
The officers mocked
me and called me their enemy. They laughed at me. I was kept at the jail for what felt like around three hours. I wasn't given an explanation for why I was there.
26. Security
guards then put me on a bus. I think it was around January 27.
No one said
anything about where I was going. I was handcuffed. It felt like the middle of the night. It was freezing cold in the bus because the driver had the AC on. We had no jackets. The bus eventually took me back to El Paso in the carly morning of Tuesday, January 27th.
27. I was put in a cold cell where I had to sleep on the bare cement floor. Around 10 in the morning my cellmate asked to speak to an ICE officer. Three officers came into the cell so I had a chance to speak to them too. One officer told me that I "had no chance of returning to Minnesota" and that "the best thing for (me] is self-deportation." She told me that if I fought my case, I would spend two to three more months here in El Paso. She offered me $2600 to self-deport. I refused. I wanted to talk to my attorney. They didn't tell me the judge had already ordered my release and return to Minnesota. If I hadn't managed to talk to my attorney who told me a while back that I was ordered released. I might have given up at this point and signed the self-deportation forms because the conditions were so unbearable.
…
30. When I was taken back to the detention center from the airport, after missing the flight, I overheard an ICE officer saying in English, "the judge in Minnesota wants this one back." I was put in a cold jail cell again until early next morning (January 28). But again no one had told me directly that a judge had ordered my release
…
32. When I arrived in Minneapolis, I was handed off to ICE
… I had to sign lots of papers saying that I wasn't going to be a part of any "groups." I didn't know what they meant by "groups." They never told me why I was detained](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:5cn3kbi4g5blrtahon34xbu4/bafkreiccqxmfncofjqinoveiqscwale2ox5xpiqt46veqjdh3jmimkrxhq@jpeg)
February 5, 2026 at 6:04 AM
‘One officer told me that I "had no chance of returning to Minnesota" and that "the best thing for (me] is self-deportation." …
She offered me $2600 to self-deport.
I refused.
I wanted to talk to my attorney.
They didn't tell me the judge had already ordered my release and return to Minnesota.’
She offered me $2600 to self-deport.
I refused.
I wanted to talk to my attorney.
They didn't tell me the judge had already ordered my release and return to Minnesota.’
Imagination isn’t just for humans, this famous ape shows. Kanzi, a bonobo studied for his language skills, understood make-believe objects. | Science | AAAS www.science.org/content/arti...
Imagination isn’t just for humans, this famous ape shows
Kanzi, a bonobo studied for his language skills, understood make-believe objects
www.science.org
February 5, 2026 at 9:57 PM
Imagination isn’t just for humans, this famous ape shows. Kanzi, a bonobo studied for his language skills, understood make-believe objects. | Science | AAAS www.science.org/content/arti...
Reposted by Alan Regenberg
Can Emerging Pain Management Options Help Surgeons Avoid Prescribing Opioids? - w comments from our Travis Rieder | ACS www.facs.org/for-medical-...
Can Emerging Pain Management Options Help Surgeons Avoid Prescribing Opioids?
Learn about the CPT 2026 coding changes that are relevant to general surgery, including updates to endoscopic sleeve gastroplasty.
www.facs.org
February 5, 2026 at 9:42 PM
Can Emerging Pain Management Options Help Surgeons Avoid Prescribing Opioids? - w comments from our Travis Rieder | ACS www.facs.org/for-medical-...
Reposted by Alan Regenberg
Navigating “Wicked” Disagreement in Public Health - By Safura Abdool Karim, Ruth Faden, Anne Barnhill, Virginia Brown, Jeff Kahn, Nancy Kass, Anna Mastroianni, Stephanie Morain, Vardit Ravitsky, and Reed Tuckson | AJPH ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/abs/10.2...
Navigating “Wicked” Disagreement in Public Health | AJPH | Vol. Issue
Public health has long grappled with moral and epistemic disagreement—conflicts over values and facts that shape decisions about how best to protect population health. While these forms of disagreemen...
ajph.aphapublications.org
February 5, 2026 at 9:09 PM
Navigating “Wicked” Disagreement in Public Health - By Safura Abdool Karim, Ruth Faden, Anne Barnhill, Virginia Brown, Jeff Kahn, Nancy Kass, Anna Mastroianni, Stephanie Morain, Vardit Ravitsky, and Reed Tuckson | AJPH ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/abs/10.2...
Georgia Fort: I Was Arrested for Doing My Job as a Reporter. Who’s Next? | New York Times www.nytimes.com/2026/02/05/o...
Opinion | I Was Arrested for Doing My Job as a Reporter. Who’s Next?
www.nytimes.com
February 5, 2026 at 9:05 PM
Georgia Fort: I Was Arrested for Doing My Job as a Reporter. Who’s Next? | New York Times www.nytimes.com/2026/02/05/o...
Reposted by Alan Regenberg
44th David Barap Brin Lecture in Medical Ethics - Norman Fost, MD, MPH, "Cases That Changed Us: How One Patients Can Lead to Widespread Change" - Thurs, Feb 12, 4p ET. Join in person: Hurd Hall, Johns Hopkins Hospital or via livestream. Link for more info: mailchi.mp/jhu/y61ihduu...
February 5, 2026 at 8:48 PM
44th David Barap Brin Lecture in Medical Ethics - Norman Fost, MD, MPH, "Cases That Changed Us: How One Patients Can Lead to Widespread Change" - Thurs, Feb 12, 4p ET. Join in person: Hurd Hall, Johns Hopkins Hospital or via livestream. Link for more info: mailchi.mp/jhu/y61ihduu...
Immigrants Saved American Taxpayers More Than $14 Trillion: New Report - Newsweek www.newsweek.com/immigrants-s...
Immigrants saved American taxpayers over $14 Trillion: new report
Over 30 years, immigrants paid in more than they claimed back from U.S. federal, state and local governments, the study found.
www.newsweek.com
February 5, 2026 at 8:36 PM
Immigrants Saved American Taxpayers More Than $14 Trillion: New Report - Newsweek www.newsweek.com/immigrants-s...
Biological data governance in an age of AI. Tailored access controls on new viral data would reduce misuse risks. | Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Biological data governance in an age of AI
Tailored access controls on new viral data would reduce misuse risks
www.science.org
February 5, 2026 at 8:14 PM
Biological data governance in an age of AI. Tailored access controls on new viral data would reduce misuse risks. | Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
deployed officers include nurses, doctors, pharmacists, and other medical professionals. A growing number say these ICE assignments are not what they signed up for. Life-threatening delays in getting medicine and care to detainees, chaotic screenings, and overcrowded yet understaffed conditions...
Some Public Health Service officers dedetention centers suffer 'moral distress' | NPR www.npr.org/2026/02/05/n...
Some Public Health Service officers deployed in detention centers suffer 'moral distress'
A special corps of health care workers have been called in to work with detained immigrants and many feel deeply conflicted about the assignment, saying they're not able to provide good care.
www.npr.org
February 5, 2026 at 8:08 PM
deployed officers include nurses, doctors, pharmacists, and other medical professionals. A growing number say these ICE assignments are not what they signed up for. Life-threatening delays in getting medicine and care to detainees, chaotic screenings, and overcrowded yet understaffed conditions...
Reposted by Alan Regenberg
Native Bio has made the @nytimes.com for the second time. The #IDsov movement is a tidal wave....and a solution for these difficult times. “We are at a fork in the road. Do not choose hate & do not choose unsustainability.” ~ 21st Century Maxim, Author Unknown www.nytimes.com/2026/02/05/s...
He Built a Server to Protect Indigenous Health Data
www.nytimes.com
February 5, 2026 at 5:47 PM
Native Bio has made the @nytimes.com for the second time. The #IDsov movement is a tidal wave....and a solution for these difficult times. “We are at a fork in the road. Do not choose hate & do not choose unsustainability.” ~ 21st Century Maxim, Author Unknown www.nytimes.com/2026/02/05/s...
The Only Thing That Will Turn Measles Back: A rebound in vaccination—which may depend on government support | The Atlantic www.theatlantic.com/health/2026/...
The Only Thing That Will Turn Measles Back
A rebound in vaccination—which may depend on government support
www.theatlantic.com
February 5, 2026 at 7:51 PM
The Only Thing That Will Turn Measles Back: A rebound in vaccination—which may depend on government support | The Atlantic www.theatlantic.com/health/2026/...
Reposted by Alan Regenberg
On Trump's orders, the National Park Service has removed visitor brochures from Evers' museum and reportedly plans to remove references that call his murderer a “racist"
Medgar Evers’ killer was a Klansman, but Trump administration says stop calling him a racist - Mississippi Today
Among anticipated changes to a new visitor brochure for the Medgar & Myrlie Evers Home National Monument is no longer using "racist" to describe the killer of the civil rights leader.
mississippitoday.org
February 5, 2026 at 3:50 PM
On Trump's orders, the National Park Service has removed visitor brochures from Evers' museum and reportedly plans to remove references that call his murderer a “racist"
Reposted by Alan Regenberg
Ethics and Life Sciences Weekly Roundup | No Mental Imagery, Consciousness, Non-Invasive BCI, What Counts as a Mind? In Love with a Machine? Ethics of Ant Afu, Not the Time to Defund Fetal Tissue Research, Halted Gene Therapy Trial, Safeguarding Genomic Data, + More mailchi.mp/jhu/sciencee...
Ethics and Life Sciences Weekly Roundup
mailchi.mp
February 5, 2026 at 5:03 PM
Ethics and Life Sciences Weekly Roundup | No Mental Imagery, Consciousness, Non-Invasive BCI, What Counts as a Mind? In Love with a Machine? Ethics of Ant Afu, Not the Time to Defund Fetal Tissue Research, Halted Gene Therapy Trial, Safeguarding Genomic Data, + More mailchi.mp/jhu/sciencee...
Trump admin is making energy more expensive (and dirtier) by blocking hundreds of wind and solar projects nationwide. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/04/c...
A Trump ‘Blockade’ Is Stalling Hundreds of Wind and Solar Projects Nationwide
www.nytimes.com
February 4, 2026 at 8:41 PM
Trump admin is making energy more expensive (and dirtier) by blocking hundreds of wind and solar projects nationwide. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/04/c...
Open-source AI tool beats giant LLMs in literature reviews — and gets citations right. Researchers can deploy the cheap and transparent model on their own computer system. www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Open-source AI tool beats giant LLMs in literature reviews — and gets citations right
Researchers can deploy the cheap and transparent model on their own computer system.
www.nature.com
February 4, 2026 at 8:23 PM
Open-source AI tool beats giant LLMs in literature reviews — and gets citations right. Researchers can deploy the cheap and transparent model on their own computer system. www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Reposted by Alan Regenberg
Berman Institute #Bioethics Bulletin - This Week - MBE Q&A, New Events, Parents Rejecting Lifesaving Shots, FDA & Psychedelic Treatment, AI Renewing Prescriptions, Grant Cuts, Shadow CDC, Falling Off a Financial Cliff, Wonder Drug Plaguing Sports, Exit from WHO, + More mailchi.mp/jhu/bioethic...
Berman Institute Bioethics Bulletin
mailchi.mp
February 4, 2026 at 4:57 PM
Berman Institute #Bioethics Bulletin - This Week - MBE Q&A, New Events, Parents Rejecting Lifesaving Shots, FDA & Psychedelic Treatment, AI Renewing Prescriptions, Grant Cuts, Shadow CDC, Falling Off a Financial Cliff, Wonder Drug Plaguing Sports, Exit from WHO, + More mailchi.mp/jhu/bioethic...