Brendan Maher
@bmaher.bsky.social
News featured editor at Nature. bmaher.01 on signal.
Reposted by Brendan Maher
“It is the kind of test that, in the wrong hands, could cause a lot of harm”
A study of blood-based markers for Alzheimer’s disease in Norway confirms earlier estimates
go.nature.com/3N7sLfg
A study of blood-based markers for Alzheimer’s disease in Norway confirms earlier estimates
go.nature.com/3N7sLfg
How common is Alzheimer’s disease? First population-wide blood test holds surprises
Nature - A study of blood-based markers for Alzheimer’s disease in Norway confirms earlier estimates, and may show how education level relates to risk.
go.nature.com
December 20, 2025 at 10:34 AM
“It is the kind of test that, in the wrong hands, could cause a lot of harm”
A study of blood-based markers for Alzheimer’s disease in Norway confirms earlier estimates
go.nature.com/3N7sLfg
A study of blood-based markers for Alzheimer’s disease in Norway confirms earlier estimates
go.nature.com/3N7sLfg
Reposted by Brendan Maher
“These rules are a baseless intrusion into the patient-physician relationship. Patients, their families, and their physicians—not politicians or government officials —should be the ones to make decisions together about what care is best for them.”
apnews.com/article/trum...
apnews.com/article/trum...
Trump administration moves to cut off transgender care for children
U.S. officials are proposing new restrictions that are designed to block access to gender-affirming care for minors.
apnews.com
December 19, 2025 at 3:01 AM
“These rules are a baseless intrusion into the patient-physician relationship. Patients, their families, and their physicians—not politicians or government officials —should be the ones to make decisions together about what care is best for them.”
apnews.com/article/trum...
apnews.com/article/trum...
Reposted by Brendan Maher
This is the best piece I’ve read so far on why the Guinea-Bissau RCT, in which a proven life-saving vaccine will be deliberately WITHHELD, is unethical
“When benefit is established, withholding an intervention is no longer neutral experimentation it becomes premeditated harm”
“When benefit is established, withholding an intervention is no longer neutral experimentation it becomes premeditated harm”
The planned hepatitis B birth-dose trial in Guinea-Bissau raises serious ethical concerns. Withholding a proven, life-saving vaccine from newborns to answer speculative questions is an absence of equipoise with real downstream harms for trust in vaccines.
bktitanji.substack.com/p/how-unethi...
bktitanji.substack.com/p/how-unethi...
How Unethical Research Seeds Medical Mistrust
The absence of equipoise can turn research into harm
bktitanji.substack.com
December 18, 2025 at 11:06 PM
This is the best piece I’ve read so far on why the Guinea-Bissau RCT, in which a proven life-saving vaccine will be deliberately WITHHELD, is unethical
“When benefit is established, withholding an intervention is no longer neutral experimentation it becomes premeditated harm”
“When benefit is established, withholding an intervention is no longer neutral experimentation it becomes premeditated harm”
As the darkness closes in around us, this story warmed me, if but for a moment. It is very sweet and very worth your time.
Nature asked readers about their favorite scientific gifts. Here’s what they said.
What is your favorite scientific gift? 🧪
What is your favorite scientific gift? 🧪
The gift that shaped my career in science
Nature asked about your most memorable scientific gifts. You delivered.
go.nature.com
December 18, 2025 at 6:11 PM
As the darkness closes in around us, this story warmed me, if but for a moment. It is very sweet and very worth your time.
Reposted by Brendan Maher
This wk's @nature.com podcast has
- ME on my heart-warming festive gifts piece 🎁
- A choir of scientists 🎤
- @bmaher.bsky.social on researchers who shaped science in 2025
- ME again, on our festive quiz w/ @shamini.bsky.social, @nickpetrichowe.bsky.social and Ben T 🏆
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
- ME on my heart-warming festive gifts piece 🎁
- A choir of scientists 🎤
- @bmaher.bsky.social on researchers who shaped science in 2025
- ME again, on our festive quiz w/ @shamini.bsky.social, @nickpetrichowe.bsky.social and Ben T 🏆
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
The Nature Podcast festive spectacular 2025
Hear the biggest stories from the world of science | 17 December 2025
www.nature.com
December 18, 2025 at 1:11 PM
This wk's @nature.com podcast has
- ME on my heart-warming festive gifts piece 🎁
- A choir of scientists 🎤
- @bmaher.bsky.social on researchers who shaped science in 2025
- ME again, on our festive quiz w/ @shamini.bsky.social, @nickpetrichowe.bsky.social and Ben T 🏆
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
- ME on my heart-warming festive gifts piece 🎁
- A choir of scientists 🎤
- @bmaher.bsky.social on researchers who shaped science in 2025
- ME again, on our festive quiz w/ @shamini.bsky.social, @nickpetrichowe.bsky.social and Ben T 🏆
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Hey. I think I’m on this one.
It's the Nature Podcast festive spectacular 2025! Listen in for science-themed gifts, games, seasonal songs, and Nature's 10 🎅
go.nature.com/4p3iTAJ
go.nature.com/4p3iTAJ
The Nature Podcast festive spectacular 2025
Hear the biggest stories from the world of science | 17 December 2025
go.nature.com
December 18, 2025 at 3:20 AM
Hey. I think I’m on this one.
Reposted by Brendan Maher
A twice-weekly cocktail of three messenger RNAs can rejuvenate the weary immune systems of aged mice and boost responses to vaccination and cancer treatments
go.nature.com/4j6lwAn
go.nature.com/4j6lwAn
Restoring youth to old immune cells: mRNA therapy turns back the clock.
Testing in mice suggests that rejuvenating T cells could make vaccines and some cancer therapies more effective.
go.nature.com
December 17, 2025 at 4:52 PM
A twice-weekly cocktail of three messenger RNAs can rejuvenate the weary immune systems of aged mice and boost responses to vaccination and cancer treatments
go.nature.com/4j6lwAn
go.nature.com/4j6lwAn
This is a thought provoking investigation. Lots of questions with no simple answers. As an editor, these are the hardest stories to put out there - and not just because of all the very careful and delicate work that they require.
When should a paper be corrected?
Last December, @elisabethbik.bsky.social and other sleuths began flagging papers by a prominent bioengineer, Ali Khademhosseini. They found over 80 with image issues.
Khademhosseini and his colleagues have issued over 40 corrections, but avoided retractions.
Last December, @elisabethbik.bsky.social and other sleuths began flagging papers by a prominent bioengineer, Ali Khademhosseini. They found over 80 with image issues.
Khademhosseini and his colleagues have issued over 40 corrections, but avoided retractions.
Science sleuths raise concerns about scores of bioengineering papers
Prominent bioengineer Ali Khademhosseini has so far corrected more than 40 of the papers in question, but critics say some should have been retracted.
www.nature.com
December 12, 2025 at 5:32 PM
This is a thought provoking investigation. Lots of questions with no simple answers. As an editor, these are the hardest stories to put out there - and not just because of all the very careful and delicate work that they require.
Reposted by Brendan Maher
Reporting on vaccine side effects is challenging, but important. A new study offers clues to how mRNA COVID vaccines can, in rare cases, cause a form of heart inflammation called myocarditis (a condition COVID itself can cause). By @laurenjyoung.bsky.social www.scientificamerican.com/article/scie...
Scientists Explain How mRNA COVID Vaccines May Rarely Cause Myocarditis
A new study identifies a mechanism for how COVID vaccines may, in infrequent cases, drive heart inflammation, a condition that can be caused by the disease itself
www.scientificamerican.com
December 10, 2025 at 7:08 PM
Reporting on vaccine side effects is challenging, but important. A new study offers clues to how mRNA COVID vaccines can, in rare cases, cause a form of heart inflammation called myocarditis (a condition COVID itself can cause). By @laurenjyoung.bsky.social www.scientificamerican.com/article/scie...
Reposted by Brendan Maher
For more than three years of gruelling negotiations, Precious Matsoso steered the group that drafted the first global pandemic treaty
She is part of Nature’s 10, a list of people who shaped science in 2025
go.nature.com/4a7fbSU
She is part of Nature’s 10, a list of people who shaped science in 2025
go.nature.com/4a7fbSU
The first global pandemic treaty — and the woman who made it happen
Precious Matsoso is part of Nature’s 10, a list of people who shaped science in 2025.
go.nature.com
December 10, 2025 at 12:15 PM
For more than three years of gruelling negotiations, Precious Matsoso steered the group that drafted the first global pandemic treaty
She is part of Nature’s 10, a list of people who shaped science in 2025
go.nature.com/4a7fbSU
She is part of Nature’s 10, a list of people who shaped science in 2025
go.nature.com/4a7fbSU
Reposted by Brendan Maher
Susan Monarez was fired after less than a month as Director of the CDC for holding the line on scientific integrity
She is part of Nature's 10 - our list of people who shaped science in 2025
go.nature.com/48FnHpx
She is part of Nature's 10 - our list of people who shaped science in 2025
go.nature.com/48FnHpx
The top US health director who stood up for science — and was fired
Susan Monarez is part of Nature’s 10, a list of people who shaped science in 2025.
go.nature.com
December 8, 2025 at 6:17 PM
Susan Monarez was fired after less than a month as Director of the CDC for holding the line on scientific integrity
She is part of Nature's 10 - our list of people who shaped science in 2025
go.nature.com/48FnHpx
She is part of Nature's 10 - our list of people who shaped science in 2025
go.nature.com/48FnHpx
Reposted by Brendan Maher
Looking out of the Fendouzhe submersible, more than nine kilometres below the ocean surface, Mengran Du knew she was seeing something totally new to science
Mengran Du is part of Nature’s 10 2025, our list of people who shaped science this year
go.nature.com/4rIsZJR
Mengran Du is part of Nature’s 10 2025, our list of people who shaped science this year
go.nature.com/4rIsZJR
9,000 metres under the sea: this researcher found the deepest animal ecosystems on Earth
Mengran Du is part of Nature’s 10, a list of people who shaped science in 2025.
go.nature.com
December 8, 2025 at 7:36 PM
Looking out of the Fendouzhe submersible, more than nine kilometres below the ocean surface, Mengran Du knew she was seeing something totally new to science
Mengran Du is part of Nature’s 10 2025, our list of people who shaped science this year
go.nature.com/4rIsZJR
Mengran Du is part of Nature’s 10 2025, our list of people who shaped science this year
go.nature.com/4rIsZJR
It's been months of work, but it was worth it. The Nature's 10 is finally live. www.nature.com/immersive/d4...
Nature’s 10: Ten people who shaped science in 2025
A fired public-health official, a mosquito breeder and a baby with a smile seen around the world. These are just a few of the remarkable people chosen for Nature’s 10.
www.nature.com
December 8, 2025 at 8:53 PM
It's been months of work, but it was worth it. The Nature's 10 is finally live. www.nature.com/immersive/d4...
Reposted by Brendan Maher
About that exclusive, "closed-to-press" MAHA summit last week with RFK and JD Vance: I got in.
Here's what I saw. 🧵 🧪
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Here's what I saw. 🧵 🧪
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
November 22, 2025 at 11:33 AM
Women doing medical research appear to be involved in fewer retractions. And shoot ... people are going to have some weird ways of trying to explain that, aren't they?
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Women seem to retract fewer papers than men — but why?
In an analysis of nearly 900 retracted medical research studies, the number of female authors is disproportionately low.
www.nature.com
November 19, 2025 at 7:18 PM
Women doing medical research appear to be involved in fewer retractions. And shoot ... people are going to have some weird ways of trying to explain that, aren't they?
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Reposted by Brendan Maher
After a bruising 42-day shutdown, the government has finally reopened. We took a look at what's next for federal science—how quickly things will get back up to speed and whether there will be long-term consequences.
With Jeff Tollefson and @alexwitze.bsky.social:
With Jeff Tollefson and @alexwitze.bsky.social:
The US government shutdown is over: what’s next for scientists
Government researchers are heading back to work, but questions about the size of research-budget cuts will extend into next year.
www.nature.com
November 13, 2025 at 3:40 PM
After a bruising 42-day shutdown, the government has finally reopened. We took a look at what's next for federal science—how quickly things will get back up to speed and whether there will be long-term consequences.
With Jeff Tollefson and @alexwitze.bsky.social:
With Jeff Tollefson and @alexwitze.bsky.social:
Great reporting, as always, from my colleague @marilenharo.bsky.social
Promising results from a new malaria drug offer hope against emerging drug resistance in Africa. In a clinical trial, ganaplacide–lumefantrine (GanLum) cured 97.4% of participants, outperforming an existing treatment, which cured 94%.
go.nature.com/3WTGxnx
go.nature.com/3WTGxnx
First new type of malaria treatment in decades shows promise against drug resistance
If approved, GanLum could be available within a year and a half, according to maker.
go.nature.com
November 13, 2025 at 12:48 AM
Great reporting, as always, from my colleague @marilenharo.bsky.social
Did the FDA make the right decision yesterday on menopausal hormone therapy? Scientists aren't so sure. @lynnepeeps.bsky.social writes for @nature.com
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Is HRT in menopause healthy? US label change triggers debate
The US FDA is removing serious health warnings from hormone replacement therapies. Scientists worry that more work is needed to get the message right.
www.nature.com
November 11, 2025 at 7:37 PM
Did the FDA make the right decision yesterday on menopausal hormone therapy? Scientists aren't so sure. @lynnepeeps.bsky.social writes for @nature.com
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Reposted by Brendan Maher
The Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy is trying to maintain public health awareness during the Trump administration
go.nature.com/3JvIm7f
go.nature.com/3JvIm7f
Vaccine advice: how a US centre is filling growing gaps in public-health information
Epidemiologist Michael Osterholm talks about efforts by the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy to inform vaccine recommendations and maintain public-health awareness during the Trump administration.
go.nature.com
November 11, 2025 at 12:26 PM
The Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy is trying to maintain public health awareness during the Trump administration
go.nature.com/3JvIm7f
go.nature.com/3JvIm7f
Reposted by Brendan Maher
Mere months after its long-awaited debut, the Vera C. Rubin Observatory is beginning to deliver on its promise to rewrite cosmic history
go.nature.com/3JJK6tp
go.nature.com/3JJK6tp
Surprise ‘tail’ found on an iconic galaxy may rewrite its history
First image from Vera C. Rubin telescope reveals a previously unnoticed feature of galaxy M61 that may explain its mysterious properties.
go.nature.com
November 7, 2025 at 4:44 PM
Mere months after its long-awaited debut, the Vera C. Rubin Observatory is beginning to deliver on its promise to rewrite cosmic history
go.nature.com/3JJK6tp
go.nature.com/3JJK6tp
Reposted by Brendan Maher
Reposted by Brendan Maher
Bluetorial-Jim Watson
I met Jim Watson a few times but did not know him well. However, I was greatly influenced by his book “The Double Helix”. He was a complicated human being with some very, very bad features, but some good contributions.
What follows is my personal perspective.
1/41
I met Jim Watson a few times but did not know him well. However, I was greatly influenced by his book “The Double Helix”. He was a complicated human being with some very, very bad features, but some good contributions.
What follows is my personal perspective.
1/41
a cartoon says hey everybody an old man 's talking while bart simpson looks on
ALT: a cartoon says hey everybody an old man 's talking while bart simpson looks on
media.tenor.com
November 8, 2025 at 1:58 PM
Bluetorial-Jim Watson
I met Jim Watson a few times but did not know him well. However, I was greatly influenced by his book “The Double Helix”. He was a complicated human being with some very, very bad features, but some good contributions.
What follows is my personal perspective.
1/41
I met Jim Watson a few times but did not know him well. However, I was greatly influenced by his book “The Double Helix”. He was a complicated human being with some very, very bad features, but some good contributions.
What follows is my personal perspective.
1/41
A solemn and stormy Edmund Fitzgerald day to all who celebrate: www.youtube.com/watch?v=RP0k...
Billy Strings “Wreck of the Edmund’s Fitzgerald” 4/19/25 #billystrings #cary #agirlandherphone
YouTube video by Beth Boylan
www.youtube.com
November 8, 2025 at 1:38 PM
A solemn and stormy Edmund Fitzgerald day to all who celebrate: www.youtube.com/watch?v=RP0k...
Reposted by Brendan Maher
I’m waiting for NIAID Directorship to open up again then I’ll send in my CV…
November 7, 2025 at 11:24 PM
I’m waiting for NIAID Directorship to open up again then I’ll send in my CV…
Reposted by Brendan Maher
8 high level positions at NIH posted including 6 institute director positions (NIMH, NIGMS, NICHD, NIDCR, NHGRI, NLM).
Only open for 2 weeks (applications due November 21).
Application materials include a) CV b) vision statement c) a photocopy of doctoral degree.
hr.nih.gov/careers/open...
Only open for 2 weeks (applications due November 21).
Application materials include a) CV b) vision statement c) a photocopy of doctoral degree.
hr.nih.gov/careers/open...
hr.nih.gov
November 7, 2025 at 10:20 PM
8 high level positions at NIH posted including 6 institute director positions (NIMH, NIGMS, NICHD, NIDCR, NHGRI, NLM).
Only open for 2 weeks (applications due November 21).
Application materials include a) CV b) vision statement c) a photocopy of doctoral degree.
hr.nih.gov/careers/open...
Only open for 2 weeks (applications due November 21).
Application materials include a) CV b) vision statement c) a photocopy of doctoral degree.
hr.nih.gov/careers/open...