Erin Welsh
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erinwelsh.bsky.social
Erin Welsh
@erinwelsh.bsky.social
Science communicator, scientist, public health enthusiast, book nerd. Host and producer of @tpwky.bsky.social.

Here to share new and ongoing projects, tidbits from the history of medicine, and thoughts on books. Send me your recommendations!
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Hello #Bluesky! Let's talk diseases, medicine, history, biology, and whatever else is on your mind/bookshelf.
Mark your calendars: Tonight at 5pm PT, the first episode in our pregnancy series premieres on YouTube! Erin and I will be logged in on YouTube as it debuts so we can chat with you all in real time! @tpwky.bsky.social

Check out the link here: youtu.be/Dx0ewmmMjnQ
This Podcast Will Kill You - Pregnancy: First Trimester
YouTube video by Exactly Right Media
youtu.be
March 11, 2025 at 1:43 PM
Reposted by Erin Welsh
My proudest accomplishment to date.

The work continues!

@jpvelotta.bsky.social @erinwelsh.bsky.social @aweiss.bsky.social @calvarezaranyos.bsky.social @bradleyallf.bsky.social @neuronickole.bsky.social, CO Senator Lisa Cutter, Meteorologist Mike Nelson, Scientist/Comedian Jessie Hanson
March 8, 2025 at 3:30 AM
Stand up for science. Stand up for public health. Stand up for vaccines.
March 7, 2025 at 7:57 PM
February 28, 2025 at 3:28 PM
It was so much fun to finally get to nerd out about this adorable parasite and the importance of parasite conservation in this episode! I've been thinking about this isopod for YEARS 🐟
This week's episode ... it's... well, it's about the isopod parasites that eat away and then functionally replace a fish's tongue. So. You're going to love it!

Photo Christian Gloor cc-2.0 via Flickr
February 13, 2025 at 2:27 PM
Reposted by Erin Welsh
1. Today the NIH director issued a new directive slashing overhead rates to 15%.

I want to provide some context on what that means and why it matters.

grants.nih.gov/grants/guide...
NOT-OD-25-068: Supplemental Guidance to the 2024 NIH Grants Policy Statement: Indirect Cost Rates
NIH Funding Opportunities and Notices in the NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts: Supplemental Guidance to the 2024 NIH Grants Policy Statement: Indirect Cost Rates NOT-OD-25-068. OD
grants.nih.gov
February 8, 2025 at 12:18 AM
So excited to announce my new hosting role on the Advances in Care podcast! Tune in for fascinating conversations with the physicians at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital who are on the cutting edge of medical research. Check out the first episode in the newest season: go.pddr.app/aic-smith-erin
Advancing Cardiology and Heart Surgery Through a History of Collaboration
Podcast Episode · Advances in Care · 02/06/2025 · 20m
go.pddr.app
February 7, 2025 at 7:57 PM
A peer-reviewed guide to infectious disease podcasts?! And @tpwky.bsky.social made the list?! Yes please!!

academic.oup.com/ofid/article...
“Like and Subscribe”: A Compendium of Infectious Diseases Audio Podcasts
Abstract. In little more than 15 years, the podcast has gone from being virtually unknown to becoming a multibillion-dollar industry. There are an estimate
academic.oup.com
November 27, 2024 at 4:47 AM
Turns out the Velveteen Rabbit still packs an emotional wallop even after all this time. Tune in to hear me unsuccessfully fighting back tears in our latest ep

#scarletfever #tpwky #podcast
Scarlet fever once was deadly enough to require mandatory isolations and fill graveyards with its victims. Today, while Streptococcus pyogenes still flourishes, scarlet fever has, well, changed. Tune in to this week’s episode to find out how!

#podcast #spotify #applepodcast
November 26, 2024 at 3:19 PM
Reposted by Erin Welsh
New nonfiction science book releases for November, 2024!

What books did I miss? Which of these books are on your tbr?

I am hoping to read THE SERVICEBERRY this month. I have heard it is a more distilled version of Wall Kimmerer's masterpiece BRAIDING SWEETGRASS.
November 19, 2024 at 10:53 PM
Does anyone know why you wouldn't be able to make rope while the sun was shining in 18th century England? This is not the setup to a punchline, I'm truly curious 😅

#history #britishhistory

From London Life In The Eighteenth Century by M. Dorothy George
November 20, 2024 at 12:26 AM
Shoutout to 'sensitive plant' (Mimosa pudica) for setting us on the path to understand circadian rhythms
November 19, 2024 at 6:01 PM
I had such a great time chatting with @emonosson.bsky.social about her fascinating book Blight! It was a great reminder that I don't appreciate fungi as much as I should 🍄
Do you, too, feel like fungi are under-appreciated? Well then this week’s book club is for you! Join us as we discuss Blight: Fungi and the Coming Pandemic with author and environmental toxicologist Dr. Emily Monosson! @emonosson
November 19, 2024 at 2:10 PM
1) I'm definitely judging this book by its cover and 2) it's making me want to read it

Found on Public Domain Review
November 18, 2024 at 7:38 PM
Who's part of the club? Gotta love those old WPA posters
November 17, 2024 at 8:02 PM
Reposted by Erin Welsh
Health officials in California have confirmed the first case of mpox clade I in the US. Patient is a returning traveller's who traveled to eastern Africa. This is not unexpected because the world is interconnected and there are ongoing outbreaks of clade I mpox in Africa.
apnews.com/article/mpox...
US health officials report 1st case of new form of mpox in a traveler
Health officials say they have confirmed the first U.S. case of a new form of mpox that was first seen in eastern Congo.
apnews.com
November 16, 2024 at 8:18 PM
"Typhus, with its brothers and sisters - plague, cholera, typhoid, dysentery - has decided more campaigns than Caesar, Hannibal, Napoleon, and all the inspector generals of history. The epidemics get the blame for defeat, the generals get the credit for victory. It ought to be the other way around."
abcnews.go.com/Health/measl...

This is all preventable. The vaccines work and are effective.

Long term, an Army cannot fight when it is sick. Disease and illness killed millions outside of the battlefield. Needless deaths and preventable.
Measles cases surge worldwide, infecting 10.3 million people in 2023: WHO
There were an estimated 10.3 million cases of measles in 2023 globally -- an increase of 20% from the previous year, according to a new WHO report.
abcnews.go.com
November 16, 2024 at 1:03 AM
Reposted by Erin Welsh
Disease prevalence in US states before & after vaccine introduction

Graphic from Edward Tufte
More graphics.wsj.com/infectious-d... 🧪
November 15, 2024 at 5:00 AM
Reposted by Erin Welsh
We've been hinting at it and now it's finally time... we are prepping a FOUR PART SERIES on pregnancy. And we need your help!
November 15, 2024 at 1:00 PM
#Vaccines save lives

Pic: Wellcome Collection
November 15, 2024 at 12:45 AM
Reposted by Erin Welsh
Check out coverage of our work on the mechanisms of adaptation to high altitude. stories.du.edu/magazine/dep...
Research at 14,000 Feet
The Velotta Lab seeks to understand how tiny mammals have genetically adapted to survive at Colorado’s highest altitudes.
stories.du.edu
November 14, 2024 at 9:25 PM
Reposted by Erin Welsh
Medical historian here to remind you of the benefits of #vaccines!

This is the final stage of tetanus when nerves fire continuously & body contorts into agonizing posture known as opisthotonus. The mastication muscles clamp down to form the hallmark lockjaw.

A vaccine didn't appear until 1924.

.
November 14, 2024 at 2:06 PM
Reposted by Erin Welsh
A podcast for your science ethics class, esp on why we have IRBs. There are many you can use from This @tpwky.bsky.social episode puts human experiments in perspective. TW: describes experiments on incarcerated Black people to test various skin creams. #WomenInSTEM 🧪

megaphone.link/ERM5606501901
Ep 157 Retinoids Part 2: …how it’s going by This Podcast Will Kill You
That same little bottle of retinol serum sitting on your bathroom counter - how does it work? Does it actually work? Those are the questions we’re taking on in part two of our retinoids two-parter. Th...
megaphone.link
November 14, 2024 at 12:25 PM
We just released a two-parter on #retinoids on @tpwky.bsky.social, which gives me a chance to shout out the excellent book Acres of Skin by Allen Hornblum, which exposes the unethical experiments conducted at Holmesburg Prison.

Any similar books you'd recommend?
November 13, 2024 at 10:39 PM