Nahyan Fancy
@fancynahyan.bsky.social
Professor; University of Exeter; Historian of Science and Medicine in Premodern Islamic Societies; Love Urdu poetry
Reposted by Nahyan Fancy
Medicaid Work Requirements Myth Vs. Fact https://theonion.com/medicaid-work-requirements-myth-vs-fact/
November 10, 2025 at 10:00 PM
Medicaid Work Requirements Myth Vs. Fact https://theonion.com/medicaid-work-requirements-myth-vs-fact/
Reposted by Nahyan Fancy
Climate change in the Polar regions is an under-recognised driver of global health risks, according to new research in @ambio-journal.bsky.social by a team led by Exeter's Prof Gail Whiteman.
@arcticbasecamp.org #COP30
news.exeter.ac.uk/faculty-of-e...
@arcticbasecamp.org #COP30
news.exeter.ac.uk/faculty-of-e...
Polar climate change could amplify global health risks, study warns
Climate change in Earth’s polar regions is emerging as an under-recognised driver of global health risks, with consequences reaching far beyond the Arctic and Antarctic, researchers argue. A study by ...
news.exeter.ac.uk
November 10, 2025 at 11:54 AM
Climate change in the Polar regions is an under-recognised driver of global health risks, according to new research in @ambio-journal.bsky.social by a team led by Exeter's Prof Gail Whiteman.
@arcticbasecamp.org #COP30
news.exeter.ac.uk/faculty-of-e...
@arcticbasecamp.org #COP30
news.exeter.ac.uk/faculty-of-e...
Reposted by Nahyan Fancy
Scholars relied heavily on a single text: Risālat al-nabaʾ ʿan al-wabāʾ, (1348–49) by Ibn al-Wardi, & treated as a 1st-hand account of the plague.
But it's a maqāma—a stylized, often fictional literary form.
ARTICLE:
archaeologymag.com/2025/11/medi... .
STUDY:
journals.uio.no/JAIS/article... .
But it's a maqāma—a stylized, often fictional literary form.
ARTICLE:
archaeologymag.com/2025/11/medi... .
STUDY:
journals.uio.no/JAIS/article... .
Misread medieval tale misled generations of historians about the Black Death's spread, study finds
New research shows a key Black Death account was literary, not historical, reshaping views on how the pandemic spread across Asia.
archaeologymag.com
November 9, 2025 at 11:56 PM
Scholars relied heavily on a single text: Risālat al-nabaʾ ʿan al-wabāʾ, (1348–49) by Ibn al-Wardi, & treated as a 1st-hand account of the plague.
But it's a maqāma—a stylized, often fictional literary form.
ARTICLE:
archaeologymag.com/2025/11/medi... .
STUDY:
journals.uio.no/JAIS/article... .
But it's a maqāma—a stylized, often fictional literary form.
ARTICLE:
archaeologymag.com/2025/11/medi... .
STUDY:
journals.uio.no/JAIS/article... .
Reposted by Nahyan Fancy
Chuck Schumer Helps Pull Democrats Back From Brink Of Courage
November 10, 2025 at 5:02 AM
Chuck Schumer Helps Pull Democrats Back From Brink Of Courage
Reposted by Nahyan Fancy
During this week, I will also present some of the results of my PhD research at the Medieval Research Seminar in Exeter, both in person and via Zoom. I'm looking forward to it!
November 10, 2025 at 10:10 AM
During this week, I will also present some of the results of my PhD research at the Medieval Research Seminar in Exeter, both in person and via Zoom. I'm looking forward to it!
Reposted by Nahyan Fancy
From a global low of 5,000 individuals in the 1960's, their numbers today are 135,000 globally.
That's an astonishing recovery driven by research, regulation and public support that led to international cooperation on whaling bans.
Take a victory lap, whale supporters!
That's an astonishing recovery driven by research, regulation and public support that led to international cooperation on whaling bans.
Take a victory lap, whale supporters!
a humpback whale is jumping out of the ocean
Alt: a humpback whale is jumping out of the ocean, then splashes a big splash.
media.tenor.com
November 9, 2025 at 9:29 PM
From a global low of 5,000 individuals in the 1960's, their numbers today are 135,000 globally.
That's an astonishing recovery driven by research, regulation and public support that led to international cooperation on whaling bans.
Take a victory lap, whale supporters!
That's an astonishing recovery driven by research, regulation and public support that led to international cooperation on whaling bans.
Take a victory lap, whale supporters!
Reposted by Nahyan Fancy
Centuries of misinterpretation of a fourteenth-century Arabic literary tale have shaped misconceptions about the rapid spread of the Black Death across Asia via the Silk Road. doi.org/g9849t
How a misread Arabic tale misled generations of historians about the Black Death's rapid spread
Myths about how the Black Death traveled quickly across Asia, ravaging Silk Route communities, date back to a single fourteenth-century source, experts have found.
phys.org
November 4, 2025 at 9:25 AM
Centuries of misinterpretation of a fourteenth-century Arabic literary tale have shaped misconceptions about the rapid spread of the Black Death across Asia via the Silk Road. doi.org/g9849t
Reposted by Nahyan Fancy
There’s outrage in Israel over the leaked video of Israeli soldiers gang-raping a Palestinian prisoner. However, the outrage isn’t about the rape itself but the fact that the video was leaked in the first place.
Cartoon by Carlos Latuff
Cartoon by Carlos Latuff
November 8, 2025 at 1:45 PM
There’s outrage in Israel over the leaked video of Israeli soldiers gang-raping a Palestinian prisoner. However, the outrage isn’t about the rape itself but the fact that the video was leaked in the first place.
Cartoon by Carlos Latuff
Cartoon by Carlos Latuff
Reposted by Nahyan Fancy
The New York Times is the paper of record and has played a key role in enabling the Gaza genocide. To hold the newspaper accountable, we must sever our ties —not only as subscribers or advertisers, but also as writers who lend the paper legitimacy.
mondoweiss.net/2025/11/why-...
#Palestine #Israel
mondoweiss.net/2025/11/why-...
#Palestine #Israel
Why writers must boycott the New York Times
The New York Times is the paper of record and has played a key role in enabling the Gaza genocide. To hold the newspaper accountable, we must sever our ties —not only as subscribers or advertisers,...
mondoweiss.net
November 8, 2025 at 3:02 PM
The New York Times is the paper of record and has played a key role in enabling the Gaza genocide. To hold the newspaper accountable, we must sever our ties —not only as subscribers or advertisers, but also as writers who lend the paper legitimacy.
mondoweiss.net/2025/11/why-...
#Palestine #Israel
mondoweiss.net/2025/11/why-...
#Palestine #Israel
Reposted by Nahyan Fancy
Reminder
𝐃𝐨𝐧𝐭' 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞!
csmbr.fondazionecomel.org/events/onlin...
#CSMBR #OnlineLectures #CompoundMedicamentes #ConstantinetheAphrican
𝐃𝐨𝐧𝐭' 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞!
csmbr.fondazionecomel.org/events/onlin...
#CSMBR #OnlineLectures #CompoundMedicamentes #ConstantinetheAphrican
The Science of Compound Medicaments - CSMBR
This lecture explores al-Majūsī’s "Kitāb al-Malakī" and its Latin translation, showing how Book X on compound medicaments was reshaped into a new synthesis of pharmacology and philosophy.
csmbr.fondazionecomel.org
November 8, 2025 at 11:46 AM
Reminder
𝐃𝐨𝐧𝐭' 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞!
csmbr.fondazionecomel.org/events/onlin...
#CSMBR #OnlineLectures #CompoundMedicamentes #ConstantinetheAphrican
𝐃𝐨𝐧𝐭' 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞!
csmbr.fondazionecomel.org/events/onlin...
#CSMBR #OnlineLectures #CompoundMedicamentes #ConstantinetheAphrican
Reposted by Nahyan Fancy
man
November 8, 2025 at 2:06 AM
man
Reposted by Nahyan Fancy
Look out for this later #histSTM
(And on Franklin, about whom lots of myths are circulating today, read this: www.nature.com/articles/d41...)
(And on Franklin, about whom lots of myths are circulating today, read this: www.nature.com/articles/d41...)
November 8, 2025 at 6:53 AM
Look out for this later #histSTM
(And on Franklin, about whom lots of myths are circulating today, read this: www.nature.com/articles/d41...)
(And on Franklin, about whom lots of myths are circulating today, read this: www.nature.com/articles/d41...)
Reposted by Nahyan Fancy
Reposting this 🧵 on the crucial importance of knowing where our pandemic narratives come from. #histmed #MedievalSky #EpiSky 🧪🗃️
Thrilled to have this piece by Omar Muhammed & @fancynahyan.bsky.social out now. I'll be using it tomorrow in a talk at UC-Merced on "Where Do Pandemics Come From? Using Black Death Narratives to Rethink the Origin of Pandemics." Or the question we really need to ask: when are pandemics? A quick 🧵.
Thanks to Kerra for this write up on the Plague maqama article. @uniofexeternews.bsky.social news.exeter.ac.uk/faculty-of-h...
November 6, 2025 at 3:09 PM
Reposting this 🧵 on the crucial importance of knowing where our pandemic narratives come from. #histmed #MedievalSky #EpiSky 🧪🗃️
Reposted by Nahyan Fancy
Just reminded of this bit I had in my notes, where Ibn Hajar al-'Asqalani's (d. 1449) Merits of the Plague says this about Ibn al-Wardi's plague treatise.
These chains of transmission are how we will show how Ibn al-Wardi's maqama came to have the influence it did. #histmed #MedievalSky
These chains of transmission are how we will show how Ibn al-Wardi's maqama came to have the influence it did. #histmed #MedievalSky
November 7, 2025 at 6:01 PM
Just reminded of this bit I had in my notes, where Ibn Hajar al-'Asqalani's (d. 1449) Merits of the Plague says this about Ibn al-Wardi's plague treatise.
These chains of transmission are how we will show how Ibn al-Wardi's maqama came to have the influence it did. #histmed #MedievalSky
These chains of transmission are how we will show how Ibn al-Wardi's maqama came to have the influence it did. #histmed #MedievalSky
Reposted by Nahyan Fancy
This is a hilarious, self-deprecating and insightful piece. It also contains far more generalizable advice than advertised because there are actually a lot of other circumstances in which ACAB includes reporters from the New York Times...
Peter Coviello isn't on Bluesky, but this definitely should be: lithub.com/maybe-dont-t...
Maybe Don’t Talk to the New York Times About Zohran Mamdani
It’s remarkable, the people you’ll hear from. Teach for even a little while at an expensive institution—the term they tend to prefer is “elite”—and odds are that eventually someone who was a studen…
lithub.com
November 7, 2025 at 7:48 PM
This is a hilarious, self-deprecating and insightful piece. It also contains far more generalizable advice than advertised because there are actually a lot of other circumstances in which ACAB includes reporters from the New York Times...
Reposted by Nahyan Fancy
maybe don't talk to the NYT about zohran mamdani lithub.com/maybe-dont-t...
Maybe Don’t Talk to the New York Times About Zohran Mamdani
It’s remarkable, the people you’ll hear from. Teach for even a little while at an expensive institution—the term they tend to prefer is “elite”—and odds are that eventually someone who was a studen…
lithub.com
November 7, 2025 at 5:57 PM
maybe don't talk to the NYT about zohran mamdani lithub.com/maybe-dont-t...
Reposted by Nahyan Fancy
A lot has been written about how a bunch of liberal, Jewish Americans are in love with a version of Israel that hasn't existed in decades but less has been written about how a lot of Israeli leaders think they're dealing with an America that no longer exists...
"Netanyahu sought to forge an alliance with the Christian right..reasoning..that evangelicals were more reliable supporters. of Israel than liberal US Jews..Having lost the left, Israel is losing the right, as Christian nationalism supplants Christian Zionism"
www.haaretz.com/israel-news/...
www.haaretz.com/israel-news/...
Israel's right wing bet the country's future on U.S. Christian nationalists. It backfired
Benjamin Netanyahu and Ron Dermer Failed to Account for a White Supremacist Takeover of Their Cherished MAGA Evangelical Base. Now, Israel's Fate Lies With an American Right That Increasingly Embraces...
www.haaretz.com
November 7, 2025 at 6:21 AM
A lot has been written about how a bunch of liberal, Jewish Americans are in love with a version of Israel that hasn't existed in decades but less has been written about how a lot of Israeli leaders think they're dealing with an America that no longer exists...
Reposted by Nahyan Fancy
In a way it's about not wanting to know because the developments are very much in parallel: the global right has increasingly shed any commitments to formal civic equality in favor of doubling down on a violent and exclusionary racial order. None so blind as those who refuse to see, etc..
November 7, 2025 at 6:52 AM
In a way it's about not wanting to know because the developments are very much in parallel: the global right has increasingly shed any commitments to formal civic equality in favor of doubling down on a violent and exclusionary racial order. None so blind as those who refuse to see, etc..
Reposted by Nahyan Fancy
Several years ago a young woman went to prison for encouraging her boyfriend to kill himself. Suing these companies into oblivion is not enough. Their leaders are criminally responsible.
1.This is not the only known example we know of ChatGPT cheering on a vulnerable young person to die by suicide, this time it is a recent Texas A&M grad
2. Every single university that has invited OpenAI into our midst should be asked to account for their choices.
www.cnn.com/2025/11/06/u...
2. Every single university that has invited OpenAI into our midst should be asked to account for their choices.
www.cnn.com/2025/11/06/u...
November 7, 2025 at 1:33 PM
Several years ago a young woman went to prison for encouraging her boyfriend to kill himself. Suing these companies into oblivion is not enough. Their leaders are criminally responsible.
Reposted by Nahyan Fancy
This crime is horrific on so many levels. The Jewish community that feels fear, the racists who are emboldened, the brown/Muslim community that’s demonized, and degrading hope for change under a progressive new mayor. And if a false flag, undermining the fight against real bigotry. Makes me so mad.
November 7, 2025 at 4:50 AM
This crime is horrific on so many levels. The Jewish community that feels fear, the racists who are emboldened, the brown/Muslim community that’s demonized, and degrading hope for change under a progressive new mayor. And if a false flag, undermining the fight against real bigotry. Makes me so mad.
Reposted by Nahyan Fancy
All these universities should be sued.
1.This is not the only known example we know of ChatGPT cheering on a vulnerable young person to die by suicide, this time it is a recent Texas A&M grad
2. Every single university that has invited OpenAI into our midst should be asked to account for their choices.
www.cnn.com/2025/11/06/u...
2. Every single university that has invited OpenAI into our midst should be asked to account for their choices.
www.cnn.com/2025/11/06/u...
November 7, 2025 at 5:21 AM
All these universities should be sued.
Reposted by Nahyan Fancy
Never think that just one person cannot change the course of history, because it happens every moment of every single day
Thanks to Kerra for this write up on the Plague maqama article. @uniofexeternews.bsky.social news.exeter.ac.uk/faculty-of-h...
Myths about rapid spread of the Black Death influenced by single “literary tale”, experts show
Myths about how the Black Death travelled quickly across Asia, ravaging Silk Route communities, date back to a single fourteenth-century source, experts have found. Modern portrayals of the plague qui...
news.exeter.ac.uk
November 6, 2025 at 4:04 PM
Never think that just one person cannot change the course of history, because it happens every moment of every single day
Reposted by Nahyan Fancy
If you haven't already cancelled your subscription for all of the other nonsense they've published, this seems like a good reason to do so. Be sure to tell them why too:
This guy (who not incidentally looks like a thumb)! Just "asking questions"! Because "Interesting Times" with the NYT imprimatur!
November 6, 2025 at 12:01 PM
If you haven't already cancelled your subscription for all of the other nonsense they've published, this seems like a good reason to do so. Be sure to tell them why too:
Reposted by Nahyan Fancy
The latest Pasts Imperfect is out! @rhigarthjones.bsky.social discusses Ottoman receptions of Roman antiquity. Then, Black Death mythbusting; wampum beads in Canada; celebrating Native American Heritage Month; ancient Mexican coprolites; ancient world journals by @yaleclassicslib.bsky.social & more!
Pasts Imperfect (11.6.25)
This week, historian of early Islamic material culture Rhiannon Garth Jones breaks down the reception of Roman antiquity during the Ottoman Empire. Then, dispelling myths about the Black Death; archae...
pasts-imperfect.ghost.io
November 6, 2025 at 11:46 AM
The latest Pasts Imperfect is out! @rhigarthjones.bsky.social discusses Ottoman receptions of Roman antiquity. Then, Black Death mythbusting; wampum beads in Canada; celebrating Native American Heritage Month; ancient Mexican coprolites; ancient world journals by @yaleclassicslib.bsky.social & more!
She knows it, and it has been acknowledged several times, but I can still never thank @monicamedhist.bsky.social enough for all her work, help and conversations over the last 13 years in transforming my work, generally, and more specifically related to plague and disease history.
Thrilled to have this piece by Omar Muhammed & @fancynahyan.bsky.social out now. I'll be using it tomorrow in a talk at UC-Merced on "Where Do Pandemics Come From? Using Black Death Narratives to Rethink the Origin of Pandemics." Or the question we really need to ask: when are pandemics? A quick 🧵.
Thanks to Kerra for this write up on the Plague maqama article. @uniofexeternews.bsky.social news.exeter.ac.uk/faculty-of-h...
November 6, 2025 at 10:35 AM
She knows it, and it has been acknowledged several times, but I can still never thank @monicamedhist.bsky.social enough for all her work, help and conversations over the last 13 years in transforming my work, generally, and more specifically related to plague and disease history.