Michael Pollard
@kmichaelpollard.bsky.social
Assoc. Prof Scripps Research working on how non-biological exposures lead to autoimmunity.
Reposted by Michael Pollard
It’s so funny to think about the fact that there’s people out there deferring every life decision to this
February 14, 2026 at 9:53 AM
It’s so funny to think about the fact that there’s people out there deferring every life decision to this
Reposted by Michael Pollard
My #ScienceUnderSiege co-author @peterhotezmdphd.bsky.social & I join @philippmarkolin.bsky.social for the inaugural episode of the #ScienceCounterpunch podcast: www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4PF...
Ep1: Peter Hotez and Michael Mann: Science Under Siege
YouTube video by Bad Boy of Science
www.youtube.com
February 13, 2026 at 8:55 PM
My #ScienceUnderSiege co-author @peterhotezmdphd.bsky.social & I join @philippmarkolin.bsky.social for the inaugural episode of the #ScienceCounterpunch podcast: www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4PF...
Reposted by Michael Pollard
The first epsiode of the Science Counterpunch is now live!
Prof @peterhotezmdphd.bsky.social and Prof @michaelemann.bsky.social join us to discuss who is attacking science and why, what tactics you should watch out for, and how you can fight back!
YT Link: youtube.com/watch?v=O4PF...
🧪⚛️
Prof @peterhotezmdphd.bsky.social and Prof @michaelemann.bsky.social join us to discuss who is attacking science and why, what tactics you should watch out for, and how you can fight back!
YT Link: youtube.com/watch?v=O4PF...
🧪⚛️
youtube.com
February 13, 2026 at 4:31 PM
The first epsiode of the Science Counterpunch is now live!
Prof @peterhotezmdphd.bsky.social and Prof @michaelemann.bsky.social join us to discuss who is attacking science and why, what tactics you should watch out for, and how you can fight back!
YT Link: youtube.com/watch?v=O4PF...
🧪⚛️
Prof @peterhotezmdphd.bsky.social and Prof @michaelemann.bsky.social join us to discuss who is attacking science and why, what tactics you should watch out for, and how you can fight back!
YT Link: youtube.com/watch?v=O4PF...
🧪⚛️
Reposted by Michael Pollard
Here is an announcement for everybody who is sick and tired on the attacks on science and scientists.
It has been months in the making, but now we are ready to fight back.
First episode airs tomorrow 5pm UK.
New episode every friday.
Incredible guests lined up.
open.substack.com/pub/protagon...
It has been months in the making, but now we are ready to fight back.
First episode airs tomorrow 5pm UK.
New episode every friday.
Incredible guests lined up.
open.substack.com/pub/protagon...
Announcing: Science Counterpunch
Fighting back for science & scientists was never more urgent
open.substack.com
February 12, 2026 at 3:10 PM
Here is an announcement for everybody who is sick and tired on the attacks on science and scientists.
It has been months in the making, but now we are ready to fight back.
First episode airs tomorrow 5pm UK.
New episode every friday.
Incredible guests lined up.
open.substack.com/pub/protagon...
It has been months in the making, but now we are ready to fight back.
First episode airs tomorrow 5pm UK.
New episode every friday.
Incredible guests lined up.
open.substack.com/pub/protagon...
Reposted by Michael Pollard
Mathematician Sofya Kovalevskaya was the first woman to:
+ Earn a doctorate in #mathematics (in the modern sense)
+ Be appointed to a full professorship in mathematics
She was also one of the first women to work for a scientific journal as an editor. She died #OTD in 1891.
#WomenInSTEM
+ Earn a doctorate in #mathematics (in the modern sense)
+ Be appointed to a full professorship in mathematics
She was also one of the first women to work for a scientific journal as an editor. She died #OTD in 1891.
#WomenInSTEM
February 11, 2026 at 12:03 AM
Mathematician Sofya Kovalevskaya was the first woman to:
+ Earn a doctorate in #mathematics (in the modern sense)
+ Be appointed to a full professorship in mathematics
She was also one of the first women to work for a scientific journal as an editor. She died #OTD in 1891.
#WomenInSTEM
+ Earn a doctorate in #mathematics (in the modern sense)
+ Be appointed to a full professorship in mathematics
She was also one of the first women to work for a scientific journal as an editor. She died #OTD in 1891.
#WomenInSTEM
Reposted by Michael Pollard
This made me ugly cry 😭
I will never claim that he was perfect…every president in my lifetime has pissed me off for one reason or another.
But…dammit, I’m so tired of the constant feeling of uneasiness and uncertainty 😔
I will never claim that he was perfect…every president in my lifetime has pissed me off for one reason or another.
But…dammit, I’m so tired of the constant feeling of uneasiness and uncertainty 😔
February 10, 2026 at 10:04 PM
This made me ugly cry 😭
I will never claim that he was perfect…every president in my lifetime has pissed me off for one reason or another.
But…dammit, I’m so tired of the constant feeling of uneasiness and uncertainty 😔
I will never claim that he was perfect…every president in my lifetime has pissed me off for one reason or another.
But…dammit, I’m so tired of the constant feeling of uneasiness and uncertainty 😔
Reposted by Michael Pollard
Scoop: Top FDA official Vinay Prasad overruled the agency’s reviewers when he refused to accept Moderna’s application for a new influenza vaccine, STAT has learned.
www.statnews.com/2026/02/11/m...
www.statnews.com/2026/02/11/m...
Prasad overruled FDA staff to reject Moderna's flu vaccine application
The rejection is the latest instance of Vinay Prasad overruling career FDA scientists to place vaccines under harsher scrutiny.
www.statnews.com
February 11, 2026 at 3:34 PM
Scoop: Top FDA official Vinay Prasad overruled the agency’s reviewers when he refused to accept Moderna’s application for a new influenza vaccine, STAT has learned.
www.statnews.com/2026/02/11/m...
www.statnews.com/2026/02/11/m...
Oh boy. This is going to make a family gathering next month even more testing than usual.
Jay Bhattacharya says if lots of people believe something, the NIH has a duty to study it
In this 2023 national US survey, 69% of Americans believed in angels, 56% in the devil, & 34% in astrology (www.pbs.org/newshour/nat...)
Coming soon: NIH funded studies on angels, the devil, & astrology 🤯
In this 2023 national US survey, 69% of Americans believed in angels, 56% in the devil, & 34% in astrology (www.pbs.org/newshour/nat...)
Coming soon: NIH funded studies on angels, the devil, & astrology 🤯
February 11, 2026 at 4:14 PM
Oh boy. This is going to make a family gathering next month even more testing than usual.
Reposted by Michael Pollard
Holy shit—a terrible waste of $$
Bhattacharya is so kooky
“If lots of people believe it & it’s moving public health, we as NIH have an obligation, again, to treat it seriously,” Bhattacharya said at a MAHA event
Great reporting by @rachanadpradhan.bsky.social
kffhealthnews.org/news/article...
Bhattacharya is so kooky
“If lots of people believe it & it’s moving public health, we as NIH have an obligation, again, to treat it seriously,” Bhattacharya said at a MAHA event
Great reporting by @rachanadpradhan.bsky.social
kffhealthnews.org/news/article...
US Cancer Institute Studying Ivermectin’s ‘Ability To Kill Cancer Cells’ - KFF Health News
At a January event organized by allies of health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., National Cancer Institute Director Anthony Letai said results may be released “in a few months.” Ivermectin, used to d...
kffhealthnews.org
February 10, 2026 at 2:05 PM
Holy shit—a terrible waste of $$
Bhattacharya is so kooky
“If lots of people believe it & it’s moving public health, we as NIH have an obligation, again, to treat it seriously,” Bhattacharya said at a MAHA event
Great reporting by @rachanadpradhan.bsky.social
kffhealthnews.org/news/article...
Bhattacharya is so kooky
“If lots of people believe it & it’s moving public health, we as NIH have an obligation, again, to treat it seriously,” Bhattacharya said at a MAHA event
Great reporting by @rachanadpradhan.bsky.social
kffhealthnews.org/news/article...
Reposted by Michael Pollard
And the new NCI Director moves to piss away his scientific credibility.
First, killing cancer cells is a very low bar; many compounds kill cancer cells and are not the least bit useful for treating cancer.
1/2
First, killing cancer cells is a very low bar; many compounds kill cancer cells and are not the least bit useful for treating cancer.
1/2
The National Cancer Institute will begin studying ivermectin's ability to kill cancer cells, @rachanadpradhan.bsky.social reports
www.statnews.com/2026/02/10/i...
www.statnews.com/2026/02/10/i...
National Cancer Institute studying ivermectin’s ‘ability to kill cancer cells,’ alarming career scientists
The National Cancer Institute is studying ivermectin as a potential cancer treatment, according to its top official, alarming career scientists.
www.statnews.com
February 10, 2026 at 2:01 PM
And the new NCI Director moves to piss away his scientific credibility.
First, killing cancer cells is a very low bar; many compounds kill cancer cells and are not the least bit useful for treating cancer.
1/2
First, killing cancer cells is a very low bar; many compounds kill cancer cells and are not the least bit useful for treating cancer.
1/2
Reposted by Michael Pollard
The CDC says it's fine to resume normal activities 24 hrs after Covid symptoms are improving. A new, large prospective study with digital tracking shows recovery takes much longer than that www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
February 7, 2026 at 3:43 PM
The CDC says it's fine to resume normal activities 24 hrs after Covid symptoms are improving. A new, large prospective study with digital tracking shows recovery takes much longer than that www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
Having too much data and no real idea of what to do with it is common. But sometimes someone is developing an approach and wants to test it with your data. That's when the unexpected can happen.
In this World View article, Ruslan Medzhitov discusses the perils of too much data and not enough theory in modern immunology
rdcu.be/e2DCZ
rdcu.be/e2DCZ
On the balance of knowledge
Nature Reviews Immunology - Ruslan Medzhitov shares his thoughts on the balance between generating data and developing theories in immunology, with a focus on exploring the rules that govern...
rdcu.be
February 6, 2026 at 8:51 PM
Having too much data and no real idea of what to do with it is common. But sometimes someone is developing an approach and wants to test it with your data. That's when the unexpected can happen.
Reposted by Michael Pollard
“At the age of 23, before she'd even earned her PhD, Carol Greider made the discovery that would earn her the 2009 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
Along with her supervisor and co-laureate Elizabeth Blackburn, she discovered the enzyme telomerase…”
Along with her supervisor and co-laureate Elizabeth Blackburn, she discovered the enzyme telomerase…”
February 6, 2026 at 4:45 PM
“At the age of 23, before she'd even earned her PhD, Carol Greider made the discovery that would earn her the 2009 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
Along with her supervisor and co-laureate Elizabeth Blackburn, she discovered the enzyme telomerase…”
Along with her supervisor and co-laureate Elizabeth Blackburn, she discovered the enzyme telomerase…”
Reposted by Michael Pollard
Have I ever mentioned how surreal it is to be an Editor-in-Chief of a journal called Vaccine right now?
www.science.org/content/arti...
It’s pretty wild, at least by typical academic journal editorial office standards.
www.science.org/content/arti...
It’s pretty wild, at least by typical academic journal editorial office standards.
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 6:14 AM
Have I ever mentioned how surreal it is to be an Editor-in-Chief of a journal called Vaccine right now?
www.science.org/content/arti...
It’s pretty wild, at least by typical academic journal editorial office standards.
www.science.org/content/arti...
It’s pretty wild, at least by typical academic journal editorial office standards.
Reposted by Michael Pollard
💊🌟 Meet a next-generation approach to cancer treatment. Switchable CAR-T is a programmable immunotherapy designed to give scientists greater control over how—and when—the immune system targets cancer. The technology is now being tested in a Phase 1 trial for metastatic breast cancer.
February 5, 2026 at 5:35 PM
💊🌟 Meet a next-generation approach to cancer treatment. Switchable CAR-T is a programmable immunotherapy designed to give scientists greater control over how—and when—the immune system targets cancer. The technology is now being tested in a Phase 1 trial for metastatic breast cancer.
Reposted by Michael Pollard
This is the world that RFK Jr dreamed of; his dreams are coming true
NEW: Children are developing encephalitis as the South Carolina measles outbreak continues. @emilymullin.bsky.social has more:
Measles Is Causing Brain Swelling in Children in South Carolina
In the ongoing measles outbreak in South Carolina that has infected more than 800 people, some children have developed a rare but serious complication called encephalitis.
www.wired.com
February 4, 2026 at 9:57 PM
This is the world that RFK Jr dreamed of; his dreams are coming true
First it was "vaccines" (MMR) by Wakefield, then thimerosal, etc, etc. Now its back to vaccines. A dizzying array of moving goal posts.
“Any single vaccine” is the key phrasing here.
And it’s deliberate. See, Bhattacharya cannot acknowledge the truth that vaccines do not cause autism—indeed the idea that they do is based on fraudulent research—without alienating his anti-vax friends with whom he made a devil’s bargain for power.
And it’s deliberate. See, Bhattacharya cannot acknowledge the truth that vaccines do not cause autism—indeed the idea that they do is based on fraudulent research—without alienating his anti-vax friends with whom he made a devil’s bargain for power.
BERNIE SANDERS: Do vaccines cause autism?
BHATTACHARYA: I do not believe that the measles vaccine causes autism
SANDERS: Nah. Uh uh. I didn't ask measles. Do vaccines cause autism?
BHATTACHARYA: I have not seen a study that suggests any single vaccine causes autism
BHATTACHARYA: I do not believe that the measles vaccine causes autism
SANDERS: Nah. Uh uh. I didn't ask measles. Do vaccines cause autism?
BHATTACHARYA: I have not seen a study that suggests any single vaccine causes autism
February 4, 2026 at 8:43 PM
First it was "vaccines" (MMR) by Wakefield, then thimerosal, etc, etc. Now its back to vaccines. A dizzying array of moving goal posts.
Reposted by Michael Pollard
Casar holds a 3 minute and 26 second moment of silence to represent the time in which DHS officers let Renee Good bleed out after she was shot
February 3, 2026 at 10:37 PM
Casar holds a 3 minute and 26 second moment of silence to represent the time in which DHS officers let Renee Good bleed out after she was shot
Reposted by Michael Pollard
Reposted by Michael Pollard
Yes!
If it makes you mad that Jay Bhattacharya said he sees NIH as the “research arm” of RFK Jr’s anti-vaccine MAHA movement
If it makes you made that Bhattacharya & RFK Jr & Drs Oz, Høeg, Kulldorff, Makary, & Prasad are dismantling US public health and science
Then RALLY 👇👇👇👇
If it makes you mad that Jay Bhattacharya said he sees NIH as the “research arm” of RFK Jr’s anti-vaccine MAHA movement
If it makes you made that Bhattacharya & RFK Jr & Drs Oz, Høeg, Kulldorff, Makary, & Prasad are dismantling US public health and science
Then RALLY 👇👇👇👇
If this makes you mad, you can do something about it:
RALLY TO TAKE BACK SCIENCE! 🔬🧪✊
March 7th, 2026 in Washington, DC
Learn more at standupforscience.net/march7
#Standupforscience
RALLY TO TAKE BACK SCIENCE! 🔬🧪✊
March 7th, 2026 in Washington, DC
Learn more at standupforscience.net/march7
#Standupforscience
Stand Up for Science: March 7th, 2026 — STAND UP FOR SCIENCE
standupforscience.net
January 29, 2026 at 4:35 PM
Yes!
If it makes you mad that Jay Bhattacharya said he sees NIH as the “research arm” of RFK Jr’s anti-vaccine MAHA movement
If it makes you made that Bhattacharya & RFK Jr & Drs Oz, Høeg, Kulldorff, Makary, & Prasad are dismantling US public health and science
Then RALLY 👇👇👇👇
If it makes you mad that Jay Bhattacharya said he sees NIH as the “research arm” of RFK Jr’s anti-vaccine MAHA movement
If it makes you made that Bhattacharya & RFK Jr & Drs Oz, Høeg, Kulldorff, Makary, & Prasad are dismantling US public health and science
Then RALLY 👇👇👇👇
"What happens to the human body in 49C heat? Australians are finding out."
What happens to the human body in 49C heat? Australians are finding out
Doctors warn there are biological limits to temperatures we can survive, and exposure to extreme heat can provoke a heart attack
www.theguardian.com
January 27, 2026 at 6:03 AM
"What happens to the human body in 49C heat? Australians are finding out."
Reposted by Michael Pollard
You can’t tell me we have a functioning economic system when the richest man in human history is one of the most profoundly stupid people in human history
January 27, 2026 at 2:11 AM
You can’t tell me we have a functioning economic system when the richest man in human history is one of the most profoundly stupid people in human history
Reposted by Michael Pollard
Biochemist/molecular biologist Joan Steitz was born #OTD in 1941.
She (& team) figured out how our cells read/use genetic instructions to make proteins. A key person who helped crack the code on RNA—the molecule that acts like a messenger between DNA & and the proteins our bodies need. #WomenInSTEM
She (& team) figured out how our cells read/use genetic instructions to make proteins. A key person who helped crack the code on RNA—the molecule that acts like a messenger between DNA & and the proteins our bodies need. #WomenInSTEM
January 26, 2026 at 7:08 PM
Biochemist/molecular biologist Joan Steitz was born #OTD in 1941.
She (& team) figured out how our cells read/use genetic instructions to make proteins. A key person who helped crack the code on RNA—the molecule that acts like a messenger between DNA & and the proteins our bodies need. #WomenInSTEM
She (& team) figured out how our cells read/use genetic instructions to make proteins. A key person who helped crack the code on RNA—the molecule that acts like a messenger between DNA & and the proteins our bodies need. #WomenInSTEM
Reposted by Michael Pollard
The extraordinary biochemist & pharmacologist Gertrude Elion was born #OTD in 1918.
Elion won the 1988 #Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (w/2 others) for her pioneering "rational drug design." Her work saved countless lives...(👇 1/2) #WomenInSTEM
Elion won the 1988 #Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (w/2 others) for her pioneering "rational drug design." Her work saved countless lives...(👇 1/2) #WomenInSTEM
January 23, 2026 at 6:06 PM
The extraordinary biochemist & pharmacologist Gertrude Elion was born #OTD in 1918.
Elion won the 1988 #Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (w/2 others) for her pioneering "rational drug design." Her work saved countless lives...(👇 1/2) #WomenInSTEM
Elion won the 1988 #Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (w/2 others) for her pioneering "rational drug design." Her work saved countless lives...(👇 1/2) #WomenInSTEM