Leah Shaffer
@leahshaffer.bsky.social
Science writer, mostly puttering about the garden.
she/her
she/her
Want to reduce risk for dementia? Get vaccinated! 🩺
I will explain how this works...
I will explain how this works...
Oh, just get vaccinated (part 5,000)
"Many shots seem to have “off-target” benefits, such as lowering the risk of dementia, studies have found." (gift article)
"Many shots seem to have “off-target” benefits, such as lowering the risk of dementia, studies have found." (gift article)
Vaccines Are Helping Older People More Than We Knew
www.nytimes.com
January 4, 2026 at 8:42 PM
Want to reduce risk for dementia? Get vaccinated! 🩺
I will explain how this works...
I will explain how this works...
No! Can we just never circle back?
oh shit tomorrow is circle back day already
January 4, 2026 at 7:17 PM
No! Can we just never circle back?
Goddamnit, Capt. America was tired of this shit 40 Years Ago! We are so fucking tired of the same stupid shit. Are we in hell, are we doomed to repeat the same hell every 20 years? Yes, I think so!
January 4, 2026 at 7:15 PM
Goddamnit, Capt. America was tired of this shit 40 Years Ago! We are so fucking tired of the same stupid shit. Are we in hell, are we doomed to repeat the same hell every 20 years? Yes, I think so!
Of course the creationist museum would have measles exposure! 🩺
Measles may have been spread at a Noah’s Ark-themed creationist museum in Kentucky earlier this week, the state’s health authority said.
Health Authorities Issue Measles Alert at Creationist Museum
In 2025, the U.S. had the most infections of the vaccine-preventable disease since 1992.
trib.al
January 4, 2026 at 6:39 PM
Of course the creationist museum would have measles exposure! 🩺
What would you do if you were Delcy?
Facing a hostile takeover from a highly powered dipshit dictator. What do you do?
Facing a hostile takeover from a highly powered dipshit dictator. What do you do?
Venezuela’s new leader, vice president and oil minister Delcy Rodríguez, is a socialist true believer who helped Nicolás Maduro maintain his grip on power for more than a decade. 🔗 on.wsj.com/3YUnbzx
January 4, 2026 at 5:37 PM
What would you do if you were Delcy?
Facing a hostile takeover from a highly powered dipshit dictator. What do you do?
Facing a hostile takeover from a highly powered dipshit dictator. What do you do?
Good time to start planning for spring wildflowers! Sunflowers, coneflowers, fantastic #permaculture. #GardenSky
🌱🌼
🌱🌼
Some Native Seeds available in our Bluesky giveaway
🌱 Angelica atropurpurea (Purplestem Angelica)
🌱 Carex cherokeensis (Cherokee Sedge)
🌱 Cladrastis kentukea ‘Perkins Pink’ (Yellowwood)
🌱 Eryngium ravenelii ‘Charleston Blues’ (Rattlesnake Master)
🌱 Liatris micropephala (Smallhead Blazing Star)
🌱 Angelica atropurpurea (Purplestem Angelica)
🌱 Carex cherokeensis (Cherokee Sedge)
🌱 Cladrastis kentukea ‘Perkins Pink’ (Yellowwood)
🌱 Eryngium ravenelii ‘Charleston Blues’ (Rattlesnake Master)
🌱 Liatris micropephala (Smallhead Blazing Star)
Free Garden Seeds on Bluesky
These are Seeds available only to Bluesky accounts with mailing addresses in United States. We will see how this goes and update with more seeds if it’s not too big of a disaster. Please read…
greatstateofstlouis.com
January 4, 2026 at 5:15 PM
Good time to start planning for spring wildflowers! Sunflowers, coneflowers, fantastic #permaculture. #GardenSky
🌱🌼
🌱🌼
I appreciate @algreen.house.gov thank you for trying, I hope you eventually have some help.
Al Green has been doing this, yet it hardly receives any coverage, nor does party leadership back him up.
apnews.com/article/trum...
apnews.com/article/trum...
House squashes second attempt to impeach Trump from Rep. Al Green
The House has voted to dismiss an effort to impeach President Donald Trump. The impeachment resolution brought by Democratic Rep.
apnews.com
January 4, 2026 at 4:29 PM
I appreciate @algreen.house.gov thank you for trying, I hope you eventually have some help.
Hawley is a cowardly twerp with a brain. Hawley will not answer your presidential ?? because he knows there will be a cleansing fire sweeping anyone left holding the bag for Trump. Hawley smells it just like MTG. She opts to rebrand. He opts for duck and cover. Don't forget who they are.
Josh Hawley minimizes talk of a presidential run.
But recent moves and statements have kept him in the national spotlight
www.stltoday.com/news/local/c...
But recent moves and statements have kept him in the national spotlight
www.stltoday.com/news/local/c...
Josh Hawley bats down talk of 2028. But is he setting up a run for president?
Josh Hawley minimizes talk of a presidential run. But recent moves and statements have kept him in the national spotlight.
www.stltoday.com
January 4, 2026 at 4:14 PM
Hawley is a cowardly twerp with a brain. Hawley will not answer your presidential ?? because he knows there will be a cleansing fire sweeping anyone left holding the bag for Trump. Hawley smells it just like MTG. She opts to rebrand. He opts for duck and cover. Don't forget who they are.
When I click on my Duck Duck Go home page, it's got my usual sites listed including Bluesky. Instead of Bluesky home, the button always sends me to this singular post. Tiny sleeping lizards are the first thing I see every time I open Bluesky. I will never change it. bsky.app/profile/haru... 🧪🦎
🧪 🦎
I just read a very serious paper about reproductive system
imaging in chameleons, and I need you to know that this was Figure 1.
I just read a very serious paper about reproductive system
imaging in chameleons, and I need you to know that this was Figure 1.
January 4, 2026 at 4:00 PM
When I click on my Duck Duck Go home page, it's got my usual sites listed including Bluesky. Instead of Bluesky home, the button always sends me to this singular post. Tiny sleeping lizards are the first thing I see every time I open Bluesky. I will never change it. bsky.app/profile/haru... 🧪🦎
we are not-so-silently judging you, when someone uses these tools for "fun," I assume they are sad suckers, who enjoy the smell of a gas leak and need help.
Deleted a repost of a thread.
Looking closer, the person is comfortable sharing AI images & video. Was the thread also AI? Was it accurate?
I’d rather not take the chance and share it.
Journalists, keep this in mind. “Fun” AI videos & images undercut your credibility.
Looking closer, the person is comfortable sharing AI images & video. Was the thread also AI? Was it accurate?
I’d rather not take the chance and share it.
Journalists, keep this in mind. “Fun” AI videos & images undercut your credibility.
January 4, 2026 at 3:47 PM
we are not-so-silently judging you, when someone uses these tools for "fun," I assume they are sad suckers, who enjoy the smell of a gas leak and need help.
Timeline cleanse with pretty lights
January 4, 2026 at 1:58 AM
Timeline cleanse with pretty lights
Yes, you are correct, ground.
Seen on a walk in Las Cruces, NM, this morning. Seems about right.
January 3, 2026 at 7:26 PM
Yes, you are correct, ground.
Look, we are officially living in a dictatorship, why do we have to go to work this year? We need Andor leave so we can have the right work-life balance to fuck shit up for the regime. Americans should get a year off because we also tend to blow shit up when we're bored.
January 3, 2026 at 5:46 PM
Look, we are officially living in a dictatorship, why do we have to go to work this year? We need Andor leave so we can have the right work-life balance to fuck shit up for the regime. Americans should get a year off because we also tend to blow shit up when we're bored.
Here is my teen son spoiling our little cat who likes to watch bunnies out the front door while being petted and being told she is a perfect baby. If you can find someone today to scratch your back while being told you are perfect and adorable, I recommend it.
January 3, 2026 at 5:08 PM
Here is my teen son spoiling our little cat who likes to watch bunnies out the front door while being petted and being told she is a perfect baby. If you can find someone today to scratch your back while being told you are perfect and adorable, I recommend it.
Entering the mad king calvinball days. Roads? Where we're going, there are no roads.
Laws? Rules?
There is only one rule left.
Accelerate.
Whatever beautiful thing you are doing, do it harder, faster, with even more love and enraged passion. FUCK THEM. Clutch your people and push your pedal.
Laws? Rules?
There is only one rule left.
Accelerate.
Whatever beautiful thing you are doing, do it harder, faster, with even more love and enraged passion. FUCK THEM. Clutch your people and push your pedal.
Marco Rubio is reportedly saying Maduro will stand trial in US courts.
Which means it’s now the US administration’s position that US courts can hold foreign presidents, but not the US president, accountable for crimes.
Which means it’s now the US administration’s position that US courts can hold foreign presidents, but not the US president, accountable for crimes.
January 3, 2026 at 4:56 PM
Entering the mad king calvinball days. Roads? Where we're going, there are no roads.
Laws? Rules?
There is only one rule left.
Accelerate.
Whatever beautiful thing you are doing, do it harder, faster, with even more love and enraged passion. FUCK THEM. Clutch your people and push your pedal.
Laws? Rules?
There is only one rule left.
Accelerate.
Whatever beautiful thing you are doing, do it harder, faster, with even more love and enraged passion. FUCK THEM. Clutch your people and push your pedal.
K, just going back to bed then.
January 3, 2026 at 3:12 PM
K, just going back to bed then.
New Madrid fault line has been overdue so let's call this what it is. The big quake. The shocks will crack open the remaining foundation of our bedraggled system. And we will all be covered in debris, some will die from the destruction. It will be a mess and we will have to rebuild from scratch. 🩺
Here’s What Happens Now That Republicans Have Thrown Us Over the Obamacare Cliff
ACA marketplace enrollees are set to see their health insurance costs spike. But when premium tax credits expire, profound systemic shocks will be felt well beyond individual customers.
ACA marketplace enrollees are set to see their health insurance costs spike. But when premium tax credits expire, profound systemic shocks will be felt well beyond individual customers.
Here’s What Happens Now That We’re Going Over the Obamacare Cliff
ACA marketplace enrollees are set to see their health insurance costs spike. But when premium tax credits expire, profound systemic shocks will be felt well beyond individual customers.
newrepublic.com
January 2, 2026 at 7:24 PM
New Madrid fault line has been overdue so let's call this what it is. The big quake. The shocks will crack open the remaining foundation of our bedraggled system. And we will all be covered in debris, some will die from the destruction. It will be a mess and we will have to rebuild from scratch. 🩺
Can we get the kids to start saying 6..7...slop! It would be funny and incredibly aggravating.
as if the onus for improving quality and usefulness is somehow on the critics or the consumer
Microsoft's Satya Nadella wants you to stop saying AI "slop" in 2026
In closing comments of 2025, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella shared an update on the company's mindset for 2026 — shocker, it's all about AI.
www.windowscentral.com
January 2, 2026 at 7:17 PM
Can we get the kids to start saying 6..7...slop! It would be funny and incredibly aggravating.
Ask questions about sex characteristics, lose funding. That's the whole game, if you study any biology. Imagine your physics grant got cut because you study gravity. It's now against the rules to ask questions about gravity. #ScienceSky 🧪
"I don’t know why my fellowship was terminated. I suspect that it has something to do with studying a species that doesn’t fit the binary of what we expect to see in nature, with completely different males and females."
@carlzimmer.com profiles my wonderful coauthor @jjinsing.bsky.social Gift link.
@carlzimmer.com profiles my wonderful coauthor @jjinsing.bsky.social Gift link.
He Studied Why Some Female Birds Look Like Males
www.nytimes.com
January 2, 2026 at 6:53 PM
Ask questions about sex characteristics, lose funding. That's the whole game, if you study any biology. Imagine your physics grant got cut because you study gravity. It's now against the rules to ask questions about gravity. #ScienceSky 🧪
I think many of us will have ports for all our brain stim devices in the future. A little plugin for that vagus nerve stimulator for stress relief, a bedside depression zapper, a "sleep tiara" to clear neuroinflammation. Zips and zaps, beeps and boops, we are bags of chemicals and electricity. 🧪 🩺
FDA Approves First At-Home Brain Stimulation Device For Depression www.forbes.com/sites/gregli...
www.forbes.com
January 2, 2026 at 6:44 PM
I think many of us will have ports for all our brain stim devices in the future. A little plugin for that vagus nerve stimulator for stress relief, a bedside depression zapper, a "sleep tiara" to clear neuroinflammation. Zips and zaps, beeps and boops, we are bags of chemicals and electricity. 🧪 🩺
You ever walk into a badly made room off-gassing wood glues, formaldehyde, various fumes from nasty coatings and adhesives? You pull open windows and move your shirt over your face, start getting a killer headache 5 minutes in, and have to flee or you might throw up. That's what is happening on X.
Im judging all the leftists and liberals who are still cooking their brains by using Twitter.
January 2, 2026 at 5:17 PM
You ever walk into a badly made room off-gassing wood glues, formaldehyde, various fumes from nasty coatings and adhesives? You pull open windows and move your shirt over your face, start getting a killer headache 5 minutes in, and have to flee or you might throw up. That's what is happening on X.
One secret about Bluesky is that it's the number one sports app in the world. Good sports talk must allow for the free flow of shit talk and silliness and this website is really good for that.
This is crazy man. Bluesky is the only place I “promote” my newsletter or post my stories.
I’ve also never done a public sale before because I hate promo. As a woman in sports I also have to fight the understandable survival instinct to make myself small every day.
this is v v humbling!
I’ve also never done a public sale before because I hate promo. As a woman in sports I also have to fight the understandable survival instinct to make myself small every day.
this is v v humbling!
January 2, 2026 at 5:10 PM
One secret about Bluesky is that it's the number one sports app in the world. Good sports talk must allow for the free flow of shit talk and silliness and this website is really good for that.
I always thought it would be interesting* to remake the film exactly as it was and reverse the races, with white people being slaves and the film centering the Black aristocracy. They treat their servants like family, that sweet old white lady provides comic relief.
*Cause racists to stroke out
*Cause racists to stroke out
Was just thinking that Gone With the Wind will be public domain in 6 years.
Considering the tantrum the Mitchell estate threw about The Wind Done Gone, I think you all know what to do with that information.
Considering the tantrum the Mitchell estate threw about The Wind Done Gone, I think you all know what to do with that information.
January 2, 2026 at 4:30 PM
I always thought it would be interesting* to remake the film exactly as it was and reverse the races, with white people being slaves and the film centering the Black aristocracy. They treat their servants like family, that sweet old white lady provides comic relief.
*Cause racists to stroke out
*Cause racists to stroke out