Leah Shaffer
@leahshaffer.bsky.social
Science writer, mostly puttering about the garden.
she/her
she/her
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
Get yourselves vaccinated please, it can mean life or death. 🩺
January 1, 2026 at 11:06 PM
Get yourselves vaccinated please, it can mean life or death. 🩺
Good things can happen if you try. We can build something better. We just have to try. Build a collective, your own super team. Good things can be done. In the era of supervillains, we can be our own set of heroes.
Zohran’s inauguration brimmed w/the energy that NYC is “a shining beacon of possibility” per @jumaane.bsky.social.
Amidst the darkness of authoritarianism, inequality & hate, we have a chance to show what’s possible.
That’s always been our mission as New Yorkers—it was profoundly renewed today.
Amidst the darkness of authoritarianism, inequality & hate, we have a chance to show what’s possible.
That’s always been our mission as New Yorkers—it was profoundly renewed today.
January 1, 2026 at 10:24 PM
Good things can happen if you try. We can build something better. We just have to try. Build a collective, your own super team. Good things can be done. In the era of supervillains, we can be our own set of heroes.
Really helpful details about the journalistic malfeasance at the times.
Directives from the top to push anti trans/anti science agenda.
Directives from the top to push anti trans/anti science agenda.
In this in-depth interview Billie Jean Sweeney — a former editor at The New York Times — details how the paper shifted towards openly promoting anti-trans hatred, why this was directed from the very top, how some staff pushed back and the immense damage done by the NYT legitimizing bigotry.
'A directive from above': Former NYT editor lays out how the paper pushes anti-trans bigotry
In this in-depth interview, former New York Times editor Billie Jean Sweeney details how the paper shifted towards openly promoting anti-trans hatred, how some staff tried to stop it, how it's directe...
transnews.network
January 1, 2026 at 9:34 PM
Really helpful details about the journalistic malfeasance at the times.
Directives from the top to push anti trans/anti science agenda.
Directives from the top to push anti trans/anti science agenda.
Mayor Day! I love you, mayors! From the municipal ground up, we shall claw our country back.
Mary Sheffield was sworn in as Detroit’s 76th mayor, becoming the first woman to hold the office in the city's 324-year history
January 1, 2026 at 8:50 PM
Mayor Day! I love you, mayors! From the municipal ground up, we shall claw our country back.
No, you're crying. 🥹
Mamdani: Where else can you hear the sound of the steel pan, savor the smell of sancocho, and pay $9 for coffee on the same block? Where else could a Muslim kid like me grow up eating bagels and lox every Sunday?
January 1, 2026 at 8:46 PM
No, you're crying. 🥹
#ScienceSky @standupforscience.bsky.social needs support. The public is swimming in anti science propaganda and "neutrality" will not save us. We are in a war to win hearts and minds. That takes stories, stunts, grandstanding, and shit talking. We got one spear, it's this group. 🧪
2025 sucked.
In 2026, we are taking back our science!
We are excited to launch our Substack: The Science Fight Club.
Read our first post, written by @cdelawalla.bsky.social, a review of 2025, a preview of 2026, and a big call to action.
open.substack.com/pub/sciencef...
In 2026, we are taking back our science!
We are excited to launch our Substack: The Science Fight Club.
Read our first post, written by @cdelawalla.bsky.social, a review of 2025, a preview of 2026, and a big call to action.
open.substack.com/pub/sciencef...
January 1, 2026 at 7:10 PM
#ScienceSky @standupforscience.bsky.social needs support. The public is swimming in anti science propaganda and "neutrality" will not save us. We are in a war to win hearts and minds. That takes stories, stunts, grandstanding, and shit talking. We got one spear, it's this group. 🧪
The collective endeavor that is scientific progress marches on, and will thrive, in spite of the dipshits yanking out the wires of research funding. They are addled and dying husks. We are just revving up. 🧪🩺 #ScienceSky
January 1, 2026 at 5:41 PM
The collective endeavor that is scientific progress marches on, and will thrive, in spite of the dipshits yanking out the wires of research funding. They are addled and dying husks. We are just revving up. 🧪🩺 #ScienceSky
Good morning, 26. You are going to have to be better than 25, but I will give you a minute.
January 1, 2026 at 4:10 PM
Good morning, 26. You are going to have to be better than 25, but I will give you a minute.
You cannot kill me in a way that matters.
Happy New Year!
Happy New Year!
December 31, 2025 at 10:17 PM
You cannot kill me in a way that matters.
Happy New Year!
Happy New Year!
I believe the metalheads are our future
Teach them well and let them lead the way.
Teach them well and let them lead the way.
Rural Californians living without power.
Coho salmon finding new life.
Indigenous youth finding joy in heavy metal.
The November issue of High Country News captures a West in flux — and in motion.
buff.ly/HYteQGv
Coho salmon finding new life.
Indigenous youth finding joy in heavy metal.
The November issue of High Country News captures a West in flux — and in motion.
buff.ly/HYteQGv
December 31, 2025 at 8:58 PM
I believe the metalheads are our future
Teach them well and let them lead the way.
Teach them well and let them lead the way.
Sorry
December 31, 2025 at 8:55 PM
Sorry
My only prediction for 2026 is that people are going to set data centers on fire. Americans don't really have any other recourse except to set things on fire. We are notorious for burning shit in cases of joy or rage (or both at the same time!). It's what we do! Data centers will become targets.
December 31, 2025 at 8:41 PM
My only prediction for 2026 is that people are going to set data centers on fire. Americans don't really have any other recourse except to set things on fire. We are notorious for burning shit in cases of joy or rage (or both at the same time!). It's what we do! Data centers will become targets.
No year end review, no top 5, no best of, no highlights, I can only look forward, there's ONLY you and your bitin list.
. youtu.be/vkeP-swMgZ8?...
. youtu.be/vkeP-swMgZ8?...
Tyler Childers - Bitin' List (Audio)
YouTube video by TylerChildersVEVO
youtu.be
December 31, 2025 at 7:15 PM
No year end review, no top 5, no best of, no highlights, I can only look forward, there's ONLY you and your bitin list.
. youtu.be/vkeP-swMgZ8?...
. youtu.be/vkeP-swMgZ8?...
The best writing advice from a world builder extraordinaire.
I) Be stubborn. Be pigheaded. It's your art. Also read a lot. I mean, a LOT.
Now, go write.
Now, go write.
December 31, 2025 at 6:51 PM
The best writing advice from a world builder extraordinaire.
We on Bluesky generally had "epistemic luck" meaning we come from identities that find value in "truth seeking" institutions.
I don't feel very lucky. but yeah, we are at the mercy of what we choose to believe.
I don't feel very lucky. but yeah, we are at the mercy of what we choose to believe.
Today on Volts: I've got a nerdy one for you! I talk with political scientist @samuel-bagg.bsky.social about the epistemic crisis & its roots in social identity. He explains why factchecking & media literacy classes will never solve misinformation -- why something deeper & stronger is required.
The cure for misinformation is not more information or smarter news consumers
Political scientist Samuel Bagg explains why social identity is at the root of the misinformation crisis -- which calls for something deeper than factchecking.
www.volts.wtf
December 31, 2025 at 6:02 PM
We on Bluesky generally had "epistemic luck" meaning we come from identities that find value in "truth seeking" institutions.
I don't feel very lucky. but yeah, we are at the mercy of what we choose to believe.
I don't feel very lucky. but yeah, we are at the mercy of what we choose to believe.