Peter van Heusden (he/him) 🗿
@pvanheus.bsky.social
#bioinformatics at @SANBI_SA, building bioinformatics workflows for (Pan-)African PH. health & justice! married. @pvanheus@mstdn.science
Reposted by Peter van Heusden (he/him) 🗿
The rumors about daycare centers are extremely "fit" for virality: having both novelty & familiarity (drawing on anti-immigrant tropes of criminality & exploitation); making emotional/identity appeals; are *participatory* in that ppl can create their own “evidence” by investigating local centers.
What makes an election rumor go viral? Look at these 10 factors
A guide for journalists and news organizations assessing voting- and election-related rumors in the weeks leading up to the 2022 midterms.
www.niemanlab.org
December 31, 2025 at 4:46 PM
The rumors about daycare centers are extremely "fit" for virality: having both novelty & familiarity (drawing on anti-immigrant tropes of criminality & exploitation); making emotional/identity appeals; are *participatory* in that ppl can create their own “evidence” by investigating local centers.
It is never a bad time to stand against oppression. This is me with Dr Louis Reynolds (retired associated professor of paediatrics and long-time activist) #hcw4palestine #palestineaction #freethehungerstrikers #hcw4p
December 31, 2025 at 4:14 PM
It is never a bad time to stand against oppression. This is me with Dr Louis Reynolds (retired associated professor of paediatrics and long-time activist) #hcw4palestine #palestineaction #freethehungerstrikers #hcw4p
Reposted by Peter van Heusden (he/him) 🗿
Alaa Abd el-Fattah’s tweets were wrong, but he is no ‘anti-white Islamist’. Why does the British right want you to believe he is? | Naomi Klein
Alaa Abd el-Fattah’s tweets were wrong, but he is no ‘anti-white Islamist’. Why does the British right want you to believe he is? | Naomi Klein
I have no interest in defending his social media posts, but calls to strip the newly freed activist of British citizenship pile torment on top of torture, says Naomi Klein, Guardian US columnist and contributing writer
www.theguardian.com
December 31, 2025 at 9:23 AM
Alaa Abd el-Fattah’s tweets were wrong, but he is no ‘anti-white Islamist’. Why does the British right want you to believe he is? | Naomi Klein
Reposted by Peter van Heusden (he/him) 🗿
These countries are without exaggeration the lowest of scum on the planet, expressing "concern" and then doing nothing about it is the same as loading the gun and then leaving it on the table for a murderer to pick up.
Gaza humanitarian deterioration of serious concern, say UK, Canada, France and others
www.al-monitor.com/originals/20...
www.al-monitor.com/originals/20...
Gaza humanitarian deterioration of serious concern, say UK, Canada, France and others
LONDON, Dec 30 (Reuters) - The humanitarian situation in Gaza has worsened again and is of serious concern, Britain, Canada, France and others said in a joint statement on Tuesday that also called on…
www.al-monitor.com
December 30, 2025 at 4:54 PM
These countries are without exaggeration the lowest of scum on the planet, expressing "concern" and then doing nothing about it is the same as loading the gun and then leaving it on the table for a murderer to pick up.
Reposted by Peter van Heusden (he/him) 🗿
Working with big spatial data sets in #rstats? You should try {duckspatial}. The dev version of #duckspatial (soon on CRAN) uses #duckdb to perform super fast and memory efficient spatial operations cidree.github.io/duckspatial/...
In a benchmark against, {sf}....
In a benchmark against, {sf}....
December 30, 2025 at 5:28 PM
Working with big spatial data sets in #rstats? You should try {duckspatial}. The dev version of #duckspatial (soon on CRAN) uses #duckdb to perform super fast and memory efficient spatial operations cidree.github.io/duckspatial/...
In a benchmark against, {sf}....
In a benchmark against, {sf}....
Reposted by Peter van Heusden (he/him) 🗿
The Post interviewed almost 100 sources for this comprehensive, revelatory account of how RFK Jr. has disrupted public health in America.
It's the capstone to a year of extensive reporting by @rachelroubein.bsky.social, @lenasun.bsky.social & @laurenweberhp.bsky.social.
Gift link: wapo.st/48YSPC1
It's the capstone to a year of extensive reporting by @rachelroubein.bsky.social, @lenasun.bsky.social & @laurenweberhp.bsky.social.
Gift link: wapo.st/48YSPC1
Inside RFK Jr.’s reshaping of public health in Trump’s first year
Interviews with almost 100 people reveal how Kennedy, as health secretary, has reshaped the vaccine and broader public health infrastructure in less than a year.
wapo.st
December 30, 2025 at 1:13 PM
The Post interviewed almost 100 sources for this comprehensive, revelatory account of how RFK Jr. has disrupted public health in America.
It's the capstone to a year of extensive reporting by @rachelroubein.bsky.social, @lenasun.bsky.social & @laurenweberhp.bsky.social.
Gift link: wapo.st/48YSPC1
It's the capstone to a year of extensive reporting by @rachelroubein.bsky.social, @lenasun.bsky.social & @laurenweberhp.bsky.social.
Gift link: wapo.st/48YSPC1
Reposted by Peter van Heusden (he/him) 🗿
Hi it's my birthday. If you think I have added anything to your bsky experience, please donate to the Elhakawati Theater in Jerusalem.
el-hakawati.org/support-us/s...
el-hakawati.org/support-us/s...
Support Theatrical Productions Programme Tours Shows
Support Us by Making a donation The El Hakawati Theatre works diligently to produce theatrical works, shows, tours, festivals, and trainings that target a wide variety of the Palestinian society every...
el-hakawati.org
December 30, 2025 at 2:03 PM
Hi it's my birthday. If you think I have added anything to your bsky experience, please donate to the Elhakawati Theater in Jerusalem.
el-hakawati.org/support-us/s...
el-hakawati.org/support-us/s...
Reposted by Peter van Heusden (he/him) 🗿
Stories like this make me feel hopeful. Resilience in the face of adversity. When USAID was shut down programs like this malaria program in cameroon faced collapse. They found a way to continue doing the work and saving the lives of children affected by malaria.
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/28/h...
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/28/h...
How Cameroon Fought to Save Its Malaria Program After the U.S. Cut Critical Funding
www.nytimes.com
December 29, 2025 at 2:43 PM
Stories like this make me feel hopeful. Resilience in the face of adversity. When USAID was shut down programs like this malaria program in cameroon faced collapse. They found a way to continue doing the work and saving the lives of children affected by malaria.
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/28/h...
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/28/h...
Reposted by Peter van Heusden (he/him) 🗿
our data story visualizing the rabbit hole people can fall into with chatGPT is on the cover of today’s @washingtonpost.com @kevinschaul.bsky.social
December 28, 2025 at 5:51 PM
our data story visualizing the rabbit hole people can fall into with chatGPT is on the cover of today’s @washingtonpost.com @kevinschaul.bsky.social
Reposted by Peter van Heusden (he/him) 🗿
I’m only 3/4ths through this book, but I’m wrecked. Lots of people have correctly noted that it feels important, but (a) he’s a damn good storyteller, and (b) it’s hard to read this and not constantly see how the attempt to prop up the violence of western hegemony wrecks all our lives
December 28, 2025 at 5:41 PM
I’m only 3/4ths through this book, but I’m wrecked. Lots of people have correctly noted that it feels important, but (a) he’s a damn good storyteller, and (b) it’s hard to read this and not constantly see how the attempt to prop up the violence of western hegemony wrecks all our lives
Reposted by Peter van Heusden (he/him) 🗿
#BrigitteBardot was convicted several times for inciting racial hatred in France when she was alive. She does not magically become a good person because she died. How we choose to live determines how we will be remembered when we die.
www.npr.org/2025/12/28/1...
www.npr.org/2025/12/28/1...
Brigitte Bardot, sex goddess of cinema, has died
Legendary screen siren and animal rights activist Brigitte Bardot has died at age 91. The alluring former model starred in numerous movies, often playing the highly sexualized love interest.
www.npr.org
December 28, 2025 at 1:34 PM
#BrigitteBardot was convicted several times for inciting racial hatred in France when she was alive. She does not magically become a good person because she died. How we choose to live determines how we will be remembered when we die.
www.npr.org/2025/12/28/1...
www.npr.org/2025/12/28/1...
Reposted by Peter van Heusden (he/him) 🗿
Congrats @jeffgroh.bsky.social et al. Some avocado trees open female-phase flowers in the morning & then male in afternoon. Others show complementary pattern (m->f), to synchronize pollination of two types. Jeff show this to be a >45Mya polymorphism at a transcription factor across 100s of species.
Balanced polymorphism in a floral transcription factor underlies an ancient rhythm of daily sex alternation in avocado https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2025.12.22.695989v1
December 25, 2025 at 6:47 PM
Congrats @jeffgroh.bsky.social et al. Some avocado trees open female-phase flowers in the morning & then male in afternoon. Others show complementary pattern (m->f), to synchronize pollination of two types. Jeff show this to be a >45Mya polymorphism at a transcription factor across 100s of species.
Reposted by Peter van Heusden (he/him) 🗿
A small (personal) example of this book’s intellectual dishonesty:
My father-in-law is reading In Covid’s Wake, and excitedly told me he found a passage where I’m quoted. The quote in question is me saying the FBI worked to censor speech on social media.
Huh? When did I say that?!
My father-in-law is reading In Covid’s Wake, and excitedly told me he found a passage where I’m quoted. The quote in question is me saying the FBI worked to censor speech on social media.
Huh? When did I say that?!
December 24, 2025 at 7:00 PM
A small (personal) example of this book’s intellectual dishonesty:
My father-in-law is reading In Covid’s Wake, and excitedly told me he found a passage where I’m quoted. The quote in question is me saying the FBI worked to censor speech on social media.
Huh? When did I say that?!
My father-in-law is reading In Covid’s Wake, and excitedly told me he found a passage where I’m quoted. The quote in question is me saying the FBI worked to censor speech on social media.
Huh? When did I say that?!
Reposted by Peter van Heusden (he/him) 🗿
Nina Jankowicz: “They’re not doing this because they have any evidence of censorship — they lost a Supreme Court case that made those claims… They’re doing this because the group of researchers and advocates have stood up to liars like Donald Trump and the platforms that enable them.”
“Chilling and unconstitutional” — @attorneynora.bsky.social @freepress.bsky.social
U.S. Bars 5 European Tech Regulators and Researchers
www.nytimes.com
December 24, 2025 at 6:33 AM
Nina Jankowicz: “They’re not doing this because they have any evidence of censorship — they lost a Supreme Court case that made those claims… They’re doing this because the group of researchers and advocates have stood up to liars like Donald Trump and the platforms that enable them.”
Reposted by Peter van Heusden (he/him) 🗿
Reposted by Peter van Heusden (he/him) 🗿
Social science research can help us to understand why doubt and disinformation find a landing strip in some communities. Community-level research and interventions will not alone overcome the political economy of disinformation and doubt fueling these trends.
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/22/o...
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/22/o...
Opinion | Three Experts on Vaccines, Measles and Kennedy
www.nytimes.com
December 23, 2025 at 9:40 PM
Social science research can help us to understand why doubt and disinformation find a landing strip in some communities. Community-level research and interventions will not alone overcome the political economy of disinformation and doubt fueling these trends.
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/22/o...
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/22/o...
Reposted by Peter van Heusden (he/him) 🗿
The doctors who broke from the consensus to prescribe ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine accessed a cash-pay economy with 500% revenue premiums. The organizations that fundraise on vaccine injury have professional staffs, 8-figure budgets, and executives earning more than most hospital administrators
The "pharma shill" charge persists not because it's true but because it's useful. It discredits doctors while shielding those who actually profit from vaccine doubt. I examined the economics here: open.substack.com/pub/jakescot...
The Pharma Shill Paradox: Who Actually Profits from Vaccine Mistrust
A physician examines the financial anatomy of an insult
open.substack.com
December 23, 2025 at 11:26 PM
The doctors who broke from the consensus to prescribe ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine accessed a cash-pay economy with 500% revenue premiums. The organizations that fundraise on vaccine injury have professional staffs, 8-figure budgets, and executives earning more than most hospital administrators
Reposted by Peter van Heusden (he/him) 🗿
CBS didn't run the 60 Minutes segment on CECOT, but over here at @propublica.org we've been working on the story since March, including finding out who each and every man sent to that maximum security prison was.
You can see our reporting here: www.propublica.org/series/depor...
You can see our reporting here: www.propublica.org/series/depor...
Deported and Imprisoned Archives
A case-by-case investigation that examines the Trump administration’s claims that these immigrants are all “sick criminals” and “terrorists” and that shows what they suffered during months in one of t...
www.propublica.org
December 22, 2025 at 4:08 PM
CBS didn't run the 60 Minutes segment on CECOT, but over here at @propublica.org we've been working on the story since March, including finding out who each and every man sent to that maximum security prison was.
You can see our reporting here: www.propublica.org/series/depor...
You can see our reporting here: www.propublica.org/series/depor...
Reposted by Peter van Heusden (he/him) 🗿
Now seems like a swell time to point out that Frontline just released this excellent 11-minute mini-documentary about what happened inside CECOT.
Surviving CECOT (full documentary) | Deported to a Maximum-Security Prison | FRONTLINE + ProPublica
YouTube video by FRONTLINE PBS | Official
m.youtube.com
December 21, 2025 at 10:26 PM
Now seems like a swell time to point out that Frontline just released this excellent 11-minute mini-documentary about what happened inside CECOT.
Reposted by Peter van Heusden (he/him) 🗿
As the year wraps up, & the breakout of conflict in the Horn of Africa looks increasingly inevitable in 2026, this indepth probe by @clairelwilmot.bsky.social into illegal gold mining from Tigray to the UAE mostly by the way of Eritrea...is a good 101er for how factions are likely to arm themselves.
When Tigray became a ‘Wild West’ of illegal gold mining, Canadian firms staked a claim
A postwar gold rush in Ethiopia razed the landscape and sowed seeds for conflict. The Globe looks into Canadian-licensed sites at the heart of it, and their ties to Beijing
www.theglobeandmail.com
December 21, 2025 at 2:55 AM
As the year wraps up, & the breakout of conflict in the Horn of Africa looks increasingly inevitable in 2026, this indepth probe by @clairelwilmot.bsky.social into illegal gold mining from Tigray to the UAE mostly by the way of Eritrea...is a good 101er for how factions are likely to arm themselves.
Reposted by Peter van Heusden (he/him) 🗿
New open access publication with Darlene Miller.
Using the example of two community gardens in Khayelitsha, Cape Town the paper identifies core principles for decolonized food system communication using the lens of Afrokology. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Supported by @imidibaniso.bsky.social
Using the example of two community gardens in Khayelitsha, Cape Town the paper identifies core principles for decolonized food system communication using the lens of Afrokology. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Supported by @imidibaniso.bsky.social
December 19, 2025 at 9:32 AM
New open access publication with Darlene Miller.
Using the example of two community gardens in Khayelitsha, Cape Town the paper identifies core principles for decolonized food system communication using the lens of Afrokology. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Supported by @imidibaniso.bsky.social
Using the example of two community gardens in Khayelitsha, Cape Town the paper identifies core principles for decolonized food system communication using the lens of Afrokology. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Supported by @imidibaniso.bsky.social
Reposted by Peter van Heusden (he/him) 🗿
Read @boghuma.bsky.social’s piece on RFK Jr’s HBV vaccine trial in Guinea-Bissau. bktitanji.substack.com/p/how-unethi...
How Unethical Research Seeds Medical Mistrust
The absence of equipoise can turn research into harm
bktitanji.substack.com
December 18, 2025 at 11:12 PM
Read @boghuma.bsky.social’s piece on RFK Jr’s HBV vaccine trial in Guinea-Bissau. bktitanji.substack.com/p/how-unethi...
Reposted by Peter van Heusden (he/him) 🗿
whenever you make stigmatizing comments about addiction, just remember that trump and his team won’t see them, but some of these 50 million americans and their families will, and it hurts them
“Some 50 million Americans struggle with drug & alcohol addiction. It can require multiple stints in rehab before people truly begin the recovery process, according to experts. Others may never reach that point — drug overdose is the leading cause of death for Americans between 18 and 45 years old.”
For Families Fighting Addiction, Reiner Tragedy Strikes a Nerve
www.nytimes.com
December 18, 2025 at 3:44 PM
whenever you make stigmatizing comments about addiction, just remember that trump and his team won’t see them, but some of these 50 million americans and their families will, and it hurts them
Reposted by Peter van Heusden (he/him) 🗿
🆕⚡🧠HARVEST TRIAL:More Rifampin,Same Fate: High-Dose Rifampin Fails to Shift the Needle in TB Meningitis,NEJM,2025
Despite better theoretical CNS penetration,high-dose oral rifampin did not improve survival in adult TB meningitis & potential harm cannot be excluded #idsky
www.nejm.org/doi/full/10....
Despite better theoretical CNS penetration,high-dose oral rifampin did not improve survival in adult TB meningitis & potential harm cannot be excluded #idsky
www.nejm.org/doi/full/10....
Trial of High-Dose Oral Rifampin in Adults with Tuberculous Meningitis | NEJM
Tuberculous meningitis is often lethal, and many survivors have disabilities despite antimicrobial treatment and adjunctive glucocorticoid therapy. Standard-dose rifampin has limited central nervou...
www.nejm.org
December 18, 2025 at 3:51 AM
🆕⚡🧠HARVEST TRIAL:More Rifampin,Same Fate: High-Dose Rifampin Fails to Shift the Needle in TB Meningitis,NEJM,2025
Despite better theoretical CNS penetration,high-dose oral rifampin did not improve survival in adult TB meningitis & potential harm cannot be excluded #idsky
www.nejm.org/doi/full/10....
Despite better theoretical CNS penetration,high-dose oral rifampin did not improve survival in adult TB meningitis & potential harm cannot be excluded #idsky
www.nejm.org/doi/full/10....
Reposted by Peter van Heusden (he/him) 🗿
This is beautiful. The smiles! Bondi beach hero Ahmed Al-Ahmed with the doctors looking after him at the hospital in Sydney.
And…
The doctors are *also* Syrian!
Tamer Al-Kahil from Homs.
Anas Natfaji from Aleppo.
*Three* heroes.
And…
The doctors are *also* Syrian!
Tamer Al-Kahil from Homs.
Anas Natfaji from Aleppo.
*Three* heroes.
December 18, 2025 at 8:59 AM
This is beautiful. The smiles! Bondi beach hero Ahmed Al-Ahmed with the doctors looking after him at the hospital in Sydney.
And…
The doctors are *also* Syrian!
Tamer Al-Kahil from Homs.
Anas Natfaji from Aleppo.
*Three* heroes.
And…
The doctors are *also* Syrian!
Tamer Al-Kahil from Homs.
Anas Natfaji from Aleppo.
*Three* heroes.