Tom Zeller Jr.
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tomzellerjr.com
Tom Zeller Jr.
@tomzellerjr.com
Journalist; @nytimes.com & @KSJatMIT alum; Editor in Chief, @undarkmag (http://undark.org); Formidable lyric vault; Scion of #CLE.
Reposted by Tom Zeller Jr.
“Free speech is what we do instead of violence. Civilization started the day man first cast a word instead of a stone.”

We must not lose sight of this civilization-defining distinction.

🎙️: @nicoperrino.bsky.social
📺: @cnn.com
September 11, 2025 at 5:21 PM
"Periods of political violence do end. But often not without shocking retrenchments of people’s freedoms or catastrophic events coming first. There’s little reason to expect that this period will end differently."
September 11, 2025 at 12:23 AM
Reposted by Tom Zeller Jr.
Migraines and other chronic headache conditions have been noted throughout human history — perhaps as far back as the Paleolithic. “The problem may be as old as our species,” Jerome Groopman writes in the @newyorker.com in a review of a new book about headaches by science journalist @tomzellerjr.com
Why Hasn’t Medical Science Cured Chronic Headaches?
More than 1.2 billion people worldwide suffer from migraine and other debilitating conditions that are under-studied and often not taken seriously.
www.newyorker.com
September 10, 2025 at 10:52 PM
@brookeborel.bsky.social and @annarothschild.bsky.social are such nimble stewards on these journeys into the thorniest questions facing science and society. Don't miss this inaugural episode of Season Two! undark.org/2025/08/20/p...
Podcast: Should We Make Viruses More Dangerous – For Science?
Kicking off Entanglements Season 2, our hosts talk to a microbiologist and a virologist about gain-of-function research.
undark.org
August 20, 2025 at 9:35 PM
Reposted by Tom Zeller Jr.
The role of the Psychologist in treating headache disorders.

@tomzellerjr.com, author of ‘The Headache: The Science of a Most Confounding Disorder’ (HarperCollins/Mariner, 2025).

www.bps.org.uk/psychologist...
The role of the Psychologist in treating headache disorders | BPS
Tom Zeller Jr., author of ‘The Headache: The Science of a Most Confounding Disorder’ (HarperCollins/Mariner, 2025).
www.bps.org.uk
August 15, 2025 at 7:16 AM
Reposted by Tom Zeller Jr.
"At any moment it can appear, creeping in like a shadow in some cases, ambushing like a predator in others."

"The Headache," by former KSJ Fellow and current @undark.org editor @tomzellerjr.com, gets a review in The New Yorker: www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
August 15, 2025 at 3:23 PM
Reposted by Tom Zeller Jr.
On Hannah Murray's TRE in the Afternoon from 16.00CET - @richardhwrote.bsky.social's 'I'm Fine: A true story of trust, betrayal and exploitation', Franny Joseph-Zywicki's 'Hump Day Happenings' - celebrity gossip, and @tomzellerjr.com's 'The Headache: The Science of a Most Confounding Affliction
August 13, 2025 at 1:50 PM
Reposted by Tom Zeller Jr.
Read an excerpt from “The Headache: The Science of a Most Confounding Affliction – and a Search for Relief.” buff.ly/GuLxfbq
Why Do Headaches Feel So Different From Other Kinds of Pain?
Excruciating migraines and cluster attacks seem to collapse the sense of separation between body and self.
undark.org
August 13, 2025 at 11:17 PM
Reposted by Tom Zeller Jr.
Despite being extremely common, headaches are still something of a neurological mystery. In his new book, journalist @tomzellerjr.com shares his own experience with debilitatingly painful cluster headaches, and chronicles his journey to uncover the science behind this “most confounding affliction.”
When Headaches Are Ruining Your Life, Where Can You Turn?
In “The Headache,” a science journalist documents his quest to understand his own cluster headaches.
www.sciencefriday.com
August 13, 2025 at 11:17 PM
Humbled to see "The Headache" receive such expansive and thoughtful coverage in ‪the @newyorker.com‬. Many thanks to Jerome Groopman -- a staff writer, physician, and migraineur himself -- for the deeply insightful read.

www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
Why Hasn’t Medical Science Cured Chronic Headaches?
More than 1.2 billion people worldwide suffer from migraine and other debilitating conditions that are under-studied and often not taken seriously.
www.newyorker.com
August 12, 2025 at 2:05 AM
Reposted by Tom Zeller Jr.
@tomzellerjr.com explores how medical misogyny impacted the practice of neuroscience (and the treatment of migraines).
How Medical Misogyny Impacted the Treatment of Women’s Migraines
“I get ocular migraines, so they’re behind my eyes. And I can’t do anything when it’s bad. Like, even like the smallest light or the lightest noise sets me off. I wear sunglasses everywhere. It’s j…
buff.ly
July 30, 2025 at 6:30 PM
Truly an honor, @bschillace.brandyschillace.com! 🙏
I reviewed @tomzellerjr.com upcoming book THE HEADACHE for @wsj.com —and I liked it so much that I invited him to do a podcast @peculiarbookclub.bsky.social —check out both! The review is below, and you can find the PBC pod on your fav platform! (Apple, Spotify, etc)

www.wsj.com/arts-culture...
July 27, 2025 at 3:49 AM
It's not news that women are often taken less seriously than men in health care settings, but the data can be eye-opening — and infuriating. From "The Headache" (amzn.to/44TeSXu).

#migraine #headache
July 21, 2025 at 11:31 PM
One ignores the testimony of @deborahb.bsky.social at their peril! :-)
A shout out to my colleague @tomzellerjr.com on the launch of his smart, funny, surprising, entirely readable book about headaches. As @maryroach.bsky.social says, "required reading for anyone with a head."
The Headache
\"Required reading for anyone with a head.\"—Mary Roach, New York Times bestselling author of Stiff and Fuzz For the many millions of headache suf...
www.harpercollins.com
July 21, 2025 at 1:48 PM
"It is not merely a headache, and it deserves our attention."

A truly wonderful review from @wsj.com for my new book, "The Headache."

www.wsj.com/arts-culture...
‘The Headache’ Review: Of Migraines and Mystery
Billions of people worldwide suffer from headache disorders. Medical science continues to struggle with the difficulty of diagnosing their causes—and relieving the suffering.
www.wsj.com
July 21, 2025 at 1:46 PM
"Some of Jay Bhattacharya's colleagues and supporters have struggled to square the man they know — who arrived at NIH promising to champion free speech — with the policies of the administration he serves."
May 28, 2025 at 1:43 AM
If these trying times are giving you a headache, have I got the book for you! And for a limited time, you can get 25% off @barnesandnoble.com.
April 24, 2025 at 8:27 PM
Uncorrected proofs. It's wild to see this thing emerging from its longtime home in my brain (often in the anxious cauldron of the amygdala), and into the corporeal world. Anyway, one step closer to publication day.
April 3, 2025 at 11:00 PM
Some context on the NIH layoffs.... (1/3)
April 3, 2025 at 3:50 PM
When my book comes out in July, I will be forced to talk about headaches. I've had them for 30 years — a terrible kind that people close to me, but few others, knew about. I will be an imperfect spokesperson for inexplicable pain — and primary headache disorders are just that. But I will do my best.
March 19, 2025 at 4:03 AM
Is throat cancer research Marxist?

A nice joint piece by @undark.org and @notusreports.bsky.social:

undark.org/2025/02/21/a...
In War Against DEI in Science, Researchers See Collateral Damage
Senate Republicans flagged thousands of grants as "woke DEI" research. But what does that really mean?
undark.org
February 21, 2025 at 2:05 PM
Whoopsie.
February 15, 2025 at 2:46 PM