Leah Shaffer
@leahshaffer.bsky.social
Science writer, mostly puttering about the garden.
she/her
she/her
This is a hell of an essay and I am intrigued by this Vince Gilligan show. 🧪🩺 #MedSky #LongCovid #DisabilitySky #Spoonies
Living with Long COVID often feels like living in a horror movie. Along with your disease comes a creepy Hive Mind refusal to acknowledge the dangers of COVID infection. In Vince Gilligan's new Apple TV show Pluribus, the Hive Mind comes to life:
www.thegauntlet.news/p/pluribus-c...
www.thegauntlet.news/p/pluribus-c...
"Pluribus" captures the isolation of COVID-awareness in a COVID denialist world
For years I've described having Long COVID as living in a horror movie. Now that horror movie (well, prestige Apple TV show) is here.
www.thegauntlet.news
November 11, 2025 at 12:13 AM
This is a hell of an essay and I am intrigued by this Vince Gilligan show. 🧪🩺 #MedSky #LongCovid #DisabilitySky #Spoonies
One of those days
!["How are you?"
Me: [Image of Natasha Lyonne in Russian Doll, empathically speaking:] "Being a person is a fucking nightmare."](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:4djfp3b27soxcfkxhirydi6d/bafkreicl7snmwqwg3zsxhsr7b4w5lhz7l446l2lnlm6r5qlofftyz3r4li@jpeg)
November 10, 2025 at 10:25 PM
One of those days
Hello #MedSky #ScienceSky anybody on here study #vestibular disorders and connections to anxiety/depression or know of some potential promising treatments? Asking for my Dad. Post pubmed links or whatever. Curious about potential of physical therapy and SSRIs to provide symptom relief? 👂🧪🩺
November 10, 2025 at 4:21 PM
Hello #MedSky #ScienceSky anybody on here study #vestibular disorders and connections to anxiety/depression or know of some potential promising treatments? Asking for my Dad. Post pubmed links or whatever. Curious about potential of physical therapy and SSRIs to provide symptom relief? 👂🧪🩺
Frosty ass pigeons in Chicago, doing their commute
November 10, 2025 at 2:37 PM
Frosty ass pigeons in Chicago, doing their commute
one more twisting of the knife in the back, here at the end of things
November 10, 2025 at 12:29 AM
one more twisting of the knife in the back, here at the end of things
Talking about childhood vaccinations now and yeah, it's grim. Our federal experts were replaced with anti vaxers. 🩺🧪
"Do not believe anything coming out of the current CDC ACIP."--- Dr. Tan
Go to America Academy of Pediatric, other trustworthy orgs. #SciWri25
"Do not believe anything coming out of the current CDC ACIP."--- Dr. Tan
Go to America Academy of Pediatric, other trustworthy orgs. #SciWri25
November 9, 2025 at 10:37 PM
Talking about childhood vaccinations now and yeah, it's grim. Our federal experts were replaced with anti vaxers. 🩺🧪
"Do not believe anything coming out of the current CDC ACIP."--- Dr. Tan
Go to America Academy of Pediatric, other trustworthy orgs. #SciWri25
"Do not believe anything coming out of the current CDC ACIP."--- Dr. Tan
Go to America Academy of Pediatric, other trustworthy orgs. #SciWri25
Pandemic proof the future with Jennifer Nuzzo of Brown University Pandemic Center. #SciWri25
Mistakes were made during COVID, can we learn from those mistakes?
Mistakes were made during COVID, can we learn from those mistakes?
November 9, 2025 at 9:06 PM
Pandemic proof the future with Jennifer Nuzzo of Brown University Pandemic Center. #SciWri25
Mistakes were made during COVID, can we learn from those mistakes?
Mistakes were made during COVID, can we learn from those mistakes?
Omg
November 9, 2025 at 7:59 PM
Omg
Comedy skills and science writing skills go hand in hand, says @kategammon.bsky.social
This is why I take my science shit posting VERY seriously. 🧪 #SciWri25
You can win new readers and engage with a resistant audience through some laughs and self deprecation.
This is why I take my science shit posting VERY seriously. 🧪 #SciWri25
You can win new readers and engage with a resistant audience through some laughs and self deprecation.
November 9, 2025 at 7:50 PM
Comedy skills and science writing skills go hand in hand, says @kategammon.bsky.social
This is why I take my science shit posting VERY seriously. 🧪 #SciWri25
You can win new readers and engage with a resistant audience through some laughs and self deprecation.
This is why I take my science shit posting VERY seriously. 🧪 #SciWri25
You can win new readers and engage with a resistant audience through some laughs and self deprecation.
Funny detail from one of our #SciWri25 sessions on bridging the editor/writer divide. On the page of "frustrating editor behaviors," an edit.
November 9, 2025 at 7:04 PM
Funny detail from one of our #SciWri25 sessions on bridging the editor/writer divide. On the page of "frustrating editor behaviors," an edit.
Spread the word. Got a problem? It's cuz Trump fucked you over. He's uniquely capable of ruining everyone's day, everyday and don't you worry, if you haven't been ruined yet, he'll get to you. He is apparently an unstoppable blight, an old old man, who only likes ketchup and blond teenage girls.
I'm on Sunday duty at @defector.com today! First up, my newser on the airport crisis. Spoiler: Trump is fucking you. defector.com/if-youre-stu...
If You’re Stuck At An Airport Right Now, It’s Because Trump Fucked You | Defector
You picked a bad weekend to fly. Over 1,500 flights in the US were cancelled yesterday, and over 1,200 over them have already been cancelled this morning. One of those may have been yours. You’re stuc...
defector.com
November 9, 2025 at 5:32 PM
Spread the word. Got a problem? It's cuz Trump fucked you over. He's uniquely capable of ruining everyone's day, everyday and don't you worry, if you haven't been ruined yet, he'll get to you. He is apparently an unstoppable blight, an old old man, who only likes ketchup and blond teenage girls.
Next #SciWri25 session is all about those data centers. Will learn if they are good, bad, ugly or all 3.
I would love it if public discourse on data centers could be just a skosh more sophisticated than "data centers good vs. data centers bad."
November 9, 2025 at 4:16 PM
Next #SciWri25 session is all about those data centers. Will learn if they are good, bad, ugly or all 3.
Idea: Make critical thinking more magical?
Facts don't change minds, stories might.
Identity is a story humans tell themselves. Can we shift that identity with a really really good and true story?
#SciWri25SOS 🧪🩺
My friends, I recommend @annaleen.bsky.social "Stories Are Weapons"
Facts don't change minds, stories might.
Identity is a story humans tell themselves. Can we shift that identity with a really really good and true story?
#SciWri25SOS 🧪🩺
My friends, I recommend @annaleen.bsky.social "Stories Are Weapons"
How do you replace magical thinking with critical thinking? Question for our #SciWri25 plenary speaker but it really is the true challenge of our times. 🧪#ScienceSky
November 9, 2025 at 3:59 PM
Idea: Make critical thinking more magical?
Facts don't change minds, stories might.
Identity is a story humans tell themselves. Can we shift that identity with a really really good and true story?
#SciWri25SOS 🧪🩺
My friends, I recommend @annaleen.bsky.social "Stories Are Weapons"
Facts don't change minds, stories might.
Identity is a story humans tell themselves. Can we shift that identity with a really really good and true story?
#SciWri25SOS 🧪🩺
My friends, I recommend @annaleen.bsky.social "Stories Are Weapons"
I must have it.
just learning now that there is a topps baseball card of the swarm of bees that delayed a dodgers/diamondbacks game last season. the ebay listing i grabbed this photo from is selling it for $150
November 9, 2025 at 3:41 PM
I must have it.
How do you replace magical thinking with critical thinking? Question for our #SciWri25 plenary speaker but it really is the true challenge of our times. 🧪#ScienceSky
November 9, 2025 at 3:03 PM
How do you replace magical thinking with critical thinking? Question for our #SciWri25 plenary speaker but it really is the true challenge of our times. 🧪#ScienceSky
I will never reach the coolness of this 15 yr old French kid and I am at peace with that.
HE WAITED TO COME FORWARD ON PURPOSE:
“I didn’t want to say immediately it was me,” he said. “With this photo there is a mystery, so you have to make it last.”
“I didn’t want to say immediately it was me,” he said. “With this photo there is a mystery, so you have to make it last.”
Loving today's news that the mysterious "fedora man" outside the Louvre heist was actually a 15-year-old museum visitor who dresses like a 1940s French detective all the time, just because. apnews.com/article/louv...
November 9, 2025 at 2:29 PM
I will never reach the coolness of this 15 yr old French kid and I am at peace with that.
Platonic life partners/science wives, will get drunk, maybe weepy, definitely sleepy.
@maggiek.bsky.social
@maggiek.bsky.social
November 9, 2025 at 3:30 AM
Platonic life partners/science wives, will get drunk, maybe weepy, definitely sleepy.
@maggiek.bsky.social
@maggiek.bsky.social
Sharon, you were the best. Thank you for this.
A Sharon Begley byline, almost 5 years after her death.
Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written."
Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating.
🧪🧬🧫
Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written."
Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating.
🧪🧬🧫
James Watson, dead at 97, was a scientific legend and a pariah among his peers
James Watson, the co-discoverer of the structure of DNA who died Thursday at 97, was a scientific legend and a pariah among his peers.
www.statnews.com
November 9, 2025 at 2:53 AM
Sharon, you were the best. Thank you for this.
Advice column session at #SciWri25 with @laurahelmuth.bsky.social who has a @slate.com work advice column. These can be a good way to get subscribers. I want to start one called "Ask a mad scientist"
November 8, 2025 at 7:46 PM
Advice column session at #SciWri25 with @laurahelmuth.bsky.social who has a @slate.com work advice column. These can be a good way to get subscribers. I want to start one called "Ask a mad scientist"
Absolutely delightful thread. Here is my hometown fave.
You Never Had it So Gooood 🎶 youtu.be/tbn8zIlypB0?...
You Never Had it So Gooood 🎶 youtu.be/tbn8zIlypB0?...
November 8, 2025 at 4:21 PM
Absolutely delightful thread. Here is my hometown fave.
You Never Had it So Gooood 🎶 youtu.be/tbn8zIlypB0?...
You Never Had it So Gooood 🎶 youtu.be/tbn8zIlypB0?...
Berg's got a good thread on Watson. Dude was a human, flawed as any. Science is not the singular work of one single flawed human. We'd never make progress if that was the case. 🧪
Bluetorial-Jim Watson
I met Jim Watson a few times but did not know him well. However, I was greatly influenced by his book “The Double Helix”. He was a complicated human being with some very, very bad features, but some good contributions.
What follows is my personal perspective.
1/41
I met Jim Watson a few times but did not know him well. However, I was greatly influenced by his book “The Double Helix”. He was a complicated human being with some very, very bad features, but some good contributions.
What follows is my personal perspective.
1/41
a cartoon says hey everybody an old man 's talking while bart simpson looks on
ALT: a cartoon says hey everybody an old man 's talking while bart simpson looks on
media.tenor.com
November 8, 2025 at 3:29 PM
Berg's got a good thread on Watson. Dude was a human, flawed as any. Science is not the singular work of one single flawed human. We'd never make progress if that was the case. 🧪
Times are lean, get extra donuts.
November 8, 2025 at 3:12 PM
Times are lean, get extra donuts.