Maryn McKenna
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marynmck.bsky.social
Maryn McKenna
@marynmck.bsky.social
24K followers 1.5K following 1.7K posts
Journalist. Contributing Ed at Scientific American. Senior Fellow at Emory Univ's Center for the Study of Human Health. Books: BIG CHICKEN, SUPERBUG, BEATING BACK THE DEVIL. All my stories at https://authory.com/marynmckenna. No more diets only riots.
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marynmck.bsky.social
November 9, 2025 at 12:20 AM
marynmck.bsky.social
Random personal testimony from shutdown air-travel chaos: 4-hour delays in Boston, lines for rebooking desks go halfway down concourses.
Complicated by severe weather in major hub ATL, flights diverted and just now coming back.
The system can usually absorb weather, but not with shutdown ATC cuts.
November 8, 2025 at 10:36 PM
marynmck.bsky.social
It's not too late! To sign up and receive the livestream links for my conversation with @starrevartan.bsky.social at 6pm ET on Wednesday about her excellent book THE STRONGER SEX. RSVP at humanhealth.emory.edu/events/livin...
A horizontal white card with tan borders top and bottom shows a red book cover with white lettering and an image of a woman leaping over the letters, and the headshots of two white women, a red-haired woman in a black and white top and an auburn-haired woman in a black jacket. The rest of the information on the card is duplicated in the post text.
October 20, 2025 at 11:52 AM
marynmck.bsky.social
Boston, ilu
October 18, 2025 at 5:55 PM
marynmck.bsky.social
Put this on your calendar for next week! Nerd Book Club on Weds 22 October at 6pm US ET, me and @starrevartan.bsky.social talking about her great new book THE STRONGER SEX. RSVP here to get the livestream links! humanhealth.emory.edu/events/livin...
A horizontal white card with tan borders top and bottom shows a red book cover with white lettering and an image of a woman leaping over the letters, and the headshots of two white women, a red-haired woman in a black and white top and an auburn-haired woman in a black jacket. The rest of the information on the card is duplicated in the post text.
October 17, 2025 at 12:19 PM
marynmck.bsky.social
It's time again for Nerd Book Club! Join me at 6pm US ET on Weds 22 October to hear from @starrevartan.bsky.social about her excellent new book THE STRONGER SEX: WHAT SCIENCE TELLS US ABOUT THE POWER OF THE FEMALE BODY. RSVP here for livestream links: humanhealth.emory.edu/events/livin...
A horizontal white card with tan borders top and bottom shows a red book cover with white lettering and an image of a woman leaping over the letters, and the headshots of two white women, a red-haired woman in a black and white top and an auburn-haired woman in a black jacket. The rest of the information on the card is duplicated in the post text.
October 15, 2025 at 10:47 AM
marynmck.bsky.social
Some of last night’s CDC bloodbath being reversed? What an absolute cluster. But great breaking reporting by @jeremyfaust.bsky.social

open.substack.com/pub/insideme...
“Some of the reversals came after the Trump administration realized that they had accidentally terminated critically important staffers working on current measles and Ebola outbreaks. A former CDC official was told that HHS communications officials were not happy with the media coverage of the RIFs, and may have felt that the move reflected badly on the administration, as outrage and accusations that the administration was using the government shutdown as a pretense to accomplish other political goals seemed to be sticking.”
October 11, 2025 at 11:55 PM
marynmck.bsky.social
Oh look, AMR
warriors, a beer for us.
October 2, 2025 at 5:16 PM
marynmck.bsky.social
In 2 days: Nerd Book Club! Join me and @jennieerinsmith.bsky.social Weds 17 Sept at 6pm US ET as we talk about her fantastic book VALLEY OF FORGETTING: ALZHEIMER'S FAMILIES AND THE SEARCH FOR A CURE. From @emorycshh.bsky.social.
RSVP to get livestream links: humanhealth.emory.edu/events/livin...
A horizontal banner image with a white center and tan borders top and bottom. In the white portion, a book cover bears the words VALLEY OF FORGETTING: ALZHEIMER'S FAMILIES AND THE SEARCH FOR A CURE. In the center and to the right are the faces of two white women, one with chin-length dark hair and a blue shirt, the other with long auburn hair and a black jacket. The rest of the information in the image is duplicated in the post text.
September 15, 2025 at 2:32 PM
marynmck.bsky.social
In one week! Nerd Book Club returns on Weds 17 Sept at 6pm ET with @jennieerinsmith.bsky.social talking to me about her book VALLEY OF FORGETTING, on families with a dire mutation participating in Alzheimer's genetics research. RSVP for livestream links! humanhealth.emory.edu/events/livin...
A horizontal banner image with a white center and tan borders top and bottom. In the white portion, a book cover bears the words VALLEY OF FORGETTING: ALZHEIMER'S FAMILIES AND THE SEARCH FOR A CURE. In the center and to the right are the faces of two white women, one with chin-length dark hair and a blue shirt, the other with long auburn hair and a black jacket. The rest of the information in the image is duplicated in the post text.
September 10, 2025 at 2:48 PM
marynmck.bsky.social
I knew (Shakespeare major very long ago) but I was curious to see whether there was anything that might be influencing people's misremembering. But soft what light, etc.:
September 9, 2025 at 3:50 AM
marynmck.bsky.social
Downsizing and taking these stashed masks to the street teams for unhoused kids in case they can use.
Five years ago I was making these every evening.
It was a good design if I do say: layered, pocketed, head elastic, nose piece.
But I still get a flicker of PTSD holding them.
September 7, 2025 at 4:40 PM
marynmck.bsky.social
I have no idea who did this, it's circulating on FB, but I love you forever.
In an AI adaptation of the White House's AI-created threat that portrayed Donald Trump as the Robert Duvall character in Apocalypse Now, threatening the city of Chicago with war from its own government using the word Chipocalypse (meant to be Chi-pocalypse), the Sesame Street character Cookie Monster sits in a flying storm of chocolate chip cookies, because it was obviously Chip-ocalypse all along.
September 7, 2025 at 2:19 AM
marynmck.bsky.social
It's time again! Nerd Book Club returns! On 17 Sept, 22 Oct and 19 Nov, 6pm ET, with amazing authors @jennieerinsmith.bsky.social, @starrevartan.bsky.social and @eramalam.bsky.social . Sponsored by @emorycshh.bsky.social. RSVP for livestream links: humanhealth.emory.edu/events/livin...
September 4, 2025 at 5:22 PM
marynmck.bsky.social
A still from the 2005 movie The Island in which characters living a pleasant but highly regulated life discover they are clones being grown for parts. In the image, the Black actor Michael Clarke Duncan is being dragged away for harvest. At the end, the white characters played by Ewan McGregor and Scarlett Johansson survive.
August 29, 2025 at 2:53 PM
marynmck.bsky.social
August 29, 2025 at 3:22 AM
marynmck.bsky.social
In a still from the 2005 movie The Island, about a society of clones unknowingly raised for organ harvests, the actor Michael Clarke Duncan is dragged away to be cut up for parts. Remarkably, the blonde white co-stars all survive intact.
August 29, 2025 at 2:54 AM
marynmck.bsky.social
The extraordinary, truth-telling resignation letter from the CDC of Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, head of infectious diseases there til this afternoon, longtime HIV warrior.

He posted it on X. The text is 3x th length of the Image Alt space so I've reposted it to archive.ph: archive.today/JVZm9
Dear Dr. Houry, I am writing to formally resign from my position as Director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), effective August 28, 2025, close of business. I am happy to stay on for two weeks to provide transition, if requested. This decision has not come easily, as I deeply value the work that the CDC does in safeguarding public health and am proud of my contributions to that critical mission. However, after much contemplation and reflection on recent developments and perspectives brought to light by Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., I find that the views he and his staff have shared challenge my ability to continue in my current role at the agency and in the service of the health of the American people. Enough is enough. While I hold immense respect for the institution and my colleagues, I believe that it is imperative to align my professional responsibilities to my system of ethics and my understanding of the science of infectious disease, immunology, and my promise to serve the American people. This step is necessary to ensure that I can contribute effectively in a capacity that allows me to remain true to my principles. I am unable to serve in an environment that treats CDC as a tool to generate policies and materials that do not reflect scientific reality and are designed to hurt rather than to improve the public’s health. The recent change in the adult and children’s immunization schedule threaten the lives of the youngest Americans and pregnant people. The data analyses that supported this decision have never been shared with CDC despite my respectful requests to HHS and other leadership. This lack of meaningful engagement was further compounded by a “frequently asked questions” document written to support the Secretary’s directive that was circulated by HHS without input from CDC subject matter experts and that cited studies that did not support the conclusion…
August 28, 2025 at 1:18 AM
marynmck.bsky.social
References for the multi-billion dollar bailout cost following the tariff-fueled implosion of US-grown agricultural products in 2018:
A screen grab from a Google search shows headlines from four major news sources — Forbes, Politico, The NY Times and the US Department of Agriculture's own news service — posted between 2018 and 2020, that put the cost of agricultural bailouts due to tariffs at $12 billion, $23 billion and eventually $28 billion. Forbes: Trump Tariff Aid To Farmers Cost More Than U.S. Nuclear Forces Politico: ‘Here’s your check’: Trump’s massive payouts to farmers will be hard to pull back The president was already spending double his predecessor to spare farmers the cost of his trade war. Now the price is reaching unsustainable levels. NYTimes: A $12 Billion Program to Help Farmers Stung by Trump’s Trade War Has Aided Few USDA: USDA Announces Details of Assistance for Farmers Impacted by Unjustified Retaliation (lol on that last one)
August 27, 2025 at 2:16 PM
marynmck.bsky.social
For the coming year, China has booked ZERO shipments of US soybeans. (Per Bloomberg and Farm Policy News, links below.)

Who could have predicted that bad tariff policy would wreck the US soybean market?

Especially when this same admin blew up commodity markets with tariffs in 2018? A mystery!
A black and white bar chart shows Chinese purchases of US soybeans from 2020 through 2025. They decline steadily, though with an uptick in 2022. There is no bar for 2025 because no purchases have been made. Compiled by Farm Policy News using data from Bloomberg.
August 27, 2025 at 2:16 PM
marynmck.bsky.social
I’ve used this vertical weekly Moleskine (5x8) for probably 10 years. (They are getting harder to find, which is why I already ordered next year’s.) I have a home-brew method for hacking the weekly two-page spread, somewhat based on the legendary Planner Pad.
A black hardbound notebook with a black elastic closure, wrapped in plastic, rests on a wood desk surface. Its label says “Moleskine legendary notebooks 2026 pro weekly vertical diary planner.”
August 26, 2025 at 8:18 PM
marynmck.bsky.social
The removal of the de minimis tariff exemption is likely to raise the price on drugs personally imported by Americans to avoid American pricing — a practice that is now legal, and much used by seniors and patients with some chronic diseases.

From one such pharmacy’s newsletter:
Back sans serif text on a cream background says this: “Starting August 29, new tariff-related customs regulations will take effect. This may affect the pricing of some imported medications for U.S. customers. To avoid possible price increases, please place your orders before August 24. We’re monitoring the situation closely and will make every effort to keep orders moving smoothly for our U.S. customers. While we hope for no or low tariffs on medical items, some goods may have additional tariffs placed by US customs.”
August 21, 2025 at 1:57 PM
marynmck.bsky.social
Diversion:
I'm bad at designer but I am good at bags, and I am confident that the bag Anne Hathaway is carrying is a vintage Coach briefcase, ~ early 90s.
(Devi Wears Prada 2 via Deadline.com)
As a Coach hoarder I feel supported.
In a paparazzi still screen-grabbed from Deadline.com, actresses Anne Hathaway and Meryl Streep are shown in character, on set on a NYC street, filming The Devil Wears Prada 2. Hathaway is wearing a blue pinstripe blazer with the sleeves pushed up, black V-neck vest, black loose trousers and a black belt with brass buckle, and what looks to be a c. 1990s vintage Coach briefcase in black leather over one shoulder; the distinctive turnlock and luggage tag are just visible. Streep (that goddess) is wearing an ensemble of silver-grey: long double-breasted blazer with big shoulders and turned-back cuffs, loose pleated skirt, and hammered-satin shell or cami. A dark-silver clutch is tucked under her left elbow.
August 11, 2025 at 1:33 AM
marynmck.bsky.social
@niemanlab.org photo-art editors whoever you are, ilu
A screenshot of a portion of the Nieman Lab journalism analysis site shows a photo containing a vulture in profile, perched on a branch againsta clear blue sky and leaning over as though it is eyeing a meal. It appears to be looking at the headline beneath it, which reads: "Alden Global Capital is miffed that The Dallas Morning News won't offer itself up for disembowelment." Alden Global Capital is an investment firm that has bought and dismantled other US newspapers.
August 6, 2025 at 8:50 PM
marynmck.bsky.social
Hmm, "new age" doesn't correlate to bright colors in my lexicon. But this is what I see on the site and it looks very World of Interiors to me:
A screenshot from a home decor site show a grid of products in dark greens, brass and dark wood with period details: an expanding rattan peg rack, a pillow embroidered with swags of flowers, a lamp with a figured green-glass body and a basketry shade, a painted china cabinet, and a candelabra and chairs carved into the shape known as barley twist.
August 6, 2025 at 7:47 PM