Mary Merrill
@mleighm.bsky.social
PhD in Public Health/One Health. Currently pursuing MLA. Interested in native plants, human/environment/wildlife connections, and helping people care for their outdoor spaces.
Reposted by Mary Merrill
Qiyam Ansari has asthma — an attack nearly killed him — and even his cat suffers from it. Their region is notorious for its air pollution.
Trump has halted rules that would have forced companies to more accurately measure and reduce emissions in such areas.
🔗 Full story: https://propub.li/4hDtkcb
Trump has halted rules that would have forced companies to more accurately measure and reduce emissions in such areas.
🔗 Full story: https://propub.li/4hDtkcb
November 1, 2025 at 11:00 PM
Qiyam Ansari has asthma — an attack nearly killed him — and even his cat suffers from it. Their region is notorious for its air pollution.
Trump has halted rules that would have forced companies to more accurately measure and reduce emissions in such areas.
🔗 Full story: https://propub.li/4hDtkcb
Trump has halted rules that would have forced companies to more accurately measure and reduce emissions in such areas.
🔗 Full story: https://propub.li/4hDtkcb
Reposted by Mary Merrill
Americans have been dragged, tackled, beaten, tased and shot by immigration agents.
They’ve had their necks kneeled on.
They’ve been held outside in the rain while in their underwear.
At least three citizens were pregnant when agents detained them.
They’ve had their necks kneeled on.
They’ve been held outside in the rain while in their underwear.
At least three citizens were pregnant when agents detained them.
More Than 170 U.S. Citizens Have Been Held by Immigration Agents. They’ve Been Kicked, Dragged and Detained for Days.
The government does not track how often immigration agents grab citizens. So ProPublica did. Our tally — almost certainly incomplete — includes people who were held for days without a lawyer. And near...
www.propublica.org
November 1, 2025 at 3:00 AM
Americans have been dragged, tackled, beaten, tased and shot by immigration agents.
They’ve had their necks kneeled on.
They’ve been held outside in the rain while in their underwear.
At least three citizens were pregnant when agents detained them.
They’ve had their necks kneeled on.
They’ve been held outside in the rain while in their underwear.
At least three citizens were pregnant when agents detained them.
Reposted by Mary Merrill
NEW: Salt water laced with cancer-causing chemicals, a byproduct of oil and gas drilling, keeps shooting out of the ground in Oklahoma.
Experts say it means even more wastewater is spreading underground, poisoning the state’s water supply.
Experts say it means even more wastewater is spreading underground, poisoning the state’s water supply.
Toxic Wastewater From Oil Fields Keeps Pouring Out of the Ground. Oklahoma Regulators Failed to Stop It.
Salt water laced with cancer-causing chemicals, a byproduct of oil and gas drilling, is spewing from old wells. Experts warn of a pollution crisis spreading underground and threatening Oklahoma’s drinking water.
www.propublica.org
October 29, 2025 at 1:00 PM
NEW: Salt water laced with cancer-causing chemicals, a byproduct of oil and gas drilling, keeps shooting out of the ground in Oklahoma.
Experts say it means even more wastewater is spreading underground, poisoning the state’s water supply.
Experts say it means even more wastewater is spreading underground, poisoning the state’s water supply.
Reposted by Mary Merrill
"According to his running club, the man, who is a U.S. citizen, was returning from a team run when agents pulled him out of his vehicle, tackled him to the ground and kneeled on top of him, allegedly breaking six ribs and causing internal bleeding"
US citizen, 67, ‘has six ribs broken’ by Border Patrol agents, his running club says
The incident unfolded Saturday in Chicago’s Old Irving Park neighborhood, where residents say federal agents disrupted a children’s Halloween parade
www.independent.co.uk
October 28, 2025 at 8:40 PM
"According to his running club, the man, who is a U.S. citizen, was returning from a team run when agents pulled him out of his vehicle, tackled him to the ground and kneeled on top of him, allegedly breaking six ribs and causing internal bleeding"
Reposted by Mary Merrill
This is the news I've dreaded all my life, and it's here: Humanity has failed to avoid dangerous climate change.
We have now entered the overshoot era.
Our new goal is to prevent as many irreversible tipping points from taking hold as we can.
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
We have now entered the overshoot era.
Our new goal is to prevent as many irreversible tipping points from taking hold as we can.
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
‘Change course now’: humanity has missed 1.5C climate target, says UN head
Exclusive: ‘Devastating consequences’ now inevitable but emissions cuts still vital, says António Guterres in sole interview before Cop30
www.theguardian.com
October 28, 2025 at 4:30 AM
This is the news I've dreaded all my life, and it's here: Humanity has failed to avoid dangerous climate change.
We have now entered the overshoot era.
Our new goal is to prevent as many irreversible tipping points from taking hold as we can.
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
We have now entered the overshoot era.
Our new goal is to prevent as many irreversible tipping points from taking hold as we can.
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Reposted by Mary Merrill
Cannot express enough appreciation for the teams *flying through a hurricane* while not being paid.
NOAA hurricane hunters flying aboard a P-3 Orion aircraft ("Kermit") are monitoring Hurricane Melissa as most aircraft steer clear. The storm poses a catastrophic threat to Jamaica and Haiti.
The crew are among the many federal workers working without pay during the US government shutdown.
The crew are among the many federal workers working without pay during the US government shutdown.
October 27, 2025 at 1:31 AM
Cannot express enough appreciation for the teams *flying through a hurricane* while not being paid.
Reposted by Mary Merrill
Here in Seattle, furloughed NOAA employees were out in the pouring rain cleaning up beaches yesterday, part of a national week of service organized by federal workers who can't do their jobs due to the shutdown.
Story by @heyjohnryan.bsky.social at KUOW, our federally defunded public radio station.
Story by @heyjohnryan.bsky.social at KUOW, our federally defunded public radio station.
Furloughed feds pick up Seattle beach trash to keep serving the public
Furloughed federal employees were out in the rain picking up cigarette butts, bottle caps, and other trash at Seattle’s Golden Gardens Park on Friday.
www.kuow.org
October 25, 2025 at 4:26 PM
Here in Seattle, furloughed NOAA employees were out in the pouring rain cleaning up beaches yesterday, part of a national week of service organized by federal workers who can't do their jobs due to the shutdown.
Story by @heyjohnryan.bsky.social at KUOW, our federally defunded public radio station.
Story by @heyjohnryan.bsky.social at KUOW, our federally defunded public radio station.
Reposted by Mary Merrill
The Trump administration has frozen billions in research grants to universities it accuses of bias unrelated to the research, jeopardizing the development of new medications that could prove lifesaving or life-changing.
Trump slashed funding for universities that helped create these vital drugs
Medications that prevent HIV, shrink tumors and treat seizures were invented with government funding. At research universities, that money is now canceled or in jeopardy.
www.washingtonpost.com
October 13, 2025 at 3:00 PM
The Trump administration has frozen billions in research grants to universities it accuses of bias unrelated to the research, jeopardizing the development of new medications that could prove lifesaving or life-changing.
Reposted by Mary Merrill
The graph shows what happened when the polio vaccine became available. Deaths and illness stopped. People begged to get it when it became available.
Reversing this is what Florida just announced it intends to do.
Reversing this is what Florida just announced it intends to do.
September 4, 2025 at 12:32 AM
The graph shows what happened when the polio vaccine became available. Deaths and illness stopped. People begged to get it when it became available.
Reversing this is what Florida just announced it intends to do.
Reversing this is what Florida just announced it intends to do.
Reposted by Mary Merrill
New study shows health damage in US from oil & gas emissions, 90,000 premature deaths nationally, with California, New York, and Texas suffering the most.
@doreenharris.bsky.social
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
@doreenharris.bsky.social
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
The health burden and racial-ethnic disparities of air pollution from the major oil and gas lifecycle stages in the United States
Largest total population health burden is from O&G end-use, but greatest relative disparities are linked to downstream activities.
www.science.org
August 25, 2025 at 12:15 PM
New study shows health damage in US from oil & gas emissions, 90,000 premature deaths nationally, with California, New York, and Texas suffering the most.
@doreenharris.bsky.social
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
@doreenharris.bsky.social
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Reposted by Mary Merrill
If you burn down a forest, you don't miss out on lumber for just that season. You have to replant all the trees, nurture them, and wait for them to grow.
The science and research budget cuts happening now are wanton, senseless arson. Recovery, if it ever happens, will take generations.
The science and research budget cuts happening now are wanton, senseless arson. Recovery, if it ever happens, will take generations.
June 3, 2025 at 9:02 PM
If you burn down a forest, you don't miss out on lumber for just that season. You have to replant all the trees, nurture them, and wait for them to grow.
The science and research budget cuts happening now are wanton, senseless arson. Recovery, if it ever happens, will take generations.
The science and research budget cuts happening now are wanton, senseless arson. Recovery, if it ever happens, will take generations.
Reposted by Mary Merrill
I've seen folks talk about how "in four years" they'll be able to get back to their planned projects and I really don't think that's going to work out. People & projects losing funding now will not be able to hit pause and come back once funding is restored. Hard-won progress & capacity will be lost
I worry that not enough of a big deal is being made about how long-term the devastation of these budget cuts to our scientific and health agencies will be, beyond the absolute ruin they will cause in the acute period.
June 3, 2025 at 8:51 PM
I've seen folks talk about how "in four years" they'll be able to get back to their planned projects and I really don't think that's going to work out. People & projects losing funding now will not be able to hit pause and come back once funding is restored. Hard-won progress & capacity will be lost
Reposted by Mary Merrill
Kelp forests on the coast of Maine are in decline owing to rapid ocean warming and are being replaced by turf algae, which alter the ecosystem’s chemistry, hindering the recovery of kelp forests.
Learn more in this week's issue of Science: scim.ag/4dwzl8j
Learn more in this week's issue of Science: scim.ag/4dwzl8j
May 22, 2025 at 6:05 PM
Kelp forests on the coast of Maine are in decline owing to rapid ocean warming and are being replaced by turf algae, which alter the ecosystem’s chemistry, hindering the recovery of kelp forests.
Learn more in this week's issue of Science: scim.ag/4dwzl8j
Learn more in this week's issue of Science: scim.ag/4dwzl8j
Reposted by Mary Merrill
In the spirit of graduation season, sharing the commencement speech I gave at Middlebury College in 2023. It’s a message I stand by 2 years later.
Go where there is need and where your heart can find a home.
Be tenacious on behalf of life on Earth.
ayanaelizabeth.substack.com/p/be-tenacio...
Go where there is need and where your heart can find a home.
Be tenacious on behalf of life on Earth.
ayanaelizabeth.substack.com/p/be-tenacio...
Be Tenacious on Behalf of Life on Earth
My 2023 commencement speech 🎓 at Middlebury College
ayanaelizabeth.substack.com
May 24, 2025 at 5:21 PM
In the spirit of graduation season, sharing the commencement speech I gave at Middlebury College in 2023. It’s a message I stand by 2 years later.
Go where there is need and where your heart can find a home.
Be tenacious on behalf of life on Earth.
ayanaelizabeth.substack.com/p/be-tenacio...
Go where there is need and where your heart can find a home.
Be tenacious on behalf of life on Earth.
ayanaelizabeth.substack.com/p/be-tenacio...
Reposted by Mary Merrill
Earlier this year, ProPublica found that the sepsis rate in second-trimester pregnancy loss hospitalizations increased by more than 50% under Texas’ abortion ban.
Here’s how we did our analysis.
(Published Feb.)
Here’s how we did our analysis.
(Published Feb.)
Texas Won’t Study How Its Abortion Ban Impacts Women, So We Did
Since Texas banned abortion, no one has studied the statewide effects on pregnant women experiencing complications. Here’s how we sifted through data on millions of pregnancy hospitalizations and…
www.propublica.org
May 6, 2025 at 3:00 AM
Earlier this year, ProPublica found that the sepsis rate in second-trimester pregnancy loss hospitalizations increased by more than 50% under Texas’ abortion ban.
Here’s how we did our analysis.
(Published Feb.)
Here’s how we did our analysis.
(Published Feb.)
Reposted by Mary Merrill
The Trump administration halted $1 billion for mental health services for children, saying that the programs funded by a bipartisan law aimed at stemming gun violence in schools were no longer in “the best interest of the federal government.”
Trump Administration Cancels $1 Billion in Grants for Student Mental Health
Congress authorized the money in a bipartisan breakthrough around addressing gun violence after a shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, killed 19 children and two teachers.
www.nytimes.com
May 2, 2025 at 1:32 AM
The Trump administration halted $1 billion for mental health services for children, saying that the programs funded by a bipartisan law aimed at stemming gun violence in schools were no longer in “the best interest of the federal government.”
Reposted by Mary Merrill
Trump has cut the part of the FDA that notifies doctors and the public when there is a safety problem with a drug or a medical device.
www.politico.com/news/2025/04...
www.politico.com/news/2025/04...
April 9, 2025 at 6:55 PM
Trump has cut the part of the FDA that notifies doctors and the public when there is a safety problem with a drug or a medical device.
www.politico.com/news/2025/04...
www.politico.com/news/2025/04...
Reposted by Mary Merrill
New research 🏭📈:
Bitcoin mines in the U.S. used more electricity in 2022 than all of Los Angeles combined.
But who breathed the air pollution from generating all that electricity?
Our answer: mostly people in New York City, Houston / Austin, NE Texas, and IL / KY border.
Check it out:
🧵 1/n
Bitcoin mines in the U.S. used more electricity in 2022 than all of Los Angeles combined.
But who breathed the air pollution from generating all that electricity?
Our answer: mostly people in New York City, Houston / Austin, NE Texas, and IL / KY border.
Check it out:
🧵 1/n
April 2, 2025 at 2:39 PM
New research 🏭📈:
Bitcoin mines in the U.S. used more electricity in 2022 than all of Los Angeles combined.
But who breathed the air pollution from generating all that electricity?
Our answer: mostly people in New York City, Houston / Austin, NE Texas, and IL / KY border.
Check it out:
🧵 1/n
Bitcoin mines in the U.S. used more electricity in 2022 than all of Los Angeles combined.
But who breathed the air pollution from generating all that electricity?
Our answer: mostly people in New York City, Houston / Austin, NE Texas, and IL / KY border.
Check it out:
🧵 1/n
Reposted by Mary Merrill
The vaccine against Shingles helps protect against dementia, results of a natural experiment, adding to prior evidence
"implications are profound"
New @nature.com
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
nature.com/articles/s41...
"implications are profound"
New @nature.com
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
nature.com/articles/s41...
A natural experiment on the effect of herpes zoster vaccination on dementia - Nature
Using a natural experiment that avoids common bias concerns, this study finds that the live-attenuated shingles vaccine reduced the probability of a new dementia diagnosis within a follow-up period of...
nature.com
April 2, 2025 at 3:29 PM
The vaccine against Shingles helps protect against dementia, results of a natural experiment, adding to prior evidence
"implications are profound"
New @nature.com
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
nature.com/articles/s41...
"implications are profound"
New @nature.com
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Mary Merrill
23andMe declared bankruptcy and the company is gonna be sold off for parts. That includes your DNA information and the only amount of control you have is to delete your info immediately. It’s very simple to do.
Gift link: wapo.st/4kUsBEF
Gift link: wapo.st/4kUsBEF
March 24, 2025 at 9:06 PM
23andMe declared bankruptcy and the company is gonna be sold off for parts. That includes your DNA information and the only amount of control you have is to delete your info immediately. It’s very simple to do.
Gift link: wapo.st/4kUsBEF
Gift link: wapo.st/4kUsBEF
Reposted by Mary Merrill
President Trump’s freeze on international aid has hampered Uganda’s ability to respond to an Ebola outbreak, U.S. officials said in private.
As Ebola Spreads in Uganda, Trump Aid Freeze Hinders Effort to Contain It, U.S. Officials Fear
Two more people are reported dead from the disease, and dozens are in isolation, as the outbreak grows.
www.nytimes.com
March 7, 2025 at 3:01 AM
President Trump’s freeze on international aid has hampered Uganda’s ability to respond to an Ebola outbreak, U.S. officials said in private.
Reposted by Mary Merrill
“…this extreme car dependence is affecting Americans’ quality of life, with a new study finding there is a tipping point at which more driving leads to deeper unhappiness…having to drive for more than 50% of the time for out-of-home activities is linked to a decrease in life satisfaction.”
How extreme car dependency is driving Americans to unhappiness
A car is often essential in the US but while owning a vehicle is better than not for life satisfaction, a study has found, having to drive too much sends happiness plummeting
www.theguardian.com
February 10, 2025 at 5:45 AM
“…this extreme car dependence is affecting Americans’ quality of life, with a new study finding there is a tipping point at which more driving leads to deeper unhappiness…having to drive for more than 50% of the time for out-of-home activities is linked to a decrease in life satisfaction.”
Reposted by Mary Merrill
This is what local news orgs should be doing now:
"In 2024, the Univ. of Alabama was in the top 1% of NIH-funded institutions.
The university, Alabama’s largest public employer, has received more than $1 billion in NIH funding.
NIH grants in Alabama supported 4,769 jobs"
www.al.com/news/2025/02...
"In 2024, the Univ. of Alabama was in the top 1% of NIH-funded institutions.
The university, Alabama’s largest public employer, has received more than $1 billion in NIH funding.
NIH grants in Alabama supported 4,769 jobs"
www.al.com/news/2025/02...
What would NIH funding cuts mean for Alabama? 5 things to know
NIH grants support medical institutions and research across the state.
www.al.com
February 9, 2025 at 8:12 PM
This is what local news orgs should be doing now:
"In 2024, the Univ. of Alabama was in the top 1% of NIH-funded institutions.
The university, Alabama’s largest public employer, has received more than $1 billion in NIH funding.
NIH grants in Alabama supported 4,769 jobs"
www.al.com/news/2025/02...
"In 2024, the Univ. of Alabama was in the top 1% of NIH-funded institutions.
The university, Alabama’s largest public employer, has received more than $1 billion in NIH funding.
NIH grants in Alabama supported 4,769 jobs"
www.al.com/news/2025/02...
Reposted by Mary Merrill
A measles outbreak is growing in a rural area of West Texas where vaccination rates are well below the recommended level.
Measles outbreak expands in West Texas around county with low vaccination rate | CNN
A measles outbreak is growing in a rural area of West Texas where vaccination rates are well below the recommended level.
www.cnn.com
February 8, 2025 at 12:33 AM
A measles outbreak is growing in a rural area of West Texas where vaccination rates are well below the recommended level.