Willy Spaan
@wjmspaan.bsky.social
Emeritus professor Virology University Leiden and former chair of the Leiden University Medical Center and Jeroen Bosch Hospital. http://linkedin.com/in/willy-spaan-7baa0211
Reposted by Willy Spaan
Found this useful to learn more bsky.app/profile/mooc...
May 31, 2025 at 11:02 PM
Found this useful to learn more bsky.app/profile/mooc...
Reposted by Willy Spaan
There are 2 previous historical cases of countries destroying their science and universities, crippling them for decades: Lysenkoism in the USSR and Nazi Germany. The Trump administration will be the 3rd.
It's not just budgets but research, institutions, expertise, and training the next generation.
It's not just budgets but research, institutions, expertise, and training the next generation.
May 31, 2025 at 4:43 AM
There are 2 previous historical cases of countries destroying their science and universities, crippling them for decades: Lysenkoism in the USSR and Nazi Germany. The Trump administration will be the 3rd.
It's not just budgets but research, institutions, expertise, and training the next generation.
It's not just budgets but research, institutions, expertise, and training the next generation.
Reposted by Willy Spaan
Talk by @flodebarre.bsky.social #Evol2025 clearly laying out the evidence for a market origin for SARS-CoV-2. Covering work from: www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
Genetic tracing of market wildlife and viruses at the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic
DNA of mammalian wildlife species susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 was detected along with
SARS-CoV-2 and other viruses in environmental samples from animal stalls located at
the market epicenter of the emer...
www.cell.com
May 30, 2025 at 6:15 PM
Talk by @flodebarre.bsky.social #Evol2025 clearly laying out the evidence for a market origin for SARS-CoV-2. Covering work from: www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
Reposted by Willy Spaan
#USUniversities are an adornment to humanity, and motivated or ignorant attacks on them should be mourned by thinking people of all nationalities.
scroll.in/article/1083...
Ramachandra Guha examines the wider implications of #DonaldTrump's attacks on American educational institutions.
scroll.in/article/1083...
Ramachandra Guha examines the wider implications of #DonaldTrump's attacks on American educational institutions.
June 1, 2025 at 7:54 AM
#USUniversities are an adornment to humanity, and motivated or ignorant attacks on them should be mourned by thinking people of all nationalities.
scroll.in/article/1083...
Ramachandra Guha examines the wider implications of #DonaldTrump's attacks on American educational institutions.
scroll.in/article/1083...
Ramachandra Guha examines the wider implications of #DonaldTrump's attacks on American educational institutions.
Reposted by Willy Spaan
Unreal: To sustain his lie about a "genocide" of "white farmers" while meeting with the South African president, Trump used a photo of war deaths in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
I looked into this a bit more. It's worse than it first appeared. 1/
(new piece)
newrepublic.com/article/1956...
I looked into this a bit more. It's worse than it first appeared. 1/
(new piece)
newrepublic.com/article/1956...
Trump’s Lie about Dead “White Farmers” Just Got Even More Grotesque
That photo he brandished to Cyril Ramaphosa was from the Democratic Republic of Congo—whose refugees the Trump administration is pointedly not welcoming to America.
newrepublic.com
May 23, 2025 at 5:49 PM
Unreal: To sustain his lie about a "genocide" of "white farmers" while meeting with the South African president, Trump used a photo of war deaths in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
I looked into this a bit more. It's worse than it first appeared. 1/
(new piece)
newrepublic.com/article/1956...
I looked into this a bit more. It's worse than it first appeared. 1/
(new piece)
newrepublic.com/article/1956...
Reposted by Willy Spaan
The stupidity and wastefulness of this administration is simply disgusting. This will cost a lot of money to do. 125,000 federal employees have been fired but we have money for this?
Absolute clown show.
www.kgun9.com/news/communi...
Absolute clown show.
www.kgun9.com/news/communi...
Community pushback grows over proposal to replace metric signs on I-19
The U.S. Department of Transportation is proposing to convert the kilometer-based signage along Interstate 19 to the standard U.S. system of miles, drawing criticism from the Green Valley community.
www.kgun9.com
May 22, 2025 at 1:26 PM
The stupidity and wastefulness of this administration is simply disgusting. This will cost a lot of money to do. 125,000 federal employees have been fired but we have money for this?
Absolute clown show.
www.kgun9.com/news/communi...
Absolute clown show.
www.kgun9.com/news/communi...
Vance wants to dismantle the separation of powers, which is a fundamental principle of democracy. www.cnn.com/2025/05/21/p...
Vance says Roberts is ‘profoundly wrong’ about judiciary’s role to check executive branch | CNN Politics
Vice President JD Vance called Chief Justice John Roberts’ comments earlier this month that the judiciary’s role is to check the executive branch a “profoundly wrong sentiment” and said the courts sho...
www.cnn.com
May 21, 2025 at 5:46 PM
Vance wants to dismantle the separation of powers, which is a fundamental principle of democracy. www.cnn.com/2025/05/21/p...
Reposted by Willy Spaan
EXCITING NEWS – Nature Health Global is delighted to announce a SURPRISE dollar-for-dollar match “Challenge Fund” from an anonymous donor today
naturehealthglobal.org/exciting-new...
naturehealthglobal.org/exciting-new...
Exciting News – Nature Health Global Receives A Surprise 1:1 Challenge Fund Gift – DONATE NOW And Double Your Impact! - Nature.Health.Global
The Nature Health Global Board is delighted to announce an unexpected $25,000 gift from an anonymous donor. The unrestricted gift is a 1:1 match Challenge
naturehealthglobal.org
May 14, 2025 at 9:01 PM
EXCITING NEWS – Nature Health Global is delighted to announce a SURPRISE dollar-for-dollar match “Challenge Fund” from an anonymous donor today
naturehealthglobal.org/exciting-new...
naturehealthglobal.org/exciting-new...
Reposted by Willy Spaan
While I applaud Europe taking a step to fund bringing scientific excellence to Europe, the ERC’s current success rates at 10% for Europe based scientists is statistically at lottery levels. The total ERC budget should double across the board aiming at doubling funding rates.
May 16, 2025 at 12:55 PM
While I applaud Europe taking a step to fund bringing scientific excellence to Europe, the ERC’s current success rates at 10% for Europe based scientists is statistically at lottery levels. The total ERC budget should double across the board aiming at doubling funding rates.
Reposted by Willy Spaan
Two weeks ago a new Executive Order on "Improving The Safety and Security of Biological Research" was signed.
The EO purports to ban "dangerous gain-of-function research", however, it is much more wide-ranging than that, severely limiting life-saving research.
🧵
www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...
The EO purports to ban "dangerous gain-of-function research", however, it is much more wide-ranging than that, severely limiting life-saving research.
🧵
www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...
Improving the Safety and Security of Biological Research
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered: Section 1. Purpose.
www.whitehouse.gov
May 16, 2025 at 9:02 PM
Two weeks ago a new Executive Order on "Improving The Safety and Security of Biological Research" was signed.
The EO purports to ban "dangerous gain-of-function research", however, it is much more wide-ranging than that, severely limiting life-saving research.
🧵
www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...
The EO purports to ban "dangerous gain-of-function research", however, it is much more wide-ranging than that, severely limiting life-saving research.
🧵
www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...
Reposted by Willy Spaan
This man was an absolute hero through the peak(s) of the COVID pandemic.
May 16, 2025 at 10:51 PM
This man was an absolute hero through the peak(s) of the COVID pandemic.
Reposted by Willy Spaan
Reposted by Willy Spaan
Reposted by Willy Spaan
An almost equally important impact on prevention of long Covid in children www.pennmedicine.org/news/news-re...
COVID vaccine protected kids from long COVID
Instead of special protection against long COVID, vaccines kept children and adolescents from developing the condition by blocking COVID-19 infections in the first place.
www.pennmedicine.org
May 17, 2025 at 1:13 PM
An almost equally important impact on prevention of long Covid in children www.pennmedicine.org/news/news-re...
Reposted by Willy Spaan
Reposted by Willy Spaan
If anyone needs it, here is a twitter thread from 2021 show why RaTG13 absolutely can't be the progenitor of SARS-CoV-2 because you would need to 'undo' all the mutations on RaTG13 that arose since its most recent common ancestor(s) with SC2: rambaut.github.io/twitter/ratg13
twitter
rambaut.github.io
May 14, 2025 at 7:38 AM
If anyone needs it, here is a twitter thread from 2021 show why RaTG13 absolutely can't be the progenitor of SARS-CoV-2 because you would need to 'undo' all the mutations on RaTG13 that arose since its most recent common ancestor(s) with SC2: rambaut.github.io/twitter/ratg13
Reposted by Willy Spaan
Can someone name an opinion letter in a journal from 2020 that (1) reviews the then known features of newly sequenced SARS CoV-2 and its relatives (2) weighs ALL possible origins without excluding the possibility of various lab leak scenarios, (3) has not be shown to be wrong by subsequent data?
May 14, 2025 at 7:08 PM
Can someone name an opinion letter in a journal from 2020 that (1) reviews the then known features of newly sequenced SARS CoV-2 and its relatives (2) weighs ALL possible origins without excluding the possibility of various lab leak scenarios, (3) has not be shown to be wrong by subsequent data?
Reposted by Willy Spaan
Profiles in cowardice. #BillCassidy owns every death, every illness that comes from this Administration. He is a coward who has betrayed his Hippocratic Oath. #RFKJr #publichealthmalpractice.
May 14, 2025 at 6:06 PM
Profiles in cowardice. #BillCassidy owns every death, every illness that comes from this Administration. He is a coward who has betrayed his Hippocratic Oath. #RFKJr #publichealthmalpractice.
Reposted by Willy Spaan
Jay Bhattacharya is so full of shit. He has been *extremely* vocal about this, including explicitly endorsing a movie that claims Fauci covered up a bunch of lab leaks (without evidence), *signing his name* on letters accusing my colleagues and me of fraud for our research on COVID Origins, etc.
What a liar. He fully endorsed a movie that says Fauci covered up SARS2, Ebola, and HIV lab leaks (all nonsense in every way) and suggests he had someone murdered: www.the-gallop.com/from-fauci-t...
May 15, 2025 at 4:47 PM
Jay Bhattacharya is so full of shit. He has been *extremely* vocal about this, including explicitly endorsing a movie that claims Fauci covered up a bunch of lab leaks (without evidence), *signing his name* on letters accusing my colleagues and me of fraud for our research on COVID Origins, etc.
Reposted by Willy Spaan
Reposted by Willy Spaan
Guess the cat is out of the bag.
Today marks the beginning of the end of the false lab leak narrative.
Read what I have been working on over the last years:
www.protagonist-science.com/p/exclusive-...
Today marks the beginning of the end of the false lab leak narrative.
Read what I have been working on over the last years:
www.protagonist-science.com/p/exclusive-...
Exclusive: The inside story behind the search for the origins of COVID-19
An big screen documentary movie, an announcement, and an exclusive excerpt from "Lab Leak Fever", the definitive book unraveling the pandemic origin controversy
www.protagonist-science.com
April 5, 2025 at 9:20 PM
Guess the cat is out of the bag.
Today marks the beginning of the end of the false lab leak narrative.
Read what I have been working on over the last years:
www.protagonist-science.com/p/exclusive-...
Today marks the beginning of the end of the false lab leak narrative.
Read what I have been working on over the last years:
www.protagonist-science.com/p/exclusive-...
Reposted by Willy Spaan
Very pleased to open this week's edition of Science in Action with @flodebarre.bsky.social and @zachhensel.bsky.social on their latest analysis of early COVID genomes, still pointing to a zoonotic origin for the pandemic.
Longer podcast version will have more detail.
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w...
Longer podcast version will have more detail.
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w...
There have been many lab leak articles in the media recently, but none had actual new data
In a new preprint, @zachhensel.bsky.social and I analyze early COVID-19 cases sequence data that have been overlooked so far.
These new data continue to point to a natural origin ▫️1/7
doi.org/10.1101/2025...
In a new preprint, @zachhensel.bsky.social and I analyze early COVID-19 cases sequence data that have been overlooked so far.
These new data continue to point to a natural origin ▫️1/7
doi.org/10.1101/2025...
April 24, 2025 at 4:11 PM
Very pleased to open this week's edition of Science in Action with @flodebarre.bsky.social and @zachhensel.bsky.social on their latest analysis of early COVID genomes, still pointing to a zoonotic origin for the pandemic.
Longer podcast version will have more detail.
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w...
Longer podcast version will have more detail.
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w...
Reposted by Willy Spaan
Forget talk of "the China virus" and a "lab leak", bats –and the trade in wild animals – are a far more likely source of the Covid pandemic. Today, I write about the natural origin theory and sketch scenarios of how the virus could have got to Wuhan.
markhonigsbaum.substack.com/p/where-did-...
markhonigsbaum.substack.com/p/where-did-...
April 27, 2025 at 4:11 PM
Forget talk of "the China virus" and a "lab leak", bats –and the trade in wild animals – are a far more likely source of the Covid pandemic. Today, I write about the natural origin theory and sketch scenarios of how the virus could have got to Wuhan.
markhonigsbaum.substack.com/p/where-did-...
markhonigsbaum.substack.com/p/where-did-...
Trump-aanklager beschuldigt medisch tijdschrift van vooringenomenheid www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2025/...
Trump-aanklager beschuldigt medisch tijdschrift van vooringenomenheid
Initimidatie: Een van de medisch-wetenschappelijke toptijdschriften, het New England Journal of Medicine, heeft een dreigende brief van een door Trump benoemde aanklager gekregen. Het tijdschrift zou ...
www.nrc.nl
April 29, 2025 at 3:11 PM
Trump-aanklager beschuldigt medisch tijdschrift van vooringenomenheid www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2025/...