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Aysha Prather

@alprather.bsky.social
503 followers 1.9K following 770 posts

Free-range entomologist, gardener, precarious biology instructor, advocate for all things creepy-crawly, slithery, or slimy. In a complicated relationship with Oklahoma.

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Reposted by Aysha Prather
Awais Aftab @awaisaftab.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
I am doing a series of articles (“Therapeutic Window”) for the Science desk at The New York Times. The first article is about whether ADHD is better understood as a disorder of “attention” or something else: www.nytimes.com/2026/09/29/s...
nytimes.com
What If A.D.H.D. Isn’t About Attention at All? (Gift Article)
Evidence suggests that it really affects what psychiatrists like me call sustained engagement — an important difference in understanding how to think about the condition.
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Aysha Prather @alprather.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
We're a little over a month into the school year. This would be a great time for local reporters to check in on the new Alpha School in Oklahoma City.
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Aysha Prather @alprather.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
I have lots of ideas--and i am much better at imagining how they play out in actual classrooms and labs than are the VPs & chancellors politicians like to talk to.
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Reposted by Aysha Prather
Hannah Harris Green @whatsitlike.me · 28/09/2026
When I set out to fact check “The Cities That Said Yes to Drugs” which argues that harm reduction may increase overdoses, I expected some cherry picking and misdirection. But not to find basic math errors and debunked right wing talking points asserted as fact in the Atlantic’s print edition.
whatsitlike.me
Atlantic's anti-harm reduction screed riddled with errors
A close read of "The Cities That Said Yes to Drugs" found errors in basic arithmetic as well as more deliberately misleading elements
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Historian Jen @historianjenfl.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Andy Beshear has an entire chapter in his new book about backing the LGBTQ community and it's worth a read. He talks about how the anti-trans ads were tested in KY during his election and how vetoing anti-trans legislation didn't hurt his reelection campaign.
However the anti-trans ads had less to do with Kentucky and more to do with the fact that we were in an election. Terry Schilling, the head of the APP, decided to test the ads in our election to determine whether or not the issue could win votes for the Republican Party. Earlier in the summer of 2019, Scholling had partnered with a behavioral science firm to try to find a wedge issue that resonated with suburban voters. That's right. The anti-trans ads did not come out of some firmly held conviction but was a purely political stance. Their research landed on trans athletes, specifically trans women, competing in women's sports. They tested their theory in the 2019 Kentucky gubernatorial general election. Although I won, APP considered their test successful, because their research showed the ads delivered thirteen thousand votes for Trump Lite, which made the race tighter than anticipated.You might hask how, in this political climate, I was reelected after vetoing the anti-trans bill. Because people respect authentic faith. The day I vetoed it, I explained my why. I said I believe all children are children of God and that I don't want people picking on these kids. I then countered their anti-trans ads with commercials talking about good jobs, healthcare, roads and bridges, public education, and public safety. The result? The biggest win of my career. So don't tell me the Democratic Party should stop fighting for the rights of all people. Just explain your authentic why, and then get back to focusing on issues that touch all our lives on a daily basis.
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Chris Conaton @conatonc.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
A familiar story for anyone who follows @volts.wtf. “The Chronicle spoke to more than half a dozen grid experts…to try to understand why Texas’s notoriously unreliable grid had a remarkably reliable summer. The answer was unanimous: solar panels and batteries.”
houstonchronicle.com
Texas shattered energy demand records this summer. Here's why the grid held up.
Texas repeatedly broke electricity demand records this summer, but ERCOT avoided emergencies as booming solar and battery capacity helped keep the grid stable.
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Imani Gandy @angryblacklady.blacksky.app · 22/09/2026
Tierra Walker should be alive. She thought her pregnancy was killing her—then it did. She asked for an abortion. None of the 90-plus doctors involved in her care even offered her one. Her son found her dead on December 30, 2024. Now her family is suing. New Baby Boom! Lawyered. Out now.
youtube.com
Tierra Walker Died Under Texas's Abortion Ban. Now Her Family Is Suing
YouTube video by Rewire News Group
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Aysha Prather @alprather.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
I went to Walgreens last week to get my shot. They had the mRNA flu jab,but when they ran my insurance, my university's pharmacy benefit manager said it wasn't covered. Cash price is $219, which i may yet decide is worth it, but first I'll try annoying some people who might have say.
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Aysha Prather @alprather.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Rock Creek Bridge over I-35 Northbound, Norman, OK. 22 September.
Signs behind a safety fence on a highway overpass spelling out "RICH GETTING RICHER ARE YOU" American flags are attached to the fence on either end of the message
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News for 38 Year Olds @newsfor38yearolds.com · 22/09/2026
Sickened Coal Miners Plead for Their Black Lung Benefits as Cases Surge Mother Jones www.motherjones.com/politics/2026/0… Tip your reporter →
motherjones.com
Sickened Coal Miners Plead for Their Black Lung Benefits as Cases Surge
Mother Jones
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Aysha Prather @alprather.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Oh shit. I'm married to Calvin's dad.
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Aysha Prather @alprather.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Trofim Lysenko is going to have to cede his position as the dumbest motherfucker to convince the leader of a superpower to kill his own people by turning state science upside down.
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Jessica Valenti @jessicavalenti.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Abortion, Every Day spoke to a woman whose state refused to let her cross state lines for an abortion. Don’t tell me Republicans will never criminalize travel—they already do. Pieces like this make me so proud to work with @kylietcheung.bsky.social
jessica.substack.com
She Wanted An Abortion. The State Wouldn’t Let Her Leave
Travel bans are already here—we just don’t talk about them
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Nick Mortensen @nickmortensen.com · 15/09/2026
This is the best written piece I have seen on this topic. Until Dr. Craig exposed me to this way of thinking on the topic, I admit that I didn’t see the harm in candidates conceding some space if it meant winning an election. Very happy to have been straightened out, at any rate.
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ashley fairbanks @ziibiing.com · 12/09/2026
i am incredibly excited to share our research about how paying people’s rent through mutual aid made an impact on minnesota this year we accidentally collected more data than anyone ever has for an effort like this, and can very seriously say we prevented an eviction bubble that everyone expected
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steven monacelli @stevanzetti.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Texas is delaying its typical September 1 release of maternal mortality data until December 1, conveniently timed to be after the midterm election. Recent reports have shown a sharp rise in ectopic pregnancy deaths after the abortion ban went into effect. www.austinchronicle.com/news/texas-p...
austinchronicle.com
Texas’ Pregnancy Death Report Set to Release After Midterms • The Austin Chronicle
Texas’ Pregnancy Death Report Set to Release After Midterms
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By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C) @doctorow.pluralistic.net · 12/09/2026
Once you understand the corporate culture of AI hyperscalers is everyone cooking their brains by locking themselves in the bathroom, holding flashlights under their chins, and saying "Aaaaaaaaaay Eyeeeeeee" until they wet themselves in terror, things snap into focus: pluralistic.net/2023/06/04/a...
A cutaway view of a stone tower containing an elaborate water-powered medieval geared machine. Rising out of the machine is a rainbow-tinted, pixelated God with the robes, beard and all. To one side of this scene is a cluster of tiny people in Jesus-era robes, falling about themselves in religious ecstasy all over a stone staircase, atop of which stands a robed priest with his hands upraised. The background is a set of shining golden rays, emanating from pixel-God.
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Katy Moon @oog.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
This could be a lovely little house for someone www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/9...
rightmove.co.uk
Check out this 3 bedroom detached house for sale on Rightmove
3 bedroom detached house for sale in Station House., Station Road, Bleasby, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire NG14 7GD, NG14 for £75,000. Marketed by Auction House, Covering Notts and Derby
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MU-Peter Shimon 🀄 @mu-peter.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
🔆 Good morning! Wake the %*&# up! Study reveals cursing to be the perfect low-calorie, no-cost performance enhancer. Cursing is like hitting a “power-up button.” “Don’t Hold Back”: Swearing Improves Strength Through State Disinhibition🧪 psycnet.apa.org/fulltext/202...
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NPR @npr.org · 08/09/2026
A new study shows the steep economic cost of 2025's ICE raids in Chicago. Fear kept many immigrants home, draining the area of more than $1.26 billion in lost retail, restaurant, and sales-tax revenue. n.pr/3VjoQA5
n.pr
New report shows the economic toll of ICE raids
A new study shows the steep economic cost of 2025's ICE raids in Chicago. Fear kept many immigrants home, draining the area of more than $1.26 billion in lost retail, restaurant, and sales-tax revenue.
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Aysha Prather @alprather.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Real missed opportunity to not include a photo of the homemade tick costume. I live in alpha-gal alley. I know several people who've had RMSF. I find ticks on myself all the time. I take them seriously. There was a tone to this piece that went beyond responsible awareness-raising.
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Aysha Prather @alprather.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
Some of these are accurate descriptions of my Okie in-laws, or my rural neighbors. I don't actually care how many kinds of camo you own, if you wear it for hunting and not for dressy occasions. Hooters Discover Card, though, is a complete portrait.
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Aysha Prather @alprather.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
It's true. Our local county election board always needs poll workers (because most are QUITE old and no one lives forever). You get to meet some of the most public-spirited and upstanding folks in your community AND do something very practical to protect democracy.
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ProPublica @propublica.org · 04/09/2026
Alpha School is set to get a financial boost from Texas’ school voucher program. Alpha’s model centers on the idea that students can “crush academics,” like reading and math lessons, in just two hours a day. AI software teaches the lessons. w/ @texastribune.org
propublica.org
Several States Rejected This Private School Chain as a Charter. Now It’s Eligible for Texas’ Taxpayer-Funded Vouchers.
The Texas education board, which typically approves most charter applications it reviews, rejected Alpha School’s request last year. Then Alpha quadrupled its Texas private school campuses, most of wh...
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Ben Alpers @benalpers.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
This is a terrifying story.
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Chokely Carmichael🥋 @stewartcoles.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
UW-Madison professor engages in multiple sexual relationships with students, disparages another over their sexual orientation and appearance, creates hostile environment, and department leadership covers it all up. And in true “pass the trash” fashion, moves on to ASU once forced to resign.
captimes.com
UW-Madison students, records detail investigation of professor
Dietram Scheufele resigned after investigators determined he had sexual relationships with two students and engaged in unwelcome sexual conduct with one.
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Chokely Carmichael🥋 @stewartcoles.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Yet the university doesn’t think “I won’t be your advisor if I can’t fuck you anymore” counts as a quid-pro-quo.
The student said she didn’t report Scheufele to university officials after the conference because she was focused on trying to graduate and would need his support as her adviser to complete her degree.

“Now all of a sudden, I have this ludicrous ambition to finish this program as soon as possible,” she said in an interview.

The student told investigators that after the Detroit conference, some of her interactions with Scheufele were noticeably strained. He suggested she switch advisers, something the student perceived as a threat, investigators found. Changing advisers would have delayed her graduation schedule.
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Naomi Kritzer @naomikritzer.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
For my non-Minnesotan friends: the MN State Fair has a llama costume contest. Pretty sure this is just a very big chicken, though.
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Aysha Prather @alprather.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
You thought 20th century James Bond villains were over the top and cartoonish. Turns out they were extremely accurate predictions of early 21st century billionaires.
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Aysha Prather @alprather.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
Is there one obscenely wealthy guy out there who's read even one of the many, many end-of-the-world novels to the end _and_ accurately comprehended the book? Smart people have thought this shit through.
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Aysha Prather @alprather.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Those of us following screwworm.gov have been noticing this for a while.
screwworm.gov
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Aysha Prather @alprather.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
If you're in Norman, OK, today is the quarterly Mutual Aid Fair at Irving Rec Center. www.instagram.com/p/Db4UcNSS8y...
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Aysha Prather @alprather.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
Optimist: the cup is half full Pessimist: the cup is half empty My old drafty house in the country with incompetently installed cupboards: there's a spider floating on the surface of your drink
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Teddy Focaccia @kmaustinyoung.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
Thinking a lot about the recent high-profile cycling deaths and the saying, “Men are afraid that women will laugh at them. Women are afraid that men will kill them.” “Drivers are afraid that cyclists will slow them down. Cyclists are afraid that drivers will kill them.”
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John R. Platt @johnrplatt.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
In a Heat Wave, Schizophrenia Is So Much Deadlier Than Any Other Medical Condition @wired.com www.wired.com/story/heat-w...
wired.com
In a Heat Wave, One Medical Condition Is So Much Deadlier Than Any Other
People with schizophrenia face a perfect storm of dangers on a hotter planet.
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Aysha Prather @alprather.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
If i had kids entering school now, i'd want the completed vax rate for their school prominently posted on the front door. If it's below 95%, they should be granted transfers (and transportation) to a healthier school.
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Tressie McMillan Cottom @tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
I sincerely believe they could have ridden “They Weird, Yo” all the way to the White House.
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Mary Tuma @marytuma.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
The Texas committee tasked with reviewing maternal deaths has decided to forgo analyzing the two years following the demise of Roe v Wade. Health care advocates and lawmakers believe politics played a role, at least tacitly. My latest for @texasobserver.org: www.texasobserver.org/maternal-mor...
texasobserver.org
Texas Maternal Mortality Committee's Next Report Will Skip Post-'Roe' Deaths. Lawmakers Suspect Political Influence.
And one Texan says the body’s decision “retriggered” the pain of losing his wife, who counts among the preventable deaths that soon followed the state’s abortion bans.
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Jennifer N. Victor @jenvictor.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
@adambonica.bsky.social is dropping bombshells on Substack. He has uncovered astonishing predatory practices in Democratic fundraising, which has been sold out to consultants. AND his NYT invitation to publish has been rescinded bc of legal threats. 🚨👀❗🔥 data4democracy.substack.com/p/hook-and-s...
data4democracy.substack.com
Hook and Squeeze
How Democratic consultants, committees, and party leaders built a fundraising spam pipeline that funnels money from a captive pool of elderly donors into their own operations.
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The Xylom @thexylom.com · 10/07/2026
"I think the biggest misinformation spreader in the U.S. is the President of the United States himself. [...] Even if you don’t like him, or you don’t like what he says, even if you know that whatever he says is not true, it’s impossible to avoid seeing his content."
thexylom.com
This Doctor Is Battling Health Misinformation One Wikipedia Edit at a Time
"I think the biggest misinformation spreader in the U.S. is the President of the United States himself. When he says something, it gets echoed in different magazines, newspapers, everywhere. And…
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Aysha Prather @alprather.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
Obviously, you have to vote for the worm
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Aysha Prather @alprather.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
We're not doing fine. Gov. Kevin Stitt directed state agencies to investigate CAIR and the Muslim Brotherhood as well as any Oklahomans with suspected ties to the groups. www.oklahoman.com/story/news/p...
oklahoman.com
Gov. Stitt asks state agencies to investigate Oklahoma Muslims
Gov. Kevin Stitt directed state agencies to investigate CAIR and the Muslim Brotherhood as well as any Oklahomans with suspected ties to the groups.
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Petra Korlević @petrathepostdoc.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
large (wingspan) and in charge #SciArt #InvertebrateOfTheYear www.theguardian.com/environment/...
theguardian.com
Revealed: the top 10 invertebrates of the year
At last! It’s time for our invertebrate of the year competition as voted for by you. Yesterday it was the Lord Howe Island stick insect – come back on Saturday at noon (BST) to find out who else made ...
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Aysha Prather @alprather.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
The last 3 jobs my young adult son has obtained were through friends. He applied for hundreds of jobs through Indeed, etc., and never got any responses. The current system doesn't work for anyone but fraudsters.
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Aysha Prather @alprather.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
Anyone ever met one of these "moderate" Democrats? Do they work/shop/play with regular folks?
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Helen Kennedy @helenkennedy.com · 04/08/2026
Read it here if you haven't yet. Today is the very best day of all days to read it for the first time. short-stories.co/@raybradbury...
short-stories.co
There Will Come Soft Rains by Ray Bradbury
The voice-clock sang, breakfast was ejected, but no doors slammed. The garage chimed and lifted its door to reveal the waiting car. The house sat alone in a city of rubble and…
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Aysha Prather @alprather.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
21 May University of Oklahoma informs employees our insurance no longer covers gender affirming care, because of new state law. 2 August, employees receive hard copy letter from BCBSOK. That's TWO MONTHS to compose a ONE PAGE letter that arrives long after policy holders have tried to refill Rx, etc
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Phil Lewis @phillewis.bsky.social · 25/07/2026
Interesting: There’s now an anonymous, moderated list of companies that stop responding after you interviewed with them
didtheyghostyou.com
Ghosted After a Job Interview? Report the Company
Ghosted after a job interview? Submit an anonymous report and see which companies candidates say stopped responding after interviews.
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Aysha Prather @alprather.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
"Syphilis boom." Jesus Fucking Christ.
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Aysha Prather @alprather.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
I can't recommend TESTED highly enough.
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