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Cadhla Firth

@cadhlafirth.bsky.social
1.7K followers 779 following 96 posts

Molecular and evolutionary biologist studying zoonotic disease emergence.

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Cadhla Firth @cadhlafirth.bsky.social · 26m
This is such an important and underrepresented perspective on the past and present relationships between tropical health/medicine and colonialism
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Cadhla Firth @cadhlafirth.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
He also highlights something I've been worrying about as I watch my colleagues increasingly feed student papers and grants into those plagiarism bots to "provide feedback" - what do we do to address reviewers, panelists, etc. uploading other people's research programs?
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Cadhla Firth @cadhlafirth.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
It would be great if the media remembered that fact checking exists 🤦‍♀️
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Cadhla Firth @cadhlafirth.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
This researcher died from the plague, which is caused by bacteria - NOT a virus!!
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Cadhla Firth @cadhlafirth.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Okay this is insanely cool - we've had a front/mid brain and a totally distinct hindbrain for like 500 million years!
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Tim “Positive Subway” Smith @positivesubway.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
“When it comes to the choices my husband and I have made about public education, these days I feel that I failed both my values and my child.” A deeply personal piece from Nikole Hannah-Jones, 10 years after her landmark story about choosing her child’s elementary school, is your Sunday must-read
nytimes.com
In Fighting for Every Black Child, Did I Betray My Own? (Gift Article)
A decade ago, I made a decision about my daughter’s education that I hoped would challenge New York City’s separate and unequal school system. Now 16, she thinks I made the wrong choice.
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Cadhla Firth @cadhlafirth.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Thanks for the advice, but I didn't say I was trusting it to do anything.
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Cadhla Firth @cadhlafirth.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
I've had Claude refuse to even provide a summary of a published paper on Lassa virus due to biosecurity concerns!
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Cadhla Firth @cadhlafirth.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
This 👇👇👇
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Tressie McMillan Cottom @tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 26/07/2026
As good as many of you said. I really appreciate the unambiguous point that this primarily a racist moral panic before unpacking the nuanced second-order explanations. dannykatch.substack.com/p/we-used-to...
dannykatch.substack.com
We used to be able to buy things in this country
Locking up toothpaste was a warning sign that our executive class was crazy
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Zeke Hausfather @zekehausfather.com · 17/07/2026
The forest management argument, largely valid in a California pine stand, mostly falls apart when you move it a couple of thousand kilometers north. Today's Climate Brink post provides in-depth details as to why: www.theclimatebrink.com/p/canadas-bo...
theclimatebrink.com
Canada's boreal wildfires aren't just bad forest management
Higher fire season temperatures are strongly correlated with increased area burned
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Tara Haelle @tarahaelle.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
It’s almost as though we had an excellent public health infrastructure until DOGE hobbled the hell out of it. You know, like thousands of us were screaming at the time.
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Cadhla Firth @cadhlafirth.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
Seems like they did a fine job helping identify Taylor Farms to me 🤷‍♀️
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Cadhla Firth @cadhlafirth.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
The CDC isn't used to dealing with outbreaks???
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Cadhla Firth @cadhlafirth.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
The CDC's Division of Parasitic Diseases would also generally be involved in outbreak response, it they still had people that worked there.
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Cadhla Firth @cadhlafirth.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
I hope you're ready for the endless barrage of mail they are about to send you for the next 10y with 'amazing deals' on internet
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Jason Scott @textfiles.com · 03/07/2026
I'll summarize this: Mamdani asked NYers to keep air conditioning at 78 degrees. A wave criticism hit online. A MSNBC broadcast pointed out the US Department of Energy recommends that 78 degree figure. Immediately after, the US Department of Energy deleted 6,000 web pages related to energy saving.
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Jeremy Berg @jeremymberg.bsky.social · 02/07/2026
Scott Atlas, the champion of herd immunity as an Fox News commenter and the Trump Advisor during COVID, weighs in with a DEEPLY MININFORMED op-ed in the WaPo. www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202... 1/7
washingtonpost.com
Opinion | Abolish the NIH
A $48 billion government monopoly should give way to the market.
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Cadhla Firth @cadhlafirth.bsky.social · 28/05/2026
Surely there was a less stigmatizing headline that could have been used.
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Stephen Turner @stephenturner.us · 19/05/2026
Dreaming up the most convoluted schemes imaginable to avoid paying reviewers (real money) www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
pnas.org
A transparent universal credit system to incentivize peer review | PNAS
A transparent universal credit system to incentivize peer review
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Cadhla Firth @cadhlafirth.bsky.social · 09/05/2026
Trying to leave an abusive relationship is one of the most difficult things for anyone. It's horrible to see the US gov taking a DARVO-informed approach to immigration. I can't see how these changes will do anything but hurt people when they're most vulnerable
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Cadhla Firth @cadhlafirth.bsky.social · 05/05/2026
I'm sure you wouldn't be misrepresenting things just to make a splashy point, but I believe the criticism was that the word 'wildlife' is not actually a synonym for 'mammal in 3 databases'?
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Cadhla Firth @cadhlafirth.bsky.social · 04/05/2026
While we wait for more information on the hantavirus outbreak on that cruise ship, there is a strong narrative about the risk of human-to-human transmission that may not hold up. In the absence of epidemiological data, this paper is worth a read: pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC...
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Evidence for Human-to-Human Transmission of Hantavirus: A Systematic Review
Hantavirus is known to be transmitted from rodents to humans. However, some reports from Argentina and Chile have claimed that the hantavirus strain Andes virus (ANDV) can cause human-to-human transmi...
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Cadhla Firth @cadhlafirth.bsky.social · 04/05/2026
Beagles have contributed a lot to diabetes research
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Cadhla Firth @cadhlafirth.bsky.social · 30/04/2026
This seems especially outrageous when compared to how the 'Signal-gate' participants have been treated. I totally agree that Morens didn't act right, but it's hard to think the response is justified given the current political context.
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Cadhla Firth @cadhlafirth.bsky.social · 26/04/2026
From this thread it seems like with universal basic income we might also have more arts and culture and community
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Cadhla Firth @cadhlafirth.bsky.social · 25/04/2026
It's no wonder we're losing the war on vaccine misinformation when we don't even agree on what math is 🤦‍♀️
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Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · 14/04/2026
NEW—I got an exclusive excerpt from a USAID whistleblower's new book that made me gasp multiple times. It details Trump's dismantling of the humanitarian aid agency & his team/DOGE's shocking ignorance to public health. 'Into the Wood Chipper' by Nicholas Enrich is out tomorrow. Read excerpt here:
thehandbasket.co
Whistleblower says Trump officials thought USAID did 'just abortions,' asked for 'Barney-style' slides before gutting agency, per new book
Read an exclusive excerpt from Nicholas Enrich's "Into the Wood Chipper"
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Cadhla Firth @cadhlafirth.bsky.social · 11/04/2026
Then why use the term 'wildlife' if you're excluding fish, amphibians, reptiles, and birds? It doesn't seem that volume of trade was a consideration in the study, but there is A LOT of trade in non-mammals, and if global trade is the most important predictor, shouldn't it apply across taxa?
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Cadhla Firth @cadhlafirth.bsky.social · 10/04/2026
Just a note that the study speaks to wildlife trade but only modeled mammals represented in three databases - CITES, LEMIS, and TRAFFIC. I don't know if the findings would be replicated in fish for example, or how they would change if wildlife that are primarily traded within countries were included
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NPR @npr.org · 26/03/2026
The annual observance marks how far into the new year women must work to make what men earned in the previous year. This year, it's March 26, a day later than it was in 2025. n.pr/4t9rLqU
n.pr
It's Equal Pay Day. Women have lost ground for the second year in a row
The annual observance marks how far into the new year women must work to make what men earned in the previous year. This year, it's March 26, a day later than it was in 2025.
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Eric Topol @erictopol.bsky.social · 26/03/2026
Title: "The United States is Driving a Public Heath Emergency of International Concern" www.bmj.com/content/392/...
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Stephen Turner @stephenturner.us · 21/03/2026
Race is not a biological category: challenging this misconception will help tackle racism in healthcare www.bmj.com/content/392/...
bmj.com
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Prof Gavin Yamey MD MPH @gavinyamey.bsky.social · 17/03/2026
“The State Department is considering withholding lifesaving assistance to people with H.I.V. in Zambia as a negotiating tactic to force the government of the southern African country to sign a deal giving the United States more access to its critical minerals” Extractive, colonial, & depraved 1/2
U.S. Considers Withholding H.I.V. Aid Unless Zambia Expands Minerals Access
A draft State Department memo outlines ways the Trump administration may ratchet up pressure on the African country by ending health support “on a massive scale.”
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Truthout @truthout.org · 22/02/2026
Exposure to chemical irritants can cause chest tightness, coughing and shortness of breath. For kids, there’s more potential for serious side effects.
buff.ly
Public Health Experts Sound Alarm as Feds Keep Deploying Tear Gas Near Kids
“We don’t know the long-term effects. We don’t understand their effects on children,” said a pediatrician.
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Cadhla Firth @cadhlafirth.bsky.social · 15/02/2026
A beautiful reminder that we all have the power to make a difference
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 07/02/2026
This is excellent & draws out something the rest of the media is ignoring: among other things, the Epstein files have made it super, super clear that the entire "anti-woke" cultural hysteria was engineered by powerful men averse to accountability.
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Billie Jean Sweeney @billiejsweeney.bsky.social · 04/02/2026
A landmark study challenges the foundation of blanket bans, “finding that despite larger muscle mass about one to three years after hormone therapy, trans women have physical fitness levels comparable to those of cis women.”
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Elizabeth Jacobs, PhD @elizabethjacobs.bsky.social · 04/02/2026
Virologist Nathan Wolfe sought funding from Jeffrey Epstein to study whether sexually transmitted infections increased women’s sex drive. He planned to conduct this study among female undergraduate students.
stanforddaily.com
Former Stanford professor Nathan Wolfe ’92 planned sexual behavior research, described interns with Epstein
The Daily investigated correspondence between virologist Nathan Wolfe ’92 and Epstein in which the two men discussed interns’ attractiveness, “female viagra” and sexual research projects.
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Kat Tenbarge @kattenbarge.bsky.social · 03/02/2026
There’s literally a straight line between Trump, Epstein, and the retaliatory lawsuits against women who came forward with allegations against celebrity men like Amber Heard and Blake Lively. They all even have the same PR folks. And yet people still refuse to see it
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Aurelien Mondon @aurelmondon.com · 01/02/2026
Of course there are academics in the Epstein files Academia is not a natural space for radical politics, knowledge and emancipation as many pretend it is, buoyed by reactionary moral panics It is primarily built on conservatism, hierarchies and thirst for power so this should not be surprising
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Jess Calarco @jessicacalarco.com · 31/01/2026
It's easy to see these academics as individual bad actors. But I'd argue--they were enabled by "elite" schools' look-the-other-way approach to dealing with big-name abusers, and by the fact that, societially, we treat people associated with "elite" schools as automatically deserving of deference.
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Jon Cooper @joncooper-us.bsky.social · 31/01/2026
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche admits that the DOJ excluded all images showing “death, physical abuse, or injury” from yesterday’s Epstein files release. WHAT ELSE ARE THEY HIDING???
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Cadhla Firth @cadhlafirth.bsky.social · 30/01/2026
😂😂😂
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Alejandra Caraballo @esqueer.net · 28/01/2026
Meta: ✅ Sexual chat bots for children ❌ Website unmasking ICE gestapo agents who kidnap children www.wired.com/story/meta-i...
wired.com
Meta Is Blocking Links to ICE List on Facebook, Instagram, and Threads
Users of Meta’s social platforms can no longer share links to ICE List, a website listing what it claims are the names of thousands of DHS employees.
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Greg Folkers @gregfolkers.bsky.social · 26/01/2026
Science: U.S. government has lost more than 10,000 STEM Ph.D.s since Trump took office By Jeffrey Mervis, Monica Hersher @science.org @policyhound.bsky.social @mghersher.bsky.social bit.ly/3M8yf9B
bit.ly
U.S. government has lost more than 10,000 STEM Ph.D.s since Trump took office
A Science analysis reveals how many were fired, retired, or quit across 14 agencies
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Kai Kupferschmidt @kakape.bsky.social · 25/01/2026
“Please get the truth out about our son. He was a good man.”
January 24, 2026 at 18:42
Statement from Michael and Susan Pretti
Parents of Alex Jeffrey Pretti
"We are heartbroken but also very angry.
Alex was a kindhearted soul who cared deeply for his family and friends and also the American veterans whom he cared for as an
ICU nurse at the Minneapolis VA hospital. Alex wanted to make a difference in this world. Unfortunately, he will not be with us to see his impact.
I do not throw around the 'hero' term lightly. However, his last thought and act was to protect a woman. The sickening lies told about our son by the administration are reprehensible and disgusting. Alex is clearly not holding a gun when attacked by Trump's murdering and cowardly ICE thugs. He had his phone in his right hand and his empty left hand is raised above his head while trying to protect the woman ICE just pushed down, all while being pepper sprayed.
Please get the truth out about our son. He was a good man. Thank you.
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Acyn @acyn.bsky.social · 24/01/2026
insane scenes coming out of Minneapolis
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Michelle Wille @duckswabber.bsky.social · 15/01/2026
Amazing work by Erik Karlsson and co - a huge diversity of viruses in animal markets, detected through both sampling of birds, but also environmental surveillance approaches. 👉https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-68245-8
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