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Sarah Laskow

@slaskow.bsky.social
41K followers 359 following 46 posts

senior editor at the Atlantic. I think a lot about climate, disease, animals, plants, risk, kids, New York City, and sometimes other cities too

PostsRepliesMedia
Sarah Laskow @slaskow.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
We are hiring, for two editor jobs that I think will be dream jobs. One will focus on the politics of science and health, and one will focus on frontiers of discovery.
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Sarah Laskow @slaskow.bsky.social · 13/02/2026
Come work with me atlanticmedia.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/Careers/job/...
atlanticmedia.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com
Staff Writer
The Atlantic is hiring a Staff Writer to cover extreme weather and natural disasters. This is a position for a journalist of the highest ambition who is eager to report from the ground on the realitie...
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Peter Brannen @peterbrannen.bsky.social · 23/11/2025
Wrote about how climate change is bad www.theatlantic.com/science/2025...
theatlantic.com
Climate Realism Is a Delusion
By shooting for 3 degrees Celsius of warming, the world could slide toward a more cataclysmic 4 degrees.
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Sarah Laskow @slaskow.bsky.social · 15/09/2025
HHS put dozens of high ranking officials on administrative leave and then just ignored them www.theatlantic.com/health/2025/...
theatlantic.com
The HHS Officials Being Paid Six Figures to Do Nothing
The Trump administration hasn’t fired them but won’t let them do their jobs.
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Sarah Laskow @slaskow.bsky.social · 28/08/2025
Seems like a good time to re-up this one www.theatlantic.com/health/archi...
theatlantic.com
What an Undervaccinated America Would Look Like
At first, much the same. But inevitably, dangerous diseases would resurge in a country that isn’t prepared for them.
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Paul Voosen @voosen.me · 16/07/2025
NOAA Atlas 15 Vol 2, which would have focused on downscaled precip projections, is being held up, @sarahkaplan48.bsky.social reports.
washingtonpost.com
NOAA was developing a way to predict extreme rainfall — until Trump officials stopped it
The tool would have projected how climate change could affect rainfall frequency and intensity in communities across the nation.
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Laura Poppick @laurapoppick.bsky.social · 16/07/2025
Come on out NYC! We'll talk deep time and, indeed, MUD.
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Sarah Laskow @slaskow.bsky.social · 16/07/2025
The nine-person board was already down to three members. Then, on Monday, the White House sent them an ultimatum: Fire the CEO, or be fired. www.theatlantic.com/science/arch...
theatlantic.com
Trump’s Ultimatum for America’s Largest Public-Energy Provider
Earlier this week, the White House told the board of the Tennessee Valley Authority to fire the CEO, or be fired.
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Sarah Laskow @slaskow.bsky.social · 16/07/2025
I will be hanging out with the excellent @laurapoppick.bsky.social next Monday at Books Are Magic to talk about the stories found in the ground. And also MUD. Come by! Tickets here: www.eventbrite.com/e/in-store-l...
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Anne Applebaum @anneapplebaum.wsocial.eu · 15/07/2025
"Five months into its unprecedented dismantling of foreign-aid programs, the Trump administration has given the order to incinerate food instead of sending it to people who need it" @hana-kiros.bsky.social, on spending $130,000 to burn food worth $800,000 www.theatlantic.com/health/archi...
theatlantic.com
The Trump Administration Is About to Incinerate 500 Tons of Emergency Food
Federal workers warned for months that the high-energy biscuits would go to waste.
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Laura Poppick @laurapoppick.bsky.social · 14/07/2025
Very much looking forward to being in conversation with the brilliant @slaskow.bsky.social at Books are Magic in Brooklyn a week from today! 🌏🪨🎉 Come on out and join our conversation about deep time + ancient stories in rock. More info + tickets here: www.eventbrite.com/e/in-store-l...
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The Atlantic @theatlantic.com · 05/07/2025
As a doctor in a hospital that serves the urban poor, Lindsay Ryan's patients already face such a gantlet of obstacles that modest barriers to accessing government programs can effectively screen them out.
bit.ly
The Reality My Medicaid Patients Face
With work requirements in place, many will be removed from Medicaid even though they should qualify.
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Sarah Laskow @slaskow.bsky.social · 10/04/2025
“He never said anything about the vaccine being helpful..." Important stuff from @tombartlett.bsky.social www.theatlantic.com/health/archi...
theatlantic.com
What RFK Jr. Told Grieving Texas Families About the Measles Vaccine
The nation’s top public-health official has been promoting suspicions of the shot even as he offers comfort.
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Alexander C. Kaufman @alexckaufman.bsky.social · 04/04/2025
My first piece in @theatlantic.com! I wrote about the looming boom in geothermal energy, one of the few renewables generating as lots of excitement among both Republicans and Democrats. www.theatlantic.com/science/arch...
theatlantic.com
The Hottest Thing in Clean Energy
Little of America’s energy comes from geothermal sources, but that could change quickly.
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Sarah Laskow @slaskow.bsky.social · 28/03/2025
HHS can make ineffective resources available to states but… no one has to take them www.theatlantic.com/health/archi...
theatlantic.com
Texas Never Wanted RFK Jr.’s Unproven Measles Treatment
Kennedy made a show of shipping vitamin A to measles-stricken communities. The state’s public-health department didn’t take up the offer.
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Sarah Laskow @slaskow.bsky.social · 28/03/2025
Who needs a good medical mystery for Friday? www.theatlantic.com/health/archi...
theatlantic.com
An ‘Impossible’ Disease Outbreak in the Alps
In one tiny town, more than a dozen people were diagnosed with the rare neurodegenerative disease ALS. Why?
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Holly Fernandez Lynch @hollylynchez.bsky.social · 27/03/2025
www.theatlantic.com/health/archi... “Why are people going to be willing to contribute to science and enroll in these studies if they feel like the rug can be pulled out from under them at any time?” Fernandez Lynch told me. Answer: They won't.
theatlantic.com
The NIH’s Most Reckless Cuts Yet
Ending clinical trials with no warning can put patients at risk.
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Sarah Laskow @slaskow.bsky.social · 14/03/2025
NIH officials were told this morning that approximately 1,000 more grants would be targeted for termination www.theatlantic.com/health/archi...
theatlantic.com
A Decade of Cuts in a Matter of Days
The Trump administration’s rapid terminations of NIH grants is its most aggressive attempt yet to control American science.
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Katherine J. Wu @katherinejwu.com · 27/02/2025
I talked to NIH officials, current and former, about what's been happening inside the agency since the Trump administration shut down their grantmaking pipeline in January. Their stories showed just how willing our new leaders are to break the law: www.theatlantic.com/health/archi...
theatlantic.com
Inside the Collapse at NIH
Administration officials pressured NIH to avoid clear advice from the agency’s own lawyers to restart grant funding now.
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Sarah Laskow @slaskow.bsky.social · 27/02/2025
www.theatlantic.com/health/archi...
theatlantic.com
Inside the Collapse at the NIH
Administration officials pressured the NIH to avoid clear advice from the agency’s own lawyers to restart grant funding now.
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Alex Silvestre @sylvester-a.bsky.social · 15/02/2025
Trump and his administration are now deciding how deep a rift to make in America’s scientific firmament. How long it takes to repair the damage, or whether that will be possible at all, depends on the extent of the damage they inflict now.
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Sarah Laskow @slaskow.bsky.social · 14/02/2025
Read this one by the great @katherinejwu.com www.theatlantic.com/health/archi...
theatlantic.com
The Erasing of American Science
How far can the Trump administration bend U.S. research before it breaks?
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Sarah Laskow @slaskow.bsky.social · 01/02/2025
CDC data’s “explicit purpose” is to guide researchers toward the places and people who most need attention, Patrick Sullivan, a former CDC Epidemic Intelligence Service officer, said. “It’s hard to understand how this benefits health.” www.theatlantic.com/health/archi...
theatlantic.com
CDC Data Are Disappearing
The agency has already removed scientific data from public view. More could follow.
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Sarah Laskow @slaskow.bsky.social · 29/01/2025
What is the Senate going to ask RFK Jr. tomorrow and is it “how will you handle the outbreaks of disease that will follow a drop in vaccination rates?” www.theatlantic.com/health/archi...
theatlantic.com
What an Undervaccinated America Would Look Like
At first, much the same. But inevitably dangerous diseases would resurge in a country that isn’t prepared for them.
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jae holzman @jael.bsky.social · 15/01/2025
related: EV batteries complicate debris removal after wildfires finance.yahoo.com/news/ev-batt...
finance.yahoo.com
EV batteries complicate debris removal after California fires
Debris removal following the deadly wildfires in Southern California will be made more complicated by the area’s plentiful electric-vehicle batteries and other lithium ion cells.
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Sarah Laskow @slaskow.bsky.social · 15/01/2025
LA is breathing in burnt plastic www.theatlantic.com/science/arch...
theatlantic.com
What Happens When a Plastic City Burns
Most modern couches are basically blocks of gasoline.
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Charlie Warzel @cwarzel.bsky.social · 09/01/2025
The LA fires are sadly an example of what @mikecaulfield.bsky.social and I wrote about in our Justification Machine piece earlier this week. It's not an opportunity to learn anything about how to help people or what needs to be done. it's an opportunity to blame. www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...
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Charlie Warzel @cwarzel.bsky.social · 09/01/2025
this line from Ethan has been stuck in my head all day. And I felt it most reading my friend and colleague @nancywalecki.bsky.social's beautiful and heartbreaking dispatch from LA this evening. Here's a gift link, I urge you to read it www.theatlantic.com/science/arch...
theatlantic.com
‘I’ve Never Seen Anything Like This’
The Palisades Fire is destroying places that I’ve loved.
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Sarah Laskow @slaskow.bsky.social · 10/12/2024
No one totally knows how GLP1 drugs make people lose weight but it is clear that (unlike with older drugs) prescriptions for diet and exercise don’t add much of any additional effect. www.theatlantic.com/health/archi...
theatlantic.com
Ozempic Killed Diet and Exercise
Doctors might be slow to admit it, but Ozempic and other GLP-1s drugs are making diet and exercise obsolete.
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Heatmap News @heatmap.news · 09/12/2024
“Any of these projects faltering is just going to keep New York City reliant on an aging and dirty fossil fleet,” @dzarrilli.bsky.social tells @emilypont.bsky.social. How Attentive Energy's offshore wind pause could derail New York's climate plans:
heatmap.news
What 4 Years of Delay Means to an Offshore Wind Project
New York’s Attentive Energy is now on pause, meaning more pollution, stalled plans, and a tighter margin for error.
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Doug Gordon @brooklynspoke.bsky.social · 28/11/2024
This is like one of those "before" pictures showing the same street in Amsterdam in 1974 and today.
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Barry Petchesky @barryp.bsky.social · 27/11/2024
I think if they listened to me and invented Big Rice, it would become a centerpiece of Thanksgiving dinner within five years.
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The Atlantic @theatlantic.com · 27/11/2024
Some people itch for no clear reason, for months or even years. Annie Lowrey is one of them, and explains the strange science behind this maddening condition. theatln.tc/ZVVLdntB
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Rebecca Altman, PhD @rebecca-altman.bsky.social · 27/11/2024
♻️ “If recycling is the answer, what is the question [it’s answering]?”♻️ Adapted from the preface to @finnarne.me #plasticpollution #inc5
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David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · 27/11/2024
Even if CO₂ emissions decreased as much as it did during COVID every year until 2030, we would still miss the 1.5°C target (emissions of 20 GtCO₂/yr by 2023) by a lot.
A graph displaying global CO2 emissions from energy and industrial processes, showing data from 2000 to 2024, and projected trends needed from 2000 to 2100 to achieve 1.5°C. It includes a dotted vertical line indicating 2030, and a red point indicating 20 GtCO₂/yr and various scenario lines demonstrating emission pathways. The decrease during COVID is projected from 2024 to 2030, missing the target by a lot.
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Kendra "Gloom is My Beat" Pierre-Louis @kendrawrites.com · 28/11/2024
Drought monitor data released a day early cause of the holiday and we're still in drought nyc
Map of the northeastern united states showing most of it in varying stages of drought Map of the US showing most of it in drought
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Zack Labe @zacklabe.com · 28/11/2024
On one of the busiest travel days of the year in the United States, here's a visualization of the human footprint... (red = flights, blue = ships, green = roads, yellow = lights) Graphic from NOAA's Science On a Sphere: sos.noaa.gov/catalog/data...
Global map showing transportation sectors by different colors and lines, such as for roads, shipping, and air flights. This reveals how connected the world is.
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Anne Applebaum @anneapplebaum.wsocial.eu · 27/11/2024
People are often surprised when I tell them this: both Twitter and Facebook/insta/threads are now specifically engineered to downgrade, hide, suppress real journalism. If this platform is different, that's a huge change
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Jesse D. Jenkins @jessedjenkins.com · 27/11/2024
Massachusetts passed a big clean energy law on Nov 14th. Lots of great stuff! @canarymedia.com has details www.canarymedia.com/articles/pol... A quick summary of highlights... 🧵 🔌💡
canarymedia.com
Massachusetts passes bill to speed clean energy and slow gas expansion
The long-awaited legislation comes as advocates say more state-level climate policy is needed. Governor Maura Healey is expected to sign it into law.
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David Shiffman, Ph.D. 🦈 @whysharksmatter.bsky.social · 15/11/2024
Good news, everyone, the recent Pew poll has resolved this longstanding debate once and for all. 🧪
Screenshot of nearly 50/50 results of a poll about the role of science in policy making
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Sarah Laskow @slaskow.bsky.social · 15/11/2024
Consider which direction the evidence points www.theatlantic.com/health/archi...
theatlantic.com
The Sanewashing of RFK Jr.
Let’s call a crank a crank.
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Sarah Laskow @slaskow.bsky.social · 12/11/2024
Not everyone has a genetic disease but everyone has a polygenic risk score www.theatlantic.com/health/archi...
theatlantic.com
Genetic Discrimination Is Coming for Us All
Insurers are refusing to cover Americans whose DNA reveals health risks. It’s perfectly legal.
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The Atlantic @theatlantic.com · 21/11/2023
OpenAI's chief scientist made a tragic miscalculation when he tried to overthrow Sam Altman, Ross Andersen writes. Here's why he may have done it:
theatln.tc
OpenAI’s Chief Scientist Made a Tragic Miscalculation
What was Ilya Sutskever thinking when he tried to overthrow Sam Altman?
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Sarah Laskow @slaskow.bsky.social · 11/11/2023
The math is still not adding up www.theatlantic.com/science/arch...
theatlantic.com
One Huge Contradiction Is Undoing Our Best Climate Efforts
The math isn’t adding up.
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Sarah Laskow @slaskow.bsky.social · 02/11/2023
"As things stand, the United States could be heading into the winter with the fewest people recently vaccinated against COVID-19 since the end of 2020, when most people didn’t yet have the option to sign up at all." www.theatlantic.com/health/archi...
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Sarah Laskow @slaskow.bsky.social · 25/10/2023
It’s always tuberculosis www.theatlantic.com/science/arch...
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Alex Spahn 🌋🌪️☄️ @spahn711.bsky.social · 19/10/2023
Full sequence of the annular solar eclipse at Shiprock, New Mexico. This was a dream composition of mine. So much time, energy, and money went into making it happen. I'm forever grateful to the Navajo for letting me shoot it from sacred ground. An experience I'll never forget.
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Sarah Laskow @slaskow.bsky.social · 19/10/2023
I never thought of the insurance industry as a particular climate villain but … www.theatlantic.com/science/arch...
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David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · 16/10/2023
What is common knowledge in your field but shocks outsiders? More than half the CO₂ emissions of the Industrial Age have been pumped into the atmosphere since 1990.
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Dyani Lewis @dyanilewis.bsky.social · 14/10/2023
The feral horse situation in the Australian Alps has been allowed to grow to frightening proportions. Another report… this time there needs to be action. www.nature.com/articles/d41...
nature.com
Australia’s feral horses need ‘urgent’ control: scientists welcome latest report
Ecologists have praised government recommendations, but some say more concrete action — including a cull — is needed. Ecologists have praised government recommendations, but some say more concrete...
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