Sign in

Usha Lee McFarling

@usha.bsky.social
10K followers 853 following 514 posts

I direct the Knight Science Journalism Program at MIT. Working hard to advance science journalism and support its practitioners at a time they are needed more than ever.

PostsRepliesMedia
Reposted by Usha Lee McFarling
Ellie Wolfe @elliew0lfe.bsky.social · 25/06/2026
Scoop with @mercohn.bsky.social: Johns Hopkins University is laying off more than 100 employees in the Bloomberg School of Public Health, the Carey Business School and central administration. Hopkins is suffering "debilitating" decreases in federal research funding www.thebanner.com/education/hi...
thebanner.com
Johns Hopkins University lays off over 100 employees due to federal research losses
The layoffs this week impact the university’s Bloomberg School of Public Health, the Carey School of Business and the university’s general administration.
12278214
Usha Lee McFarling @usha.bsky.social · 25/06/2026
School's out for summer but @ksjatmit.bsky.social, we're hard at work training the next generation of science journalists. KSJ HBCU Summer Camp led by the amazing @ashleythesmart.bsky.social
140
Reposted by Usha Lee McFarling
Knight Science Journalism @ MIT @ksjatmit.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
In another smart piece of reporting for @science.org , former KSJ Fellow @kakape.bsky.social speaks to the experts trying to understand how the cruise ship hantavirus started — and what that says about the only hantavirus documented to transmit from person to person. www.science.org/content/arti...
science.org
How did the cruise ship hantavirus outbreak start? Scientists are investigating new scenarios
Understanding how the first patient became infected may shed new light on Andes virus’ transmission patterns and incubation period
0157
Usha Lee McFarling @usha.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
Terrible and sad news. The number of journalists covering science at a time that coverage is so desperately needed continues to decline.
0297
Usha Lee McFarling @usha.bsky.social · 16/05/2026
Excellent and thorough story by the amazing @aniloza.bsky.social “One problem is that such a meritocracy has never existed, and it’s ahistorical to believe that one could exist in the U.S., particularly by dismantling race-conscious policies.” www.statnews.com/2026/05/15/t... via @statnews.com
statnews.com
DOJ accuses Yale and UCLA medical schools of discriminating against white and Asian applicants
The Justice Department sent a letter to Yale School of Medicine on Thursday, alleging it was illegally discriminating against applicants who are not Black or Hispanic.
052
Usha Lee McFarling @usha.bsky.social · 02/05/2026
Follow @jenna-m-norton.bsky.social She’s fighting for science and freedom of speech And science — like work on racial disparities — that isn’t considered “clean.” As she says, language matters.
041
Reposted by Usha Lee McFarling
Jenna Norton @jenna-m-norton.bsky.social · 02/05/2026
This was fitting news to receive on May 1, international workers day. I will be returning to work on Monday after being kept on retaliatory administrative leave for 5 months and 3 weeks. I return along with the brave Katrina Declaration signers from FEMA, also reinstated this week. 🧵1/?
301425377
Usha Lee McFarling @usha.bsky.social · 10/04/2026
So honored to receive a Polk award today with STAT colleagues @mmolteni.bsky.social @aniloza.bsky.social @angusrohan.bsky.social @jonathanwosen.bsky.social @isabellacueto.bsky.social @lizzylawrence.bsky.social @jaspar.bsky.social @rickberke.bsky.social Gideon Gil Laura Chang+Sarah Todd. What a team.
STAT Polk awardees STAT Polk Awardees
1195
Usha Lee McFarling @usha.bsky.social · 06/04/2026
Announcing the stellar new class of @ksjatmit.bsky.social fellows who will join us this fall. 💪🏽🧠✍️ Can’t wait to get started! ksj.mit.edu/news/2026/04...
ksj.mit.edu
Knight Science Journalism at MIT Announces 2026-27 Fellowship Class
An elite group of science journalists from around the globe will join KSJ at MIT this August to embark on a year of research and study.
040
Usha Lee McFarling @usha.bsky.social · 04/04/2026
I’m incensed that immigration policies are removing foreign doctors from their hospitals and jobs. We face a critical physician shortage. Many of these doctors treat the poor and underserved. This decision will cost lives. www.nytimes.com/2026/04/04/u...
nytimes.com
Trump’s Immigration Policy Sidelines Foreign Doctors Amid Shortage
17132
Reposted by Usha Lee McFarling
David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · 03/04/2026
I will say this again: Science isn’t just something that nerds do, it’s the foundation of the modern world. It’s why this app exists. It’s why child mortality rate isn’t 50% anymore. It’s how we’re able to launch people to the moon. It’s how we’re able to grow food that feeds half the world.
nature.com
Massive budget cuts for US science proposed again by Trump administration
Budget proposal would also curb federal payments for scientific publishing.
21822313
Reposted by Usha Lee McFarling
Danielle Kurtzleben @titonka.bsky.social · 04/04/2026
My only guess is NYT wanted a way in on the FEMA teleportation traffic and sent intrepid correspondent to figure it out and well that story is gonna stretch no matter what.
1193
Usha Lee McFarling @usha.bsky.social · 03/04/2026
So honored to host journalist, professor, and maritime explorer Michael Cottman this week @ksjatmit.bsky.social to discuss his work on studying the wreck of the slave ship Henrietta Marie. Powerful to learn about the network of Black scuba divers who continue this critical historical work.
Michael Cottman speaking — slide showing him scuba diving. Usha McFarling, Michael Cottman, and Ashley Smart in front of KSJ offices at MIT.
030
Usha Lee McFarling @usha.bsky.social · 02/04/2026
Powerful to hear Khiara Bridges discuss her new book Expecting Inequity — showing even wealthy Black women experience high rates of #maternalmortality— with Ndidiamaka Amutah-Onukagha. “We cannot purchase our way out of structural racism.”
Khiara Bridges and Ndidiamaka Amutah-Onukagha speaking at Harvard Book Store
142
Usha Lee McFarling @usha.bsky.social · 11/03/2026
The term “gold standard science“ is so insidious. As Harvard’s Nancy Krueger wrote recently, “The reality is that federal agencies under this current administration are brandishing this ‘gold standard science’ as a cudgel, to make data, people, and problems disappear.”
181
Reposted by Usha Lee McFarling
anil oza @aniloza.bsky.social · 10/03/2026
and if you haven't read this backstory on the messy, contentious fight to remove race from eGFR by @usha.bsky.social & @katiepalmer.bsky.social, you really should www.statnews.com/2024/09/05/e...
statnews.com
Inside the bruising battle to purge race from a kidney disease calculator
Kidney specialists now acknowledge millions of Black patients may have been undertreated and even denied transplants because of a race-adjusted test.
0187
Reposted by Usha Lee McFarling
🇬🇾🗽Sydette The Dreaded Gorgon🗽🇬🇾 @blackamazon.bsky.social · 11/03/2026
Star tribune just doing amazing work breaking our hearts but amazing work
011255
Usha Lee McFarling @usha.bsky.social · 11/03/2026
Amazing to see the change that can be possible to reduce longstanding racial health disparities. 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽Story by @aniloza.bsky.social Comments from @thenephrologist.bsky.social whttps://www.statnews.com/2026/03/10/kidney-transplants-black-americans-race-based-test-discarded/ via @statnews.com
statnews.com
Removing race from kidney function algorithm helped more Black patients access transplants
Removing race from the eGFR had a big impact, resulting in 5.3 more kidney transplants per 1000 Black candidates.
05414
Reposted by Usha Lee McFarling
Lisa Diedrich @lisadiedrich.bsky.social · 11/03/2026
This is the horrifying xAI "Colossus" Musk has unleashed on the South. "The sound continues through the day & often intensifies at night...making it hard to think clearly & even harder to fall asleep." Solidarity with Devan Jenkins & her neighbors fighting for their community's health & well-being.
23325
Reposted by Usha Lee McFarling
ShakeyJake @buttcrackbill.bsky.social · 05/03/2026
Have you seen this one? Dubbed the mad hatterpillar, it wears it's own old heads as a hat. www.newscientist.com/article/mg24...
newscientist.com
Weird caterpillar uses its old heads to make an elaborate hat
Meet the mad hatterpillar, the invertebrate that keeps its old moulted heads attached to its body to make a beautifully bizarre headpiece
212626
Reposted by Usha Lee McFarling
Radley Balko @radleybalko.bsky.social · 05/03/2026
ICE has arrested and detained a Nashville journalist who reported stories critical of ICE. She’s married to a U.S. citizen and has been seeking asylum here after fleeing death threats in Colombia because of her journalism there. They’ve already sent her to Louisiana.
nashvillebanner.com
ICE detains reporter Estefany Rodríguez in Nashville - Nashville Banner
Reporter Estefany Rodríguez, detained by ICE with no arrest warrant, may face deportation. Her attorneys seek immediate review of the legality of her case.
294123547402
Usha Lee McFarling @usha.bsky.social · 25/02/2026
@mmolteni.bsky.social of @statnews.com with the scoop on #Epstein and Harvard geneticist George Church. "Thirteen years later, the whereabouts of the sex offender’s skin cells are a mystery." www.statnews.com/2026/02/24/e...
statnews.com
Jeffrey Epstein’s tissue samples ignited a furor in the Harvard lab of George Church
Exclusive: Harvard geneticist George Church knew more about Jeffrey Epstein's activities than he has previously said, before accepting new donations from the sex offender.
054
Reposted by Usha Lee McFarling
Tara C. Smith @aetiology.bsky.social · 25/02/2026
Have been listening in to today's hearing. So far, she's dodged questions on vaccines and Tammy Baldwin noted Means made $325K shilling supplements over the last 2 years. But sure, vaccine advocates are the one making bank. 🙃
5275106
Reposted by Usha Lee McFarling
Frank Figliuzzi @frankfigliuzzi.bsky.social · 25/02/2026
Who will be the first reporter to ask Trump for a comment? Lawrence Summers Will Resign From Harvard After Epstein Revelations www.nytimes.com/2026/02/25/u...
nytimes.com
Lawrence Summers Will Resign From Harvard After Epstein Revelations
1628790
Reposted by Usha Lee McFarling
Jake Scott, MD @jakescottmd.bsky.social · 21/02/2026
New from @katherineeban.bsky.social in @rollingstone.com: CDC appointees bypassed the agency’s scientists to rush-fund a study questioning the hep B birth dose. The ethics committee president says his name was used on the approval without his knowledge. www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol...
rollingstone.com
New Documents Reveal a Controversial Vaccine Study's Unusual Path to CDC Approval
A new investigation has found irregularities in the ethics review of a grant to study effects of a birth dose of hepatitis B vaccine in Guinea-Bissau.
11278188
Reposted by Usha Lee McFarling
Nicole Chung @nicolechung.bsky.social · 21/02/2026
it’s very difficult for me to reread old pieces of mine, but I am sharing this for the Olympics, for nostalgia, for Asian American women of a certain age, for little Asian girls everywhere gift link:
nytimes.com
What I Learned From Kristi Yamaguchi (Published 2016)
20752150
Reposted by Usha Lee McFarling
Eric Topol @erictopol.bsky.social · 20/02/2026
The $100 whole human genome sequence finally reached! www.sandiegouniontribune.com/2026/02/19/s...
1125477
Reposted by Usha Lee McFarling
Mrs. Betty Bowers @mrsbettybowers.bsky.social · 20/02/2026
Hilarious
369109951824
Reposted by Usha Lee McFarling
Mark Peifer (He, him) @peiferlabunc.bsky.social · 21/02/2026
This is perhaps the most tragic of the consequences of the attack by Trump and colleagues on NIH. Gutting the next generation of American science 🧪
26534
Reposted by Usha Lee McFarling
Nicole Foy @nicolefoy.bsky.social · 20/02/2026
@lataco.bsky.social is raising money to launch a dedicated investigative news desk. If you've relied on their immigration coverage this year like I have, you know this is a worthy cause to support. givebutter.com/la-taco-inve...
givebutter.com
L.A. TACO Investigative Journalism Fund
By L.A. TACO
015091
Reposted by Usha Lee McFarling
James Goodwin @jamesgoodwin.bsky.social · 19/02/2026
This is the agency that is charged by law with preventing sexual assault in the workplace
201043306
Reposted by Usha Lee McFarling
Matthias Eberl @eberlmat.bsky.social · 19/02/2026
Very strong "Al Capone arrested and in custody on suspicion of tax evasion" vibes.
0217
Reposted by Usha Lee McFarling
Jess Calarco @jessicacalarco.com · 18/02/2026
ProPublica published children's letters and drawings documenting their sadness and suffering at Dilley. And Dilley staff are now retaliating by confiscating kids' letters and drawings. www.sacurrent.com/news/san-ant...
Report: Staff at Dilley raiding cells to confiscate kids' letters and drawings detailing conditions inside
13545372532
Reposted by Usha Lee McFarling
David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · 19/02/2026
If you're an environmental journalist in the UK or Europe, the biggest gathering of ocean scientists in the world is happening in Glasgow next week, and you should consider coming to cover some of the most important findings about our life support system. #OSM26
agu.org
Press | Ocean Sciences Meeting 2026
Welcome to the OSM26 Newsroom and Press Center. Here you will find information that will help you cover the meeting and register.
010343
Reposted by Usha Lee McFarling
Justin Zimmerman @jztidecat.bsky.social · 18/02/2026
A lot of institutions looks mighty foolish and boy is the damage already done. Have principles.
26312
Reposted by Usha Lee McFarling
Texas Monthly @texasmonthly.bsky.social · 18/02/2026
"I’m gratified that such a prestigious award can help this important, heartrending story find an even wider audience,” says editor in chief Ross McCammon. www.texasmonthly.com/press-room/tex…
texasmonthly.com
Texas Monthly Contributor Elliott Woods Wins Prestigious Polk Award for Migrant Series
The two-part series provided the first full account of the deadliest immigration disaster in U.S. history.
181
Reposted by Usha Lee McFarling
Jill Lawrence @jilldlawrence.bsky.social · 18/02/2026
So proud of my niece, @lizzylawrence.bsky.social, an intrepid FDA reporter @statnews.com who has won a Polk award. A few months ago I sent her off in an Uber after dinner, then a half-hour later saw her name on a news alert. "Did you write that in the *car?*" I asked, amazed. But of course she did.😂
54210
Reposted by Usha Lee McFarling
Bob Kopp @bobkopp.net · 18/02/2026
I believe O’Neill would be the second director in NSF history without a PhD, and the first without any sort of research background. (Eric Bloch, director from 1984-1990, was an engineer who worked at IBM.)
nsf.gov
NSF Directors and Deputy Directors (1950-present)
Lists of Directors and Deputy Directors of the NSF from 1950 to the present, including the years of their terms and their fields of science.
01617
Reposted by Usha Lee McFarling
ACLU @aclu.org · 18/02/2026
BREAKING: The Department of Education has ended its directive that attempted to restrict diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts in schools nationwide. This is a victory for academic freedom and education equity.
4664065110699
Reposted by Usha Lee McFarling
STAT @statnews.com · 18/02/2026
STAT has won a prestigious George Polk Award for documenting the Trump administration’s shakeup of the FDA, scientific research, and public health. www.statnews.com/2026/02/18/s...
statnews.com
STAT wins fourth Polk Award for reporting on impact of Trump on health
STAT has won its fourth Polk Award in five years for documenting the Trump administration’s shakeup of the FDA, scientific research, and public health.
18329
Reposted by Usha Lee McFarling
public health guy @publichealthguy1.bsky.social · 18/02/2026
just renewed my stat subscription (and congrats to all the polk winners today!)
2144
Usha Lee McFarling @usha.bsky.social · 18/02/2026
So thrilled @lizzylawrence.bsky.social and @statnews.com have won a Polk Award for our coverage of the Trump Administration assault on science+health. I couldn’t be prouder of our powerful coverage and the many stories we were first on. What a team. www.statnews.com/american-sci...
statnews.com
American Science, Shattered
An eight-decade partnership between universities and the federal government made U.S. science preeminent. It took Trump less than a year to shred that
35718
Reposted by Usha Lee McFarling
STAT @statnews.com · 18/02/2026
The FDA reversed course and told Moderna it would review its application for a new flu vaccine, the company announced Wednesday. www.statnews.com/2026/02/18/f...
statnews.com
FDA reverses course, agrees to review Moderna’s flu vaccine
The FDA reversed course and told Moderna it would review its application for a new flu vaccine, the company announced Wednesday.
17033
Reposted by Usha Lee McFarling
Isabella Cueto @isabellacueto.bsky.social · 17/02/2026
It's been a year since Kennedy became health secretary. What has he accomplished? We updated our tracker: www.statnews.com/2025/09/10/r...
statnews.com
Tracking RFK Jr.’s promises to remake health in America
STAT introduces a goals and promises tracker for Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s Make America Healthy Again movement — successes, incompletes, and fails.
379
Usha Lee McFarling @usha.bsky.social · 14/02/2026
”The information ecosystem is massively polluted, people are pickled in propaganda.” @laurahelmuth.bsky.social on misinformation and low public trust in science @aaas.org. “We‘re fighting an unfair fight.”
Laura Helmuth on panel at AAAS meeting.
2193
Reposted by Usha Lee McFarling
Laura Helmuth @laurahelmuth.bsky.social · 14/02/2026
For a panel this morning at the #aaasmtg, the other speakers and I will share ideas and examples for improving trust in science. Here are a few I'll mention if I get a chance (we have a LOT to talk about). I'd love to hear yours. (1/7)
105423
Usha Lee McFarling @usha.bsky.social · 14/02/2026
“Safe care is equitable care,“ said @shaziamsiddique.bsky.social at our @aaas.org panel on removing harmful racial algorithms from medicine. “Think racism not race,” advised Joseph Wright. “There is complexity and the need for humility here,” said @helenburstinmd.medsky.social
Joe Wright Helen Burstin and Shazia Siddique standing at podium at AAAS meeting.
093
Usha Lee McFarling @usha.bsky.social · 14/02/2026
“I was used to being discriminated against on the basis of race … all the sudden I had new ism.” The legend Shirley Malcolm speaks @aaas.org about confronting #sexism and #racism as she left the South for college and made her way through her science education.
Shirley Malcolm, Theresa Maldonado and Holden Thorpe seated on stage at AAAS meeting.
060
Reposted by Usha Lee McFarling
Vittoria Elliott @telliotter.bsky.social · 13/02/2026
SCOOP: ICE is asking Social Security for peoples' in-person appointment dates and times, and SSA staff are being told to give it to them. From me + @leahfeiger.bsky.social + @zoeschiffer.bsky.social @wired.com wired.com/story/social...
wired.com
Social Security Workers Are Being Told to Hand Over Appointment Details to ICE
The recent request goes against decades of precedent, and puts noncitizens at further risk of immigration enforcement actions.
21844575