Thiago Carvalho @cyrilpedia@social.cleverlibre.org

"Nothing has set back China’s preparations as extensively as its difficulty in vaccinating older people. Two-thirds of people ages 80 and older are vaccinated, but only 40 percent have received a booster dose, a critical shortcoming because Chinese-made vaccines offer weaker protection than the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines."

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/02/health/china-covid-lockdowns.html

"In 2006 the American Library Association issued a button to its members. It read, “radical, militant librarian.” We should have taken the message at its word. The American library, until recently a refuge of neutral quietude, has become a booming battleground in the culture wars."

https://newcriterion.com/issues/2022/12/a-library-by-the-book

@clathrin Just stay away from the Skinner Room

@tackley But going back to the origin of this toot suite (someone proposed this as alternative to thread, I wish I remembered who - but I didn't coin the term) these are all viewed as adaptive host responses, not parasite behavioural manipulation. For those there are very cool examples in both invertebrates (beyond the preprint in this suite, check out zombie ants) and the amazing things toxo does to a wide range of vertebrate hosts

@tackley There's an aspect of it from the social side, of reduced activity and sociability in turn reducing the infection of conspecifics which, in evolutionary terms raises all the usual questions. But there is also a single host perspective on the energetics of the immune response.

This one from Ajay Chawla is not a review, but good intro, with good refs
https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(19)30113-8?_returnURL=https%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS0092867419301138%3Fshowall%3Dtrue

@tackley This one is by one of the leaders in the neuroimmunology field (but firmly in the 'immuno' end), Jony Kipnis at Wash U

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41577-021-00508-z

@tackley There is certainly a very well described sickness behaviour brought on by infections that is more of a host adapted phenotype (most likely) - but the range of direct host manipulation by parasites of all sizes, from toxoplasma to arthropods is vast

@yoginho Little bit of an East Berlin-"we have ways of making you speak" vibe, Yogi.

Meanwhile at the other place:

"Twitter has proved a cherished forum for climate scientists to share research, as well as for activists seeking to rally action to halt oil pipelines or decry politicians’ failure to cut pollution. But many are now fleeing Twitter due to a surge in climate misinformation, spam and even threats that have upended their relationship with the platform."

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/dec/02/climate-change-denialism-flooding-twitter-scientists

"From the title of Heather Radke’s new book “Butts: A Backstory,” and its cover image of a ripe, callipygian peach, one might expect a book of provocative photos, or perhaps a chronicle of a personal fetish. But “Butts” is in fact a carefully researched and reported work of cultural history."

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/28/style/butts-a-backstory-radke.html

Medicine should not be a business: the c-section rate at Portugal's private hospitals is more than TWICE the rate at public hospitals.

(link goes to news article in Portuguese)

https://www.publico.pt/2022/12/02/sociedade/noticia/duas-maiores-maternidades-pais-sao-privadas-ai-metade-bebes-nascem-cesariana-2029924