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• Post #4382176

  Introducing the NextGen Covid Vax Tracker! https://vaxtracker.wordpress.com/2026/07/29/introducing-the-nextgen-covid-vax-tracker/ A monthly update on vaccine progress, featured vaccines, analyses, plus lots of background info. #Vaccines #Covid #Covid19

• Post #4200151

  A bumper month of nextgen Covid vax clinical trial news: — Results of 2 clinical trials for mucosal vaccines, including Vaxart's oral vax — Another mucosal vaccine is going into clinical trial, & 4 others are fully recruited or completed — Results from 2 Covid human challenge tests — and another one is recruiting One advanced vax has sadly been shelved. Lots more news now online at PLOS: https://absolutelymaybe.plos.org/2026/07/29/bumper-month-of-clinical-trial-news-to-ring-out-this...

• Post #4196845

  This month, PLOS is shutting down its long-running Independent Blogs Network. I don't want to call it quits on vax tracking though, so I'm going to see if there is enough interest to keep it going as a reader-supported project. Introducing my new & much-improved NextGen Covid Vax Tracker: https://vaxtracker.wordpress.com/ Please check it out & spread the word! The usual update post is free — with additional new analyses & features for paid supporting subscribers. #Vaccin...

• Post #2005857

  I'd fallen for, and helped spread, what I now realize was a myth about quote tweets: That there's almost no research on them. Big mistake! Now rectified. Here's my new post, digging into more than 30 studies with data on quote tweets. They don't settle all the questions. But there are answers, or at least partial ones, to most. It's still complicated, though. It's a * very * long read, but there are summary points ....1/2 https://absolutelymaybe...

• Post #1814523

  It was a slow month for next generation Covid vaccine results reporting, but a big month for clinical trial news: - A new clinical trial for intranasal and inhaled versions of a vax is on the starting blocks in the US; - Another intranasal vax trial has expanded to another 2 cities in the US; and - A trial for a "variant-proof" vax going into phase 2a trial in Germany. Plus some preclinical reports & more in my latest monthly update @PLOS@mstdn.science https://absolutelymaybe...

• Post #1425329

  5 things we learned about journal peer review in 2022 – my annual roundup of research on peer review. It was a bumper year for randomized trials in peer review – 5 of them! We can't usually count on even 1. https://absolutelymaybe.plos.org/2023/01/26/5-things-we-learned-about-journal-peer-review-in-2022/ #PeerReview #MetaScience #OpenScience #Scicomm #AcademicChatter

• Post #1069435

  “No single raindrop…” "No single raindrop believes it is to blame for the flood." This is a line from a poster I used to have in my office. It popped into my head this week when I was in a queue to fuel my car. We've had shortages around here—not because the country didn't have enough, but because panic buyers have been draining supplies. https://hildabastian.wordpress.com/2026/04/10/no-single-raindrop/

• Post #953892

  This is Sechi Katō (1893-1989) in 1918. It's her graduation photo from a women's college in Tokyo. Eventually she would become the first woman principal investigator at RIKEN, Japan's national chemistry & physics institute. She faced incredibly daunting hurdles before then... 1/7 #WomenInSTEM

• Post #925086

  New feature on next generation Covid vax: Which vaccines are advancing the most? I highlight 3 in mid- to late-stage trials, with manufacturing partners/plans—including a "universal" Covid vax & a mucosal one—and another 6 vaccines. Plus more clinical trial results & 10 new preclinical reports. Now @PLOS https://absolutelymaybe.plos.org/2026/04/02/accelerating-development-for-some-nextgen-covid-vaxes-update-no-39/ #Vaccines #Covid #Covid19

• Post #882479

  Hate that it has come to this, but it's time to consider PubMed vulnerable to enshittification. My latest post @PLOS discusses the lines we need to fight to hold – and alternatives we can rely on internationally: https://absolutelymaybe.plos.org/2025/02/14/what-if-we-cant-rely-on-pubmed/ #medlibs

• Post #871288

  My darling son Adam would have been 43 today. Cherishing memories of hanging out with him—here in 2012. ❤️

• Post #855493

  This is so exciting! The German National Library of Medicine @ZBMED just had its first open meeting on the plan for an open and independent PubMed safety net. Here's my write-up @PLOS on the meeting & how institutions & others can help: https://absolutelymaybe.plos.org/2025/05/14/germanys-plan-for-an-open-and-independent-pubmed-safety-net/ #MedLibs

• Post #833764

  In February 2021, a town in Brazil showed up for a groundbreaking whole-of-town randomized Covid vaccine trial, providing evidence of population effects of mass vaccination in a pandemic. My latest @PLOS post digs into this exciting precedent, and why it matters so much: https://absolutelymaybe.plos.org/2026/03/28/a-unique-pandemic-control-trial/ #Covid #Covid19 #Vaccines

• Post #745789

  Warning: this sociology paper by Mike Michael is a rabbit hole, leading to other rabbit holes - fascinating, occasionally hilarious & sometimes downright bizarre... It's about what the author calls "lay metrology". That's describing measurements in terms that are presumed to give lay people a sense of the proportion - like saying something's "twice the size of Wales".... 1/5 https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/096...

• Post #658378

  The rose is hands down the prettiest flower in the rain today 😍 #BloomScrolling

• Post #658377

  Adjusting to the Changing Internet When ads flooded some parts of the internet, I adjusted by avoiding those places when I recognized the signs—or hitting the back button quickly when I hadn't. When "AI" scrapers led to an explosion of sites making me wait while checking if I'm a robot, I got used to it, though it's a drag. And so on it goes. Now it seems cyber surveillance could advance in ways that might require bigger behavioral adaptation. https://...

• Post #467371

  News-packed update on nextgen Covid vaccines this month at my @PLOS@mstdn.science blog: - Phase 2 results for a self-amplifying mRNA vaccine from Japan with a phase 3 trial recently closed off - Preclinical results for an intranasal "universal" vaccine that provided some protection from coronaviruses, H1N1 flu, some bacterial infections, and an asthma allergen - Opportunities to participate in intranasal vaccine trials in Finland and the US And much more: https://absolutelymaybe.pl...

• Post #357376

  For #BlackHistoryMonth, I've written about a remarkable woman who blew me away. Meet Dr Catharine Deaver Lealtad (1895-1989) in my new post @PLOS 1/2 https://absolutelymaybe.plos.org/2026/02/20/dr-catharine-d-lealtad-1895-1989-an-outspoken-life-of-humanitarian-action/ #BHM

• Post #290801

  Just saw a job ad that encapsulates several things I love about the German language. Especially this: eine*n neue*n Informationssicherheitsbeauftragte*n 😍

• Post #279132

  My best photo yet of a native Blue-Banded Bee! 😍 😍 😍 It doesn't do the brilliance of the blue justice, though. They are buzz pollinators, so as usual, I heard it before I saw it. (Buzz pollinators shake the pollen off by vibrating — it's a loud buzz!) More about them here: https://www.australiangeographic.com.au/blogs/creatura-with-bec-crew/2014/09/blue-banded-bee-a-native-beauty/ #WildOz #Bees

• Post #273487

  “Blogging in the Ruins”—Some Counterpoints As of this month, I've been blogging—with words and cartoons—for 14 years. My enthusiasm for it has waned at times, but it always comes back. So when Joan Westerberg posted The Case for Blogging in the Ruins, I clicked quickly. And I anticipated being quick to agree with her case, too. Which I did, but not entirely. The post is a great read. https://hildabastian.wordpress.com/2026/01/04/blogging-in-the-ruins-some-counterpoints/

• Post #273486

  @donaldball @Daojoan Yes, there are so many domain extensions, there can be imposters, too. First hit me when I was writing about grief. A key writer in the field died young and wasn't in the Internet archive either. Then a really unique post by a rabbi that I so wanted to read...same problem: Died young. Tough for doing history and biographical work, too. So much lost!

• Post #273485

  This photo is from camping a few years back—one of the major out-of-control fires in our area is burning there. 😢 We're into day 2 of >40 C (100 F), in catastrophic fire risk for another day at least. Ready to evacuate if the wind turns in our direction. 😬

• Post #273483

  Tuberose — such a cool, sweet-smelling customer in the summer heat! 😍 #BloomScrolling

• Post #273482

  Now * this * is some high quality blog spam! 🤣 🤣 🤣

• Post #273481

  A lot to think about in my annual roundup of peer review research: — AI, mostly bad, but some suggestions of ways it may help — State of evidence on financial incentives for peer review — Studies on the influence of editors' biases & more on equity and diversity, & librarians & systematic reviews https://absolutelymaybe.plos.org/2026/02/02/5-things-we-learned-about-journal-peer-review-in-2025/ #PeerReview #MedLibs

• Post #273480

  Cartoonists Keep Meeting the Moment So many people in a position to do something are failing us, when it matters the most. The disappointments in cultural and political leadership just keep rolling in. Some parts of the culture keep meeting the moment, though—including many prominent political cartoonists. The assignment is to speak truth to power, and it takes an enormous amount of courage: Stepping on a… https://hildabastian.wordpress.com/2026/02/09/cartoonists-keep-meeting-the-moment/

• Post #218956

  Another vaccine approval and more in my latest next generation Covid vax update: - Self-amplifying mRNA vax Kostaive approved in the UK - New trial for a mucosal vax on the starting blocks in Finland - Some results from AstraZeneca phase 1 trial for mRNA vax - 11 preclinical reports, including 2 for mucosal pancoronavirus vaccines https://absolutelymaybe.plos.org/2026/01/31/another-approval-and-more-nextgen-covid-vax-news-update-no-37/ #Vaccines #Covid #Covid19