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  The Ebola outbreak in the DRC has now crossed 10,000 cases and is getting close to 5,000 deaths. It is a staggeringly large outbreak and it continues to grow rapidly, with 96 new cases in the last 24 hours alone. https://insp.cd/sitrep-n164-mve-bdbv-25-10-2026/

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  Five years after the rollout of Covid-19 vaccines started, it seems the mystery of why the Astra-Zeneca and J&J vaccines led to a rare but deadly side effect of unusual blood clots and bleeding has finally been solved. 
 It's a fascinating case of molecular mimicry that may help make vaccine safer. https://www.science.org/content/article/rare-dangerous-side-effects-some-covid-19-vaccines-explained

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  About halfway through listening to „Careless People“ and honestly what it reminds me of more than anything is Veep.

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  102 new Ebola cases and 45 deaths reported by DRC over past 24 hours. For context: Many Ebola outbreaks in the past have remained small. These numbers mean the DRC has reported more cases overnight than were reported IN TOTAL during each of about two dozen smaller Ebola outbreaks.

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  It's been two and a half months since the Ebola outbreak in the DRC was declared and it is now the biggest the country has ever experienced and the second largest the world has ever seen. Dozens of cases continue to be reported each day across three separate provinces. https://insp.cd/sitrep-n077-mve-b_30-07-2026/

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  “All of the speculation and hype around A.I. is hiding the fact that the technology isn’t just large language models or agents or data centers. It is the backbone of a superstructure that merges regressive politics with unchecked economic power in the guise of technological innovation.” Some great recommendations on what to read in this… https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/03/opinion/artificial-intelligence-data-politics.html?unlocked_article_code=1.21A.E0RR.nFC0d5ldQEu7&smid=nytcore-ios-s...

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  “This award recognizes Ms. Branswell for her exceptional ability to clearly convey complex and often urgent science topics for the public.” They couldn’t have chosen a better person! Congrats @HelenBranswell “Well deserved” doesn’t begin to cover it… https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260804128783/en/FNIH-Awards-the-Kovler-Prize-for-Trust-in-Life-Science-Journalism-to-STAT-Reporter-Helen-Branswell

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  “If we start just using it on everyone, we’re not going to learn what we need to know.” That’s one side of a fierce debate over using Ervebo, a vaccine against Ebola Zaire, in the current outbreak caused by a different virus, Bundibugyo. The other: waiting for perfect evidence could cost lives. https://www.science.org/content/article/mismatched-vaccine-being-rolled-out-against-ebola-outbreak

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  Hackenburg’s paper is the latest in a string of studies showing the power of AI to sway people. “It’s a whole new field that is emerging,” says Sander van der Linden, a psychologist at the University of Cambridge. “People are very interested in the persuasive powers of AI, I think, both for ethical and unethical reasons.” As the field gathers steam, it is raising a host of theoretical and practical questions. How exactly do chatbots win over people? (Warning: Lying is one answer.) How much bette...

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  So the Far Right deftly uses the levers of the modern information ecosystem while feeding off the very alienation and discontent that surveillance capitalism is producing. Meanwhile the democratic parties’ only version of “Nie Wieder” seems to be “Weiter so”…

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  “Arday was treated not as a scholar but as a mascot, one who was particularly expedient for an institution that had been regularly embarrassed by its historic record on race: too few black students (in my cohort at Cambridge matriculating in 2015 there were only 15 black males out of 3,449 students); single-figure black academics (which is still the case); allegations of institutional racism. Independent of the merits or pitfalls of his own scholarship, what success looked like for Arday in this...

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  By the time the DRC declared its latest Ebola outbreak on 15 May, it may already have been raging for months. In Mongbwalu, families died one after another, the cemetery struggled with up to 20 burials a day, and health workers fell ill and fled. A new investigation suggests the outbreak began in January—and could have been detected much earlier. My story in Science: https://www.science.org/content/article/exclusive-congo-s-ebola-epidemic-started-least-4-months-it-was-detected

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  Another massive jump in Ebola cases in DRC (reflecting new cases as well as "data harmonization"). Now 2,905 cases including 1,269 deaths. I find it harder every day to square the size and speed of spread of this outbreak with the lack of attention it is getting. https://insp.cd/sitrep-n069-mvb_22-07-2026/

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  “Seven days after the girl’s medical team infused trillions of viruses carrying the recipe for the base editor into her spinal fluid, she died of a severe immune reaction linked to the therapy…” This is an important and tragic story. (It’s also an incredibly well reported one.) #genetherapy #trials #ethics https://www.science.org/content/article/exclusive-death-girl-chinese-gene-editing-trial-was-never-made-public

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  The recorded death toll from the Ebola outbreak in the DRC is about to cross 1,000 cases. In reality there have likely been a lot more deaths already. Many new cases appear to have no link to known cases, suggesting much of the spread is still happening in the dark.

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  Yesterday marked two months since the DRC declared the ongoing Ebola outbreak, WHO head Tedros says in presser. "It's now the third largest Ebola outbreak on record, and in the past months, it has expanded faster than any previous outbreak."

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  The Ebola outbreak in the DRC keeps growing at a shocking pace. We're already close to 2000 confirmed cases. Right now: 1926 confirmed cases (incl. 53 new cases in the last 24 hours) 702 of these have died https://insp.cd/sitrep-n058-mvb_11-07-2026/

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  Today the last person at risk from the hantavirus outbreak aboard the cruise ship MV Hondius completed their quarantine, tested negative, and returned home, Tedros said in an @WHO@mstdn.social presser. "We are therefore very pleased to say that WHO considers the outbreak of hantavirus over.""

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  The Ebola outbreak in DRC continues to grow rapidly. According to latest situation report: 1094 confirmed cases (+46 in last 24 hours) That includes 277 confirmed deaths. https://insp.cd/sitrep-n39-mvb_22-06-2026/

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  “Ohne zentralen Ansprechpartner mit wissenschaftsjournalistischem Hintergrund in der Redaktion in Hamburg droht ein Verlust an relevanten wissenschaftlichen Themen im redaktionellen Angebot der reichweitenstärksten Nachrichtensendung des Landes.” Offener Brief der wpk (Berufsverband der Wissenschaftsjournalist:innen) zu den Umstrukturierungen bei ARD und Deutschlandfunk: https://wpk.org/blog/journalismus-braucht-wissen-nie-mehr-ohne/

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  Does Bundibugyo virus, now causing the devastating outbreak in DRC and Uganda, differ in important ways from Ebola virus? Scientists aren’t sure. “You can read the entire Bundibugyo literature in an afternoon,” says virologist Jens Kuhn. My story in @sciencemagazine@sciencemastodon.com https://www.science.org/content/article/big-ebola-outbreak-puts-spotlight-little-known-virus

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  I remember the fear and confusion of those early days when Gretchen Vogel and I were trying to make sense of the reports. And I have to say that reading a scientific paper has rarely given me the sense of satisfaction that this piece of scientific sleuthing did. https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2514824

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  WHO has declared the #Ebola outbreak in DRC and Uganda a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC). First time this has been done without consulting an emergency committee. Extraordinary move that speaks to how concerning the facts on the ground look right now. https://www.who.int/news/item/17-05-2026-epidemic-of-ebola-disease-in-the-democratic-republic-of-the-congo-and-uganda-determined-a-public-health-emergency-of-international-concern

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  While everyone is watching hantavirus I'm actually much more eager to learn more about the Ebola outbreak in DRC's Ituri Province that Africa CDC has confirmed. Early information makes it sound very large for an outbreak that has just been reported: "about 246 suspected cases and 65 deaths"

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  So what happens next with the cruise ship MV Hondius and its passengers and crew? My story about how little we know about Andes virus transmission and deciding what to do now. “Honestly, I feel lucky that I am not in a situation that I need to make any decision,” says virologist Gustavo Palacios. #hantavirus #cruise https://www.science.org/content/article/what-do-passengers-cruise-ship-hit-hantavirus

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  “Nearly 150 people from 23 countries have been at sea for weeks, some of them grieving, all of them frightened, all of them longing for home. Tenerife has been chosen because it has the medical capacity, the infrastructure, and the humanity to help them reach safety.” https://www.who.int/news/item/09-05-2026-message-by-the-who-director-general-to-the-people-of-tenerife-regarding-the-hantavirus-response

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  After 15 years of reporting on infectious disease outbreaks, what continues to fascinate me about them is the challenge of making high-stakes decisions under uncertainty. The hantavirus outbreak on the MV Hondius is a perfect example. My story in Science is here (and a thread to come): https://www.science.org/content/article/what-do-passengers-cruise-ship-hit-hantavirus

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  There is now another patient with hantavirus infection, who is linked to the MV Hondius. The man „had responded to an email from the ship’s operator informing the passengers of the health event, and presented himself to a hospital in Zurich“ according to WHO. #hantavirus #cruise #science

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  I've spent yesterday and today talking to researchers across the globe trying to understand the hantavirus outbreak aboard the cruise ship MV Hondius. My story is here (and some threaded thoughts coming): https://www.science.org/content/article/cruise-ship-s-hantavirus-outbreak-puts-researchers-uncharted-territory #hantavirus #cruise #science

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  “Established cetacean researchers refused to take part in the rescue, says Baschek, who calls the effort “animal cruelty.” Instead, key faces of the effort included Danny.Firstclass, a German influencer and far-right activist whose real name is Danny Hilse, and Sergio Bambarén Roggero, a Peruvian writer of spiritual stories about the ocean frequently described as a “whale whisperer.”” Must-read stoey by Martin Enserink that feels like an encapsulation of our times https://www.science.org/conte...