Robots and neuroscience and sex. (But not that way.) Disabled and glorious. Leftist activist who works in biotech. Taiwanese American. Queer AF. #BiInSci. Sincere and earnest. Our struggles are intertwined. (she/they) #CambMA https://linktr.ee/amberying
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9 CDC Directors going back to 1977 speak out. What RFK Jr has done to our nation’s public health system "should alarm every American." It "is unlike anything we have ever seen at the agency, and unlike anything our country has ever experienced." www.nytimes.com/2025/09/01/o...
“In the late 1960s, Dr. Rossiter was working on her Ph.D. at Yale, when a comment from one of her male professors puzzled her. Who, she had asked, were the women in science? There were none, he said. Another professor mumbled something about Marie Curie being the exception.”🙃
I need to figure out what brand pot that is.
With O'Neill (apparently) taking over CDC (if they ever get around to firing Monarez), I think it's worth looking back to Project 2025 and asking what they actually intend to *do* to CDC. So, I went to remind myself today. Here's what's in store:
"Her patient had signs of what could be a cancer or could be an unusual infection — diagnoses that would require completely different treatment. Ordinarily, she would confirm an infection after sending a sample to the CDC for testing ...the CDC no longer has the capacity to do that"
"Pat, why do you carry that ridiculous 600mm lens on long hikes?" Buddy, I can see mountains reflected in the eyes of a trailside pika.
You're almost there! Hope your rest is good.
There is no route out of fascism that involves sacrificing the vulnerable. All that does is tell the fascists that we're willing to turn on each other for the illusion of safety.
CDC employees standing up and walking out in light of the mass shootings, firings, and *waves hands in the air* everything else. #USAnotRFK Lets gooooo
🧵 I know it's ridiculous, but when he's talking mitochondrial challenges & inflammation, he's again referring to his idea of vaccine-induced autism. Let me explain.
It's always been like this, and it's because the elites are essentially self-preserving, and civility has always been the tool by which non-elites are condemned.
A cell type is defined as the minimal unit to make a developmental biologist mad about a conversation
UPDATE: vaccinefinder.org works!!
So much of my politics is just "please do your best to punch up, not down" and so many of the objections to that are just "but punching down is easier and I need to punch *someone*." All I ask is that if you're going to punch, punch upwards.
Nobody wants to talk about the fact that technocracy, Progressivism, scientism, or whatever it is you want to call it seems really deeply, profoundly unable to shake off the conviction that it gives special access to knowing who should and should not be allowed to live.
Just a heads up. I was able to schedule my COVID vaccine appointment. Online it will ask “do you have a condition that puts you at high risk for severe outcomes from COVID-19 virus.” Click yes and it will allow you to schedule an appointment. No questions asked. No proof required. Pass it on.
I will not be participating because I'm pregnant but I will check out how else I can support.
Various activist groups in Greater Boston are planning a hunger strike in front of the JFK Federal Building starting next week to demand the halt of military aid to Israel. If interested, click here for details: buff.ly/XRBKDDM
Under-covered relative to some of the other coverage losses driven by the reconciliation bill: Lawfully-present immigrants who will lose eligibility for Marketplace subsidies — 34,000 in Massachusetts alone.
What if scientists hadn’t waited until this point to speak about politics Every time I see a headline like this, my brain just shouts Like what if scientists hadn’t sat around silently watching everyone around them get attacked Maybe the fight on campus would have gone differently
Fiona Apple > that other lady who's in the news for getting engaged to that one guy. For context, PG County is a Black ass county. Fiona Apple was working with an activist group in PG County which inspired her first song in 5 years. Can you imagine that other lady doing anything of the kind.
When I talk about public health shifting from invisible to visible, I mean stuff like this. There are many surveillance systems like this operating quietly in the background, protecting us. When they disappear it will lead to illness and death.
ChatGPT informs the cops. If the other reasons aren't enough not to use it, consider this one thoroughly.
I do wish people would treat transphobia as the serious red flag it is, because if someone is repeating bullshit pseudoscience talking points from right wing cranks, that's just as bad as conceding to anti-vax nonsense and undermining trust in science and medicine, alarm bells should be sounding!
I'm calling it the mail loneliness epidemic
i firmly believe that this is snake oil but companies are into using biological technologies to deliver youth and beauty and imo it's not a good use of anyone's time or money the search for the fountain of youth never went away
i laughed but crispr is a genetic technology and i'm not sure how they manufactured epigenetic change in a cream
a job is a job when you don't have one but if i had to choose i would prefer to make people's lives easier with medicine that does not promote chasing after youth and beauty
look multiple friends have referred me to a job listing in the greater boston area looking for a biologist but not for medicines that actually help people but for wellness and beauty products listing has already closed but this snake oil is in the dark rabbit hole that this technology can lead to
omg it's happening
Instructions on how to file a claim in thread.
minneapolis/metro area: if it is possible for you to donate blood today mn recently declared a shortage. you can find out if you’re eligible and where to go from the link below, if there are better resources please correct me www.mbc.org
Saw an ad for the Central Square Night Market and the typographer did the thing where they used "Asian" typeface for the banner. I was mildly interested but now I really don't wanna go. #CambMA
Offering 3 resources for people seeking ideas for what they might do in this moment: 1. We made a short workbook to help people narrow down or discover their areas of interest and focus. It's been downloaded thousands of times. Hope it's useful to you: millionexperiments.com/zines/making...
🧪 Does our 🧠 light up like a 💡? Well.. not quite, but neurons do emit photons in the visible-light spectrum. These brain “biophotons” may serve another layer of complexity in the marvelous world of neuronal function. Read more about the brain’s “aura” here: www.lbscience.org/en/2025/08/2...
Having a Purpose in Life Linked to Lower Dementia Risk #dementia #neuro #purpose 🧪 neurosciencenews.com/life-purpose...
I didn’t think it was news that writing about your research more accessibly makes you think about it in different ways and therefore makes you a better researcher. But if you needed to hear that again: 🔭👩🔬🧪
#poetry
if you’re a journalist and you aren’t asking gavin newsom how his scientology affects his politics i do not trust you
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) just released a statement with guidelines on vaccines for pregnant people. In short, get the COVID, flu, and RSV vaccines. But people will have a harder time with resources "being updated". I know I am. www.acog.org/news/news-re...
TIL vaccines.gov is not functional.
It's the kind of day where I wore my shirt inside out for half the day.
stop calling everything a distraction youtube.com/shorts/yyFjN...
Folks who enjoyed K-pop Demon Hunters, which is an allegory built on biracial heritage experiences in Korean society but does not include any people of biracial heritage in it, should read about Insooni, a Black Korean whose career began with the Hee Sisters, and push for KPDH2 to do better!
Unsurprising but important result: LLMs evaluate syntax, not semantics. They certainly do not search online resources, cross check facts, or even give papers the ‘ole sniff test. cen.acs.org/policy/publi...
FOR OBVIOUS REASONS, PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU ARE UP TO DATE ON YOUR VACCINATIONS NOW.
GOOD NEWS! Researchers at the University of Florida have developed a UNIVERSAL vaccine that dramatically BOOSTS the immune system’s ability to fight tumors- even WITHOUT targeting a SPECIFIC cancer type. It has the potential to do away with chemotherapy, surgery AND radiation treatment.
Targeting iron-associated protein Ftl1 in the brain of old mice improves age-related cognitive impairment. buff.ly/79Zd8jn
TIL why it's called Stack Overflow.
One of Silicon Valley's foundational myths is that newcomers to a field are uniquely equipped to solve its problems because they're not weighed down by biases and habits that make "experts" overlook obvious solutions. "The most dangerous phrase in the language is: We've always done it this way." 🧵
Some people are attempting to make their compliance with fascism into something it's certainly not. For @prismreports.org, I wrote about how the promotion of obedience, hiding, and disengagement is taking us backward, despite attempts to make it seem reasonable. prismreports.org/2025/08/21/o...
there is no defeating fascism by ignoring trans rights and freedoms. fascism is defeated when everybody has rights and freedoms.
Your periodic reminder that "it's complicated" does not mean "it's morally ambiguous." Lots of morally correct things are complex and lots of morally repugnant things are simple and easy. Situational complexity doesn't mean doing the right thing is any less of a moral imperative.
You're doing great, and I'm glad that you're still here. <3
Specifically, one can suppress the immune system that recognizes "not self". I wonder if this mechanism has any potential for other autoimmune conditions, such as MS.
Chimeric anti-HLA antibody receptor engineered human regulatory T cells suppress alloantigen-specific B cells from pre-sensitized transplant recipients, or scientists figured out how to get bodies to accept organ transplants more readily.
I've spent a few hours yesterday doing the easy parts and then realized that I didn't wanna do the hard part, and so I'm moving on to the easy one.
Indeed! This lesson has two homework options and you can choose to do either one. The infamous harder one is called Tideman, and a quick google will reveal that even seasoned experts struggled with it.
No?
I think it's one per person! Sorry but MINE.
Link to the Corning pins, if you want one: www.corning.com/worldwide/en...
Yeah, because they've been hacking away at the social safety net since the year I was born (it is actually the year I was born quality of life started to decrease it's pretty depressing)
ADOM IS AMAZING never beat it tho
I'm finally giving up on Tideman. #IYKYK
That’s good!
Thanks for asking but no thanks!
UPDATE: I did not expect to understand ranked choice voting from my CS class.
Picking up the Intro to CS course again and I have no idea where I was or what I'm doing.
Good luck and feel better soon.
That's true. Similar arguments are used as pushback to many genetic studies, especially those for homosexuality (obvs) and disability (less obvs).
Though not as bad as research that validates eugenics, this post reminded me of the legendary "Spook Fund" at Harvard. www.thecrimson.com/article/2019...
Unfortunately, I can't find the link anymore, or I would sent it to you. I saw it as an ad on Reddit!
I have a friend who visited Salem on Sept 1 and Spooky Season was already in full swing.
I would give you mine but I haven't received it in the mail yet and OMG MINE.
Exactly this. Nora, you're doing great, and if you can't help yourself, you can't help others. Take care of yourself!
It's free if you give your company contact thing.
Corning is giving away free enamel pins shaped as labware and though I know it's a marketing scheme, I want one sooooooooo badly.
Huh, so I guess they haven't all fled the state
Biotech/pharma is in a low in the business cycle and then Trump just lit it all on fire.
Novo Nordisk is having a hiring freeze. I haven't applied there but I'm expecting others in the industry to follow. More and more, it looks like that my maternity leave will just be unemployment (unless I'm very lucky).
Just got contacted by a recruiter who is looking to hire for MY REPLACEMENT. It's okay. I found it very funny that he was like "you're perfect for this role" and I was like "welp there's a reason for that".
Hi. Sharing & supporting Malak’s fundraiser for her & her family including her disabled sister Maali is one very tangible thing we can all do in the face of genocide. Providing material support to women leading households matters. chuffed.org/project/1423...
1. The philosophy of science sometimes gets an unearned reputation as a purely academic exercise that offers little by way of concrete tools for advancing research. This is wrong. And today, as we grapple with how AI is changing the nature of scientific activity, it's desperately wrong.
I think I'm feeling the baby kick? This my first pregnancy so I don't know if that's what I'm feeling. But I'm feeling twitching in my lower abdomen so I think those are baby kicks.
UPDATE: frogged and fixed and now to redo all those other stitches to get where i was
thank youuuuuuu for the vid but it's crochet and i COULD just stitch over it (but i will know the truth)
this is hilarious but i cannot live with the LIE
exactly what i said!!!!
i guess i could just stitch over the dropped stitch BUT I WILL KNOW WHAT SIN I HAVE DONE
so like i'm making a baby blanket where i do rows back and forth and i just found that i missed a stitch so to fix it i need to undo a full entire row and then some this is a 30 inch wide blanket i am so done for today
Labeling this as “adult content” is very odd.
My fingers are swollen so I got a necklace that will hold my wedding rings.
Plainly, the people mad about the work required to write well and make great art who are justifying various artificial intelligence tools as shortcuts to that creative process don't value the labor inherent to it.
Bottom line is that anti trans politics is part of fascist politics and you can’t fight fascism by taking on and surrendering to its ideas
We are taking the first halting steps towards building a just and equitable world for our children and grandchildren. But that means living through the death throes of the world that we rightly fear. It is a burden, but also a privilege. Night is always darkest before the dawn.
NEW 🚨 The violence is the point. Elected Dems must call for widespread resignations (RFK, Bhattacharya, Prasad) in response to the CDC shooting. Public health must demand this of them, and the public must demand that of us. With @publichealthguy1.bsky.social in STAT: www.statnews.com/2025/08/15/c...