You Make Me Sick! Podcast @makemesickpod

I'm surprised by the unreasonable effectiveness of giving people a small amount of money. When I launched the "Fast Biology" microgrants, people told me that: 1. You can't do anything in science with $1,000. 2. Nobody would submit good ideas, because good ideas are worth much more than $1,000. #1 is mostly true, and #2 is partially true, but neither is absolute. I did get many excellent ideas, especially from people who are too time-constrained to work on them. In some cases, $1,000 was enough to build an entire prototype (especially in hardware.) There seem to be a few benefits in giving microgrants, though: 1. They can subtly nudge people toward working on problems they normally wouldn't (and this can, in rare circumstances, take them down strange rabbitholes that then change the course of their whole life.) 2. They act as a vote of confidence, making it easier to raise additional funds from other sources. People tend to just follow the examples of others; VCs often copy investments made by other VCs, for example, and giving someone even a fake, made-up award seems to elevate their "prestige" in a tangible way. 3. They allow the funder to find interesting people. Giving out these grants connected me with ~6 super intelligent people who I was not familiar with ahead of time. Small amounts of money are a mechanism to surface talent. I continue to meet people who are working on super important or beautiful problems, and yet who struggle to raise even $10,000+ for their ideas, simply because they are a) bad at explaining their ideas or b) not working on a problem that is clearly VC- or philanthropically-fundable. I'd like to support as many projects as possible. Therefore, in the next week or so, I'll open up another ~$100K in microgrant funding. (When this goes live, you'll hear about it at my new microgrant website, tinybio[dot]org. More people with wealth should consider giving microgrants. If you'd like to do this for biology, but don't have time to allocate funds, I'd be glad to support or advise directly. My email is nsmccarty3 [at] gmail [dot] com.

Axios highlights efforts to monitor infectious disease transmission around the World Cup, including CEID's reports through @beacon_bio, and our maps of other mass gatherings near host cities. spr.ly/6015B8LyFP

Total confirmed dengue cases in Mexico in epi week 21 lower nationwide and at World Cup game sites in 2026 compared to 2025 Read more at: beaconbio.org/en/report/?rep…

“This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” Psalm 118:24 (KJV) 💙 ⁣ #SundayInspiration #MercyShips #HopeAndHealing

This story from a nurse in the DRC who got to the other side of the Ebola infection. “Back in Bunia, the 49-year-old nurse said he douses himself in chlorine solution in an outdoor shower every night after leaving his shift at the hospital, just in case.”

I’ve recently seen several people get dangerously sick from symptoms they thought could wait. That is the problem. Most people are never taught which symptoms are actually urgent. Here are 10 symptoms I tell people never to ignore 🧵1/13

Lingering symptoms follow chikungunya, dengue, Zika, & malaria infections. A new study finds that people experience symptoms months after travel-related vector-borne infections, but they eventually resolve. Read more: ow.ly/FQuC50Z8eCe 📷: CDC / James Gathany

"It's genuinely encouraging to see serious Chagas drug development," says Dr. David Hamer. "Chronic Chagas disease represents one of the highest unmet needs in infectious disease, and we may finally be moving toward a meaningful therapeutic option." spr.ly/6015B8tKRv

Speaking with @CBSNews about the ongoing Bundibugyo virus outbreak, @BhadeliaMD says "All signs point to this becoming the biggest [Ebola] outbreak we've ever seen in the DRC. That could lead to regional instability & that has repercussions for the world." spr.ly/6014B8tGIu

Every year, about 85,000 Americans are diagnosed with bladder cancer. While treatment is often successful, bladder cancer has one of the highest rates of recurrence of any cancer. MIT researchers have now developed a new way to regularly monitor those patients, which could enable regrowing tumors to be detected much earlier. news.mit.edu/2026/new-senso…

H5N1 clade 2.3.4.4b outbreak reported in common terns in Namibia clustered with the European EA-2024-DI.2 strains, highlighting migratory seabirds as key drivers of intercontinental H5N1 spread and the need for stronger African surveillance. veterinariaitaliana.izs.it/index.php/VetI…

New Osterholm Update podcast episode: Ebola: What the Past Tells Us about the Present 🎧 Listen as @mtosterholm & co-host Chris Dall discuss: -The Ebola outbreak -Hantavirus -A report from the FDA on pediatric deaths linked to COVID vaccines Listen: ow.ly/J8FC50Z7J0m

A newspaper essay about the president’s uncle, MIT Prof. John G. Trump, tells the extraordinary history of his role in D-Day. But there is much more to the story. We’d like to share more about Prof. J.G. Trump as we knew him—a scientist, engineer, educator, entrepreneur, patriot, and MIT legend whose work still impacts us all today. ⚡️🧵1/10 washingtonpost.com/opinions/2026/…

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WHO attributes 866 million yearly illnesses, 1.5 million deaths around the world to contaminated food In the US, the FDA is investigating two new foodborne illness outbreaks caused by Listeria and Cyclospora. Read more: ow.ly/3QzI50Z7MPm 📷: USDA

New World screwworm confirmed in Texas livestock, triggering quarantine and emergency response, USA Read more at: beaconbio.org/en/report/?rep…

Dr. John Connor explains to @NPR how the Ebola virus works to strongly delay and disable the typical immune system response, clearing the way to more rapidly spread through the body, starting with the lymph nodes, then to the spleen, liver, and kidneys. spr.ly/6010B8q91j

1/ 📈 WWSCAN Weekly Data Respiratory & Gastrointestinal Weekly Update: Nationwide, HMPV and Rotavirus are in the ‘High’ category. Norovirus is in the ‘Medium’ category. SARS-CoV-2, RSV, Influenza A, Influenza B, and EV-D68 are in the ‘Low’ category.

Discussing the concerning rise in tetanus cases in the US, CEID affiliate faculty @lmadoff points to a @beacon_bio report that first highlighted this trend late last year, and encourages vaccination against this deadly infection. @NatGeo spr.ly/6010B8UU2Y

Not all bacterial cells in a biofilm are equally susceptible to phages. What factors drive phage activity and how can phages adapt to target different bacterial subpopulations? We discuss this, the implications for phage therapy and much more! Enjoy the episode!

New Phage Bites episode! We speak with @lperestrelom about her recent Nature Communications study on the directed evolution of phages in biofilms and how this approach can improve the control of Pseudomonas aeruginosa. open.spotify.com/episode/49aHWu…