Peter van Heusden (he/him) 🗿
@pvanheus.bsky.social
#bioinformatics at @SANBI_SA, building bioinformatics workflows for (Pan-)African PH. health & justice! married. @[email protected]
Reposted by Peter van Heusden (he/him) 🗿
"The data did not show a link between vaccination and death in previously healthy young persons."
www.voicesforvaccines.org/jtf_topics/l...
www.voicesforvaccines.org/jtf_topics/l...
Long-term risks of myocarditis
Studies on long-term risks of post-vaccination myocarditis are routine, and preliminary data indicates most patients recover fully within 90 days.
www.voicesforvaccines.org
November 30, 2025 at 1:45 AM
"The data did not show a link between vaccination and death in previously healthy young persons."
www.voicesforvaccines.org/jtf_topics/l...
www.voicesforvaccines.org/jtf_topics/l...
Reposted by Peter van Heusden (he/him) 🗿
What were the CIA-backed "Zero Units" in Afghanistan?
For a deep dive, read reporter Lynzy Billing's award-winning piece from 2022:
For a deep dive, read reporter Lynzy Billing's award-winning piece from 2022:
The Night Raids
CIA-backed operations killed countless Afghan civilians, and the U.S. hasn't been held accountable. A reporter returns to investigate her past and unravel the legacy of the secretive Zero Units.
www.propublica.org
November 30, 2025 at 2:35 AM
What were the CIA-backed "Zero Units" in Afghanistan?
For a deep dive, read reporter Lynzy Billing's award-winning piece from 2022:
For a deep dive, read reporter Lynzy Billing's award-winning piece from 2022:
Reposted by Peter van Heusden (he/him) 🗿
#FDA vaccines czar Vinay Prasad claimed in an email to staff late Friday that Covid vaccination had killed at least 10 children in the US. Experts suggest FDA should publish the data on the cases or put it to an independent body like the National Academy for study. www.statnews.com/2025/11/29/c...
Experts say top FDA official’s claim that Covid vaccines caused kids’ deaths requires more evidence
The FDA’s top vaccine regulator asserted in a staff email that the Covid vaccine caused at least 10 kids' deaths, but experts told STAT they are skeptical of the “extraordinary” claim because it was n...
www.statnews.com
November 29, 2025 at 11:48 PM
#FDA vaccines czar Vinay Prasad claimed in an email to staff late Friday that Covid vaccination had killed at least 10 children in the US. Experts suggest FDA should publish the data on the cases or put it to an independent body like the National Academy for study. www.statnews.com/2025/11/29/c...
Reposted by Peter van Heusden (he/him) 🗿
Hundreds of people formed a human chain along the Sea Point Promenade in Cape Town on Saturday afternoon to protest against Israel’s actions in Palestine
Read groundup.org.za/article/acti... by Matthew Hirsch. Photos by Ashraf Hendricks
Read groundup.org.za/article/acti... by Matthew Hirsch. Photos by Ashraf Hendricks
Activists create human chain for Palestine along Sea Point promenade
Palestine Solidarity Campaign calls for release of political prisoners, including Marwan Barghouti
groundup.org.za
November 29, 2025 at 6:41 PM
Hundreds of people formed a human chain along the Sea Point Promenade in Cape Town on Saturday afternoon to protest against Israel’s actions in Palestine
Read groundup.org.za/article/acti... by Matthew Hirsch. Photos by Ashraf Hendricks
Read groundup.org.za/article/acti... by Matthew Hirsch. Photos by Ashraf Hendricks
Reposted by Peter van Heusden (he/him) 🗿
Yesterday was powerful gathering against Apple exploitation and complicity in genocides in Congo & Palestine
I was arrested & facing bogus charges
Vancouver increased its police budget by 40% (!) over past three yrs. Effects are felt daily by targeted communities plus ⬆️ criminalization of dissent
I was arrested & facing bogus charges
Vancouver increased its police budget by 40% (!) over past three yrs. Effects are felt daily by targeted communities plus ⬆️ criminalization of dissent
My friend @harshawalia.bsky.social was arrested and charged, and another protester was brutalized today in Vancouver at a protest targeting Apple for profiting from death and exploitation in its supply chain. The protesters also called out Apple's support of Friends of the IDF.
November 29, 2025 at 3:57 PM
Yesterday was powerful gathering against Apple exploitation and complicity in genocides in Congo & Palestine
I was arrested & facing bogus charges
Vancouver increased its police budget by 40% (!) over past three yrs. Effects are felt daily by targeted communities plus ⬆️ criminalization of dissent
I was arrested & facing bogus charges
Vancouver increased its police budget by 40% (!) over past three yrs. Effects are felt daily by targeted communities plus ⬆️ criminalization of dissent
Reposted by Peter van Heusden (he/him) 🗿
Dr. Prasad send an email to CBER suggesting changes to the approval for respiratory vaccines based, apparently, on the conclusion of an unpublished investigation into VAERS report by unknown people. A few thoughts beyond what was already reported, based on the full email: 1/n
November 29, 2025 at 4:21 PM
Dr. Prasad send an email to CBER suggesting changes to the approval for respiratory vaccines based, apparently, on the conclusion of an unpublished investigation into VAERS report by unknown people. A few thoughts beyond what was already reported, based on the full email: 1/n
Reposted by Peter van Heusden (he/him) 🗿
Thank you to everybody organizing, posting, marching or protesting on International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People.
Remember this:
Remember this:
November 29, 2025 at 4:23 PM
Thank you to everybody organizing, posting, marching or protesting on International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People.
Remember this:
Remember this:
Reposted by Peter van Heusden (he/him) 🗿
Observers condemn Israeli army's killing of two Palestinian men in northern West Bank as 'shocking crime'.
Israeli troops kill two Palestinians in Jenin as they try to surrender
Observers condemn Israeli army's killing of two Palestinian men in northern West Bank as 'shocking crime'.
bit.ly
November 27, 2025 at 7:00 PM
Observers condemn Israeli army's killing of two Palestinian men in northern West Bank as 'shocking crime'.
Reposted by Peter van Heusden (he/him) 🗿
Scientists must learn to join larger pro-democracy and people's movements, coalitions. Our science training may not have prepared us for such work, but we can no longer sit in the safety of our labs and expect the world to get better
My book review @thelancet.com
www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
My book review @thelancet.com
www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
From doing science to saving science
Science and scientists are under assault. From denial of vaccines to climate change,
political leaders are increasingly sacrificing democracy as well as science on the
altar of populism and authoritar...
www.thelancet.com
November 28, 2025 at 12:05 PM
Scientists must learn to join larger pro-democracy and people's movements, coalitions. Our science training may not have prepared us for such work, but we can no longer sit in the safety of our labs and expect the world to get better
My book review @thelancet.com
www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
My book review @thelancet.com
www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
Reposted by Peter van Heusden (he/him) 🗿
“Two new Cochrane reviews show strong and consistent evidence that HPV vaccines are effective in preventing cervical cancer and pre-cancerous changes, especially when given to young people before they are exposed to the virus.” cc @jackiantonovich.bsky.social
New research confirms HPV vaccination prevents cervical cancer | Cochrane
www.cochrane.org
November 28, 2025 at 2:27 PM
“Two new Cochrane reviews show strong and consistent evidence that HPV vaccines are effective in preventing cervical cancer and pre-cancerous changes, especially when given to young people before they are exposed to the virus.” cc @jackiantonovich.bsky.social
Reposted by Peter van Heusden (he/him) 🗿
This article provides more data showing how easy it is to manipulate humans on social media.
These researchers rerouted the algorithm on Twitter to push some users toward “antidemocratic attitudes and partisan animosity”.
It only took 1 week to elicit changes that used to take 3 years.
These researchers rerouted the algorithm on Twitter to push some users toward “antidemocratic attitudes and partisan animosity”.
It only took 1 week to elicit changes that used to take 3 years.
Reranking partisan animosity in algorithmic social media feeds alters affective polarization
Today, social media platforms hold the sole power to study the effects of feed-ranking algorithms. We developed a platform-independent method that reranks participants’ feeds in real time and used thi...
www.science.org
November 28, 2025 at 2:42 PM
This article provides more data showing how easy it is to manipulate humans on social media.
These researchers rerouted the algorithm on Twitter to push some users toward “antidemocratic attitudes and partisan animosity”.
It only took 1 week to elicit changes that used to take 3 years.
These researchers rerouted the algorithm on Twitter to push some users toward “antidemocratic attitudes and partisan animosity”.
It only took 1 week to elicit changes that used to take 3 years.
Reposted by Peter van Heusden (he/him) 🗿
"If you keep Orshansky’s logic—if you maintain her principle that poverty could be defined by the inverse of food’s budget share—but update the food share to reflect today’s reality, the multiplier is no longer three.
"It becomes sixteen."
"It becomes sixteen."
Part 1: My Life Is a Lie
How a Broken Benchmark Quietly Broke America
www.yesigiveafig.com
November 26, 2025 at 7:07 PM
"If you keep Orshansky’s logic—if you maintain her principle that poverty could be defined by the inverse of food’s budget share—but update the food share to reflect today’s reality, the multiplier is no longer three.
"It becomes sixteen."
"It becomes sixteen."
Reposted by Peter van Heusden (he/him) 🗿
LoL-align: sensitive and fast probabilistic protein structure alignment https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.11.24.690091v1
November 26, 2025 at 2:46 AM
LoL-align: sensitive and fast probabilistic protein structure alignment https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.11.24.690091v1
Reposted by Peter van Heusden (he/him) 🗿
After two infants died, the Louisiana Dept of Health under the leadership of the new incoming deputy director of the CDC, delayed notifying the public for months of a whooping cough outbreak. Instead, he ordered DOH to stop promoting vaccines. Pertussis is currently a national health crisis.
Louisiana officials waited months to warn public of whooping cough outbreak
After a whooping cough outbreak killed two infants, Louisiana health officials waited months to officially alert physicians or do public outreach. That's not the typical public health response.
www.npr.org
November 25, 2025 at 9:45 PM
After two infants died, the Louisiana Dept of Health under the leadership of the new incoming deputy director of the CDC, delayed notifying the public for months of a whooping cough outbreak. Instead, he ordered DOH to stop promoting vaccines. Pertussis is currently a national health crisis.
Reposted by Peter van Heusden (he/him) 🗿
Some well-founded warnings about the use of LLMs in medicine:
LLMs for Medical Practice: Look Out
www.science.org
November 25, 2025 at 7:22 PM
Some well-founded warnings about the use of LLMs in medicine:
Reposted by Peter van Heusden (he/him) 🗿
Ken Burns’ documentary did mention Washington’s decision to inoculate the troops, but it missed a tremendous opportunity to talk about how inoculation, and public health generally, was being discussed as both a duty of government and a right of the people. It wasn’t just a smart tactical move.
George Washington’s surgeon general Dr. John Morgan wrote in his 1776 “Recommendation of Inoculation” that denying inoculation was a “violation of the natural rights of mankind” and every government has a duty to “provide for the safety of its members by rendering [it] as universal as possible.”
Access to vaccines is not a privilege — it is a human right.
In @statnews.com today, Stefan Peterson and I write about using a human rights-based approach to deal with vaccine denialism and the return of measles, whooping cough and diphtheria
www.statnews.com/2025/11/12/c...
In @statnews.com today, Stefan Peterson and I write about using a human rights-based approach to deal with vaccine denialism and the return of measles, whooping cough and diphtheria
www.statnews.com/2025/11/12/c...
November 20, 2025 at 11:26 AM
Ken Burns’ documentary did mention Washington’s decision to inoculate the troops, but it missed a tremendous opportunity to talk about how inoculation, and public health generally, was being discussed as both a duty of government and a right of the people. It wasn’t just a smart tactical move.
Reposted by Peter van Heusden (he/him) 🗿
"She said that lenacapavir has become a kind of diplomatic carrot — and stick.
Friendly, compliant governments, like Eswatini, have received early shipments, whereas South Africa or Nigeria — countries that have fallen out of favor with Trump — seem to have received the short end of the stick."
Friendly, compliant governments, like Eswatini, have received early shipments, whereas South Africa or Nigeria — countries that have fallen out of favor with Trump — seem to have received the short end of the stick."
The US is fast-tracking this important HIV drug — for everyone except South Africa
Why the Trump administration is cutting out a country that needs it most.
www.vox.com
November 25, 2025 at 3:22 AM
"She said that lenacapavir has become a kind of diplomatic carrot — and stick.
Friendly, compliant governments, like Eswatini, have received early shipments, whereas South Africa or Nigeria — countries that have fallen out of favor with Trump — seem to have received the short end of the stick."
Friendly, compliant governments, like Eswatini, have received early shipments, whereas South Africa or Nigeria — countries that have fallen out of favor with Trump — seem to have received the short end of the stick."
Reposted by Peter van Heusden (he/him) 🗿
Great talk from Michael Payne at #ABACBS2025 on DAMPA - tool for designing probe panels for targeted metagenomics using pangenome graphs! Captures all diversity efficiently, uses fewer probes than competitors. Critical for syndromic surveillance! 🧬🔬 #Metagenomics
November 25, 2025 at 4:29 AM
Great talk from Michael Payne at #ABACBS2025 on DAMPA - tool for designing probe panels for targeted metagenomics using pangenome graphs! Captures all diversity efficiently, uses fewer probes than competitors. Critical for syndromic surveillance! 🧬🔬 #Metagenomics
Reposted by Peter van Heusden (he/him) 🗿
In the good news category:
After years of research and trials, the WHO this year recommended the first new tool to fight malaria in decades: spatial repellents. They last up to a year and they could help fight malaria as well as dengue and other diseases - and protect refugees.
#IDsky 🧪
After years of research and trials, the WHO this year recommended the first new tool to fight malaria in decades: spatial repellents. They last up to a year and they could help fight malaria as well as dengue and other diseases - and protect refugees.
#IDsky 🧪
New vapor tool fights mosquitoes by slowly releasing insecticide in homes. Will it catch on?
World Health Organization supports “spatial repellents” to prevent malaria, but it’s unclear who will pay for them
www.science.org
November 24, 2025 at 8:02 PM
In the good news category:
After years of research and trials, the WHO this year recommended the first new tool to fight malaria in decades: spatial repellents. They last up to a year and they could help fight malaria as well as dengue and other diseases - and protect refugees.
#IDsky 🧪
After years of research and trials, the WHO this year recommended the first new tool to fight malaria in decades: spatial repellents. They last up to a year and they could help fight malaria as well as dengue and other diseases - and protect refugees.
#IDsky 🧪
Reposted by Peter van Heusden (he/him) 🗿
“From the night of the massacre onward, Ms. Fletcher was never again able to sleep comfortably in a bed, she wrote…
“When I sleep, it is never very deep or for very long because of the anxiety and the things I see,” she wrote. “Imagine having the same horrible nightmare every night for 100 years.”
“When I sleep, it is never very deep or for very long because of the anxiety and the things I see,” she wrote. “Imagine having the same horrible nightmare every night for 100 years.”
Viola Fletcher, Oldest Survivor of the Tulsa Race Massacre, Dies at 111
www.nytimes.com
November 24, 2025 at 10:39 PM
“From the night of the massacre onward, Ms. Fletcher was never again able to sleep comfortably in a bed, she wrote…
“When I sleep, it is never very deep or for very long because of the anxiety and the things I see,” she wrote. “Imagine having the same horrible nightmare every night for 100 years.”
“When I sleep, it is never very deep or for very long because of the anxiety and the things I see,” she wrote. “Imagine having the same horrible nightmare every night for 100 years.”
Reposted by Peter van Heusden (he/him) 🗿
X's location "transparency" feature showing many MAGA accounts are based internationally reveals what we already knew: The world is using American social media and American politics as a slot machine and social media companies are directly incentivizing this:
www.404media.co/americas-pol...
www.404media.co/americas-pol...
America’s Polarization Has Become the World's Side Hustle
The 'psyops' revealed by X are entirely the fault of the perverse incentives created by social media monetization programs.
www.404media.co
November 24, 2025 at 6:34 PM
X's location "transparency" feature showing many MAGA accounts are based internationally reveals what we already knew: The world is using American social media and American politics as a slot machine and social media companies are directly incentivizing this:
www.404media.co/americas-pol...
www.404media.co/americas-pol...
Reposted by Peter van Heusden (he/him) 🗿
It’s really hard to defend industry academic collaborations with meta as earnest, if they’re internally burying evidence of harm.
www.reuters.com/sustainabili...
www.reuters.com/sustainabili...
November 23, 2025 at 6:22 PM
It’s really hard to defend industry academic collaborations with meta as earnest, if they’re internally burying evidence of harm.
www.reuters.com/sustainabili...
www.reuters.com/sustainabili...
Reposted by Peter van Heusden (he/him) 🗿
As a historian, I have been torturing myself by watching some of the series that the White House in cooperation with Hillsdale College produced about American Independence (tellingly, they avoid the word "revolution").
There are so many errors that it is hard to know where to begin. But I'll try
There are so many errors that it is hard to know where to begin. But I'll try
November 22, 2025 at 11:33 PM
As a historian, I have been torturing myself by watching some of the series that the White House in cooperation with Hillsdale College produced about American Independence (tellingly, they avoid the word "revolution").
There are so many errors that it is hard to know where to begin. But I'll try
There are so many errors that it is hard to know where to begin. But I'll try
Reposted by Peter van Heusden (he/him) 🗿
I have been writing critically about twin studies of behavior for many years. Here is a brief overview article I published online last year.
www.madinamerica.com/2024/09/the-...
www.madinamerica.com/2024/09/the-...
November 22, 2025 at 4:31 PM
I have been writing critically about twin studies of behavior for many years. Here is a brief overview article I published online last year.
www.madinamerica.com/2024/09/the-...
www.madinamerica.com/2024/09/the-...
Reposted by Peter van Heusden (he/him) 🗿
#socialjustice #politicalcommunication
My latest (open access) article.
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Analysis identified extent to which key frames were useful to build solidarity (logic of membership) and/or challenge the status quo in inner-city Johannesburg (logic of influence).
My latest (open access) article.
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Analysis identified extent to which key frames were useful to build solidarity (logic of membership) and/or challenge the status quo in inner-city Johannesburg (logic of influence).
November 22, 2025 at 10:58 AM
#socialjustice #politicalcommunication
My latest (open access) article.
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Analysis identified extent to which key frames were useful to build solidarity (logic of membership) and/or challenge the status quo in inner-city Johannesburg (logic of influence).
My latest (open access) article.
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Analysis identified extent to which key frames were useful to build solidarity (logic of membership) and/or challenge the status quo in inner-city Johannesburg (logic of influence).