🪾santiago, phd 🐈‍⬛
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santiagokique.bsky.social
🪾santiago, phd 🐈‍⬛
@santiagokique.bsky.social
Vnzln 🇻🇪 MD/PhD candidate @ Stanford 🌲

I study telomere biology in health and disease; I write about science and politics

blogs @ primafacie.substack.com
Pinned
new blog post on the ai bubble, why it won’t do what its backers need it to do, and why I think they keep getting duped that it will

open.substack.com/pub/primafac...
the not so infinite typewriter
we left the typing monkeys alone and they're planting bombs under wall street
open.substack.com
Hits harder when you realize Paul Offit is actually one of the nicest people on earth (pediatric infectious disease physician).
presented without comment
December 1, 2025 at 1:21 PM
presidents trafficking drugs reminded me to put this book on my holiday wishlist
December 1, 2025 at 4:26 AM
Found some old Bolivar coins in my closet. The one on the right is a pre-Bolivarian revolution Bolivar (Bs) and the one of the left is one of the first ever Bolivar Fuerte (Bs.F), a reminted currency worth 1000 of the coin on the right. The bolivar has since had 2 further remintings, last in 2021
December 1, 2025 at 2:29 AM
Reposted by 🪾santiago, phd 🐈‍⬛
Guys I just had an idea I don’t think anyone’s ever had before. What if there was a publication that, instead of reinforcing the liberal pieties of the woke mob, presented readers with heterodox positions that challenged groupthink? Does anyone have like eight million dollars so I can try this?
November 30, 2025 at 3:14 PM
Reposted by 🪾santiago, phd 🐈‍⬛
We need to purge the elite
November 29, 2025 at 3:32 PM
Reposted by 🪾santiago, phd 🐈‍⬛
Computer, please summarize everything PG Wodehouse ever wrote in ten seconds
rich dudes got freakier after butlers fell out of fashion, like say what you will about having domestic servants but clearly it was some sort of moderating force on old rich dudes having a fancy man follow you around saying shit like "oh dear sir, that wouldn't be very becoming"
November 29, 2025 at 9:34 PM
vindicated
November 29, 2025 at 4:16 PM
Reposted by 🪾santiago, phd 🐈‍⬛
While Makary spreads bullshit about the origin of HIV.

(To be clear, this has been thoroughly investigated and fits neither the timing nor the molecular epidemiology of HIV).
November 29, 2025 at 3:11 AM
this administration is about nothing more than elite impunity

thehill.com/homenews/adm...
thehill.com
November 29, 2025 at 3:12 AM
*taps sign* the US’ torment of Haiti will never end

open.substack.com/pub/primafac...
November 27, 2025 at 4:53 PM
Reposted by 🪾santiago, phd 🐈‍⬛
this is amazing news - the HPV vaccine promises to eliminate cervical cancer in countries where uptake is high.
Vaccinating boys and girls. It works bitches.
November 26, 2025 at 6:57 PM
RIP Kotor remake
November 26, 2025 at 10:20 PM
Not hard to imagine a career-long HIV scientist would butt heads with Antivaximus prime at HHS and his lieutenant at NIH
November 25, 2025 at 4:16 AM
Reposted by 🪾santiago, phd 🐈‍⬛
Unfortunately, I can confirm that this is true.

I have known Carl for 2 decades and he is smart, dedicated, and quite apolitical, focused on science and getting stuff done on important problems.

Huge unnecessary loss of leadership and expertise.
Hearing news that Carl Dieffenbach, the Director of the Division of AIDS at #NIH (NIAID), has been removed from his position because he was "not aligned with HHS/OMB."

Russell Vought continues to remove great scientists as part of the Project 2025 mission to politicize and destroy NIH.

🧪 1/
November 24, 2025 at 5:49 AM
New blog post on a curious rabbit hole I went down this past weekend thinking about a patient with apnea that led to the father of Toxicology by way of German mermaids. A 6 degrees of separation digression

open.substack.com/pub/primafac...
the little mermaid's curse
the strange connection between automaticity and german mermaids
open.substack.com
November 25, 2025 at 4:12 AM
I actually think centrist Dems are more likely to support/endorse an MTG independent run for president than a progressive candidate that threatens a Newsom/Buttigieg type figure in the primary.
November 22, 2025 at 1:57 AM
Reposted by 🪾santiago, phd 🐈‍⬛
Breaking News: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said he personally instructed the CDC to abandon its position that vaccines do not cause autism. The move underscores his determination to challenge scientific orthodoxy — in this case, that vaccines save lives — and bend the health department to his will.
RFK Jr. Says He Instructed CDC to Change Vaccines and Autism Language on Website
In an interview, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. cited gaps in vaccine safety research. His critics say he is ignoring a larger point: Vaccines save lives.
nyti.ms
November 21, 2025 at 6:56 PM
English speaking world discovering Peak. If you’ve never seen this, would encourage sampling with the episode where one of the puppets is depressed

www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwYB...
November 21, 2025 at 1:21 PM
November 21, 2025 at 2:07 AM
TL syncing
November 20, 2025 at 4:36 PM
Reposted by 🪾santiago, phd 🐈‍⬛
There’s a word for this and it is colonialism.

www.theguardian.com/world/2025/n...
November 18, 2025 at 8:24 PM
Every AI infrastructure graph looks like this. The exponential revenue generating event is always just around the corner and the capex commitments won’t get comically larger, we promise.
November 18, 2025 at 12:47 PM
Reposted by 🪾santiago, phd 🐈‍⬛
Bhattacharya's NIH made cuts to grants that disrupted trials, disproportionately impacting infectious disease trials & trials affecting minorities (e.g. trials on mitigating kidney disease, Alzheimer’s disease, & cervical cancer in minority populations).

These cuts were litigated in court.

1/x
A new study found the Trump administration’s cuts to NIH grants disrupted more than 380 clinical trials, affecting over 74,000 participants.

The cuts disproportionately impacted trials on infectious diseases and minority communities.
Federal cuts upended clinical trials. A new study reveals the toll.
Grants for 383 clinical trials were terminated and the funding disruptions affected more than 74,000 trial participants, according to new research.
www.washingtonpost.com
November 17, 2025 at 11:11 PM
Reposted by 🪾santiago, phd 🐈‍⬛
I spent October traveling to schools throughout the South talking to students about American history. What I found were young people who understand we can tell a story that includes both the positive and the negative. As one 8th grader in Memphis said, “Doesn’t seem that hard, just say both things.”
Tell Students the Truth About American History
We owe it to Americans of all ages to be honest about the country’s past, including its contradictions.
www.theatlantic.com
November 17, 2025 at 4:57 PM