Rachel Fairbank
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sweetsciencewriter.bsky.social
Rachel Fairbank
@sweetsciencewriter.bsky.social
830 followers 260 following 470 posts
Science journalist, with bylines in Nature, National Geographic, the New York Times, the Washington Post and the Houston Chronicle. I cover a mixture of health topics, with a focus on conditions such as autism, ADHD, ME/CFS, POTS and Long COVID.
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sweetsciencewriter.bsky.social
You can never go wrong with a house panther. Mine says hello.
A black cat is sleeping on a puzzle of the solar system.
November 18, 2025 at 3:39 AM
sweetsciencewriter.bsky.social
I’m headed to a Halloween party at the Children’s Museum with my son, and my costume is quite on the nose.
A woman dressed in overalls, a pink shirt, and a pink bandana waves at the camera.
October 24, 2025 at 10:09 PM
sweetsciencewriter.bsky.social
I've been doing some historical research lately, and came across this old profile of my family from 1979, which was six years before I was born.

My mother was basically the OG tradwife, except without money, and boy, did my parents make it sound a lot more idyllic than it actually was.
Article published in the Ithaca Journal on October 31, 1979. Two photos, one of a 13-year-old boy chopping wood, the other of a 6-year old boy feeding chickens. Article text reads: A family making do, and happily By HELEN MUNDELL Senior Editor When Ithaca Gun Co. closed its plant last December, Elmer Fairbank, his wife, Ellen, their four boys tightened their belts and "lived out of storage" until the gun company reopened six months later. Surviving without going into debt was possible because the Fairbanks, as Mormons, follow the church teaching of having a year's supply of emergency food on hand. They grow most of their own vegetables and can or freeze them for winter. They also have a cow, three milking goats and a flock of 100 chickens. They also have a year's supply of wood on hand for their heating stove. Stored in their attic are enough of four basic staples to feed the family for a year - approximately 1,800 pounds of wheat, 600 pounds of sugar and honey, 30 pounds of salt, and some powdered nonfat dry milk. The wheat is stored in 55-gallon sealed barrels, which are dated so the oldest gets used first. Ellen has a wheat grinder, which her father-in-law built, and grinds her own whole wheat flour, as needed. "Flour has a lot more vitamins, if you grind it fresh," she said, "but grinding is slow and noisy. She turned on the machine, which growled in protest, a mini version of the noise a flour mill makes when working. Ellen makes whole wheat bread from the fresh-ground flour, adding honey, milk, eggs, salt and yeast. "I have all the ingredients for that loaf of bread right here, always,” she said, and the bread "has everything you need in it." She bakes bread about three times a week, four loaves at a time, as needed. She also makes butter, from the excess milk and cream, a cheese "which tastes like gouda cheese," and a ricotta cheese for lasagna, which is a family favorite. In addition to buying foods for storage in bulk, Ellen also buys peanu…
October 24, 2025 at 2:36 AM
sweetsciencewriter.bsky.social
Sometimes I wish I were a cat: These two haven’t moved all morning.
A black cat and an orange cat are lying on a bed, looking very relaxed.
October 13, 2025 at 6:50 PM
sweetsciencewriter.bsky.social
I’m pretty sure my cats can’t count, but I’m still worried that if I give them unequal amounts of treats, they will smother me in my sleep.
Two cats are staring at the camera. One is an orange cat, the other is a black cat.
June 13, 2025 at 5:06 AM
sweetsciencewriter.bsky.social
My son loves his rainbow nails
A close up of a child’s hands. The nails are painted in rainbow colors.
June 2, 2025 at 12:51 AM
sweetsciencewriter.bsky.social
Well, I’m not going anywhere any time soon.
April 25, 2025 at 1:59 PM
sweetsciencewriter.bsky.social
Houston this morning
January 21, 2025 at 1:55 PM
sweetsciencewriter.bsky.social
Today’s moment of culinary genius: I used garlic bread to make my meatball sub.
Half a loaf of garlic bread, with meatballs piled on top
January 19, 2025 at 5:21 PM
sweetsciencewriter.bsky.social
It’s a cold day, which means I’ve got my very own personal heaters.
A black cat and an orange cat are sleeping peacefully on a purple blanket.
January 6, 2025 at 8:15 PM
sweetsciencewriter.bsky.social
Stomach bugs are real fun: All I’ve done these past four hours is lie on the couch and dash to the bathroom as needed.
Picture is from the Visible Health app, which does continuous heart rate monitoring and shows a period of time between 4 AM and 8 AM, with heart rates ranging between 100 and 140 beats per minute.
January 1, 2025 at 1:13 PM
sweetsciencewriter.bsky.social
My son has been insisting that he doesn’t want to sit in the back of the plane, he wants to sit in the cockpit, and today, for Christmas, he finally got his wish.
A five year-old boy, with black hair, wearing jeans and a blue fleece jacket, is sitting in the pilot seat of an airplane.
December 25, 2024 at 11:13 PM
sweetsciencewriter.bsky.social
Help, I’m trapped
An orange cat is sleeping on a woman’s lap
December 24, 2024 at 2:42 AM
sweetsciencewriter.bsky.social
This is the Fitbit data, btw. THIS IS NOT NORMAL. Any halfway competent cardiologist should recognize that, and yet, the bar for a competent cardiologist is currently in hell.
Graph of average monthly resting heart rate, taken from FitBit data. Graph shows a period of five years, including two years before getting pregnant, nine months of pregnancy, and two years postpartum. There is a very clear trend of resting heart rate rising in the years following pregnancy.
December 8, 2024 at 3:11 AM
sweetsciencewriter.bsky.social
They found the alleged shooter’s backpack and…it was full of Monopoly money.

www.reuters.com/world/us/nyc...
Text reads: “A backpack resembling the one worn by the suspect has been recovered near a playground in Central Park, according to media reports. MSNBC said on Saturday that police examining the bag and its contents found a jacket and Monopoly money, but no firearm.”
December 8, 2024 at 1:21 AM
sweetsciencewriter.bsky.social
It only took a year, but Harvey and Sabrina are finally learning to get along.
A black cat and an orange cat are napping together on a bed.
December 7, 2024 at 3:53 PM
sweetsciencewriter.bsky.social
Cats can be such a comfort when you are sick.
Tired woman in bed, snuggling with a black cat named Sabrina
November 21, 2024 at 6:55 PM