Is this you? As a journalist, you can create a free Muck Rack account to customize your profile, list your contact preferences, and upload a portfolio of your best work.
Claim your profile
Articles by Tom Levenson
Science is Hard…Amazonia/Climate Change Edition
Crossposted at Inverse Square Last week, Nature published a multi-media story by Meghie Rodrigues (words) and Lalo de Almeida (pictures) on an experiment under way in Brazilian Amazonia. They follow climatologist David Lapola as he and his colleagues pursue a decade-long experiment to see how a tropical rainforest could respond to a future with much higher CO2 levels than what the world sees today.
Balloon Juice -
N.B: more or less crossposted with Inverse Square. As noted in previous it’s been a while, for the reasons cited there: some combination of my baseline tendency for the blues and sadly plausible anxiety about the world at large. But I’m back, and I do truly hope to be so on a somewhat regular basis. To channel Dr. Strangelove, I’m working on how to stop worrying and love the…whatever we may call this Trumpian dystopia.
Sad News At The Levenson Home…
Hey everyone… I know I’ve been (in)conspicuous by my absence here. Apologies…it’s been a crazy time on the day-to-day level as well as the national and global ones.
A Bit Of Sunday Respite…Eldritch Images Edition
N.B: More or less crossposted at Inverse Square. I feel it’s important, certainly for me and maybe for you, to stop at frequent intervals to enjoy something, anything. I’ve got a few such momentary pleasures cued up, but today I want to share an image that was Wikipedia Commons Picture of the Day a little while back that I found so hauntingly beautiful that I’ve returned to it more than once.
Belated Sunday (West Coast) Respite: Let’s Play A Match Game!
NB: Crossposted at Inverse Square. Coming to you East Coast-late, but with an excuse. I’m spending the weekend in San Francisco with my siblings to celebrate my older brother’s retirement. I’m staying with my sister, who is a learned and broadly knowledgeable person, with a fine reserve of sharp-elbowed wit to bestow on those deserving of correction.
In Which I Am In Vehement Agreement With Heather Cox Richardson.
NB: Crossposted at Inverse Square. Two days late in highlighting this, but Heather Cox Richardson’s post from Thursday (August 20, 2026) is sadly likely to be timely for some long while to come. In that short essay she covers a range of public health atrocities being committed by that part of the Trump administration led by HHS Secretary Robert F.
The Vaccine Murders
NB: This is a crosspost from Inverse Square. Here’s some sad, bad news. Anti-vaccine rhetoric can be lethal. Not just when it persuades people to forgo shots for preventable diseases that then have their way with undefended bodies, but in literal cases of murder—which, alas can then become grist for the propaganda mill that (looping the process) helps persuade folks to reject shots for themselves and their kids.
The Eternal Return of the Same: Trump’s Latest Vaccine Folly Edition
I’m guessing everyone here already knows that President Trump has issued an executive order to halt the use of the combined measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine. According to that noted vaccinologist and virologist, the triple vaccine is to be avoided because the volume of liquid required to deliver it is “the size of a bottle of soda.” That is, of course, bullshit.
Reality’s Well Known Liberal Bias, mRNA Vaccine Edition
This is a good news update. Which means I’m ignoring the —the one in which noted microbiologist Donal Trump announced his decision to expose American kids to a catalogue of vaccine-preventable disease. I plan to jot down a howl of rage on that soon. For now, let’s enjoy a partial but significant win: Moderna’s mRNA flu vaccine has received constrained approval, with the FDA giving it the nod for people fifty years old and older.
Sunday Distraction: Yes, Douthat Is Still A Putz
I’m not sure it’s worth a full post, but Ross Douthat’s latest thumbsucker on the Odyssey is yet one more reminder both of the intellectual sloth at the heart of his project—and, more generally with the model of modern punditry. That would be the one that rewards opinion-having over ideas journalism. Such journalism demands hard work: doing the research and reporting needed to build an argument that can illuminate an issue for its readers. Throat clearing out of the way, what got my goat today?
Respite: Early Modern Economics From A Truly Novel Point Of View
NB: crossposted at Inverse Square. Most days I find it hard to escape reports on the various ways Trump and the GOP are demolishing more and more of US dominance since World War II—not to mention what has happened to American values, however aspirational. So, today, I’m thinking we can have a little fun with a moment of perhaps comparable upheaval, not safely distant enough in time to enjoy rather than dread. So let’s head back to the early eighteenth century.
Trump Grift Comes For US Science
This is a story that I hope will make you contact your representatives and tell them to strangle in the crib this latest Trump administration assault on US wealth and power.
Sunday Respite: Maybe Our Earth-Microbes Are Not Alone
NB: Cross posted at Inverse Square. Almost fifty light years from earth a red dwarf shines. Such stars are not impressive; they’re as dim and cool as it’s possible to be and remain on what is called the main sequence of star types in the universe—stars that burn hydrogen as their main fusion feedstock. Red dwarfs are small, even tiny as stars go: the least of them hold less than ten percent of the mass of our sun.
The Past Isn’t Dead. It Isn’t Even Past—Polio/Vaccine Edition
NB: Crossposted at Inverse Square. The William Faulkner quote above is something of a cliché, but like many such shopworn phrases, it became so because it expresses a kernel of truth. It came to mind as I read a report on the death of America’s last iron lung patient last week: Polio was eradicated in the United States in 1979. However, the effects of the virus have lingered for one Oklahoma woman, the last polio survivor in America, to depend on an iron lung.
Urgent Action: Comment on Russell Vought’s Attempt to Lysenko-ize US Science
NB: cross posted at Inverse Square. I know this has been discussed before here, but today is the deadline, so I hope you’ll forgive this repetition of what y’all know. I left it late, but finally got my comment in on the OMB’s proposed new rule subjecting science funding to political control from start to finish.
Just When You Thought It Was Safe To Go Back In The Water
NB: A version of this piece is crossposted at Inverse Square. Against the steady diet of vaccine [rejection]-induced rage, I’ve imposed on y’all, let’s have some fun with a gloss on the most enjoyable research paper I’ve encountered in a month of Sundays.
Before Vaccines, 1 in 3 Children Died Before Age 5
The Big Idea: Vaccination is one of the greatest acts of collective kindness humans have ever devised, a technology that only works because we agree to protect people we’ll never meet. But the very success of vaccines has created a new problem: we’ve forgotten why we need them. Why It Matters: Before vaccines, one in three children died of infectious disease before age five; burying a child was a routine part of parenthood.
More Vaccine Stuff. Mostly Good News With A Smidgeon Of Rage And Schadenfreude
Crossposted in more or less identical form at Inverse Square. This piece is something between another news update and a Sunday respite number. That’s because there’s been some genuinely fine vaccine results lately, and most of this hopefully [Ha!–Ed.] brief post aims to celebrate these advances in human flourishing.
A Vaccine Update (Instant Karma Edition)–or What’s Happening on the Make Microbes Great Again Front
NB: Crossposted at Inverse Square. This is going to have to be a multi part update, as there’s been a fair amount of news over the last couple of weeks, and I’ve been and continue to travel (mostly in support of my vaccine book—which I may have mentioned before. [Narrator: he has. Oy, has he…] There has been some contingent good news, for a change.
The Next Bust-Out Target: The NSF
Cross posted at Inverse Square. I was planning to get back to the vaccine beat today. (Did I mention I’ve got a new book on that subject? Not more than a few dozen times?) Well, OK… …Still I find myself saying: I’ve got a new book out, A Pox on Fools—a history of opposition to vaccines—that is far more timely than I’d wish. If that interests you, check it out (US) or take a gander (UK). In that context, I’m always on the watch for important vaccine news, and as it happens there’s been a bunch lately.
Next Up In The Ain’t-Science-Cool File…Dead Whale, Living Abyss Edition
Crossposted at Inverse Square. There’s been a lot of vaccine news this week, some of it good, and thus enraging because of the difficulty that will ensue in RFK Jr.’s America in reaping the benefits on offer; some of it bad, and thus enraging, given that but for the Trump administration’s war on the greatest life-saving advance ever invented, those in the the crosshairs need not have suffered or died.
A Woman Without A Man Is Like A (Female) Fish Without A…Man (Piscene Division)
[NB: this is crossposted at Inverse Square] Also: I posted this without having looked at the blog recently enough to see Sister Golden Bear’s post below. So any thematic resonance is purely coincidental…;-) In these intensely political and partisan times, when there is so much at risk for the planet and ourselves, it’s easy (for me) to get well and truly stuck on the daily crisis hamster wheel.
Relentless Self Aggrandizement Post: Publication Day!
Hey, everyone… I hope you’ll forgive this break from your regularly scheduled programming. Today is it! A Pox on Fools is officially on sale, available at (or through) everywhere books are sold. As I’m guessing you recall, the book debunks the zombie lies that RFK Jr. and his allies use to sow vaccine doubt by tracing those central “arguments” back to the origins.
If It Weren’t So Damn Dangerous We Could Just Point And Laugh
Crossposted at Inverse Square Via Amanda Seitz and Darius Tahir writing for KFF Health News we learned last Thursday of yet another Robert F. Kennedy Jr. attempt to concoct some story that could revive the serially debunked claim of a connection between autism and vaccines. They begin their piece with admirable concision: U.S. health secretary Robert F.
Who Needs Science? (Not Harvard et al., It Seems…Nor the US)
[Crossposted in a slightly different version at LinkedIn.] ETA: Yeah…I know. I just sorta bigfooted the blogfather. I’m about to dive into a car for a while, so it is now or much later (when I’d run into Adam’s post, most likely). I’m guessing the jackaltariat can handle the reading list. If it’s a day ending in “y,” there must be another tale about of the ongoing attack on American science.
Sunday Respite, Rubén Blades Edition
Cross posted at Inverse Square Last Tuesday, my friend Junot Díaz (whom you should all follow) posted a wonderful essay, part memoir, part manifesto. Do read it. There’s a ton of stuff in Junot’s post that spoke to me, but ISTM that there is one core idea that runs through the whole thing To become who any of us are, to get to that part of ourselves that allows us to become more than who we think we might be, we need the company of people we don’t know yet.
Balloon Juice - Fools* Rush In...
*[ETA]: I didn’t think my folly would become so obvious so fast. Yes…I didn’t check the news before posting this. And yes…I still think Shay Stewart-Bouley’s take is very much worth reading. And, last, yes, despite the confident predictions by some that Platner hasn’t got a chance in hell, I remain mindful of the fact that for all that I live close to Maine and have relatives up and down the coast, I don’t have a clue about what moves that electorate.
You Too Can Direct the NSF! (If You’re A Crank Connected To Peter Theil)
Crossposted at Inverse Square Happy Memorial Day, everybody! I hope you are marking the day in ways that apply balm to your soul. Good wishes out of the way, let’s harsh that mellow with a look at another milestone in the Trump junta’s assault on knowledge: it seems that more than 100 US scientific organizations have some questions.
Relentless Self-Promotion Post
Hey, everyone…but especially Boston-area Jackals. As you probably know, (Ya think?—Ed.) I have a new book coming out—A Pox on Fools, a polemical history of opposition to vaccines. (Lots more details here.) The pub. date is fast approaching–June 9 in the US, and its launch event comes two days later, on June 11.
It’s A Great Time To Be A Microbe
Crossposted at LinkedIn In the remaining couple of weeks before A Pox on Fools launches (less than that in the UK!) I thought I’d check on where the US is now given RFK Jr.’s ongoing efforts to Make Microbes Great Again. Basically, the news sucks. In fact, it’s worse than that. If Trump and RFK Jr. set out to wreck US defenses against endemic and pandemic infectious disease, it’s hard to say what they would do differently. Check out this (partial!) list of recent actions.
Who Does MAGA/MAHA Kill?
Hint: it ain’t the libtards, with their risible willingness to listen to expertise. NB: this is crossposted at Inverse Square. As always, if you’d like to receive word when a post appears, subscribe (no paywalls). Long, long ago, my mother had to take a statistics class for her graduate program in sociology.
Illness is not a personal failure
; ; ; ; Continue reading More for You Continue reading More for You
Illness Is Not a Personal Failure Original
Earlier this year, my sister and I went to San Francisco’s marvelous art museum, the Palace of the Legion of Honor. We had a great time, but my sister lives with a chronic autoimmune disorder and can only stand and walk for so long. So after about an hour, we headed for the lounge area and made ourselves comfortable, until it became clear that we were not welcome in that space. One of the symptoms of her condition is lung congestion, which leads to periodic bouts of coughing.
“Suffer the Children” Shouldn’t Be Read As Medical Advice
NB: This is cross posted at Inverse Square, my newsletter…well that might be too grand. I’m still working on making it a regular, sustained publication. But that’s the intent. In the unlikely event you’d like to know when I post essays like this–which I usually will cross post–plus the random brain bubbles that might not (and perhaps should not) make it over here, then please subscribe (free–I got no plans to impose a paywall).
Happy May Day, Y’all…
Or link to existing content Search No search term specified. Showing recent items. Search or use up and down arrow keys to select an item.
People Are Still Dying Of Malaria. They Shouldn’t Be
This is a crosspost with Inverse Square. ———— Happy World Malaria Day, everyone. Here’s an enraging story, another dispatch in the RFK Jr. chronicles. Here the fatal delusions of one man and his allies are killing kids—quite possibly in their tens, or even hundreds of thousands—by letting an increasingly controllable disease run free. Malaria was once endemic across much more of the world than it is today.
My AI Told Me So!
Crossposted at Inverse Square. (Most of what I post there comes here as well, though not quite all. There’s no paywall, so if y’all would like to be notified when something goes up, that’s where you can do so.) ——————— I teased this story in a post last week: in 2024 a team of researchers from the University of Gothenberg in Sweden put up two papers on a preprint server, describing yet another new malady induced by our our screen-dominated age: bixonimania.
More Vaccine Follies + A Respite That Might Not Be As Relaxing As One Might Hope
With Armageddon postponed (perhaps—the afternoon news is not terribly reassuring) there’s a bit of space to return to domestic matters. There’s been a lot of vaccine and public health news coming out over the last couple of weeks, almost all of it understandably obscured by the torrent of war news. Too much of it has been bad—and we’ll get to some of the lowlights over the next few days.
It Was Nice While It Lasted…The US Surrenders on Science
Crossposted in very slightly different form at Inverse Square. On April 2, 2026, the leading US scientific journal, Science, reported a long-expected piece of news: China’s overall spending on R&D has topped that of the United States—at least by one widely used measure.
Respite: Antimatter To Go Edition
I’ve got a ton of rage-inducing stuff in the pipeline which I hope to start putting up here and there soon. But I promised some respite, and I’m a content-generator of my (often deadline-missing) word, so here’s a bit of fun for your Wednesday afternoon. Humankind has just witnessed its latest never-before achievement. Yesterday a truck hit the road within the CERN campus near Geneva.
Respite: At Play in the Fields of the LLMs
Revisiting Tesla’s Valuation Upon further analysis, it appears that the factors I previously mentioned may not be as relevant as they once were. Tesla’s product lineup has indeed been contracting, with the discontinuation of its two largest models, the Model S and Model X. The Cybertruck, while innovative, has not achieved mass market success. Additionally, Tesla’s global sales have been declining, and the company has been overtaken by BYD as the world’s largest EV maker.
Quick Respite/Reminder: Vaccines Are...Kinda Good, Ya Know
Meant to get this up earlier, but life got in the way, so I’m jut going to post this anyway, just to give us some good news to chew on. First up on what I guess we can call vaccine Friday: we can now immunize you against a whole bunch of nasty viruses all at once–if you’re a mouse. This is from the Nature report on the research, which was published today in Science.
The Vaccine Crisis...It's here.
NB: Another cross post with Inverse Square. As ever, if you would like to get email notifications of these regrettably uncheery updates (and some happier ones, I hope) you can subscribe over there. ——————————- Sometimes, working on a book means that you see references to your work everywhere you look, when what’s really going on is that you (me, to be honest) only retains stuff that connects with your (my) obsession of the moment.
A Tale of Two Articles
First up: a report in Nature Medicine on cancers caused by “modifiable risk factors”–as in cancers that could have been prevented by some change in behavior, environmental change, or some intervention. The global numbers are impressive: more than one third, 7.1 million of 18.7 million total cases of cancer, could possibly be prevented. This is a kind of good news. High tech, cutting edge medicine is one front in the campaign against cancer.
Balloon Juice - Those F**kers
NB: In the continuation of a theme, this is a repost of a cri de coeur I posted over at Linked In. By way of background: you may have heard that I’ve got a book coming out, an angry, hopefully useful polemic history of opposition to vaccines. I’m being advised/coached/commanded to live in the real world of book promotion as of 2026. That means, I’m told, working across the social media landscape.
I Needed A (Chocolate) Cigarette After This One...
There are few public “intellectuals” whom I disdain as much as Thomas Chatterton Williams. TCW, as he’s often referred to by his legion of haters (in which I count myself a centurion, at least), may have escaped your attention (good!), but y’all probably recall the aging-ever-more-poorly A Letter on Justice and Open Debate, AKA the Harper’s Letter, for which he was the lead organizer. The letter decried the influence of the Oberlin Student Council™ on public discourse.
Cotton Mather, Ben Franklin's Brother, and Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
With lawmakers preparing to vote on a bill blocking parents from skipping vaccinations for their children, prominent vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr. arrived at the Sacramento screening of a film linking autism to the vaccine preservative thimerosal and warned that public health officials cannot be trusted.
Balloon Juice - Line Goes Up…
Until it doesn’t. I confess to a bit of schadenfreude at today’s Bitcoin news. An almost 14% drop today to bring the mathy-equivalent of Beanie Babies down to below where it was when Trump took office. Krugman has thoughtsKrugman has thoughts: …today’s price action shouldn’t change your view about Bitcoin’s usefulness or lack thereof.
Respite: Reading AND Looking As Resistance
NB: this is another cross-post with Inverse Square. This one is the second in what I hope will be a weekly (or nearly so) jaunt into something satisfying and, in these wretched times, helpful that I encounter in reading or looking or listening. If what I happen to respond to in any given week resonates with you, great! If not…that’s what scrolling is for.
Does RFK Jr. Hate Old People?
TL:DR…He does. NB: This is a crosspost from Inverse Square, the newsletter I’m trying to get going because (I’m somewhat reliably informed) it’s what authors have to do these days to connect with audiences. (Did I mention that I have a polemical history of vaccine resistance coming out this May? I did? Oh well…) There’s nothing behind a paywall, so if you’d like an email notification whenever something new hits over there, you might want to subscribe. Also, Adam S.
Show More
loading
Actions
Is this you?
As a journalist, you can create a free Muck Rack account to customize your profile, list your contact preferences, and upload a portfolio of your best work.Get in touch with Tom
Contact Tom, search articles and posts on X, monitor coverage, and track replies from one place.
Learn more about Muck Rack