Kate Nyhan

Public health librarian in an academic medical library
Co-founder of Community Access to Ventilation Information, https://cavico2.com/, because everyone should have clean, safe indoor air

#EvidenceSynthesis
#KnowledgeTranslation
#PublicHealthInformatics
#DataSharing
#DataCuration
#InformationLiteracy
#Scholcomm
#OpenAccess
#HealthEquity
#EnvironmentalHealthLiteracy
#CO2monitoring
#PublicLibraries
#LibraryOfThings
#Accessibility
#COVIDisAirborne

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5397-2303

Public Key

npub1upj3tadtwwg2n394g6wns725tln5snup49uqcd5uh4jmcduw5rxqkvmp5g

NIP-05 Address

nyhan_at_fediscience.org@momostr.pink

Profile Code

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Publishing to

relay.damus.io

nos.lol

Author Public Key

npub1upj3tadtwwg2n394g6wns725tln5snup49uqcd5uh4jmcduw5rxqkvmp5g

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Published at

2026-09-06T14:29:44Z

Kind type

0 Metadata

Event JSON

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Last Notes

2026-09-08 22:59:33 UTC

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Re "greater equity" as shown by more downloads than non-OA models in low-income countries.
Springer and Nature could just... remove the paywalls for IPs in LMICs. Or at least for IPs of Research4Life registered institutions, instead of requiring credentials.

2026-09-04 20:14:29 UTC

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This dandelion seed floated through the interwebs and has taken over my mental lawn. The "product" framing seems very apposite in both healthcare and higher ed.

2026-09-04 20:12:06 UTC

I recently (?) read a toot (or maybe a blog post?) that argued: don't call AI tools "tools," call them "products."
Who said this?

2026-08-24 19:34:12 UTC

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I finally heard from the DTIC reference desk - two weeks ago I wrote to them to ask when their public databases will be functioning again, and if they could do a search about suicide prevention initiative grey lit, in the meanwhile, for a team writing a scoping review.
If it hadn't taken two weeks, I would have thought their generic low-info response ("We expect the public tool to be restored soon and apologize for the inconvenience this may cause.") was an auto-reply.

2026-08-14 12:06:00 UTC

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And yet these days I can't paste styled text between a desktop Word document and an Office 365 document - two formats controlled by Microsoft - and have the formatting match 😠

2026-08-07 13:09:14 UTC

I bet that lots of people including Cory "Centaur" Doctorow will like reading this essay
Hardin, F. M. (2026, August 7). AI won’t enhance physician autonomy. It will further diminish it. STAT. https://www.statnews.com/2026/08/07/medical-ai-doctors-autonomy/
@npub1fdr…lvhs

2026-08-03 10:11:54 UTC

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Wondering whether I can get my head around this before giving a talk about publishing in a responsible conduct of research training this morning 🤪

2026-07-13 20:48:07 UTC

PSA
If you want to have a form field that accepts only 500 characters, put a character counter into your GUI.

2026-07-13 11:11:30 UTC

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1. You can ask your state legislators to pass legislation
https://www.libraryfutures.net/post/e-books-for-us
CT, RI, and a few others have already done so but all the bills inspired by Library Futures' model legislation has a "trigger" when enough states pass similar laws
2. Find out if your library also uses the Palace Project app. If not, suggest they explore it. https://thepalaceproject.org/ownership-model/

2026-06-08 00:38:20 UTC

I am appalled by Hegseth's anti-immigration speech at the D-Day service at the Normandy American Cemetery, where my great uncle Francis John McCormick is buried.

2026-06-07 02:39:30 UTC

Do you think this job is remote or not?
Pasting from the posting:
Work Location: Amherst
Work Arrangement: Remote
Work Schedule and Work Arrangement: This position has the opportunity for a hybrid work schedule, which is defined by the University as an arrangement where an employee’s work is regularly performed at a location other than the campus workspace for a portion of the week. As this position falls within the Massachusetts Society of Professors (MSP) Union, it is subject to the terms and conditions of the MSP Union collective bargaining agreement.

2026-05-24 20:19:51 UTC

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But what really gets me is this bit. The paper the interviewee couldn't find is the first result in PubMed for the query that a medical librarian might use.
https://fediscience.org/system/media_attachments/files/116/631/392/766/767/228/original/7e3f4c57f545d414.png
https://fediscience.org/system/media_attachments/files/116/631/394/185/387/666/original/9a25d07521447246.png

2026-05-24 20:10:24 UTC

@npub1n2m…p8ed
25% "not being aware of PubMed" - I mention that to note that I am skeptical of that survey.
Re two thirds - it looks like OE has been making a PR push lately - I see several May news articles giving a 65% figure with the source given as OpenEvidence itself, including this very positive one that ought to have earned some PR person a big bonus :) https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/openevidence-ai-doctor-medical-physician-login-app-what-npi-uptodate-rcna341064

2026-05-12 10:36:26 UTC

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There's a paper by Jodi Schneiderman in Bioinformatics that I really liked

2026-05-12 10:13:44 UTC

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Frankly I'd rather have references to documents that don't exist, rather than references that point to documents that do exist, but which misrepresent the cited source.

2026-04-23 14:23:04 UTC

What is the opposite of "anecdotal" evidence?

2026-04-16 20:31:32 UTC

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Just read a press release from my org that calls chatbots "AI helpers." What, not enough people were using "AI assistants" so now we have to rebrand them?

2026-03-31 00:24:39 UTC

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Really? It's discussed in this book, and not with any penumbra of uncertainty. At least, the removal of trees on the advice of LAPD is discussed; helicopter visibility in particular, I don't remember.
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/672379/shade-by-sam-bloch/

2026-03-24 21:29:13 UTC

#3GoodThings
It's sunny.
I remembered to download a new audiobook *before* I left the wifi range.
I found a single-serving foil-wrapped soup cube in the desk drawer where I keep "emergency lunch" supplies - and it turned out to be a delicious shrimp and vegetable flavor.

2026-03-21 20:22:33 UTC

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The school librarian was forced to resign, and won't be able to work in schools again because the local authority substantiated the accusations that she "failed to uphold safeguarding procedures."
How many school librarians would be left in the UK if you threw out everyone who had bought, or failed to deaccession (bc the poor woman didn't even buy all them all herself) books by Terry Pratchett, Michelle Obama (!), Zadie Smith, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, George Orwell....

2026-03-21 20:11:24 UTC

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A school rep wrote:
"Although the categorisation was generated using AI, I consider this classification to be broadly accurate."

2026-03-21 20:11:00 UTC

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... and the school's official justification for banning _Soul Music_ was:
"Adult audience content – may include sexual material, violence, abuse, substance misuse, or psychologically distressing themes."

2026-03-21 19:56:38 UTC

RE: https://mastodon.scot/@peterbrown/116268527752626534
One of the books this UK school banned? Terry Pratchett's #Discworld Buddy Holly tribute, Soul Music.
#note1wjh…fg7e

2026-03-12 10:38:06 UTC

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I find it very helpful to cite ICMJE instead of just saying "I think we should" be transparent

2026-03-12 10:36:46 UTC

Another day, another friendly reminder to a research collaborator that the Jan 2026 ICMJE recommendations say to disclose LLM use in the cover letter and the manuscript, and to "carefully review and edit the AI-generated content as the output can be incorrect, incomplete, or biased."
https://www.icmje.org/recommendations/browse/artificial-intelligence/ai-use-by-authors.html
#AcademicChatter
https://fediscience.org/system/media_attachments/files/116/215/748/069/295/556/original/689e3b14ab04118e.png

2026-03-09 18:29:03 UTC

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> Gates simply opposes open science and compulsory licenses on scientific patents, even when that kills millions of people (as it did in South Africa).
He opposes open science for vaccine patents. He enforces open science for the rest of us, to the extent to no longer allowing Gates Foundation grant funds to be used to cover open access article processing charges, instead preferring Gates-funded authors to post preprints on their in-house preprint server
https://openaccess.gatesfoundation.org/

2026-03-04 13:58:55 UTC

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that photo would make a great puzzle! All the blades of grass, with enough defined shapes to give the puzzler some hope of solving it - and of course the bird!

2026-02-27 22:33:38 UTC

Yes this is a real website
https://fediscience.org/system/media_attachments/files/116/144/964/110/643/724/original/e5518145ea8c0314.png

2026-01-22 20:26:44 UTC

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I am crying that they called it "What should I cite?" instead of "What should I read?"

2026-01-03 03:25:07 UTC

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would it help to shake some baking soda into it?

2025-12-27 02:39:32 UTC

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On the one hand - it's great journalism, always interesting and thought-provoking.
On the other hand, the stated goal of empowering people to understand and if necessary fight their own insurers/providers - wow, that is very grounded in the American individual-consumer approach to healthcare and society

2025-12-26 19:28:30 UTC

Time for a new electric kettle (in the US). Any recommendations?

2025-12-24 21:29:19 UTC

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Grocery #3 did have a nice chicken. And in that poultry section, I met someone who was looking for a duck, and gave him directions to grocery #2. So everyone is happy and the feral turkey lives to menace another streetcar :)

2025-12-24 16:51:59 UTC

Grocery #1: no whole chicken - just parts or pre-flavored spatchcocked
Grocery #2: no chicken at all, just ducks and Cornish hens
Walking home there was a turkey in the crosswalk. Maybe we will eat him 😜

2025-12-21 11:23:06 UTC

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Idk if they have already started or not, but I hope that human journalists writing under the bylibe "Al Jazeera staff" wouldn't have written this paragraph and then never mentioned the "pillars" again
"Relying on six pillars, the initiative will integrate AI systems to help Al Jazeera journalists process complex data, produce immersive content, gain access to analytical context and automate internal workflows, among other things."
If those activities are some of the pillars, in what sense can they be "relied on"?
If those activities are the intended outcomes of the AI initiative, then what are the pillars?

2025-12-09 14:04:23 UTC

Hi folks, message from a friend not on Mastodon. If you are interested I can put you in touch.
Want a sweet little puggle friend?? Jake, 11 months old, kennel trained is looking for a new home. His owners are elderly and have health issues so they can no longer keep him.
He needs a home by next Tuesday because the owner is going in for surgery. He's free, and super cute!
In Connecticut
#AnimalAdoption #DogsOfMastodon
https://fediscience.org/system/media_attachments/files/115/689/976/568/515/114/original/95418dd3dede38d7.png

2025-10-29 16:56:07 UTC

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According to this magazine profile, the pathway by which Joseph Ladopo (FL surgeon general) turned away from evidence-based medicine started with his wife's experience of doctors not taking her migraines seriously.
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2025/10/ladapo-florida-anti-vaccine-mysticism-brianna/

2025-10-08 02:04:38 UTC

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From that essay, I learned about Calyx, which sells jailbroken, de-Googled Pixel phones that have all the hardware reliability of a Pixel, coupled with an alternative app suite and data. Sounds good to me!
And from the link to https://calyxinstitute.org/, I learned that Calyx finds the Library Freedom Project 👍

2025-09-10 23:34:50 UTC

Here's one for @npub1fdr…lvhs
Singh, Y., Cantor, J., Whaley, C. M., Shuey, B., Bilden, R., & Donahoe, J. T. (2025). Private Equity Acquiring Large Shares Of The Opioid Treatment Market Without Changing Market-Level Methadone Supply. Health Affairs, 44(9), 1181–1189. https://doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.2025.00326
US opioid treatment programs owned by PE firms:
2011: 5
2022: 358

2025-08-20 23:59:09 UTC

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Your daughter might like this documentary: https://www.pbs.org/video/my-garden-of-a-thousand-bees-trjhzt/

2025-08-06 21:16:37 UTC

If you are wondering whether to send someone a note about how you have used or built on their work -- stop wondering! Do it now! They will be so thrilled to hear that their work has helped you!!!
https://fediscience.org/system/media_attachments/files/114/983/889/956/175/725/original/905eb049c0a0a66f.png

2025-07-24 11:28:03 UTC

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Imagine if RELX had taken £1,075,000,000 of its profits and put it into, à la Doctorow, staff wages (cough paying peer reviewers cough). Or imagine £1,075m allocated to reducing prices for the authors, science funders, and libraries that are Elsevier's customers, or winding up their surveillance services for ICE, described in "When Westlaw Fuels Ice Surveillance: Legal Ethics in the Era of Big Data Policing” by Sarah Lamdan - and yes, the title notwithstanding, it discusses RELX Group too: https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/Documents/Issues/Racism/SR/RaceBordersDigitalTechnologies/Sarah_Lamdan.pdf

2025-07-24 11:15:42 UTC

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This part here makes me think of @npub1fdr…lvhs's take on stock buybacks: https://doctorow.medium.com/https-pluralistic-net-2024-09-09-low-wage-100-executive-excess-f6b72c785bca
https://fediscience.org/system/media_attachments/files/114/907/914/258/883/783/original/8b64185db087f635.png

2025-07-12 01:28:31 UTC

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I'm sure that every physician who signs up to use it thinks "maybe other people are influenced by advertising, but *I* will definitely critically appraise everything, including the ads and the sponsored content."
(If they bother reading the terms of use and privacy policy in the first place)

2025-07-12 01:27:15 UTC

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I don't know the source but it seems apposite today after discussing with colleagues a free, advertising-supported LLM-powered medical information chatbot....

2025-07-06 23:26:37 UTC

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"One conservative-leaning pastor confided to me, 'Sometimes I wish I weren’t a pastor so I could speak up more loudly and more clearly.'"
Gobsmacked. This guy was called to ministry in order to speak only quietly and allusively about caring for the poor and the sick?

2025-04-23 13:35:07 UTC

The Trump admin draft budget document (which requires congressional approval) for NIH proposes to stop funding two gold OA journals, Emerging Infectious Diseases and Preventing Chronic Disease.
This news came out last week but I missed the journal piece -- too distracted by the proposed $21 billion budget cut, the elimination of some institutes, and the re-clustering of most of the remaining institutes.

2025-04-10 07:18:37 UTC

Yikes
Any physician who leads with (I paraphrase) "this is a one-party consent state, so I don't need patients' permission to record patient interactions and feed the data into ambient listening AI scribe systems" is not a physician I want caring for me
https://fediscience.org/system/media_attachments/files/114/312/429/366/819/175/original/59884c6c23849ec9.png

2025-04-07 22:35:57 UTC

Hi #OpenScience folks, I want to encourage a library user to make the survey instrument they are creating available with a CC license. Well, ok, I already did *encourage* that. What I want is a practical guide about *how* -- how to choose a CC license, how to choose where to deposit it. Ideally with nice graphic design. Suggestions?

2025-04-05 12:17:22 UTC

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I am outside of the UK, so there have always been ads inserted in the beginning of the GQT podcast for me. But interrupting the middle is new

2025-04-05 03:24:12 UTC

Ok, I was just listening to Gardeners' Question Time on #AntennaPod, and there was an ad in the middle. Since when has that been happening? Did it come from the podcast or from the app?