Prostate Experts See Familiar Scenario in Biden’s Cancer Diagnosis

Posted on May 21, 2025 by Jim deMaine

Ed note: The article below relates the common misunderstandings about the benefits of screening for prostate cancer. The great majority of prostate cancers that are common in old men behave in a benign fashion, so most of us die with prostate cancer but not from prostate cancer. The rule is first do no harm–in order to prevent impotence, incontinence and radiation damage. We need a better test than the often inconclusive PSA. We need to understand which cancers are dangerous and which aren’t. At present, unfortunately, we don’t have the answers.


By Gina Kolata in the NYT

Some Americans say they don’t understand how former President Joseph R. Biden Jr. could have only recently learned that he had an aggressive form of prostate cancer that had already spread to his bones. How could the former commander in chief, a man with access to high-quality medical care, not have known earlier that he had such a serious condition?

Many prostate cancers are detected using a test called a PSA, and Mr. Biden’s last known PSA was in 2014, according to a spokesman, Chris Meagher. Guidelines from professional organizations that advise doctors and public health officials recommend against screening for men over age 70. Mr. Biden is 82.

But many men, in consultation with their doctors, continue screening into their 70s, which is not unreasonable if the man is healthy and has a life expectancy of at least 10 years, said Dr. Scott Eggener, a prostate cancer specialist at the University of Chicago.

Prostate cancer experts also say, though, that even if Mr. Biden had been screened regularly, it’s entirely possible the cancer was not detected till recently. They said that some men suddenly find out they have advanced prostate cancer even after being screened regularly year after year and told they have a clean bill of health.

It is unusual, but it does happen.

“I have an entire collection of what I call rocket PSAs,” said Dr. Ian Thompson, a prostate cancer specialist at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio. These are men, he said, who are screened year after year with the PSA, a blood test that can pick up signs of prostate cancer. Year after year, their PSA is very low. Then, suddenly, it soars.

He also sees men with advanced prostate cancer who have normal results on their PSA screening tests. (continued)

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Remembering those words

Posted on May 19, 2025 by Jim deMaine
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Medicaid cuts proposed for 8.6 million people. Impact will differ across states.

Posted on May 19, 2025 by Jim deMaine

From The Epidemiologist

A recent study found that, since 2010, Medicaid expansion has reduced the mortality of the low-income adult population by 2.5%. In other words, Medicaid expansion saved more than 27,000 lives. Deaths fell not only among older enrollees (who are usually most sick) but also among those in their 20s and 30s, too. The study also found that Medicaid expansions were cost-effective.

Congress is debating a bill to cut Medicaid—even though 80% of Americans oppose such cuts. If passed, an estimated 8.6 million people could lose healthcare coverage by 2034 (out of the 71.2 million people with Medicaid). This would be the largest Medicaid cut in history. (Note: it has just passed through the House Budget Committee)

The impact of this bill will depend on where you live. KFF outlined a few key factors:

  • State budgets: Each state will respond differently to the loss of federal funds. For instance, states that expanded Medicaid to cover long-term care may see that as an area to cut first.
  • Population needs: States with higher rates of unemployment or poorer overall health will be hit harder.
  • Access to care: The more limited the healthcare infrastructure in a state, the more damaging the cuts could be.

States like West Virginia and Mississippi are likely among the hardest hit. Below is a breakdown of the most affected states, depending on what factors we take into account.

Source: Kaiser Family Foundation; Annotated by Your Local Epidemiologist

What does this mean for you? Time to reach out to your representatives. Here are some tips. Dr. Emily Smith has a great Medicaid explainer if you want more information.

Note that Medicaid programs go by different names in each state, making it tricky to track how federal changes might affect your health care. For example, “cutting Medicaid” is the same as “cutting PeachCare” in Georgia or “cutting Healthy Connections” in South Carolina. Hover over the graph below to see what Medicaid is called in your state.

Medicaid programs go by different names in different states.

Hover over your state to find the name of your Medicaid program

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These stunning photos show how nature came back after the world’s largest dam removal project

Posted on May 18, 2025 by Jim deMaine

by BY Adele Peters thanks to Pam P.

It’s been less than a year since the world’s largest dam removal project was completed along 420 miles of the Klamath River, near the border of Oregon and California. But if you look at the river now, you might not know that four dams had ever been in place. Instead of concrete walls and artificial reservoirs, the river is now free-flowing—and parts of the former infrastructure have been replaced by wildflowers that are in bloom.

Iron Gate Dam, circa 2023 [Photo: Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times/Getty Images]

“It’s been an incredible transition,” says Ann Willis, California regional director at American Rivers, a nonprofit that supported Native American tribes in a decades-long fight to take out the dams. “It’s really strange and wonderful to stand on the bridge that goes across the Klamath River and look upstream where Iron Gate Dam used to be. I used to imagine a river above it, and now I see the river.”

Construction crews remove the top of the cofferdam that was left of Iron Gate Dam, allowing the Klamath River to run in its original path for the first time in nearly a century near Hornbrook, California, in August 2024. [Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez/San Francisco Chronicle/Getty Images]

The dams were built between 1918 and 1962 to provide hydropower, and immediately blocked salmon from migrating. Over time, the ecosystem started to collapse. By 1997, coho salmon in the river were listed as endangered. (The river was once the third-largest salmon fishery in the continental U.S.) In 2002, when the federal government diverted water to farms instead of letting it flow downstream in the river, tens of thousands of salmon died. Local tribes like the Yurok—who have lived by the river for at least 10,000 years, and who consider salmon a central and sacred part of their culture—started the long fight to take out the dams. (continued)

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Maja Sereda: Back to the Wild

Posted on May 16, 2025 by Jim deMaine

Ed note: You can find more about Maja — her art, teaching and wildlife advocacy at her website https://majasereda.biz/.

Maja Sereda is a multidisciplinary artist who immerses herself in the world of abstraction, fiber arts, and highly detailed drawings. Throughout her life, nature has unfailingly been her refuge, a steadfast source of solace, and an anchor for inner peace.

After studying graphic design at University of Pretoria and working as an art director in advertising agencies, both in South Africa and Ireland, Maja became an award-winning book illustrator. She has illustrated more than 20 books with many major publishers including Penguin Random House, Maskew Miller Longman, Oskar Editeur, Tafelberg & Lapa Publishers. Amongst others, she won the Crystal Kite award in 2011 and the Katrine Harries Award for best illustration for 2010. In 2012, she was also invited to illustrate a book with a French author, Yves Pinguilly titled La Grande Fleur (The Big Flower), followed by an invitation to Salon du Livre fair in Paris, France and La Reunion, where she showcased her books and led art workshops for children. 

With the outbreak of COVID, she began teaching drawing classes online. By investing deeply in her students’ work through highly individualized feedback, research and demonstrations, she nurtured an online community of over 250 artists. 

Now based in Seattle, with a deep passion for nature, Maja has founded Guardians of the Jungle, a creative project which aims to save endangered wildlife and protect precarious ecosystems.

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The Second Poem the Night-Walker Wrote

Posted on May 15, 2025 by Jim deMaine

Thanks to Bob P.

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Bruce Springsteen’s opening comments

Posted on May 15, 2025 by Jim deMaine

May 14, 2025 MANCHESTER (thanks to Pam P.)

Tonight, Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band opened their Land of Hope & Dreams Tour in Manchester, England. Bruce launched this run of shows with three statements about the situation in the United States, with comments preceding his songs “Land of Hope and Dreams,” “House of a Thousand Guitars” and “My City of Ruins.”

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Corruption, habeas corpus, emoluments and more

Posted on May 13, 2025 by Jim deMaine
Heather Cox Richardson

The biggest news over the weekend was silence: the silence of Republicans. They refused to disavow White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller’s statement that the administration is looking at suspending the writ of habeas corpus, that is, essentially declaring martial law. They have also stayed quiet after the administration announced it was planning to accept a gift of a $400 million luxury Boeing 747-8 plane from the Qatari royal family. President Donald J. Trump would use the plane as Air Force One during the rest of his presidency and take it with him when he leaves office.

This is in keeping with the refusal of 53 Republican senators to answer questions from Rolling Stone’s Ryan Bort after NBC’s Kristen Welker asked Trump, “Don’t you need to uphold the Constitution of the United States, as president?” and he answered: “I don’t know.” Only Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) went on the record, posting on social media: ​​“Following the Constitution is not a suggestion. It is a guiding force for all of us who work on behalf of the American people. Do you agree?”

It seems as if Republicans who are not on board the MAGA train are hoping the courts or reality will stop Trump’s authoritarian overreach. As Steve Vladeck noted on Friday in One First, there is “near-universal consensus…that only Congress can suspend habeas corpus—and that unilateral suspensions by the President are per se unconstitutional.” In addition, Miller’s insistence that it would be appropriate to suspend the writ of habeas corpus because the United States is under attack—a position Trump echoed yesterday when he posted, “Our Country has been INVADED by 21,000,000 Illegal Aliens, many of whom are Murderers and Criminals of the Highest Order”—has failed repeatedly in court.

Reality will trip up Trump’s plan to take possession of the Qatari gift. As David Kurtz noted this morning in Talking Points Memo, retrofitting the luxury plane with the defense capabilities and security protections necessary for Air Force One will take years, not months. (Air Force One is not a specific airplane; it is the call sign given to any Air Force aircraft carrying the president of the United States).

Still, the Republicans’ silence matters. Whether Trump’s plans are all possible is not the point: he and the members of his administration are deliberately attacking the fundamental principles of our democratic republic. That lawmakers who swore an oath to uphold those principles are choosing to remain silent makes them complicit in that attack.

The framers of the U.S. Constitution recognized that democratic government was a new departure from a world in which the world’s monarchs made deals amongst themselves. They placed strong guardrails around the behavior of future chief executives to make sure they would not sell the American people out to foreign leaders. “[N]o Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under [the United States], shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State,” they wrote in the Constitution. An emolument is a payment. (continued on the website on page 2)

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What Paris and Skyline will have in common!

Posted on May 13, 2025 by Jim deMaine

Thanks to Deborah C.

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Josh Hawley: Don’t Cut Medicaid

Posted on May 12, 2025 by Jim deMaine

By Josh Hawley

In the NYT. Mr. Hawley is a Republican senator from Missouri.

Polls show Democrats down in the dumps at their lowest approval level in decades, but we Republicans are having an identity crisis of our own, and you can see it in the tug of war over President Trump’s “one big, beautiful bill.” The nub of the conflict: Will Republicans be a majority party of working people, or a permanent minority speaking only for the C suite?

Mr. Trump has promised working-class tax cuts and protection for working-class social insurance, such as Medicaid. But now a noisy contingent of corporatist Republicans — call it the party’s Wall Street wing — is urging Congress to ignore all that and get back to the old-time religion: corporate giveaways, preferences for capital and deep cuts to social insurance.

This wing of the party wants Republicans to build our big, beautiful bill around slashing health insurance for the working poor. But that argument is both morally wrong and politically suicidal.

Let’s begin with the facts of the matter. Medicaid is a federal program that provides health care to low-income Americans in partnership with state governments. Today it serves over 70 million Americans, including well over one million residents of Missouri, the state I represent.

As for Missouri, it is one of 40 Medicaid expansion states — because our voters wanted it that way. In 2020, the same year Mr. Trump carried the Missouri popular vote by a decisive margin, voters mandated that the state expand Medicaid coverage to working-class individuals unable to afford health care elsewhere. Voters went so far as to inscribe that expansion in our state constitution. Now some 21 percent of Missourians benefit from Medicaid or CHIP, the companion insurance program for lower-income children. And many of our rural hospitals and health providers depend on the funding from these programs to keep their doors open.

All of which means this: If Congress cuts funding for Medicaid benefits, Missouri workers and their children will lose their health care. And hospitals will close. It’s that simple. And that pattern will replicate in states across the country.

One of my constituents, a married mother of five, contacted me to explain why Medicaid is vital to her 8-year-old daughter, who depends on a feeding tube to survive. Formula, pump rentals, feeding extensions and other treatments cost $1,500 a month; prescriptions nearly double that cost. These expenses aren’t covered by private insurance. The mother wrote to me, “Without Medicaid, we would lose everything — our home, our vehicles, and eventually, our daughter.”

Congress should be doing everything possible to aid these working families, to make their health care better and more affordable. We should cap prescription drug costs, as I have recently proposed. We should give every family in America with children a hefty tax cut. What we should not do is eliminate their health care.

Mr. Trump himself has been crystal clear on this point. Since taking office he has repeatedly rejected calls for Medicaid benefit cuts. Just the other week, he said, “We are doing absolutely nothing to hurt Medicare, Medicaid or Social Security. Nothing at all.”

And for good reason. The president understands who his voters are. Recent polling shows that 64 percent of Republicans hold a favorable view of Medicaid. About one in six have personally been on the program. Meanwhile, more than 80 percent of Americans oppose significant cuts to Medicaid and over half — half — have a personal or family connection to the Medicaid program.

It’s safe to say the Trump coalition was not pulling the lever for Medicaid cuts in November. Mike Johnson, the House speaker, finally woke up to this fact last week, when he withdrew his support from one of the most aggressive reductions to Medicaid on the table. But many of my House and Senate colleagues keep pushing for substantial cuts, and the House will begin to hash out its differences in negotiations this week.

My colleagues have cited the editorial board of The Wall Street Journal, which has been pushing that line for months, including in a recent editorial that inveighed against my opposition to Medicaid benefit cuts. But following The Journal’s prescriptions would represent the end of any chance of us becoming a working-class party.

Republicans need to open their eyes: Our voters support social insurance programs. More than that, our voters depend on those programs. And there’s a reason for this that Republicans would do well to ponder. Our economy is increasingly unfriendly to working people and their families.

For the better part of 50 years, working wages have been flat in real terms. Working people cannot afford to get married when they want to, have the number of children they want to or raise those children as they would like. These days, they can barely afford to put a roof over their kids’ heads, to say nothing of health care.

Both Democrats and Republicans share the blame for this state of affairs, which is one big reason Mr. Trump got elected. He promised to shake up the status quo. Republicans in Congress should pay attention. Our voters not only want us to protect the social insurance they need to get by; they also want us to fight for a better life — for a better economy with the kinds of jobs and wages that allow working people to get married and start families, to buy homes and have a stake in their towns and neighborhoods.

That’s the promise of American life. If Republicans want to be a working-class party — if we want to be a majority party — we must ignore calls to cut Medicaid and start delivering on America’s promise for America’s working people.

Josh Hawley is a Republican senator from Missouri.

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Design lab invents first-of-its-kind 3D-printed wheelchair for kids — and will give them away for free

Posted on May 12, 2025 by Jim deMaine

from Good Good Good – thanks to Pam P.

The average pediatric wheelchair can cost thousands of dollars. And when children grow and their needs evolve — or a wheelchair gets damaged — those costs multiply.

So, the team at MakeGood NOLA, a New Orleans-based adaptive design lab, has made something that can transform the world for disabled children.

“Introducing the world’s first fully 3D-printed wheelchair,” MakeGood founder and president Noam Platt started a recent social media video.

A green 3D-printed wheelchair for toddlers
The new 3D-printed chair by MakeGood. Photo courtesy of MakeGood NOLA

He wheels a small, almost toy-like lime-green wheelchair into the frame, complete with a matching harness, suitable for children ages 2 to 8.

“Everything from the body, to the wheels, to the tires, the seat, and even the straps, all were 3D printed on a regular Bambu Labs A1 machine,” Platt continued.

This means the design is fully compatible with a regular 3D printer anyone can have in their home.

“We designed this to be modular and easy to make,” Platt continued. “Really, anyone with a 3D printer and some filament can download the files and print it.”

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Finding your mother!

Posted on May 11, 2025 by Jim deMaine
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A mother without the title

Posted on May 11, 2025 by Jim deMaine

by Heather Cox Richardson

Ed Note: I hope you’ve had a chance to read Erma Bombeck’s book, “Motherhood, the Second Oldest Profession.” It’s a wonderful wise, funny and poignant collection of essays.

Those of us who are truly lucky have more than one mother. They are the cool aunts, the elderly ladies, the family friends, even the mentors who whip us into shape. By my count, I’ve had at least eight mothers. One of the most important was Sally Adams Bascom Augenstern.

Mrs. A., a widow who had played cutthroat bridge with my grandmother in the 1950s, lived near my family in Maine in the summer. I began vacuuming and weeding and painting for her when I was about 12, but it wasn’t long before my time at her house stopped being a job. She was bossy, demanding, sharp as a tack…and funny and thoughtful, and she remembered most of the century. She would sit in her rocking chair by the sunny window in the kitchen, shelling peas and telling me stories while I washed the floor with a hand sponge to spin out the time.

Sally (not Sarah) Bascom was born on December 25, 1903. (For folks in Maine keeping score, that made her almost a full year older than Millard Robinson, a fact she loathed.) She was the oldest of six children and spent her youth taking care of the younger ones. When I once asked her what was the most important historical event in her lifetime, this woman who had lived through the Depression and both world wars answered without hesitation: “the washing machine.” It had freed her and her mother from constant laundry. She could finally have some leisure time, which she spent listening to the radio and driving in cars with boys. Because her mother always needed her at home, it was not she, but all her younger siblings, who went to college. By the time Mrs. A. was an adult, she was certain she wanted no part of motherhood.

Mrs. A. never forgave her sister for driving her Model T through a field. She saved aluminum foil not because of WWII, but because of WWI. She supported herself and refused to marry until she met an older man who offered to take her traveling; they had a quick wedding and set off for Banff, where they looked at mountains and watched the bears pilfer trash.

She destroyed her knees playing tennis, so she would weed the garden by staggering to a lawn chair set up there. She loved snapdragons and nicotiana, veronica and irises and wild roses. After Mr. Augenstern died, she drove herself to and from Florida once a year in a giant old Cadillac with “Arrive Alive” on the license plate holder; she drove like a bat out of hell. She played bridge with terrifying intensity. And she always refused to be seen in public unless she was in a dress with her hair pinned up and her pearls on.

Mrs. A. laughed at me when I fell in love with history and tried to tell her that people changed the world because of their beliefs. “Follow the money, Heather,” said the woman whose income depended on her knowledge of the stock market. “Don’t pay attention to what they say; pay attention to who’s getting the money.” I listened. And then I learned as I watched her lose my grandmother’s generation and then work to make friends with my mother’s generation. And when they, too, died, she set out, in her eighties, to make friends with my generation. Every day was a new day.

Mrs. A. left me her linens, her gardening coat, and this photo of her and her siblings: Frances (who died young), Phyllis, Carlton, Guy, and Nathan. She also left me ideas about how to approach both history and life. I’ve never met a woman more determined never to be a mother, but I’m pretty sure that plan was one of the few things at which she failed.

Thinking of her, and all the wonderful women like her who mother without the title, on Mother’s Day 2025.

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Tesla message

Posted on May 11, 2025 by Jim deMaine

Photo by Mary M. who noted this decal above the license plate on a Tesla parked here.

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A morning stroll today in the Arboretum’s Azalea Way

Posted on May 9, 2025 by Jim deMaine

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Dutch nursing home offers free rent to college students in exchange for their time and companionship

Posted on May 9, 2025 by Jim deMaine

From Good Good Good News – thanks to Pam P.

Twelve years ago, a Dutch nursing home — the Woon-en Zorgcentrum Humanitas Deventer — implemented a unique program. 

In exchange for 30 hours of their time and companionship each month, local college students could live in the care center rent-free. 

“It started with the idea of ​​becoming the warmest home for seniors in Deventer,” Gea Sijpkes, director of WZC Humanitas, said in a statement. “And we wanted to do that with the energy of the youth.”

For Sijpkes, it’s a win-win. Recent studies find that intergenerational friendships can mitigate stress, lower depression, and boost self-esteem in older people. 

“At the same time, there was a shortage of student housing, which meant that more and more young people were staying at home. I then thought: why don’t I combine the two?”

A student gives a thumbs up as he cooks beside a senior resident
Image via Woon-en Zorgcentrum Humanitas Deventer / Facebook

The director went on to explain that “the students are not caregivers” but instead “good neighbors.” (continue on page 2 in Skyline Happenings)

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Quo vadis, Pope Leo XIV? – commentary by Heather Cox Richardson

Posted on May 9, 2025 by Jim deMaine

Ed note from ChatGPT: “Quo vadis?” is Latin for “Where are you going?” or more literally, “Where are you marching?”

It’s famously associated with a Christian tradition involving Saint Peter. According to the apocryphal Acts of Peter, as Peter was fleeing Rome to escape persecution, he encountered a vision of Jesus. Peter asked, “Quo vadis, Domine?” (“Where are you going, Lord?”), and Jesus replied, “I am going to Rome to be crucified again.” This prompted Peter to return to Rome, where he was eventually martyred.

The phrase has since come to symbolize a moment of decision or turning point, especially one involving moral or spiritual direction.

From HCR:

Today, on the second day of the papal conclave, the cardinal electors—133 members of the College of Cardinals who were under the age of 80 when Pope Francis died on April 21—elected a new pope. They chose 69-year-old Cardinal Robert Prevost, who was born in Chicago, thus making him the first pope chosen from the United States. But he spent much of his ministry in Peru and became a citizen of Peru in 2015, making him the first pope from Peru, as well.

New popes choose a papal name to signify the direction of their papacy, and Prevost has chosen to be known as Pope Leo XIV. This is an important nod to Pope Leo XIII, who led the church from 1878 to 1903 and was the father of modern Catholic social teaching. He called for the church to address social and economic issues, and emphasized the dignity of individuals, the common good, community, and taking care of marginalized individuals.

In the midst of the Gilded Age, Leo XIII defended the rights of workers and said that the church had not just the duty to speak about justice and fairness, but also the responsibility to make sure that such equities were accomplished. In his famous 1891 encyclical Rerum Novarum, translated as “Of New Things,” Leo XIII rejected both socialism and unregulated capitalism, and called for the state to protect the rights of individuals. (continued on page 2 on Skyline Happenings website)

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42 of the world’s most unusual structures

Posted on May 8, 2025 by Jim deMaine

Thanks to John R. (scroll down to view) Note: Seattle’s EMP makes the list, of course!

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The rise of a new form of germ theory denial

Posted on May 8, 2025 by Jim deMaine

Kristen Panthagani, MD, PhD

There is a growing, concerning movement undermining one of the most well established scientific theories there is: germ theory, the idea that germs—like viruses and bacteria—cause disease.

But it’s subtle.

Outright denial of germ theory is still a fringe idea: very few deny that viruses and bacteria exist. Rather, it’s the effect of germs—whether germs are the true cause of an illness—that is increasingly being called into question.

What germ theory is and isn’t

When germ theory was first proposed in the 1800s, scientists didn’t have the modern scientific tools we have today, and there was genuine debate over how infectious diseases like cholera were transmitted. Some thought it was microscopic germs, while others thought it was “bad vapors” (miasma theory). But that debate has been long settled. Microscopic germs like Vibrio cholerae (the bacteria that causes cholera), measles, influenza, and polio all cause infections that make people sick

Of course, there is more to germs than just disease. Some germs are good for us—like the many germs that make up the microbiome in our gut. And some germs cause disease only some of the time, like the MRSA bacteria that I am almost certainly colonized with as a healthcare worker. And sometimes, other health conditions—like those with diabetes or conditions that weaken the immune system—make people more susceptible to infectious germs.

Germ theory does not say all germs are bad, nor does it say germs are responsible for every disease known to humans, nor does it say that any exposure to a germ is a guarantee of illness. It says that certain germs can cause infections that make people sick. And when that happens, the germ really is to blame.

A new subtle form of germ theory denial

But this idea is starting to be rejected and replaced with a new, inaccurate view of why infections happen and what we should do about them.

This new version of germ theory denial still acknowledges that germs are real, but says they’re not all that much of a threat for a healthy individual, and not the real problem causing disease. Instead, when someone catches an infection, the person’s immune system and lifestyle are blamed—an unhealthy diet, lack of exercise, exposure to “environmental toxins,” or underlying conditions are allegedly the “true” cause of disease because they damaged the immune system. (continued)

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Science for all rally on Sunday

Posted on May 8, 2025 by Jim deMaine

Thanks to Mary M.

Hello Seattle Stand Up for Science Community!We are excited for you to join us at our next rally, Science for All, will be coming soon on Sunday, 5/18, from 9-11am! Our goal is to cover as much ground as possible between the Ferry Terminal and the Sculpture Garden along the Seattle Waterfront. 

This event seeks to demonstrate our community’s support for scientists and scientific research, public workers, and public lands. We will bring scientists and the people that benefit from science and research (so, everyone) to the waterfront, creating a line of supporters from the ferry terminal to the sculpture garden. This event will feature several “Ask a Scientist” stations, where you can ask scientists your most pressing (and imaginative!) questions about their work, their field, and why they do what they do! We will also have postcard writing stations for you to contact your representatives, a “passport” that kids (and adults) can get stamped after visiting each theme area, sign-making and costumery, and more! Bring your friends, family, and kids for a morning of fun, action, and advocacy in support of science, scientists, public workers, and research. More details can be found here, but in the meantime, make sure to follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Bluesky. See you there!

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Proof

Posted on May 8, 2025 by Jim deMaine

thanks to Pam P.

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Plans for bond funded growth at Harborview

Posted on May 8, 2025 by Jim deMaine

From Frank C.: At yesterday’s meeting of the First Hill Improvement Association’s Urban Design& Public Space committee, we received a brief update on the Harborview Hospital renovation project. Without getting into much detail, I think it is fair to say that the new construction and renovations that are planned will have some impact on our neighborhood. It looks as if the process of naming the firm to do the design and construction will be later this year, with a “guestimate” that construction will beginning 2028.

Anyone interested in receiving periodic updates may sign up at:
www.KingCounty.gov/Harborview

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A Popemobile Will Ride Again, This Time Into Gaza

Posted on May 6, 2025 by Jim deMaine

In his last months, Pope Francis blessed an effort to transform the vehicle he used when he visited the West Bank in 2014 into a mobile health clinic to treat Palestinian children in the Gaza Strip.

Pope Francis standing in a covered vehicle surrounded by a crowd waving flags.
Pope Francis in his popemobile in Manger Square in the West Bank city of Bethlehem in 2014.Credit…Vincenzo Pinto/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

By Adam Rasgon in the NYT (thanks to Pam P.)

When Pope Francis visited Bethlehem in the Israeli-occupied West Bank in 2014, he crisscrossed the traditional birthplace of Jesus in a white popemobile manufactured especially for his visit.

Now, the vehicle is being transformed into a mobile health clinic to treat ill and wounded Palestinian children in the Gaza Strip — an initiative that Pope Francis blessed in the months before he died.

While the clinic will serve only a limited number of Palestinians in Gaza, Pope Francis’s personal involvement in the project reflected his commitment to Palestinian civilians caught in the crossfire between Israel and Hamas, particularly children, in more than 18 months of war.

“The papamobile is a very concrete sign that Pope Francis is concerned with all the suffering of children in Gaza, even after his death!” Cardinal Anders Arborelius of Sweden said in an email on Monday.

The idea to recreate the popemobile as a health clinic came from leaders of Caritas, a Catholic organization, and Cardinal Arborelius approached Francis with it. The Swedish cardinal is a contender to become the next pope after Francis.

The popemobile, a converted Mitsubishi, was donated by President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority for Francis’ visit. It was given to the Franciscan order afterward, and then to Caritas after Francis blessed its use in Gaza. (continued on the website)

A man uses a hose to wash a white vehicle.
A photograph of the popemobile at a garage where it will be transformed into a mobile health clinic was made available by Caritas Jerusalem.Credit…Caritas Jerusalem

In November 2024, representatives of Francis said that he welcomed the initiative, according to two letters from senior Vatican officials reviewed by The New York Times.

“I am pleased to convey His Holiness’s approval of the project, together with the assurance of his prayers for all associated with this charitable endeavor,” Archbishop Edgar Peña Parra, a senior aide to Francis, wrote to Cardinal Arborelius.

The popemobile will be staffed with a physician and a nurse and equipped with medical instruments to offer children basic care, including rapid tests for infections, suture kits and syringes, according to Anton Asfar, the secretary general of Caritas Jerusalem. Caritas Jerusalem has around 100 staff members in Gaza providing aid to Palestinians.

Preparing the vehicle for use, including the installation of blastproof windows, will take roughly three weeks, Mr. Asfar said. Caritas Jerusalem, he added, will soon request approval from Israeli authorities to deliver it to Gaza.

COGAT, the Israeli government agency responsible for coordinating the entry of aid into the enclave, did not respond to a request for comment about whether Israel intended to allow the passage of the popemobile. Israeli authorities have enforced a total blockade on humanitarian supplies and commercial goods for the past two months, saying that the ban was meant to pressure Hamas to release more of the hostages they have been holding since the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel.

Francis was one of the most outspoken prominent supporters of a cease-fire in Gaza and the delivery of humanitarian aid. He also called for the release of hostages, met with their relatives and condemned the Hamas-led attack, which left some 1,200 people dead and about 250 abducted.

He also frequently had video calls with Christians sheltering at a church in Gaza City and drew attention to children killed in Israeli airstrikes.

“Yesterday, children were bombed,” Francis said in a December 2024 address. “This is cruelty. This is not war.”

The Israeli military has said its bombing campaign has targeted Hamas militants and officials and weapons infrastructure, and has blamed the militant group for exposing civilians to danger by embedding with them.

The popemobile will be carrying a message of hope and solidarity, but it will also be offering needed services, said Peter Brune, the secretary general of Caritas Sweden.

“It’s symbolic,” he said, “but it’s also practical.”

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In a final act of kindness, Pope Francis donated his entire personal bank account to prisoners right before he died

Posted on May 5, 2025 by Jim deMaine

from Goodgoodgood – thanks to Pam P.

Even in his final moments, Pope Francis maintained his heart for justice and mercy. 

As Catholics around the world mourn the death of the late pope, more details are surfacing about his final days.

Pope Francis, in all white, waves and smiles
Pope Francis in 2014. Photo by Jeffrey Bruno/ALETEIA (CC BY-SA 2.0)

Monsignor Benoni “Don Ben” Ambarus, who was the official responsible for managing Francis’ charity and prison pastoral care in Rome, said that before his death, the pope donated €200,000 (or about $226,400 USD) to a juvenile prison in Rome: Casal del Marmo.

Not only was it nearly the last of his personal wealth, but it went to fund a pasta factory — Pastificio Futuro, or “Future Pasta Factory” — that operates in the prison.

“I told him that we have a big mortgage for this pasta factory and if we can reduce it we will lower the price of pasta, sell more and hire more boys,” Ambarus told La Repubblica newspaper. 

“He replied, ‘Almost all my money is finished, but I still have something in my account.’ And he gave me €200,000.”

Throughout his time as pope, he was entitled to a papal salary of some €30,000 a month, but Pope Francis refused to collect it. Instead, he deferred it to various organizations, churches, and groups in need. 

Casal del Marmo held a particularly special place in the history of Pope Francis. In 2013, he celebrated his first Mass of the Lord’s Supper on Holy Thursday there. 

And in 2023, he returned to wash the feet of 12 young inmates.

It was a ritual that recalls the foot-washing Jesus performed on his 12 apostles at their Last Supper before his crucifixion. In this Holy Thursday moment, Pope Francis assured the youth of their dignity, adding that “any of us” can fall into sin.

Pope Francis’ commitment to people in poverty and prison was prominent throughout his papacy, demonstrating his belief that the Catholic Church should help and provide attention to people living on the margins of society.

“We have to help each other … giving one another a hand is beautiful,” Pope Francis said in his remarks at the feet-washing ritual in 2023.

“In society, we profit from each other … how many injustices [are there], how many people without work, without money to buy what they need? If that’s not me, it’s for the grace of God.”

Ambarus said that even in his tired and frail state, Pope Francis would be remembered as someone who fought for the rights of prisoners.

“He (fought for) them until his last breath,” Ambarus told La Repubblica. “That is why the prisoners saw hope in him. A father died for them.”

Ambarus also condemned the Roman legal system for failing to respond to Pope Francis’s calls for mercy toward inmates. 

“[Pope Francis] called for more to be done to restore dignity to people … But there was no direct result of his appeals. Like on the reduction of sentences,” Ambarus added.

“A great sadness enveloped the prisoners when they realised that the institutions had done nothing, not even a small gesture. Small gestures — a letter, a conversation, practical help with shoes or clothing — can reignite the human dignity that prison walls so often extinguish.”

But Pope Francis will be remembered far beyond a gesture. The pasta factory in Casal del Marmo received his blessing years ago, employing inmates to work toward reintegration in society and prevent recidivism.

“It all goes back to March 2013,” Alberto Mochi Onori told El Mundo, when the pope visited the prison for Holy Thursday for the first time.

“At the end of the visit, he delivered a brief homily, proclaiming: ‘Do not let yourselves be robbed of hope!’”

After a prison chaplain spoke with the Pontiff on this visit, Onori said Pope Francis declared: “We have to do something for these kids.” The pope later donated the initial funding to start the pasta factory.

“The profile of those who come here is usually people who don’t have their head in the right place. If they don’t have an alternative, they fall back,” Carmine, a 25-year-old former inmate at the facility, told El Mundo.

“But when the kids come here, they come with one mindset and leave with another. One of wanting to work and get organized. The project works very well. Working gives you hope.”

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How Nearly a Century of Happiness Research Led to One Big Finding

Posted on May 5, 2025 by Jim deMaine

By Susan Dominus in the NYT Magazine (thanks to my Buddhist friend Howard P.)

Growing up in Maryland, Sonja Lyubomirsky could see that her mother was unhappy. When Sonja was 9, her parents moved the family from Moscow, where her mother taught literature at a high school, to the United States, hoping to offer their children more opportunities. In their new country, Sonja’s mother could no longer teach, so she cleaned houses to help the family get by. She missed her old career; she longed for her home country; she was frequently teary. She was unhappy on a Tolstoyan scale. Sonja understood her nostalgia and frustrations, which were compounded by a miserable marriage, but she still wondered: Were Russians just less happy than Americans? Was her mother destined to be unhappy anywhere, or was this a result of life circumstances? What, if anything, might make someone like her mother happier, if not wholly content?

In 1985, Lyubomirsky left for college at Harvard, where, her adviser reminded her years later, she frequently brought up the topic of happiness, even though his expertise was in the social psychology of the stock market. At the time, the study of happiness was far from the wellness mega-field it has become today. In the ’60s, a researcher making a rare foray into the subject noted that very little progress on the theory of happiness had been made since Aristotle weighed in two millenniums earlier. That paper concluded that youth and modest life aspirations were key components of happiness (findings later called into question).

Many scientists at the time believed that happiness was essentially random: It was not something to cultivate, like a garden, or to reach for, by setting and achieving meaningful goals. It was something that happened to people, by virtue of their genes, their circumstances or both. “It may be that trying to be happier is as futile as trying to be taller and therefore is counterproductive,” the authors of a 1996 study concluded.

When Lyubomirsky arrived at graduate school for social psychology at Stanford in 1989, academic research on happiness was only beginning to gain legitimacy. Ed Diener, a psychologist at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign who would eventually be known for his work in the field, waited until he was granted tenure before tackling the subject, despite harboring a longstanding interest in it. Lyubomirsky, too, was wary of choosing happiness as a specialty — she was a woman in science eager to be taken seriously, and anything in the realm of “emotions” was considered somewhat soft. Nonetheless, on her first day of graduate school at Stanford, in 1989, following an energizing conversation with her adviser, she resolved to make happiness her focus.

Lyubomirsky began with the basic question of why some people are happier than others. A few years earlier, Diener published a survey of the existing research, which touched on the kinds of behaviors that happy people seemed inclined to engage in — religious observance, for example, or socializing and exercising. But the studies, which sometimes had conflicting findings, yielded no clear consensus. Lyubomirsky’s own research, over many years, pointed toward the importance of a person’s mind-set: Happy people tended to refrain from comparing themselves with others, had more positive perceptions of others, found ways to be satisfied with a range of choices and did not dwell on the negative.

But Lyubomirsky knew she couldn’t separate cause and effect: Did being happy encourage a healthy mind-set, or did adopting that mind-set make people happier? Were people like her mother doomed to live with whatever their natural level of happiness was — or could they take control of their mood, if they only knew how? Even if you could change your mind-set, that process seemed to take a long time — people spend years in therapy trying (and often failing) to do it — and Lyubomirsky wondered whether there were simpler, easier behaviors they could adopt that would quickly enhance their sense of well-being. She decided to put it to the test.

Lyubomirsky started by studying some of the habits and practices that were commonly believed to be mood boosters: random acts of kindness and expressions of gratitude. Each week for six weeks, she had students perform five acts of kindness — donating blood, for example, or helping another student with a paper — and found that they were happier by the end of that period than the students in her control group. She asked a separate group of students to contemplate, once a week, the things they were grateful for, like “my mom” or “AOL Instant Messenger.” They, too, were happier after doing so than a control group. The changes in well-being weren’t particularly large in either study, but Lyubomirsky found it remarkable that so small and low-cost an intervention could improve the quality of students’ lives. In 2005, she published a paper based on those studies arguing that people did have considerable control over how happy they were. (continued)

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