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Rich Abdill

@richabdill.com

Studying the human microbiome at UChicago

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04.08.2023
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Latest posts by Rich Abdill @richabdill.com

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CBP Tapped Into the Online Advertising Ecosystem To Track Peoples’ Movements An internal DHS document obtained by 404 Media shows for the first time CBP used location data sourced from the online advertising industry to track phone locations. ICE has bought access to similar t...

I was just talking about this the other day, 404 Media has been doing an incredible job laying out the threats posed by data brokers www.404media.co/cbp-tapped-i...

03.03.2026 14:50 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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Sample Size Reporting in Human Cancer Microbiome Research is Inconsistent and Unstandardized Transparent and standardized sample size reporting is essential for reproducibility in microbiome research, and for enabling AI-driven data aggregation tools. This is of particular importance with reg...

Quick paper highlights a fun twist on methods transparency and reportingβ€”even thorough descriptions may be interpretable only to humans. Interesting to consider using standardized syntax ("n=") for LLMs rather than older "semantic web" techniques www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/jour...

23.02.2026 15:46 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

πŸ˜‘

20.02.2026 18:48 πŸ‘ 36 πŸ” 15 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 3

I am seeking a postdoc to join my group at UCLA -- ideally the candidate would have some experience in either population genetics or microbes/microbiome (computational background needed). We have a range of projects and are happy to tailer to your interests. Please dm/email me if interested.

12.02.2026 19:18 πŸ‘ 53 πŸ” 95 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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Idaho families sue over immigration raid that swept up hundreds, including U.S. citizens β€” NBC News About 400 people, including children and U.S. citizens, were detained for four hours while they were denied food and water in the raid, according to the lawsuit.

More than 400 people, including hundreds of citizens, were β€œsorted” at gun point into racial and ethnic groups by 200 ICE agents who fired flash-bang grenades into cars with people inside, pointed guns at children & demanded their zip tied parents not comfort them. apple.news/Ausdx6kWtT0e...

12.02.2026 01:35 πŸ‘ 7620 πŸ” 3973 πŸ’¬ 239 πŸ“Œ 610
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How ICE Already Knows Who Minneapolis Protesters Are

A Minnesota woman observing ICE agents in her car was cornered on one-way streets. An agent approached, called her by nameβ€”citing facial recognition. Days later, her Global Entry and TSA privileges were revoked, with no explanation.

30.01.2026 11:55 πŸ‘ 16419 πŸ” 10008 πŸ’¬ 839 πŸ“Œ 1355

ICE's decision to just leave cars abandoned in the roads is one of those dystopian things that makes you recoil in shock when you encounter it.

29.01.2026 16:58 πŸ‘ 8648 πŸ” 2837 πŸ’¬ 152 πŸ“Œ 90
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What Americans Lose If Their National Center for Atmospheric Research Is Dismantled - Eos Five ways dismantling NCAR will cost the American people, and two ways to save it.

What Americans Lose If Their National Center for Atmospheric Research Is Dismantled

27.01.2026 20:27 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 1
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From the Maine community on Reddit: ICE tells legal observer she is a domestic terrorist for peacefully filming Explore this post and more from the Maine community

"We have a nice little database. Now you're considered a domestic terrorist." www.reddit.com/r/Maine/comm...

23.01.2026 16:31 πŸ‘ 1139 πŸ” 491 πŸ’¬ 80 πŸ“Œ 155
Screenshot of a banner ad at the top of a website. It's been replaced by a dark box labeled "This ad used too many resources for your device, so chrome removed it."

Screenshot of a banner ad at the top of a website. It's been replaced by a dark box labeled "This ad used too many resources for your device, so chrome removed it."

Google's browser is now cutting off its own ads for eating up too many resources

20.01.2026 18:47 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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Scoop: The leaked protocol of the CDC-funded Hepatitis B vaccine trial in Guinea-Bissau. β€œThis is another Tuskegee.” The protocol reveals that the trial will withhold the Hepatitis B birth dose from thousandsβ€”without placebos, without universal maternal screening, and with endpoints critics call indefensible.

We have the CDC-funded Hepatitis Vaccine trial in Guinea-Bissau protocol.

It’s worse than you thought.

Check it out, first in Inside Medicine…

with @pauloffit.bsky.social David Boulware and others.

insidemedicine.substack.com/p/scoop-the-...

15.01.2026 10:57 πŸ‘ 469 πŸ” 291 πŸ’¬ 24 πŸ“Œ 80
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Microbes in breast milk help populate infant gut microbiomes New study provides one of the most detailed portraits yet of how different combinations of bacteria in human milk contribute to infants’ gut microbiomes.

New research from @uchicagobsd.bsky.social shows that microbes in breast milk actually populate the infant gut, laying the foundation for a healthy microbiome.

biologicalsciences.uchicago.edu/news/microbe...

#ScienceNews #Microbiome #GutHealth

12.01.2026 15:24 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
Distraught woman says ICE killed her wife in video after deadly Minneapolis shooting
"They killed my wife," the distraught woman says, adding, "They shot her in the head."
An ICE agent shot and killed a 37-year-old woman who was driving an SUV in Minneapolis on Wednesday. / Screenshot/@Breaking911

Distraught woman says ICE killed her wife in video after deadly Minneapolis shooting "They killed my wife," the distraught woman says, adding, "They shot her in the head." An ICE agent shot and killed a 37-year-old woman who was driving an SUV in Minneapolis on Wednesday. / Screenshot/@Breaking911

"They killed my wife. I don't know what to do," the woman says through sobs in the footage, with a damaged SUV visible in the distance behind her. "We stopped to videotape, and they shot her in the head," the woman cries.
"We have a six-year-old at school," she says, almost unable to breathe, as a chaotic scene in which federal officers prevented at least one doctor who was on the scene from assisting the shot victim unfolds. "We're new here," the distraught woman says in despair.

"They killed my wife. I don't know what to do," the woman says through sobs in the footage, with a damaged SUV visible in the distance behind her. "We stopped to videotape, and they shot her in the head," the woman cries. "We have a six-year-old at school," she says, almost unable to breathe, as a chaotic scene in which federal officers prevented at least one doctor who was on the scene from assisting the shot victim unfolds. "We're new here," the distraught woman says in despair.

You and your wife drop your 6-year-old off at school. You just moved here. You see ICE terrorizing your new neighbors. You film them, as is your legal right. Your wife complies with orders. She is then shot in the head. You still have to pick up your child later today.

This could be you.

08.01.2026 00:15 πŸ‘ 44258 πŸ” 17127 πŸ’¬ 1079 πŸ“Œ 778
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Minneapolis schools cancel classes after Border Patrol clash disrupts dismissal at Roosevelt Minneapolis schools closed for the week citing safety concerns after an encounter involving armed Border Patrol agents near Roosevelt High School.

Minneapolis public schools canceled classes officials after Roosevelt High School said armed Border Patrol officers came on school property during dismissal Wednesday and began tackling people, handcuffed two staff members and released chemical weapons on bystanders
www.mprnews.org/story/2026/0...

08.01.2026 13:13 πŸ‘ 2392 πŸ” 1329 πŸ’¬ 127 πŸ“Œ 265

According to my sources, the FBI was initially open to a concurrent investigation with the MN Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (the state agency that would do this investigation).

Trumpy U.S. Attorney Daniel Rosen heard about this and intervened, barring the FBI from cooperating with local police.

08.01.2026 16:35 πŸ‘ 6378 πŸ” 2929 πŸ’¬ 263 πŸ“Œ 246

Posts may be a bit more sporadic from me today as my kids are home from school because my city is being brutalized by the federal government to the extent that it's unsafe for schools to be open

08.01.2026 14:12 πŸ‘ 31321 πŸ” 6402 πŸ’¬ 1193 πŸ“Œ 240
Post image Post image

via Minneapolis photographer Chris Juhn on Facebook

08.01.2026 15:53 πŸ‘ 7306 πŸ” 3165 πŸ’¬ 241 πŸ“Œ 431
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He Studied Why Some Female Birds Look Like Males

"I don’t know why my fellowship was terminated. I suspect that it has something to do with studying a species that doesn’t fit the binary of what we expect to see in nature, with completely different males and females."

@carlzimmer.com profiles my wonderful coauthor @jjinsing.bsky.social Gift link.

02.01.2026 18:10 πŸ‘ 586 πŸ” 183 πŸ’¬ 10 πŸ“Œ 16

The point was never to save money. That was only ever a convenient justification for an effort to decimate the public sector and dismantle the US social safety net.

23.12.2025 17:14 πŸ‘ 473 πŸ” 167 πŸ’¬ 9 πŸ“Œ 4
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Trump Administration Will Investigate Brown’s Security After Shooting

Really sick victim-blaming. Sick, sick shit www.nytimes.com/2025/12/22/u...

23.12.2025 01:45 πŸ‘ 87 πŸ” 16 πŸ’¬ 3 πŸ“Œ 6

Hey I'm not sure if anyone's mentioned it yet but this whole thread makes you look like a huge fucking loser

23.12.2025 01:28 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 0

This is the best piece I’ve read so far on why the Guinea-Bissau RCT, in which a proven life-saving vaccine will be deliberately WITHHELD, is unethical

β€œWhen benefit is established, withholding an intervention is no longer neutral experimentation it becomes premeditated harm”

18.12.2025 23:06 πŸ‘ 172 πŸ” 73 πŸ’¬ 3 πŸ“Œ 2
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US plan for $1.6m hepatitis B vaccine study in Africa called β€˜highly unethical’ Experts decry β€˜neocolonialist’ Guinea-Bissau study after Trump administration changed advice for US babies

I was interviewed for @theguardian.com by the wonderful @melodyschreiber.com, one of the finest health reporters in the world, about what I called a β€œneocolonialist” study planned by Danish researchers in Guinea-Bissau, funded by RFK Jr. So many red flags 🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩

www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

19.12.2025 17:18 πŸ‘ 182 πŸ” 94 πŸ’¬ 8 πŸ“Œ 9
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Federal agents arrest citizen observer watching ICE detain neighbors on her north Minneapolis block Susan Tincher, a 55-year-old American citizen, appears to be the first observer arrested by federal immigration enforcement officers since the agency launched an immigration surge in the Twin Cities l...

β€œShe has marks on her neck and wrist from where agents restrained her. Agents cut off her wedding ring and held her in leg shackles at Whipple Federal Building for about five hours.”

Her crime: witnessing ICE, from a distance.

09.12.2025 22:49 πŸ‘ 2850 πŸ” 1774 πŸ’¬ 98 πŸ“Œ 204
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NIH shut out hundreds of young scientists from funding to start their own labs Special Report: The NIH has shut out hundreds of young scientists from funding to start their own labs.

β€œThe only reason I don’t have this funding is because my last name is Rodriguez.”

MOSAIC checked many of the boxes of the administration β€”Β but that didn't matter. It was terminated, and left grantees scrambling

Next installment of American Science, Shattered:

www.statnews.com/2025/12/08/t...

08.12.2025 14:51 πŸ‘ 138 πŸ” 81 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 4
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404 Media Is Making a Zine We are publishing a risograph-printed zine about the surveillance technologies used by ICE.

404 Media is making a print zine! About the surveillance technologies used by ICE. 16 pages, riso printed. Shipping early January. Features reworked versions of our best reporting and a few new things. We're very excited! And hope to do more if people like it:

www.404media.co/404-media-is...

08.12.2025 15:42 πŸ‘ 1459 πŸ” 456 πŸ’¬ 31 πŸ“Œ 45
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FDA says it won't release details of claimed Covid vaccine deaths in 'near term' Details from an investigation by CBER Director Vinay Prasad into 10 alleged child deaths related to Covid-19 vaccines won't be coming soon, an FDA spokesperson told Endpoints News on Wednesday.

Absolutely unconscionable: Dr Prasad won't share details, data, evidence, or proof of causality. We just have Dr Tracy Beth HΓΈeg's vibes - that's the assessment.

AND:

"FDA vaccine staff disagreed with the assessment that the reported deaths were caused by vaccines"

endpoints.news/fda-says-it-...

04.12.2025 01:29 πŸ‘ 101 πŸ” 38 πŸ’¬ 3 πŸ“Œ 3

48 years. That's how long trans women have been eligible to compete in tennis.

04.12.2025 02:20 πŸ‘ 1366 πŸ” 439 πŸ’¬ 18 πŸ“Œ 9
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'A Collective WTF': National Renewable Energy Laboratory Gets a Trumpian Name Change NREL employees, many of whom joined the lab specifically to work toward its clean energy mission, are not happy about the oil-soaked leadership's moves.

The former oil executive/DOE official who held the all-staff meeting announcing the change repeatedly told the scientists who work on clean energy that she "hates" clean energy.

02.12.2025 16:55 πŸ‘ 83 πŸ” 35 πŸ’¬ 4 πŸ“Œ 4

Read through this and think about how absolutely unimaginable a message like this would have been just 13 months ago.

The suppression of US academic liberty has been accepted and normalized instantly. The federal government is in full control of what thoughts and values are allowed in lecture halls

29.11.2025 12:29 πŸ‘ 66 πŸ” 27 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 1