Why you should care about a frog-pocalypse
Imagine if a new disease started wiping out 6.5 percent of all mammal species. That would be pretty much “everything with hooves...and flippers.” That’s basically what Bd -  a deadly fungal disease  - has been doing to frogs over the last 50 years, and frog experts are starting to freak out. For one disease to decimate a species that’s been evolving for 370 million years, is a big deal - and not just for the frog world. Increasingly, humans are succumbing to fungal diseases, too. Not a surprise: turns out human behavior - in particular, global trade -  has a hand in spreading or curbing Bd's deadly path.

Which epidemic do we tackle first: MIstrust or Ebola?
A new Lancet Study reiterates a growing lesson in public health: mistrust - not science - can be the biggest obstacle to stopping an epidemic. One in four people in DRC's Beni and Butumba - the epicentre of the world's second-biggest Ebola outbreak - believe Ebola doesn't exist. These disbelievers are 15 times less likely to seek treatment at an Ebola health centre.

You say Placebo, I say Placeb-oh!
Ten amazing placebo-related findings are unpacked in this awesome overview of the fascinating and sometimes maddening research findings on the placebo effect, including how some doctors are better at inducing its benefits than others. We bet you can guess how.
 

You're biased - but don't get defensive

For those of us still coming to grips with the difficult truth that we're hard-wired for bias, own it! Recognizing our inherent biases can help us find ways around them more quickly. Since changing the way we're built is unlikely, disrupting bias by the way we design systems can lead to more equitable outcomes. For the first time last year, two female scientists won the Nobel Prize in the same year.  Human rights activist Nadia Murad, a Yazidi woman from Iraq, also received the Nobel Peace Prize. These women, like so many before them, have done amazing work worthy of these honours, but they were among the first to be recognized. What changed? When Nobel nominators were  invited to nominate three people (or groups of people) instead of just one, a woman's name was more likely to appear in the list.

Podcasts for Public Health Nerds
In the latest attempt to make epidemiology cool (it is, btw!), CDC has come up with a podcast that tells the story of the response to issues of public health concern. With exciting titles like: Ethics of Infection Control, Enhanced Surveillance for Coccidioidomycosis, Novel Poxvirus in Proliferative Lesions of Wild Rodents in East Central Texas, it is truly a public health nerd’s This American Life. We like this episode that parallels zombies in literature and emerging infectious diseases.

When your wife becomes an anti-vaxxer
A husband, a wife and Jenny McCarrthy give new meaning to the phrase "three's a crowd."  This hilarious investigation into one couple's marriage is a cautionary tale of how a little obsession with celery, lemons and other innocuous antioxidants can take you down the dark path to anti-vaxxing. This guy's so desperate, he's willing to invite an epidemiologist into their bedroom. Click here to apply...
(Just kidding! But if you did click, you might need to ask yourself some hard questions. No judgement.)

Mike wasted time hitting refresh for freakishly realistic AI generated faces, to distract himself from thoughts of the coming singularity.

Sherine's been learning the hard way why you should never skip out on the flu vaccine.