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  Biology versus bullsh*t Simple but Not Easy Jake Auchincloss Feb 20, 2026 This week, I authored a guest post in  Meidas+  on the politician at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) who overruled career scientists to block Moderna’s flu vaccine application from review. You can read the full piece below on how FDA Commissioner Marty Makary must be fired. “In the long contest between  biology and bullshit , biology is undefeated,” Auchincloss [told Bloomberg]. “The [FDA] commissioner is trying to wage that battle, and it’s going to be patients who lose.” The FDA is staffed by scientists who review evidence to determine the safety and efficacy of medicines. It’s a bureaucracy wrestling with biology, so of course it’s messy. But in general, they have done well. Away from the political spotlight, the FDA sifted through randomized controlled trials and debated surrogate endpoints with investigators. It became the world’s gold standard biomedical regulator. Until 2025....

  Support our nonprofit journalism   March 10, 2025 As a   measles  outbreak unfolds in Texas and wary officials monitor the  bird flu , how is the Trump administration responding? By reportedly trying to get rid of thousands of employees at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS),  as I wrote yesterday . On Friday, staff of the highly consequential umbrella agency—which  employs  more than 80,000 people across offices including at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), National Institutes of Health (NIH), and Food and Drug Administration (FDA)—reportedly received an email offering them $25,000 buyouts. The offer, which is available to employees in good standing who have worked for the government for at least three years, could lead to a purge of even  more  government workers at a time when public health already feels on the brink.  Why? Take a look at HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s response to the measle...