Journalist & historian of medicine; humanist, wannabe surfer. www.markhonigsbaum.com https://open.substack.com/pub/markhonigsbaumhttps://bsky.app/profile/honigsbaum.bsky.socialhttps://bsky.app/profile/honigsbaum.bsky.social/post/3mir3o4adns2uVaccines get a bad rap on social media. But studies of vaccines for diseases like shingles and influenza suggest they not only protect us from pathogens but increase our chances of living into old age free from conditions associated with senescence. https://markhonigsbaum.substack.com/p/why-its-smart-to-be-a-max-vaxxer05 Apr 2026 15:43 +0000at://did:plc:quiw4cli7lswhrjbvq6f7on7/app.bsky.feed.post/3mir3o4adns2uhttps://bsky.app/profile/honigsbaum.bsky.social/post/3mhfzmn4j5c27As the US National Institutes of Health prepares to host a lecture on the "lab-leak" theory and the origin of Covid-19, I review the long history of pandemics and describe how the the question of origins has long puzzled researchers. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/science-and-disease/a-nail-in-the-coffin-for-the-lab-leak-theory/19 Mar 2026 12:42 +0000at://did:plc:quiw4cli7lswhrjbvq6f7on7/app.bsky.feed.post/3mhfzmn4j5c27https://bsky.app/profile/honigsbaum.bsky.social/post/3mhbkzoc6gk2eThe meningitis outbreak sparking panic across southern England is a reminder that the infection can strike anyone, anywhere at any time. I should know - in 2012 it claimed the life of journalist friend shortly after his arrival in Paris. https://markhonigsbaum.substack.com/p/meningitis-on-the-eurostar-a-cautionary17 Mar 2026 18:10 +0000at://did:plc:quiw4cli7lswhrjbvq6f7on7/app.bsky.feed.post/3mhbkzoc6gk2ehttps://bsky.app/profile/honigsbaum.bsky.social/post/3mgwysquloc2vAerosol infection, “the elephant in the room”… [contains quote post or other embedded content]13 Mar 2026 13:17 +0000at://did:plc:quiw4cli7lswhrjbvq6f7on7/app.bsky.feed.post/3mgwysquloc2vhttps://bsky.app/profile/honigsbaum.bsky.social/post/3mgrfhfatgk2lAs a new study calls into question one of the central planks of the "lab leak" hypothesis, I review the long history of pandemics and describe how researchers have long puzzled over their origins. https://markhonigsbaum.substack.com/p/opportunity-killer11 Mar 2026 07:47 +0000at://did:plc:quiw4cli7lswhrjbvq6f7on7/app.bsky.feed.post/3mgrfhfatgk2lhttps://bsky.app/profile/honigsbaum.bsky.social/post/3mgosaupnt22lScientists Get a Glimpse of How New Pandemics Are Made https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/09/science/covid-coronavirus-evolution.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share10 Mar 2026 06:58 +0000at://did:plc:quiw4cli7lswhrjbvq6f7on7/app.bsky.feed.post/3mgosaupnt22lhttps://bsky.app/profile/honigsbaum.bsky.social/post/3mgjwhh5fts2lAs bombs rain down on Tehran, the world appears more than divided than ever. But was war in the Middle East inevitable? Or is the current conflagration further evidence of how Covid-19 destabilised our world, plunging us into permacrisis? https://open.substack.com/pub/markhonigsbaum/p/the-pandemic-permacrisis?r=rgoak&utm_medium=ios08 Mar 2026 08:30 +0000at://did:plc:quiw4cli7lswhrjbvq6f7on7/app.bsky.feed.post/3mgjwhh5fts2lhttps://bsky.app/profile/honigsbaum.bsky.social/post/3meviato7ps2pIn the last six weeks, Europe has seen Biblical levels of rain, exceeding the 40 days and nights described in the Book Genesis. When will the deluge end, many have been asking? But what if it has only just begun?And what are we going to do about it? https://substack.com/home/post/p-18792709415 Feb 2026 11:58 +0000at://did:plc:quiw4cli7lswhrjbvq6f7on7/app.bsky.feed.post/3meviato7ps2phttps://bsky.app/profile/honigsbaum.bsky.social/post/3mee7davqbc2iWhen Peter Mandelson bought a house in my street, I wondered how he could afford it. Pity then that all it took was one call to my editor from the ‘Prince of Darkness’ to kill my story. https://open.substack.com/pub/markhonigsbaum/p/the-first-mandelson-scandal?r=rgoak&utm_medium=ios&shareImageVariant=overlay08 Feb 2026 15:03 +0000at://did:plc:quiw4cli7lswhrjbvq6f7on7/app.bsky.feed.post/3mee7davqbc2ihttps://bsky.app/profile/honigsbaum.bsky.social/post/3m5ygoixmr22oTo Oxford to debate the Covid Lockdowns this evening with Sunetra Gupta, Hugh Montgomery & Toby Green. What did we get right and what did we get wrong? And what should we do differently next time? https://x.com/comacfreedom/status/1990496059051868616?s=4619 Nov 2025 14:11 +0000at://did:plc:quiw4cli7lswhrjbvq6f7on7/app.bsky.feed.post/3m5ygoixmr22ohttps://bsky.app/profile/honigsbaum.bsky.social/post/3m5gdwrh2wk25The new Netflix miniseries Death By Lightning based on the 1881 assassination of president James Garfield by a deranged office seeker is highly pertinent to our troubled times. https://open.substack.com/pub/markhonigsbaum/p/the-president-and-the-madman?r=rgoak&utm_medium=ios12 Nov 2025 09:34 +0000at://did:plc:quiw4cli7lswhrjbvq6f7on7/app.bsky.feed.post/3m5gdwrh2wk25https://bsky.app/profile/honigsbaum.bsky.social/post/3lyzjjgpjdk2wSome thoughts on the shooting of Charlie Kirk, Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian, and what the litany of campus shootings say about our violent, blood-soaked times. https://markhonigsbaum.substack.com/p/meridian-times17 Sep 2025 09:29 +0000at://did:plc:quiw4cli7lswhrjbvq6f7on7/app.bsky.feed.post/3lyzjjgpjdk2whttps://bsky.app/profile/honigsbaum.bsky.social/post/3lyuuaalvak2ahttps://www.thefp.com/p/sam-harris-log-off?utm_medium=email Sage advice from Sam Harris:- Get off social media. Read good books and real journalism. Find your friends. And enjoy your life.15 Sep 2025 12:57 +0000at://did:plc:quiw4cli7lswhrjbvq6f7on7/app.bsky.feed.post/3lyuuaalvak2ahttps://bsky.app/profile/honigsbaum.bsky.social/post/3lyt7v37yu227Charlie Kirk’s Killing and Our Poisonous Internet https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/14/opinion/charlie-kirk-shooting-internet.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare “While the internet’s rot once felt safely bottled…within a digital realm, this act of political violence may have punctured whatever barrier once existed”.14 Sep 2025 21:20 +0000at://did:plc:quiw4cli7lswhrjbvq6f7on7/app.bsky.feed.post/3lyt7v37yu227https://bsky.app/profile/honigsbaum.bsky.social/post/3lyshtga24s2yWhen my beloved goldendoodle of 15 years died this summer I was overwhelmed with grief. Then something extraordinary happened: I took a hiatus from social media and began engaging with people in real life. markhonigsbaum.substack.com/p/murphys-gift https://markhonigsbaum.substack.com/p/murphys-gift14 Sep 2025 14:10 +0000at://did:plc:quiw4cli7lswhrjbvq6f7on7/app.bsky.feed.post/3lyshtga24s2yhttps://bsky.app/profile/honigsbaum.bsky.social/post/3lwlvwkluzk2tToday, parakeets are a common sight in public parks. But in 1930 the birds sparked a worldwide panic when it was discovered their faeces contained a deadly bacterium. Click on my Substack to read my new post on the Great Parrot Fever Pandemic of 1930. https://markhonigsbaum.substack.com/p/the-green-death17 Aug 2025 12:43 +0000at://did:plc:quiw4cli7lswhrjbvq6f7on7/app.bsky.feed.post/3lwlvwkluzk2thttps://bsky.app/profile/honigsbaum.bsky.social/post/3lt36bvaufc2vDespite putting on her ‘happy face’ at the launch of Labour’s 10-year plan for the NHS this morning, the British public are unlikely to forget Reeves’s visible anguish at PM’s questions in a hurry. https://open.substack.com/pub/markhonigsbaum/p/when-tears-ran-down-her-face?r=rgoak&utm_medium=ios03 Jul 2025 16:42 +0000at://did:plc:quiw4cli7lswhrjbvq6f7on7/app.bsky.feed.post/3lt36bvaufc2vhttps://bsky.app/profile/honigsbaum.bsky.social/post/3lt36bvaufc2vDespite putting on her ‘happy face’ at the launch of Labour’s 10-year plan for the NHS this morning, the British public are unlikely to forget Reeves’s visible anguish at PM’s questions in a hurry. https://open.substack.com/pub/markhonigsbaum/p/when-tears-ran-down-her-face?r=rgoak&utm_medium=ios03 Jul 2025 16:42 +0000at://did:plc:quiw4cli7lswhrjbvq6f7on7/app.bsky.feed.post/3lt36bvaufc2v