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Simon Maechling

Aug 23 • 9 tweets • 2 min read • Read on X

Science doesn’t just explain the world. It saves it.

Every bar in this chart?
A breakthrough.
A life extended.
A child spared.
A cure.

Let’s talk about the most important data you’ll see this year.

🧵👇 1/

Start with this number:

Over 1 billion lives.

That’s how many people were saved by the discovery of blood groups and blood storage.

Karl Landsteiner and Richard Lewishon didn’t go viral.

They made blood transfusions possible. 2/

How about food?

Carl Bosch and Fritz Haber invented synthetic nitrogen fertilizer.

You’ve probably never heard of them.

But their innovation feeds half the world today.

2 billion lives saved.

That’s not hype. That’s science. 3/

Insulin.
Penicillin.
Dialysis.

Vaccines for measles, polio, flu, hepatitis, COVID.

These aren’t just treatments.
They’re technologies that transformed humanity.

You don’t notice them until they’re gone. That’s the paradox of progress. 4/

Science didn’t stop at the lab bench.

•Coronary bypass surgery
•Vitamin A fortification
•ORT for cholera and diarrhea
•CPR
•The 3-point seat belt

Each saved millions. Quietly. Relentlessly. Permanently. 5/

And yes - COVID-19.

Sarah Gilbert and her team’s vaccine saved millions in just one year.

Developed at record speed.
Distributed globally.
Dismissed by some.
Still: lives saved. 6/

What this chart really shows is this:

Progress isn’t loud.
It’s peer-reviewed.
And it works.

While misinformation screams in all caps…

Science saves lives in silence. 7/

We live in a world built by these breakthroughs.

Mock them if you want.
But your life - from birth to old age- depends on the very system some now attack. 8/

Celebrate scientists.
Defend evidence.

Teach your kids the difference between data and dogma.

Because the next life science saves…

Might be yours. 9/

ourworldindata.org/data-insights

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More from @simonmaechling

Simon Maechling

@simonmaechling

Aug 22

I just got back from the farmers’ market.
Organic signs everywhere.

Someone told me:
“Choosing organic is the only moral choice.”

I smiled. Because I knew this was going to be fun.
Every aisle, another “moral” contradiction.

Let’s take a walk. 🧵1/

First stall:
Handwritten sign: “Chemical-free vegetables.”
Except… organic farming uses pesticides too.

Often older, less selective ones.
Copper sulfate, anyone?

It’s “natural” - and highly toxic to aquatic life. 2/

Second stall:
Local organic meat.

“Better for the planet,” she said.
Except organic means less yield per hectare.

Less yield → more land → fewer forests.
That’s not saving nature. That’s bulldozing it. 3/

Read 8 tweets

Simon Maechling

@simonmaechling

Aug 21

I went for dinner with a “what-if” guy last night.
You know the type. Smart, curious, intense.

We sat down, ordered wine, and for a while it was normal. Work, travel, you know.

I told him worked in R&D for 20 years.
Then he leaned across the table and asked, dead serious: 1/

“What if glyphosate causes cancer?”

I smiled. Not because it was a silly question - but because I knew what kind of evening this was going to be. Every course, another apocalypse.

So I answered: 2/

Decades of studies, thousands of data points, trillions of meals eaten. Every major food safety authority - EFSA, EPA, WHO, Health Canada - has reviewed the evidence.

The verdict is the same: glyphosate isn’t carcinogenic at the levels people are exposed to.

And I added: 3/

Read 15 tweets

Simon Maechling

@simonmaechling

Aug 19

What if anti-science propaganda isn’t about “freedom” at all...

…but a foreign op to quietly sabotage your health?

Let’s talk about what no one wants to say out loud. 🧵👇1/

Every day, millions of people are told:

🌾 GMOs will kill you.
😨 Don't trust doctors.
💉 Vaccines are poison.
😡 Don’t trust regulators.
🧪 Chemicals are everywhere.

The message is loud. Emotional. Viral.

But ask yourself:
Who benefits? 2/

Because it’s not you.

You get:

→ Higher measles rates.
→ Slower cancer screening.
→ More pesticide fear, fewer food options.
→ Anxiety over every label, package, or molecule.

Meanwhile… 3/

Read 10 tweets

Simon Maechling

@simonmaechling

Aug 15

The US just cancelled US$500 million in mRNA research grants.

In 2025.

For a technology that saved millions of lives.

That’s not caution.
That’s cutting off your nose to spite your face. 🧵👇1/

mRNA isn’t just a COVID-19 vaccine trick.

It’s a flexible platform that’s being tested for cancer, autoimmune diseases, and inherited conditions like sickle cell.

Shutting down research now? That’s science backwards. 2/

This move wasn’t a surprise.
It comes from a political playbook that’s replacing

science with ideology.
Removing independent experts. Slashing funding.

Undermining public trust.
That’s not governance. That’s sabotage. 3/

Read 10 tweets

Simon Maechling

@simonmaechling

Aug 3

Hi, Chemist here 👋

Why do some people think synthetic mRNA is dangerous?

Because they’re told it’s “unnatural,” untested, or secretly rewriting their DNA.

Let’s break that down - with facts.
(Spoiler alert - it's not). 🧵👇 1/

“It’s synthetic!”

Yes. And?

So is paracetamol. So is insulin. So is your Wi-Fi.

Synthetic doesn’t mean dangerous.
It just means designed to work better. 2/

“It contains N¹-methylpseudouridine!”

Correct. A tweaked version of a base that’s already found in your body.

This minor change makes the mRNA:

More stable.
Less inflammatory.
Easier to read by ribosomes.

No magic. Just chemistry. 3/

Read 10 tweets

Simon Maechling

@simonmaechling

Aug 3

Pesticides are among the most misunderstood tools in society today.

Everyone talks about what they are.

Almost no one explains how they’re tested, regulated, and monitored.

Let’s fix that.

A thread on pesticide safety,
and the science behind it: 🧵1/

First: most people think "chemical = dangerous."

But science doesn’t work that way.
Risk ≠ Hazard.

Even water can be lethal at high enough doses.
What matters is how much and how often you're exposed.

That’s the core of toxicology.
It’s called “The dose makes the poison.” 2/

So how is pesticide safety actually assessed?
Before approval, a pesticide must undergo:

✅ Acute toxicity
✅ Carcinogenicity
✅ Endocrine disruption
✅ Reproductive studies
✅ Environmental impact
✅ Chronic exposure studies

Over 100+ scientific studies.
Per product. 3/

Read 9 tweets

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