Coming Out (soon)

Hello to all of you Demystifying Science followers that didn’t give up on me when I disappeared without a post for a few months. I’ve been too absorbed with my real job to put down a string of coherent thoughts on scientific topics not related to my immediate projects, but now I have a lull. I am working on a few articles that I will publish over the next few months-tackling a few more COVID/viral disease topics, some insight about the NIH and academia and how they turned into a political force, and then moving on to some other relevant topics like cannabis-what’s real and what’s just rationalization. I also want to give an explanation as to why I removed “PhD” from my name on Substack. No, I haven’t had my degree revoked! I originally added it for what I assume is the same reason others to whom I subscribe have “doctor” or their degrees in their bylines. Before I “came out” as one of those nonconformists, I went by an anonymous handle of “outdoorgirl0814” but didn’t write any articles-I only commented. I was convinced to stop hiding by an article Dr. Naomi Wolf wrote and thought it was important to include something that spoke to my credentials. Those of us who aren’t toeing the line with respect to topics like COVID have been shut down by people who cite “experts” with degrees similar to ours. An easy way to combat some of those “trust the experts” types is to have your degree right there, front and center-before anyone reads what you have to say. However, unless I want to create two Substack identities, that degree is right there in the name I use to comment on others’ articles. I am not trying to pull rank and think there are plenty of people without alphabet soup after their names with important insights. So, I went back to just my name. I do still have a PhD and, it was the road to that degree that provided me with the insights I use to breakdown scientific research. I expect to have another Demystifying Science article coming out next week.  Thanks for subscribing!