Saloni Dattani
Researcher and science writer. Co-founder and editor at Works in Progress magazine, formerly a researcher at Our World in Data, and author of the Scientific Discovery newsletter on science, global health and medical innovation.
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What they believe
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Medical innovation is at a point of divergence: the tools are improving rapidly, but the ambition to use them has fallen behind.
I think we're at a point of divergence when it comes to medical innovation. Our tools are improving rapidly, but our ambitions to use them have fallen behind.
scientificdiscovery.devSaid 17 Aug 2026This on korrents
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Innovation happens as a continuous stream each year rather than as sporadic breakthroughs driven by chance.
People often describe innovation as a set of specific, sporadic breakthroughs that happen by pure chance or sheer determination, but it's really much more of a continuous stream every year, like the ones I've described here.
scientificdiscovery.devSaid 28 Dec 2025This on korrents
The bold line is korrents’ wording; the quote is theirs. These 2: what they wrote before what they said aloud, one per source, newest first.
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Their words
I think we're at a point of divergence when it comes to medical innovation. Our tools are improving rapidly, but our ambitions to use them have fallen behind.
28 December 2025
From one piece Medical breakthroughs in 2025 3 beliefs · scientificdiscovery.dev
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korrents.com
The best days of medicine are still ahead, but only if people choose to make them happen.Their words
I still think the best days of medicine are ahead of us, but only if we choose to make them happen.
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korrents.com
The pace of medical innovation can be sped up or slowed down by policy, funding and institutional choices.Their words
That stream can be sped up or slowed down by policy, funding, and institutional choices; and real progress - providing the fruits of that innovation to people who need them - takes a huge number of people and institutions working together.
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korrents.com
Innovation happens as a continuous stream each year rather than as sporadic breakthroughs driven by chance.Their words
People often describe innovation as a set of specific, sporadic breakthroughs that happen by pure chance or sheer determination, but it's really much more of a continuous stream every year, like the ones I've described here.
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Lovedrcmnd.app
Genentech: The Beginnings of BiotechTheir words
This amazing book traces the development of genetic engineering, and how Herbert Boyer and Robert Swanson turned the science into a commercial product by developing recombinant insulin.
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Likedrcmnd.app
The Butchering ArtTheir words
Joseph Lister, the pioneer of antiseptic techniques in surgery, had a fascinating life that I didn’t know anything about until I read this book.
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Likedrcmnd.app
The Code BreakerTheir words
I mistakenly expected this to be a somewhat shallow, generic popular science book, but it was a very thorough account of how CRISPR gene editing emerged from decades of obscure basic research into bacterial immune systems.
+ 2 more
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Lovedrcmnd.app
A History of ImmunologyTheir words
I loved this book. I enjoyed learning about the early, often wildly speculative theories of immunity, how blood groups and allergies were discovered
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Recommendstheir ownrcmnd.app
Hard DrugsTheir words
And if you prefer podcasts, may I suggest Hard Drugs
9 December 2025
From one piece Saloni's guide to data visualization 3 beliefs · scientificdiscovery.dev
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korrents.com
People who want to become more widely read rarely think about the responsibility that comes with a larger audience.Their words
I think it's quite common for people to want to become more widely read and less common for people to think about how to deal with the responsibility it comes with.
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korrents.com
People with a large audience have a responsibility to get things right and acknowledge their mistakes.Their words
Your ideas can mislead other people. It's important to try to get things right and acknowledge your mistakes, especially when you have a larger audience.
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korrents.com
Most concepts can be understood by most people if explained clearly, even without years of expertise in a field.Their words
My view on science communication is that most concepts can be understood by most people, if explained clearly, even if they don't have years of expertise or training in a field.
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Likedrcmnd.app
DatawrapperTheir words
I instead use Datawrapper to create interactive charts very quickly. They follow great data visualization principles, have influenced my work, and their styles look great.
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Usesrcmnd.app
ggplot2Their words
I download the data and write up code in R , using ggplot2 to create a graph
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Usesrcmnd.app
FigmaTheir words
I then export the graph as an .svg file, and open it up on Adobe Illustrator or Figma
+ 1 more
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Usesrcmnd.app
Adobe IllustratorTheir words
I then export the graph as an .svg file, and open it up on Adobe Illustrator or Figma
4 September 2025
11 June 2025
24 April 2025
From one piece The decline in cancer mortality is about much more than smoking 2 beliefs · scientificdiscovery.dev
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Their words
Finally, I’ll explain a deeper issue with the whole idea: we can’t neatly divide the causes of an outcome into slices that add up to 100%.
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Their words
In my view, without smoking, we probably would have seen cancer mortality decline much earlier.
11 April 2025
9 December 2024
20 April 2024
16 March 2024
Nothing matches.
Beliefs
Korrents What they believe 16 beliefs — each backed by an exact quote.
Each is a — compiled by korrents.com, not by them: the one-line wordings are korrents', the quotes are theirs.
Recent
Medical innovation is at a point of divergence: the tools are improving rapidly, but the ambition to use them has fallen behind.
I think we're at a point of divergence when it comes to medical innovation. Our tools are improving rapidly, but our ambitions to use them have fallen behind.
I gave a TED talk?! Said 17 Aug 2026
Innovation happens as a continuous stream each year rather than as sporadic breakthroughs driven by chance.
People often describe innovation as a set of specific, sporadic breakthroughs that happen by pure chance or sheer determination, but it's really much more of a continuous stream every year, like the ones I've described here.
Medical breakthroughs in 2025 Said 28 Dec 2025
The pace of medical innovation can be sped up or slowed down by policy, funding and institutional choices.
That stream can be sped up or slowed down by policy, funding, and institutional choices; and real progress - providing the fruits of that innovation to people who need them - takes a huge number of people and institutions working together.
Medical breakthroughs in 2025 Said 28 Dec 2025
Show 13 more
The best days of medicine are still ahead, but only if people choose to make them happen.
I still think the best days of medicine are ahead of us, but only if we choose to make them happen.
Medical breakthroughs in 2025 Said 28 Dec 2025
Most concepts can be understood by most people if explained clearly, even without years of expertise in a field.
My view on science communication is that most concepts can be understood by most people, if explained clearly, even if they don't have years of expertise or training in a field.
Saloni's guide to data visualization Said 9 Dec 2025
People with a large audience have a responsibility to get things right and acknowledge their mistakes.
Your ideas can mislead other people. It's important to try to get things right and acknowledge your mistakes, especially when you have a larger audience.
Saloni's guide to data visualization Said 9 Dec 2025
People who want to become more widely read rarely think about the responsibility that comes with a larger audience.
I think it's quite common for people to want to become more widely read and less common for people to think about how to deal with the responsibility it comes with.
Saloni's guide to data visualization Said 9 Dec 2025
The fall in cancer mortality is not mostly the fall in smoking: stomach and colorectal cancer were already declining before smoking was.
In my view, without smoking, we probably would have seen cancer mortality decline much earlier.
The decline in cancer mortality is about much more than smoking Said 24 Apr 2025
The causes of an outcome cannot be divided into slices that add up to 100 per cent, so a large effect from one cause does not leave a small remainder for the others.
Finally, I’ll explain a deeper issue with the whole idea: we can’t neatly divide the causes of an outcome into slices that add up to 100%.
The decline in cancer mortality is about much more than smoking Said 24 Apr 2025
Longevity is not one problem waiting to be cracked: lifespans rose because many separate problems were worked on continuously.
To me, one of them is that longevity isn’t one obscure problem that needs to be ‘cracked’ in order for us to live longer.
Seven things you didn't know about life expectancy Said 2 Jan 2024
Life expectancy is not a prediction of how long people alive today will live.
Life expectancy isn’t a prediction of how long people will live.
Seven things you didn't know about life expectancy Said 2 Jan 2024
Every age of life is less deadly than it was for the generation before, not just childhood.
Each age of our lives is less deadly than it was for previous generations.
Seven things you didn't know about life expectancy Said 2 Jan 2024
Every predicted ceiling on human life expectancy has so far been broken.
Many other predictions have already been broken, as life expectancy has continued to rise.
Seven things you didn't know about life expectancy Said 2 Jan 2024
Women outlive men because their death rates are lower at every age, not because men die in accidents and violence.
But women actually tend to live longer than men because they have lower death rates across their lifespans, which you can see in the chart below.
Seven things you didn't know about life expectancy Said 2 Jan 2024
The long decline in mortality is not guaranteed to continue: new shocks and old unsolved diseases can reverse it.
None of these trends are a given.
Seven things you didn't know about life expectancy Said 2 Jan 2024
A world without mass child mortality does not have to be imagined, because rich countries are already living in it.
I think we don’t have to imagine what a future could look like without this immense loss.
What does it mean when fewer people die? Said 1 Jun 2023
What is a korrent?
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Under a name here, the quoted block is what they actually said. The korrent beneath it is the claim those words support, in korrents' wording — tap it to see the record, its source, and who else holds it.
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Recommends rcmnd
rcmnd What they recommend 9 things — each backed by an exact quote.
Compiled by rcmnd.app, not by them: the quotes are theirs, and each links to the post it was copied from.
Recent
Recommends Hard Drugs
Loved A History of Immunology
I loved this book. I enjoyed learning about the early, often wildly speculative theories of immunity, how blood groups and allergies were discovered
scientificdiscovery.dev 28 Dec 2025
Liked The Code Breaker
I mistakenly expected this to be a somewhat shallow, generic popular science book, but it was a very thorough account of how CRISPR gene editing emerged from decades of obscure basic research into bacterial immune systems.
scientificdiscovery.dev 28 Dec 2025
Show 6 more
Liked The Butchering Art
Joseph Lister, the pioneer of antiseptic techniques in surgery, had a fascinating life that I didn’t know anything about until I read this book.
scientificdiscovery.dev 28 Dec 2025
Loved Genentech: The Beginnings of Biotech
This amazing book traces the development of genetic engineering, and how Herbert Boyer and Robert Swanson turned the science into a commercial product by developing recombinant insulin.
scientificdiscovery.dev 28 Dec 2025
What others say about Genentech: The Beginnings of Biotech →
Uses Adobe Illustrator
I then export the graph as an .svg file, and open it up on Adobe Illustrator or Figma
scientificdiscovery.dev 9 Dec 2025
Uses Figma
I then export the graph as an .svg file, and open it up on Adobe Illustrator or Figma
scientificdiscovery.dev 9 Dec 2025
Uses ggplot2
I download the data and write up code in R , using ggplot2 to create a graph
scientificdiscovery.dev 9 Dec 2025
Liked Datawrapper
I instead use Datawrapper to create interactive charts very quickly. They follow great data visualization principles, have influenced my work, and their styles look great.
scientificdiscovery.dev 9 Dec 2025
Where they publish
Newsletter Scientific Discovery Her newsletter on science, global health and medical innovation.
Recent
- I gave a TED talk?! 17 Aug 2026 Few people know how much medicine has progressed in their lifetimes. Fewer know how much faster it could be progressing.
- Medical breakthroughs in 2025 28 Dec 2025 ... and a happy new year.
- Saloni's guide to data visualization 9 Dec 2025 Why data visualization matters, and how to make charts more effective, clear, transparent, and sometimes, beautiful.
Show 17 more
- Proteins, weird blobs that do important things 4 Sept 2025 Proteins are all around us, doing amazing things to keep life going.
- Hard Drugs, my new podcast with Jacob Trefethen, and the story of a drug that could end AIDS. 11 Jun 2025 How to speed up medical innovation, how to scale it up, and how to make sure lifesaving tools reach the people who need them the most.
- The decline in cancer mortality is about much more than smoking 24 Apr 2025 I respond to the claim that the decline in cancer mortality is mostly, or almost entirely, just because of the decline in smoking.
- We don't have to sit back and just watch the horror unfold 11 Apr 2025 This month, I signed a pledge to donate at least 10% of my lifetime income to effective charities.
- Five medical breakthroughs in 2024 9 Dec 2024 It's December, and time for a retrospective on some breakthroughs in medical innovation this year.
- Four charts to understand causes of death across the lifespan: A dataviz walkthrough 20 Apr 2024 The key question I ask myself while making data visualization: What question am I trying to answer?
- Many great things you missed this year 16 Mar 2024 This week: Birth seasonality, causes of death across the lifespan, progress against HIV/AIDS & cystic fibrosis, very rare infectious form of Alzheimer’s, improvements in cholesterol, and more.
- Seven things you didn't know about life expectancy 2 Jan 2024 Life expectancy is being pushed higher. What does this mean, and what does it tell us about the future?
- Why we didn't get a malaria vaccine sooner (audio recording) 20 Dec 2023 Hundreds of thousands of people die from malaria each year, but it took 141 years to develop a vaccine for it.
- A slice of great things you missed this year 3 Nov 2023 This post: A brain cancer breakthrough, defeating dengue, women's employment, rabies elimination, personality and age, giant virus-like particles, and more.
- Why we didn't get a malaria vaccine sooner (bonus content) 10 Sept 2023 This week: How to write a 9,000+ word article, fact-checking and history heuristics, and the path to scientific discovery.
- A fraction of great things you missed this year 9 Jul 2023 This week: Death contours, the twin baby boom, good conversations, music and languages, blood pressure drugs, conspiracy theories, Tasmanian devil cancers, cheating viruses, and more.
- What does it mean when fewer people die? 1 Jun 2023 This week: Different angles of the decline in mortality, clean water, easy ways to save lives, and more.
- How many people die from snakebites? 11 Apr 2023 This week: Missing data – the most underrated problem in global health.
- The success of chickenpox vaccines 20 Mar 2023 This week: Why not treat chickenpox and shingles as an avoidable problem? Plus, I have a PhD now.
- Everything great you missed since November 24 Jan 2023 This week: Declines in cancer, the significance of hospitals, climate & religion, bird maps, gender pay gaps, intelligence & personality, the pyramids of Giza, fun history podcasts, and more.
- Everything great I've read in the last fortnight 6 Nov 2022 This week: The curve of death, eliminating HIV, the impact of cash donations, lemurs picking their nose, the spread of dumplings, trade, and some cool space photos.
Link verified 4 Sept 2026. Recent items update automatically from the channel.
x.com @salonium Her X account.
Recent
- This is very cool, but I also find it funny to imagine policymakers constantly playing video games to understand complex policy issues. 15 Oct 2026
- Lots is happening in the world of clinical trial reform! I decided to put together a list - all of this was announced since June - and shared some thoughts: 15 Oct 2026
- I spent my birthday in San Francisco because of Progress Conference and decided turned the whole week into birthday celebrations with different friends 😂 Thanks especially to @notanastronomer who got me a surprise cake at the conference, and to those who joined in singing the happy birthday song despite not knowing my name. 14 Oct 2026
Show 17 more
- Very cool. I highly recommend this by @NikoMcCarty on the topic https://t.co/ZhxpBHcqon Notably, the discovery was the opposite of accidental. Rather, the scientists listed out all the ways they could think of controlling neurons and investigated them until they found a solution 5 Oct 2026
- I highly recommend Marios's blog to anyone interested in medical genetics, and the latest research, developments and questions in the field. It's rare to come across writing that's very thoughtful, detailed, and explained well! 2 Oct 2026
- Can we switch off diseases? siRNA drugs are, in my view and @JacobTref’s too, one of the most exciting developments in medicine. So we decided to do an episode! It’s a technology that can ‘silence’ harmful genes in the body. And there are lots of cases where you might want to silence genes: - Infectious diseases, where you can silence pathogen proteins or human proteins that pathogens depend on - Rare genetic diseases, where you can silence the production of mutated proteins - Cardiovascular diseases, by silencing proteins that raise cholesterol - Cancers, by silencing proteins that help tumo… 2 Oct 2026
- A new episode of Hard Drugs is arriving tomorrow... Place your bets on which research this is about: 1 Oct 2026
- There is no good reason for mosquitoes to exist in wealthy countries today. New technologies can get rid of the mosquito species that cause diseases like dengue, yellow fever, and malaria; and others can prevent them from carrying those diseases. https://t.co/CddUFByGZA So why do mosquitoes still exist? In a new article for Works in Progress, Maya Rosen explains how state incapacity and risk aversion led to over a decade of delays and billions of unnecessary bites in the United States. Oxitec, for example, engineered an Aedes aegypti mosquito in such a way that its female offspring would die… 29 Sept 2026 worksinprogress.co
- Important life update - Iʼm now the proud sponsor of a Gila monster at the zoo. The most important lizard species in medical history! There it is, sleeping, on the right. The one Iʼm holding is not real, in case you were wondering. 27 Sept 2026
- Very fun to see how many people have played already. Each line here represents a successful completion, and there were many different ways to solve the game! 25 Sept 2026
- If you complete the challenge, you'll unlock a bonus game where you can steer a raft down bottleneck river ⛵️ 25 Sept 2026
- Happy Friday! Iʼve created a game for you to play! Will AI cure all diseases in 10 years? Inspired by bottlenecks discourse, I created a game to help build your intuitions. Play it here: https://t.co/nU9ckIDhEK Naturally, it’s bottle-themed with bubbles and there are leaderboards too. 25 Sept 2026
- Ordered a “baklava sandwich” yesterday, not knowing what that meant. It turned out to be layers of baklava with cream on top and pistachio ice cream inside. Probably in the top 3 desserts in my life tbh. 12 Sept 2026
- Out of all humans ever born, what fraction were born in the last 200 years? 5 Sept 2026
- I wrote briefly on the recent antibody image scandal for our weekly round up 2 Sept 2026
- It's now on YouTube! 31 Aug 2026 youtu.be
- This is so cute, I ordered it. My plants at home: made of Lego My pets at home: a robot duck 28 Aug 2026
- I wrote about the Moderna melanoma cancer vaccine news briefly for our weekly round up 26 Aug 2026
- TIL that the new Spider-Man film features some plot line around siRNA! (Haven't seen it yet though.) 25 Aug 2026
- The clinical trials abundance blog has a new member! It's @EnlliMcA and she has a really cool new post today about a tool she built. It helps navigate the many regulatory pathways to get new drugs approved in lower and middle income countries. Those choices can affect whether countries get access to medicines at all, or how fast they get approved. This tool is meant to help drug developers, funders, researchers and policymakers aiming to navigate or improve drug approval pathways. 25 Aug 2026 clinicaltrialsabundance.blog
Link verified 4 Sept 2026. Recent items update automatically from the channel.
Bluesky @scientificdiscovery.dev Her Bluesky account, whose handle is her newsletter's own domain.
Recent
- Every time I hear friends share happily that their babies/toddlers slept a lot the previous night, I feel even prouder for having been a really sleepy kid. Totally nailed it 19 Oct 2026
- It's interesting when you ask people to imagine what their life would be like if they were transported historically to the past. Some people seem to assume they'd be in the relatively well-off 1-2% and it would go fine for them. Meanwhile I just assume I'd be a secluded female peasant. 4 Oct 2026
- Good to know which historical figures are furthest from me politically 3 Oct 2026
Show 17 more
- Can we switch off diseases? siRNA drugs are, in my view and @jacobtref.bsky.social’s too, one of the most exciting developments in medicine. So we decided to do an episode! 2 Oct 2026
- Filling in an application, and it asks if I've been to the German Democratic Republic since 2021 🧐 The USSR is also an option 1 Oct 2026
- London City Airport is my favourite one in London in part because the descent has views like this 30 Sept 2026
- I don't mean to brag, but this is one of the best videos I have ever taken, feat. @dingdingpeng.the100.ci 28 Sept 2026
- Omg thanks to @dingdingpeng.the100.ci I'm now the proud sponsor of a Gila monster at the zoo 🦎 One of the most important lizards in medical history! There it is, sleeping on the right. 27 Sept 2026
- New post and game by me! Some people claim that AI will cure all diseases in 10 years. Others are more skeptical, arguing that experimentation and clinical trials are the bottleneck. Who's right? I designed a game to find out. 25 Sept 2026
- Very fun to see how many people have played already. Each line here represents a successful completion, and there were many different ways to solve the game! 25 Sept 2026
- Happy Friday! Iʼve created a game for you to play! Will AI cure all diseases in 10 years? Inspired by bottlenecks discourse, I created a game to help build your intuitions. Play it here: game.clinicaltrialsabundance.blog Naturally, it’s bottle-themed with bubbles and there are leaderboards too. 25 Sept 2026
- . @dingdingpeng.the100.ci's baby is so chubby, I had to find out how our face sizes compared, side by side. Unfortunately I still can't tell. It's debatable 25 Sept 2026
- I have just eaten my first Spaghettieis. It felt very unnatural to eat it with a spoon. 24 Sept 2026
- OMG I am my favourite type of potato 17 Sept 2026
- Is there any way to turn off Gemini from automatically responding when you search on Google? I've tried and can't figure out how to do so, if it's possible at all. 13 Sept 2026
- I'm going to encourage all my parent friends to get back into fitness by lifting their babies. Why buy a kettleball when you could simply use a kettlebaby? 13 Sept 2026 youtu.be
- I spoke too soon! Got about a dozen emails from bots trying to collect rewards from my bug bounty since yesterday. 4 were legitimate errors though very minor, relating to my vaccine discovery dataset. 12 Sept 2026
- Ordered a "baklava sandwich" yesterday, not knowing what that meant. It turned out to be layers of baklava with cream on top and pistachio ice cream inside. Probably in the top 3 desserts in my life tbh. 12 Sept 2026
- I'm having a similar experience, although have only received a few emails like this so far. Some are so stingy about tokens that they don't start trying to check the work unless I confirm it's eligible for a reward. 11 Sept 2026
- Wrote a paragraph that elicited the comments “Yuck!” and “This is horrific!” from my colleagues. Mission accomplished. 8 Sept 2026
Link verified 4 Sept 2026. Recent items update automatically from the channel.
Podcast Hard Drugs Podcast on medical innovation she co-hosts with Jacob Trefethen.
Open harddrugs.worksinprogress.co
Link verified 4 Sept 2026.
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