Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Ewan Kirk @ewan.thekirks.co.uk · 2d

Insightful and prescient from @thedailymash.bsky.social once again.

www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/science...

The seven stages of your workplace getting obsessed with AI then realising it's bollocks

ANYONE with a job is likely to have witnessed managers gushing about AI then quietly ditching the idea. See where your employer is in the cycle of AI hype.

www.thedailymash.co.uk

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Ewan Kirk @ewan.thekirks.co.uk · 3d

<sigh>

Ewan Kirk @ewan.thekirks.co.uk · 5d

Taps the sign (having search replaced AI with Quantum).

www.ft.com/content/40c6...

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Ewan Kirk @ewan.thekirks.co.uk · 8d

More of the same

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Ewan Kirk @ewan.thekirks.co.uk · 10d

Well, this is exciting.

(Also, iPhone photography is really very good nowadays).

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Reposted by Ewan Kirk

Ben Stanley @benstanley.eu · 15d

I tell you now, if things go on like this, you'll have to get a little book encoded with biometric data just to cross the UK border, and then where will we be? East Germany, that's where we will be.

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Reposted by Ewan Kirk

James Ball @jamesrball.com · 18d

The even more unbelievable crime fact (which I learned relatively recently) is that burglary has fallen by more than 90% since the 1990s.

Did anyone notice? Nope. Does anyone believe it? Nope. But is is true? It is!

Tom Clark @tom-clark.bsky.social · 18d

Useful reminder from Peter Kellner on the problems we refuse to acknowledge are getting better, and the politics of hopelessness that this breeds

open.substack.com/pub/kellnerp...

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Reposted by Ewan Kirk

Paul Lomax @paullomax.co.uk · 18d

I use this graph a lot.

This chart shows the history of left-handedness in the United States, plotting the percentage of left-handed people by year of birth from 1880 to 2000. The rate begins around 5% in 1880, dips to about 3% by 1900, then rises steadily through the early 20th century. By around 1950, it levels off at about 11–12%, where it remains through 2000. A speech bubble on the chart humorously states, “Left-handedness is over diagnosed,” pointing to the sharp rise during the mid-20th century. The trend reflects how left-handedness was suppressed in earlier generations but became more accepted over time.

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Ewan Kirk @ewan.thekirks.co.uk · 22d

It was ever thus on the left. And annoyed you got that GIF in before me…

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Ewan Kirk @ewan.thekirks.co.uk · 23d

H/t @theresthistory.bsky.social

Ewan Kirk @ewan.thekirks.co.uk · 23d

Well, in really exciting news, I learned today that there is a word “benignant” which is the opposite of malignant.

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Ewan Kirk @ewan.thekirks.co.uk · 24d

Thanks matey.

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Ewan Kirk @ewan.thekirks.co.uk · 24d

Really pleased that our unusual philanthropic model has had another such a big success.

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Ewan Kirk @ewan.thekirks.co.uk · 24d

The key takeaway here is that philanthropy should do the high risk stuff. We were quite prepared for the pilot projects to show that there was no effect.

Now that philanthropy has de-risked the project and provided the evidence it makes sense that Education Scotland comes in and rolls this out.

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Ewan Kirk @ewan.thekirks.co.uk · 24d

20% improvement over the control group in just 10 weeks.

www.thetimes.com/article/9ff0...

Primary pupils to learn spatial reasoning skills to improve maths

Nearly half of primary 4 and 5 pupils will be taught a programme developed at Glasgow University that increased maths performance by nearly 20 per cent

www.thetimes.com

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Ewan Kirk @ewan.thekirks.co.uk · 24d

More about it here:

www.heraldscotland.com/news/2546990...

New project launched to boost school math skills in Scotland

A new Centre for Spatial Reasoning has been established by the University of Glasgow following a successful trial involving thousands of pupils.

www.heraldscotland.com

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Ewan Kirk @ewan.thekirks.co.uk · 24d

What I was doing yesterday: Launching a centre to bring spatial learning to all of the children in Scottish Schools.

A cheap and highly effective way to close the attainment gap (especially for girls and those from deprived backgrounds).

www.twinkl.co.uk/news/univers...

www.twinkl.co.uk

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Reposted by Ewan Kirk

Wim Meijer @wimgmeijer.bsky.social · 24d

Material deep inside Earth, near the planet’s core, has undergone a mysterious shift

The discovery, possible because the geological shift altered the planet’s gravitational field, is a testament to Earth-orbiting GRACE satellites.

Planetary science rocks!

🧪

www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Mysterious changes near Earth’s core revealed by satellites in space

Orbiters can pick up gravitational shifts thousands of kilometres below the surface.

www.nature.com

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Reposted by Ewan Kirk

Elle @elleisanisland.bsky.social · 28d

All I saw was cheesecake boat and ocean for at least 5 minutes

Photo of a missing slice of cheesecake that looks like a cheesecake hull floating in a deep blue ocean. The "ocean" is actually the blueberry topping on the large cheesecake that we don't see completely.

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Ewan Kirk @ewan.thekirks.co.uk · 29d

May be interaction with the marine mobile service. Which is expensive and rubbish.

Ewan Kirk @ewan.thekirks.co.uk · 29d

Can confirm. Excellent.

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Ewan Kirk @ewan.thekirks.co.uk · Sep 9

You can sponsor the uncultured bacterium and then it's yours for all time!

Ewan Kirk @ewan.thekirks.co.uk · Sep 9

More about the grant here.

turner-kirk.org/impact/onezo...

One Zoom Tree of Life project

OneZoom is dedicated to advancing public education in evolution, biodiversity, and conservation by creating an interactive, digital “tree of life” that anyone can explore.

turner-kirk.org

Ewan Kirk @ewan.thekirks.co.uk · Sep 9

The Turner Kirk Trust ( @turner-kirk.com) recently awarded a grant to the One Zoom Tree of Life project. This is a little off piste for us but it's a fascinating way to explore and understand the complexity and depth of the tree of life. Highly recommended.

www.onezoom.org/linnean/@_oz...

OneZoom Tree of Life Explorer, text page for All life

OneZoom Tree of Life Explorer

www.onezoom.org

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Ewan Kirk @ewan.thekirks.co.uk · Sep 7

Or much lower public spending. @kevverage.bsky.social is the absolute expert on the fiscal improbability of Scotland successfully becoming independent and has been for a very long time.

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