Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Mathew Kiang @mathewkiang.com · 4d

Dude, you won't believe the embarrassing level of effort it took to make Fig 9.

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Mathew Kiang @mathewkiang.com · 4d

Have you ever wondered how to ensure a loss in Candyland though?

github.com/mkiang/candy...

github.com

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Mathew Kiang @mathewkiang.com · 8d

Last week, the child caught me doing The Mini crossword and asked me why I was doing "the duplo of crosswords". Now I only do the real NYT crossword until she falls asleep so I don't get shamed.

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Mathew Kiang @mathewkiang.com · 10d

It's that time of the year again. The mornings have a crisp edge. The smell of hot PSLs fills the air. The NIH SROs are sending out their "what to do if a government shutdown happens" emails. Magic is in the air.

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Mathew Kiang @mathewkiang.com · 16d

I use Slack for precisely one thing.

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Marshall Burke @marshallburke.bsky.social · 22d

Excellent coverage of our study out today on climate impacts on wildfire smoke and related health impacts.

Shannon Osaka @shannonosaka.bsky.social · 22d

It's not your imagination: Wildfire smoke in the U.S. has dramatically worsened since 2019. According to a new study, it's already killing 41,000 people a year - and it's poised to get much worse.

new from me @johnmuyskens.bsky.social and @sadbumblebee.buzz

www.washingtonpost.com/climate-envi...

Record wildfire smoke kills more people each year than car crashes. It’s about to get worse.

The past six summers have been the smokiest on record. New research shows that smoke could become the costliest consequence of climate change for Americans.

www.washingtonpost.com

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Mathew Kiang @mathewkiang.com · Aug 8

I'm just saying I've never took the day off work, went for a bike ride, enjoyed the summer inversion and then regretted it.

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Mathew Kiang @mathewkiang.com · Aug 8

Me too but I'm not above backing out.

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Mathew Kiang @mathewkiang.com · Aug 8

Given the situation at the NIH, constant chaos, and everything else that's happening right now, are we still volunteering for study section?

Just seems like whatever incentives existed before ("insiders' view" or prestige) no longer apply. (Obv, money is good and I am poor but I'm not *that* poor.)

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Mathew Kiang @mathewkiang.com · Aug 6

Just in time for the bird migration, which will almost certainly bring bird flu cases back...

apnews.com/article/kenn...

RFK Jr. pulls $500 million in funding for vaccine development

The Department of Health and Human Services plans to cancel contracts and pull funding for some vaccines being developed to fight respiratory viruses like COVID-19 and the flu.

apnews.com

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Mathew Kiang @mathewkiang.com · Aug 2

I attended a summer camp for nerds during grad school and honestly to god one night somebody started the party with "Can I share my favorite Terry Tao theorem with you guys?"

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Mathew Kiang @mathewkiang.com · Aug 2

The Pearl quote is unsurprising and wildly on brand.

That Terry Tao needs to apply for funding is shocking. Dude should just be swimming in research money.

Dan Garisto @dangaristo.bsky.social · Aug 1

Math at UCLA suffered the greatest blow.

I spoke with Terry Tao—Fields Medalist and arguably the preeminent mathematician of his generation—who is apparently now doing his summer research in number theory without external funding.

The suspensions landed perhaps most heavily in math. NSF suspended a $25 million grant for the Institute for Pure and Applied Mathematics (IPAM), an international center at UCLA that hosts about 2000 visiting researchers every year for workshops and other programs. One of its stars, Terence Tao, a Fields Medal winner frequently named as one of the greatest living mathematicians, also had his only NSF grant suspended. The $750,000 award was in its first year and supported Tao’s own research and a handful of graduate students in developing tools to tell whether a set of numbers is structured or random. Tao says he now cannot offer research assistant opportunities during the academic year, and he calls the cuts to IPAM “quite disastrous.”

Tao’s ultimate goal is to use the tools to solve the twin primes conjecture, a centuries-old problem in number theory that suggests there are an infinite number of prime pairs that differ by two, like five and seven. But the NSF grant provided the vast majority of outside support for his UCLA salary. “I’m currently doing summer research unfunded,” he says.

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Dan Garisto @dangaristo.bsky.social · Aug 1

Math at UCLA suffered the greatest blow.

I spoke with Terry Tao—Fields Medalist and arguably the preeminent mathematician of his generation—who is apparently now doing his summer research in number theory without external funding.

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Jeff Melnick @melnickjeffrey1.bsky.social · Aug 1

"When the first of August came round, the Professor realized he had pleasantly trifled away nearly two months at a task which should have taken little more than a week."

--Willa Cather, 1925 and timeless

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Mathew Kiang @mathewkiang.com · Aug 1

bsky.app/profile/math...

Mathew Kiang @mathewkiang.com · Jul 19

The piñata at this birthday party is made of some kind of mithril and adamantium alloy.

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Mathew Kiang @mathewkiang.com · Jul 31

Making travel decisions at this point in my career:

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Mathew Kiang @mathewkiang.com · Jul 19

The piñata at this birthday party is made of some kind of mithril and adamantium alloy.

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Mathew Kiang @mathewkiang.com · Jul 18

This whole time I just thought Skarsgard was a really popular Swedish surname.

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JAMA Health Forum @jamahealthforum.com · Jul 16

The 2025 Budget Reconciliation Bill's proposed Medicaid changes, including eligibility restrictions and reduced funding, are projected to cause negative health, economic, and healthcare system impacts.

https://ja.ma/469dTok

Projected Health System and Economic Impacts of 2025 Medicaid Policy Proposals

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Mathew Kiang @mathewkiang.com · Jul 16

My platform will be the development of a GenAI model that'll do your self-promotion for you.*

*not really

Mathew Kiang @mathewkiang.com · Jul 16

Grad school really doesn't prepare you for the volume of awkward self-promotional materials you'll need to write just to get paid.

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Mathew Kiang @mathewkiang.com · Jul 13

This is a bad take:
- >90% importation is from US residents visiting other countries
- Canada and Mexico account for only ~20%
- there are over 120k active cases in Europe
- 90% vaccination is still below the threshold
- xenophobic policies during mass illegal ICE kidnappings is a garbage suggestion

Marginal Revolution @marginalrev.blogsky.venki.dev · Jul 12

Blame Canada! Measles Edition - Marginal REVOLUTION

Polimath has a good post on measles. The recent spike in U.S. cases has drawn alarm. As the New York Times reports: There have now been more measles cases in 2025 than in any other year since the contagious virus was declared eliminated in the United States in 2000, according to new data released Wednesday […]

marginalrevolution.com

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Marginal Revolution @marginalrev.blogsky.venki.dev · Jul 12

Blame Canada! Measles Edition - Marginal REVOLUTION

Polimath has a good post on measles. The recent spike in U.S. cases has drawn alarm. As the New York Times reports: There have now been more measles cases in 2025 than in any other year since the contagious virus was declared eliminated in the United States in 2000, according to new data released Wednesday […]

marginalrevolution.com

Mathew Kiang @mathewkiang.com · Jun 25

Karolinska is looking for 20 (!!) assistant professors and offering 6 year appointments with ~1M USD startup packages.

ki.se/en/about-ki/...

Call for 20 Assistant Professor positions

Karolinska Institutet is a world-leading medical university with a long and proud history of ground-breaking research. We are now recruiting outstanding early-career researchers with particularly exce...

ki.se

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Mathew Kiang @mathewkiang.com · Jun 14

I was watching Kobe practicing free throws at the London Olympics before a game. After a string of makes, he missed one and I instinctively boo'ed — but I was the only person in that section. He just made eye contact with me and then shook his head in disappointment.

R.L. Stine Cold Steve Austin @bolt451.bsky.social · Jun 13

Right folks. Feeling rather down at the moment so bringing back an oldie

Please Quote this with your most minor celebrity interaction

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Jason Moore @moorejh.bsky.social · Jun 14

I heard this morning that my informatics colleague Dr. Atul Butte passed after a battle with cancer. He was a giant in the field & inspired many of us over his distinguished career. He was a passionate champion of the power of big data & his impact on our field is immeasurable. RIP Atul & thanks.

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Mathew Kiang @mathewkiang.com · Jun 13

What if we tried like... not bombing each other?

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R.L. Stine Cold Steve Austin @bolt451.bsky.social · Jun 13

Right folks. Feeling rather down at the moment so bringing back an oldie

Please Quote this with your most minor celebrity interaction

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Mathew Kiang @mathewkiang.com · Jun 10

The people change but the coffee stays the same.

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