Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Nassim Assefi @nassefi.bsky.social · 3d

Funny, not funny. Speaks to the heart of the curiosity collective salon I curated recently on what makes us human in the age of AI: www.instagram.com/reel/DPeshTA...

Login • Instagram

Welcome back to Instagram. Sign in to check out what your friends, family & interests have been capturing & sharing around the world.

www.instagram.com

Nassim Assefi @nassefi.bsky.social · 3d

I was there during the apagón/blackout in Spain. I was guessing cyberattack, but apparently not. It was super interesting to see how it shut down every aspect of life (funny for someone who's lived thru blackouts in Cuba, Afghanistan, etc www.npr.org/2025/10/08/n...

After Spain's blackout, critics blamed renewable energy. It's part of a bigger attack

When millions lost power in Spain and Portugal this spring, some were quick to blame too much solar and wind power. That wasn't the cause, but the misinformation had an impact.

www.npr.org

1

Reposted by Nassim Assefi

Saskia Popescu @saskiapopescu.bsky.social · 4d

Very important article and worth the read - Opinion | 6 U.S. surgeons general: RFK Jr. threatens the health of Americans - The Washington Post

Opinion | Six surgeons general: It’s our duty to warn the nation about RFK Jr.

We took an oath to declare dangers when we found them. We’re doing that again today.

www.washingtonpost.com

7 22

Reposted by Nassim Assefi

Rosa Lafer-Sousa @rosalafersousa.bsky.social · 4d

Over the weekend ICE abducted an NIH contractor when he showed up to a courthouse for his green card hearing. He is documented. His wife is a citizen.

He is also member of the skeleton crew of animal care staff that works through a shutdown, to ensure the health and wellbeing of research animals.

8 230 470

Nassim Assefi @nassefi.bsky.social · 4d

Promising science, still early stages, but hopeful

George Monbiot @georgemonbiot.bsky.social · 4d

ME/CFS is a devastating condition that has long been denied, dismissed, psychologised and underdiagnosed. Research is at last starting to catch up with it, with glimmers of hope for those who have been left untreated for so long.
There's a huge BUT coming ...🧵
www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

Scientists develop first ‘accurate blood test’ to detect chronic fatigue syndrome

Research could offer hope for ME patients – but some experts urge caution and say more studies needed

www.theguardian.com

4

Nassim Assefi @nassefi.bsky.social · 4d

100% this: wapo.st/3VTALll proud of the 6 surgeon generals, including my friend Vivek Murthy, who united to help eject this anti-science conspiracy theorist who is badly damaging our nation’s health.

Opinion | Six surgeons general: It’s our duty to warn the nation about RFK Jr.

We took an oath to declare dangers when we found them. We’re doing that again today.

wapo.st

3

Nassim Assefi @nassefi.bsky.social · 4d

So proud of my friend @lisaborders.bsky.social

Regal House Publishing @regalhouse.bsky.social · 4d

We're so excited to celebrate the release today of Lisa Borders' LAST NIGHT AT THE DISCO, a "deliciously deranged cri de coeur." Happy #bookbirthday, Lisa! regal-housepublishing.mybigcommerce.com/last-night-a...

1 2

Reposted by Nassim Assefi

Juan Cole @jricole.bsky.social · 4d

Schlafly's mother supported the family during the Great Depression when her father was out of work. She herself worked in a factory and then did a BA, MA and law degree. She talked traditional but acted like a feminist

Caroline (Carrie) T. Schroeder @ctschroeder.bsky.social · 4d

I think it would be a mistake to believe that the Trad Wife influencers are living the lifestyle they advocate in general. Take Charlie Kirk's wife for example. We can go back to Phyllis Schlafly, too, who advocated trad marriage on many levels yet had a media-heavy career

4 8

Reposted by Nassim Assefi

Senator Patty Murray @murray.senate.gov · 6d

The last three government shutdowns have happened while Donald Trump was President.

This shutdown, like all recent shutdowns, is a REPUBLICAN SHUTDOWN.

Enough with the chaos. Time for Republican leadership to work with Democrats to reopen government and save your health care.

24 190 670

Reposted by Nassim Assefi

Caleb Crain @calebcrain.bsky.social · 6d

As a novelist I appreciate this piece of evidence about the persistence of human character across time.

nullifie @nullifie.bsky.social · 10d

The year is 2003.

17-year-old Stephen Miller is sitting in the back of a school bus talking about torture, as in “Torture is a celebration of human life and dignity."

Miller looks directly into the camera and describes the torturing Iraqis in gruesome detail, as his peers laugh uncomfortably.

33 110

Nassim Assefi @nassefi.bsky.social · 7d

What a joy to find Gabrielle Zevin's novel Tomorrow + Tomorrow + Tomorrow in a Marjane in Rabat. The protagonists are gamers (a subject that doesn't really interest me and yet I devoured the 480 pages of the novel in less than a day!). Brilliant characters in a long, complex, intimate friendship.

1

Reposted by Nassim Assefi

Monica Maalouf, MD @maaloufmd.bsky.social · 8d

My husband was detained by ICE today

Juan Muñoz, an American citizen, father of 2, and local government official, was peacefully protesting w. other elected officials. He was assaulted and taken away

I have had zero contact or updates since

#SOS
@duckworth.senate.gov @durbin.senate.gov

770 14K 27K

Reposted by Nassim Assefi

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez @ocasio-cortez.house.gov · 9d

I am sickened by today’s attack in Manchester. Antisemitism is on the rise around the world, and we must do all we can to stomp it out. I am grateful to first responders and congregants who showed incredible bravery, and I am praying for those who were killed.

270 1.1K 9.1K

Nassim Assefi @nassefi.bsky.social · 9d

Shero!

Greg Folkers @gregfolkers.bsky.social · 10d

Dr. Jeanne Marrazzo, former Director of NIAID, is Fired by Health and Human Services Secretary Kennedy in Retaliation for Filing Whistleblower Complaint with the Office of Special Counsel

bit.ly/4gRA3yx

Nassim Assefi @nassefi.bsky.social · 12d

Super proud of ace producer, Baktash Ahadi, for signing on Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai + Succession actor Arian Moyaed as Execs for his award-winning doc--about ski racing in Bamiyan, Afghanistan. It's been a joy working with Baktash on my forthcoming film. variety.com/2025/film/ne...

Malala Yousafzai and ‘Succession’ Actor Arian Moayed Board Afghanistan Doc ‘Champions of the Golden Valley’ as Executive Producers (EXCLUSIVE)

Malala Yousafzai and "Succession" actor Arian Moayed have signed on as executive producers of feature documentary “Champions of the Golden Valley."

variety.com

1

Nassim Assefi @nassefi.bsky.social · 12d

Critical work by Alliance for Middle East Peace on whether Israelis will accept a Two State Solution (and what their conditions are around that): blogs.timesofisrael.com/most-israeli... also, Trump's 21 point plant for peace is much better than I thought: www.timesofisrael.com/revealed-us-...

The Blogs: Most Israelis Again Said They’d Accept a Palestinian State. Can That Be True?

From the blog of Avi Meyerstein at The Times of Israel

blogs.timesofisrael.com

Nassim Assefi @nassefi.bsky.social · 13d

Wondrous new children's book to order: Maria Popova's The Coziest Place on the Moon. www.themarginalian.org/2025/09/12/t...

The Coziest Place on the Moon: An Illustrated Fable about How to Live with Loneliness and What It Means to Love, Inspired by a Real NASA Discovery

On July 26, 2022, as I was living through a period of acute loneliness despite being a naturally solitary person, NASA reported that computer modeling of data from its Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter …

www.themarginalian.org

1

Nassim Assefi @nassefi.bsky.social · 13d

Must listen episode of TED Radio Hour with the ever-wonderful Manoush Zamorodi. The astonishing story of world-class cellist (+ my dear friend) Joshua Roman's near erasure from LongCovid, how he transforms himself and his music. www.npr.org/2025/09/26/n...

What this musician’s identity crisis teaches us about navigating change : TED Radio Hour

Since childhood, Joshua Roman's life revolved around the cello. But when long COVID forced him to set his cello aside, he had to rethink his approach to life, faith and music.TED Radio Hour+ subscribe...

www.npr.org

Nassim Assefi @nassefi.bsky.social · 17d

The scientific and legal insanity of cutting DEI programs in health/medicine and research in the @nejm.org written by the amazing scholars and health policy advocates, Drs. Nancy Krieger and Mary Bassett. www.nejm.org/doi/full/10....

Structural and Scientific Racism, Science, and Health — Evidence versus Ideology | NEJM

The U.S. government has terminated grants funding work it considers to address “DEI,” conflating health equity research with efforts to change the composition and climate of the scientific workforce.

www.nejm.org

3

Nassim Assefi @nassefi.bsky.social · 17d

How AI fails low-resourced, culturally distinct (from Western) contexts. Brilliant article about how AI misreads the Persian art of ingrained politesse ("taarof"). arstechnica.com/ai/2025/09/w... TY @susannepari.bsky.social for this. I often wonder if Iranian diplomats are misunderstood this way.

When “no” means “yes”: Why AI chatbots can’t process Persian social etiquette

New study examines how a helpful AI response could become a cultural disaster in Iran.

arstechnica.com

1 1 2

Nassim Assefi @nassefi.bsky.social · 18d

brilliant PSA on what we're doing when we give our kids a smartphone without parental controls: www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_xw...

Smartphone Free Childhood US - "Let's Change The Norm"

YouTube video by Smartphone Free Childhood US

www.youtube.com

1

Nassim Assefi @nassefi.bsky.social · 19d

Excellent piece by Dr. Dhruv Khullar from my perspective as a clinician and AI clinical trainer who interacts with AI daily and also sees its flaws. It's all about the prompting and what details you know to highlight.

The New Yorker @newyorker.com · 19d

A.I. tools are already shaping patient care—but we should be wary of letting them diagnose us. “Patients and doctors alike could think of A.I. not as a way to solve mysteries but as a way to gather clues,” Dhruv Khullar writes.

If A.I. Can Diagnose Patients, What Are Doctors For?

Large language models are transforming medicine—but the technology comes with side effects.

www.newyorker.com

Reposted by Nassim Assefi

George Monbiot @georgemonbiot.bsky.social · 19d

A month ago, the famine in Gaza, deliberately created by the Israeli government, was officially confirmed by UN agencies. Since then, there has been an eerie silence in the media here, with far fewer reports than there were before. But it hasn't ended. On the contrary, it has intensified.

22 300 810

Nassim Assefi @nassefi.bsky.social · 19d

This hits too close to home given my work examining refugees seeking political asylum who have been survivors of torture. A must listen of the disintegration of the US justice system.

This American Life @thisamericanlife.org · 19d

A group of immigration judges, who rarely speak to the press, describes the dismantling of our immigration court system from the inside. link.podtrac.com/jg02r5r2

The Hand That Rocks The Gavel

A group of immigration judges, who almost never speak to the press, describes the dismantling of our immigration court system from the inside. Visit thisamericanlife.org/lifepartners to sign up for ...

link.podtrac.com

1

Nassim Assefi @nassefi.bsky.social · 20d

Sooo good.

The New Yorker @newyorker.com · 20d

“I say to the intern, The funding for your internship has been cut. Not by the university—by the government.” Read “Unreasonable,” a new short story by Rivka Galchen.

“Unreasonable,” by Rivka Galchen

I was raised to believe that no human is inherently evil, that evil is a surface disturbance caused by fear, misunderstanding, or ignorance. I’m now reconsidering.

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2025/09/29/unreasonable-fiction-rivka-galchen?utm_medium=so[…]e=owned&utm_source=bluesky&mbid=social_bluesky&utm_brand=tny

1