Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Orion🌈&sm9eb @sm9eb.bsky.social · 22m

People, please show up on the 18th. There is [peaceful] strength in numbers. It's the only way we get out of this and keep our democracy.

Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 47m

“.. Inside the White House, top advisers joke that they are ruling Congress with an “iron fist,” according to people who have heard the comments. Steve Bannon, the influential Trump ally, likened Congress to the Duma, the Russian assembly that is largely ceremonial.”

www.wsj.com/politics/pol...

Orion🌈&sm9eb @sm9eb.bsky.social · 25m

A total coincidence in my viewing of Season 6 Episode 1 #GBBO. See the subtitles.

Reposted by Orion🌈&sm9eb

Dr Space Junk (Alice Gorman) @drspacejunk.bsky.social · 16h

Do we really want 250,000 mirrored satellites in Low Earth Orbit? Hasn't the Starlink megaconstellation already done enough damage?
🧪 @mjibrown.bsky.social

A US startup plans to deliver ‘sunlight on demand’ after dark. Can it work – and would we want it to?

Satellites beaming sunlight down to Earth sound like science fiction – and they have astronomers very worried.

theconversation.com

28 56 160

Orion🌈&sm9eb @sm9eb.bsky.social · 4h

A horror show for astronomy.

1

Reposted by Orion🌈&sm9eb

Science Magazine @science.org · 4h

Astronomers may have glimpsed a long-predicted wind of gas blowing out from Sagittarius A*. https://scim.ag/3L1rbKU

Missing wind from Milky Way’s giant black hole finally found

Astronomers may have glimpsed a long-predicted wind of gas blowing out from Sagittarius A*

scim.ag

2 11 38

Orion🌈&sm9eb @sm9eb.bsky.social · 4h

There's a fire visible from Observatory Hill in the southeast.

Orion🌈&sm9eb @sm9eb.bsky.social · 9h

But, famously, MMM also hosted #Tardigandalf one year, and goodness knows tardigrades aren't vertebrates!
@mammalssuck.bsky.social Has MMM had crabs?? I know it's discussed carcinization.

1

Orion🌈&sm9eb @sm9eb.bsky.social · 9h

Strong suspicion the anthro prof was actually teaching them to critique the way it could be manipulated for "historical visualizations".

1

Reposted by Orion🌈&sm9eb

More Perfect Union @moreperfectunion.bsky.social · 10h

BREAKING: Trump’s budget chief Russ Vought says that “reduction in force,” or mass firings of federal workers, have begun — a move that is likely illegal.

20 200 730

Reposted by Orion🌈&sm9eb

Nick Ashdown @nickashdown.bsky.social · 10h

🤔

2 4

Orion🌈&sm9eb @sm9eb.bsky.social · 9h

Crabs can always be #2026MMM guest mammals. (Shout out to the year of #TeamBatToilet, a plant.)

1 1

Orion🌈&sm9eb @sm9eb.bsky.social · 9h

DC badly needs road & infrastructure work (not "beautification"). Because certain kinds of projects require Congressional approval, Rs hold it hostage, unlike other US cities (eg, they forced the airport name change.) The only solution is for DC to be the 51st state and preserve home rule. #FreeDC

2

Orion🌈&sm9eb @sm9eb.bsky.social · 10h

It seems like a good #2026MMM adjacent news day, hmm?

Nimblenewt @nimblenewt.bsky.social · 1d

"...they watched in astonishment a brown wormlike creature greedily munching through green clumps of algae as if more than 130 years hadn’t passed since its last meal. Equally oblivious, a host of life – water fleas, worms, plankton – danced and spun around it."
#invertebrates #hope

Creatures buried in soil for over a century burst back to life in Toronto waterfront

A project to restore coastal wetland leads to astonishing discoveries of a host of life: seeds and plant scraps, as well as water fleas, worms, larvae and plankton

www.theguardian.com

1 2

Orion🌈&sm9eb @sm9eb.bsky.social · 10h

Carcinization talk! #2026MMM

Jo Wolfe, PhD @jopabinia.bsky.social · 13h

I'm on the BBC talking about (how we won't be) evolving into crabs 🧪🦀

Also features Matt Wills (my academic older brother) and Ned Suesat-Williams (of the crab museum!). Unfortunately they were in London and I on zoom, so there was no time to tell Ned to join here

BBC Audio | The Curious Cases of Rutherford & Fry | To Crab, or Not to Crab?

Hannah and Dara investigate why nature has evolved the humble crabs so many times.

www.bbc.com

1 1 3

Orion🌈&sm9eb @sm9eb.bsky.social · 10h

Hmm. I think I overcooked it? It didn't rise a lot. That could be old baking powder or maybe something to do with the fat?

Thanks to Martha Stewart for the toothpick cutting tip.

The lower half of a Victoria sponge cake, sliced through the middle, with toothpicks stuck into the sides to help guide the knife. It's dense, without a lot of air bubbles.

1 1

Reposted by Orion🌈&sm9eb

Nature @nature.com · 12h

Hopes of securing a United Nations treaty on plastic pollution are fading after the final round of negotiations ended without an agreement.

go.nature.com/3J74xjN

The world’s first plastics treaty is in crisis: can it be salvaged?

Hopes of securing a United Nations treaty on plastic pollution are fading after the final round of negotiations ended without an agreement.

go.nature.com

16 27

Orion🌈&sm9eb @sm9eb.bsky.social · 11h

I don't touch it, but students sure do. 😔

1

Orion🌈&sm9eb @sm9eb.bsky.social · 11h

It reads like chatGPT that has been edited.

1 2

Reposted by Orion🌈&sm9eb

Dr Rebecca Wragg Sykes @lemoustier.bsky.social · 15h

🧪🦣🏺 Strong criticisms of recent study claiming super-ancient origin forlineage leading to H. sapiens, which is contradicted by DNA that points strongly to a last common ancestor more like 600,000 years ago rather than +1 million.
Also, geopolitics & nationalism often intersect with #HumanOrigins

Manuel Will @manuelwill.bsky.social · 16h

Fossiler Schädel: Homo sapiens viel älter als angenommen? | via BR24
br.de/nachrichten/... @br24.de
#Evolution #Anthropology

Fossiler Schädel: Homo sapiens viel älter als angenommen?

Bisher waren Forschende sich weitgehend einig: Der Homo sapiens hat sich einst in Afrika entwickelt und von dort aus verbreitet. Eine neue Studie über die Rekonstruktion eines fossilen Schädels aus Ch...

br.de

13 34

Orion🌈&sm9eb @sm9eb.bsky.social · 12h

IMAGINE excavating this, my gosh. (For that matter, imagine conserving it, eeek.)

Nina Willburger @drnwillburger.bsky.social · 17h

#FindsFriday! A Roman brush found in Bregenz.

Roman brush fragments are sometimes difficult to interpret; in this case, their function may relate to textile production, as suggested for similar finds in Eschenz.The bristled surface is suitable for carding or teasing wool fibers. 🧵1/2

📷 me

🏺

A photo of a well-preserved fragment of a Roman brush in a show case. The object consists of a rectangular base with rounded and scalloped edges, formed from wood into which hundreds of stiff rushes have been densely embedded.

1 4

Orion🌈&sm9eb @sm9eb.bsky.social · 12h

I was at the Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh in August! I didn't see the squirrel print, but there were lots of cats! Check their website!

www.warhol.org

The Andy Warhol Museum

Warhol for All

www.warhol.org

1 1

Orion🌈&sm9eb @sm9eb.bsky.social · 12h

Good to know! She whacked me in the head on Monday when I needed to give her fresh sugar water, so I guess she was getting ready for the big trip!

Orion🌈&sm9eb @sm9eb.bsky.social · 12h

I think with the drop in night temps my little hummingbird Tiktok has begun her southward migration! Yesterday she was missing. Did a hawk hurt her? Did the cold shock her? But the hummingbird frenemies that she fights off constantly aren't here, either!
Fly strong, Tiktok! Come back to me!

a hummingbird sitting on top of a red flower

ALT: a hummingbird sitting on top of a red flower

media.tenor.com

1 3

Reposted by Orion🌈&sm9eb

Anarchopology @anarchopology.bsky.social · 12h

I met Gabi in 2018, when she was a law student at Howard. For over a year I’d see her every 2 weeks as we helped unhoused folks deal with the city during the routine “encampment cleanups.” She taught me so much about homelessness & kindness & hope. Thank you for everything Gabi! RIP.

Remora House DC 🎃 @remorahousedc.bsky.social · 12h

Cant believe it’s been 3 years since we lost Gabi. She was an amazing human.

Her energy lives on in the many lives she has change. If able, donate to The Gabriela I. Sevilla, Esq. Scholarship.
givebutter.com/SevillaESQ

RIP Gabi. Love & Solidarity!

The Gabriela I. Sevilla, Esq. Scholarship

By The Lambda Theta Alpha Foundation

givebutter.com

1 6 13

Reposted by Orion🌈&sm9eb

Jonathan Cohn @jonathancohn.bsky.social · 2d

Trump has been illegally bombing boats off the coast of Venezuela.

Tim Kaine and Adam Schiff forced a vote on reasserting Congress's role over war powers and ending this reckless
warmongering.

It failed 48-51.

Murkowski and Paul voted yes.

Fetterman voted no.

130 830 2.4K