Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Avinash ಅವಿನಾಶ್ @tnavinash.bsky.social · 14h

Pretty excited to share our new preprint! Non-photosynthetic Plastid Replacement by a Primary Plastid in the Making https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.10.07.680570v1

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Avinash ಅವಿನಾಶ್ @tnavinash.bsky.social · 14h

@stcmicrobeblog.bsky.social on Bluesky

#SymbioSky #MicroSky #ProtistsOnSky the plot thickens 👇 as we all suspected and feared(?), organellogenesis is not straightforward, but rather, well,... a thicket ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ [contains quote post or other embedded content]

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Avinash ಅವಿನಾಶ್ @tnavinash.bsky.social · 14h

"Europe’s largest bat doesn’t just eat small birds – it hunts and captures them more than a kilometre above the ground." 😍

www.eurasiareview.com/10102025-how...

How Europe’s Largest Bat Catches And Eats Passerines Mid-Air – Eurasia Review

After nearly 25 years of research, the mystery has finally been solved: Europe’s largest bat doesn’t just eat small birds – it hunts and captures them more than a kilometre above the ground. And it eats them without landing. An international team of researchers has shed light on how Europe’s largest bat hunts and consumes...

www.eurasiareview.com

Avinash ಅವಿನಾಶ್ @tnavinash.bsky.social · 14h

There's a HL Mencken quote about the stupidity of the common American man. Did he ever think they would become this stupid?

@justinbaragona.bsky.social on Bluesky

Besides linking Tylenol in pregnant women to autism, RFK Jr. now says circumcision is part of the reason why kids are autistic. "Children who are circumcised early have double the rate of autism, and it's highly likely because they're given Tylenol. None of this is positive..."

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Avinash ಅವಿನಾಶ್ @tnavinash.bsky.social · 14h

@cyrilpedia.bsky.social on Bluesky

'In the end, according to Doctorow, no one is happy except the shareholders of the big platforms. “All our tech businesses are turning awful,” Doctorow writes in the book. “And they’re not dying. We remain trapped in their carcasses, unable to escape.” https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/05/books/review/cory-doctorow-enshittification.html

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Reposted by Avinash ಅವಿನಾಶ್

Jet Lee @jetsinglee.bsky.social · 16h

A fun read while getting my #MOF fix

#chemsky #MOFs #NobelPrize #chemistry @chemistryworld.com

www.chemistryworld.com/news/i-worke...

‘I worked on it little by little, with the help of a beer’: Making MOFs out of paper

Chemistry World talks to Ryo Horikoshi about engaging students with chemistry concepts using his stunning paper models

www.chemistryworld.com

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Avinash ಅವಿನಾಶ್ @tnavinash.bsky.social · 18h

The Onion has been the only media organisation in the West reporting truthfully & accurately on Palestine.

theonion.com/israel-agree...

Israel Agrees To Go Back To Killing Palestinians On Less Frequent Basis - The Onion

CAIRO—As part of a historic ceasefire agreement with Hamas following two years of war, the Israeli government reportedly agreed Thursday to go back to killing Palestinians on a less frequent basis. “In line with the terms of the deal, Hamas will release all remaining Israeli hostages, and Israel will still murder innocent Palestinian civilians on […]

theonion.com

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Avinash ಅವಿನಾಶ್ @tnavinash.bsky.social · 1d

The last Nobel laureate who I'd read before they won the prize was Mario Vargas Llosa (2010).

Also the only laureate I've read before they won the prize 😂

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Michelle A. Rodrigues 🐒 @marspidermonkey.bsky.social · 8d

We can remember Goodall’s accomplishments and legacy while recognizing that National Geographic created a narrative that erased the local people who contributed to her research. Her African colleagues deserve to be credited, not erased (10/10).

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Michelle A. Rodrigues 🐒 @marspidermonkey.bsky.social · 8d

When we hear about a lone scientist who made groundbreaking discoveries on their own, it’s usually erasing the truth that science is a team sport, and field research builds on the local knowledge and expertise of the people that live there (8/10)

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Michelle A. Rodrigues 🐒 @marspidermonkey.bsky.social · 8d

Leakey told Japanese primatologist Junichiro Itani that he could take over Gombe research in 1961, but when Goodall decided to stay on, Leakey denied them access, and the Japanese researchers spent several years exploring nearby sites before establishing long-term research at Mahale Mountains (7/10)

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Michelle A. Rodrigues 🐒 @marspidermonkey.bsky.social · 8d

When Goodall began her research in 1960, she was not alone in the forest, but accompanied by game scouts in her fieldwork—Adolf, Saulo, David, and Marcel—and back at camp she and her mother had the company of a local cook and his family. She would have relied heavily on their local knowledge (6/10)

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Michelle A. Rodrigues 🐒 @marspidermonkey.bsky.social · 8d

Goodall’s research was facilitated by British colonial networks. When she began working as Leakey’s secretary, two women Leakey sponsored, Jill Donisthorpe and Rosalie Osborn, were studying gorillas from 1958-1960. Goodall’s fieldwork built on the insights they had learned. (4/10)

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Michelle A. Rodrigues 🐒 @marspidermonkey.bsky.social · 8d

What the narrative leaves out is the contributions of the local Tanzanians who assisted and facilitated Goodall's early research, as well as preceding and concurrent research. Nat Geo created a story about a lone white woman alone with chimpanzees, erasing the Africans that were beside her (3/10)

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Michelle A. Rodrigues 🐒 @marspidermonkey.bsky.social · 8d

As a primatologist, Jane Goodall was a huge inspiration to me. I admired the way she describes chimpanzee behavior with such detail and empathy, and she’s inspired so many people and advocated for chimpanzee conservation and welfare.

However, I'm dismayed at what her narrative leaves out (1/10)

Photo of Jane Goodall in the center, signing a book, with three women standing slightly hunched behind her. A very young Michelle is to the right, smiling.

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Avinash ಅವಿನಾಶ್ @tnavinash.bsky.social · 1d

I assumed you were one of those scientists who also moonlighted with a band 🙂

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Markus Eichhorn @markuseichhorn.bsky.social · 1d

Mordecai Ogada is never afraid of challenging received opinion and always worth listening to. Before mythologising Jane Goodall we should recognise that she wasn't a hero to everyone in conservation.

Rishika Pardikar @rishpardikar.bsky.social · 2d

This is from a very prominent conservationist from Kenya

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Rishika Pardikar @rishpardikar.bsky.social · 2d

This is from a very prominent conservationist from Kenya

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Rishika Pardikar @rishpardikar.bsky.social · 2d

She was a regular at billionaire clubs like World Economic Forum. Played nice throughout. And made sure there were no consequences when she did finally speak out because she was gone by then. And this is just one line of critique.

We need critical remembrances; not hagiographies that whitewash

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Reposted by Avinash ಅವಿನಾಶ್

Pilhofer Lab 🦠❄️🔬 @pilhoferlab.bsky.social · 2d

🧐Checkout our preprint revealing the stepwise firing💥 mechanism of a Contractile Injection System @xujwet.bsky.social [email protected] trapped the complex by structure-guided engineering🧪 in multiple intermediate states and imaged them by multimodal #cryoEM❄️🔬
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

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Avinash ಅವಿನಾಶ್ @tnavinash.bsky.social · 1d

For a second I actually thought they recorded an album of music based on their science. 😅

Marc Somssich @somssich.bsky.social · 1d

Our article "Guns in Rosettes: The Arabidopsis chemical weapons arsenal" is finally published @plantphys.bsky.social!
You can download the #OpenAccess PDF here:

doi.org/10.1093/plph...

But real connoisseurs of #AntimicrobialCompounds will want to get the vinyl boxset: #PlantScience #PlantImmunity

A vinyl box with six colored vinyl LPs sticking out of its right side. The Title "Guns in Rosettes" is on top, with the subtitle "The Arabidopsis chemical weapons arsenal" just below. Then there is an Arabidopsis plant with machine guns sticking out. Below is the statement "6-LP LIMITED EDITION COLORED VINYL BOX SET"

The back cover of the vinyl box set showing the tracklist:
1. Methionine-derived compounds
Aliphatic GSLs
2. Tryptophan-derived compounds (trptonites)
Indolic GSLs
Camalexin
Hycanite (4-OH-ICN)
3. Phenylalanine-derived compounds (phenylpropanoids)
Benzenic GSLs
Coumarins
Hydroxycinnamates
Flavonoids
4. Terpenoids
(E)-β-caryophyllene
α- and β-pinene
Thalianin, arabidin, and DMNT

And the statement "Recorded live in front of an audience in 2025"

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Avinash ಅವಿನಾಶ್ @tnavinash.bsky.social · 2d

Now why would you put Sabine Hossenfelder on this list? 😬

bsky.app/profile/did:...

@drdind.bsky.social on Bluesky

The Nobel Prizes, 5 of 6 having so far gone to US based scientists, are a reminder of why we must stand up for science against this horrid administration. Here are some great Scientist Activists to follow. go.bsky.app/14W5Rdk [contains quote post or other embedded content]

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Avinash ಅವಿನಾಶ್ @tnavinash.bsky.social · 2d

Barry Glending doing a Barney Ronay here 👇🏾

Avinash ಅವಿನಾಶ್ @tnavinash.bsky.social · 2d

What's worse is that it seems to affect children too now. Coupled with a decline in curiosity, the future doesn't look good.

Or is this just an 'old man shakes fist at clouds' behaviour?

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Avinash ಅವಿನಾಶ್ @tnavinash.bsky.social · 2d

Someone once told me "if you are not liberal when young, you have no heart; if you aren't conservative when old, you have no brain".

I've moved more to the far Left with age, but am finding it difficult to relate to people now.

Apathy and ignorance seem to have increased everwhere.

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