Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Dr Áine O’Brien

Alex Partridge @alexpartridge87.bsky.social · 22d

Liberal Democrat Health Spokesperson Helen Morgan:

"Nigel Farage wants to impose Trump's dangerous anti-science agenda here in the UK. Peddling this kind of nonsense is irresponsible and wrong.

"It seems Farage would rather see pregnant women suffer in pain than stand up to his idol Donald Trump."

15 140 470

Reposted by Dr Áine O’Brien

Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans @astroroyalscot.bsky.social · 23d

Inner child extremely excited about a crewed mission to the moon as soon as February!
Outer adult painfully aware of the NASA funding cuts and their impact on wide-ranging and incredibly important scientific research.
Anyone else simultaneously thrilled and downcast about this news?🔭🛰️

Ars Technica @arstechnica.com · 23d

NASA targeting early February for Artemis II mission to the Moon

“There is a desire for us to be the first to return to the surface of the Moon.”…

arstechnica.com

15 19 87

Reposted by Dr Áine O’Brien

Otto English @ottoenglish.bsky.social · 24d

Everyone in this country is descended from immigrants.

Every single last one of us.

And many, like Mr Farage, will have very recent migrant ancestors indeed and not even know about it.

32 120 620

Reposted by Dr Áine O’Brien

Otto English @ottoenglish.bsky.social · Sep 16

Janice and Kerry claim they're not racists.

And you might be tempted to believe that until you read what Janice and Kerry think and then conclude that ... yup - they're racists.

Martin Warne @martinwarne.net · Sep 16

This, from The Londoner yesterday, also features people on the march who claim not to be racists. Though the things they say prove otherwise

86 230 740

Reposted by Dr Áine O’Brien

Matthias M. M. Meier @mmmmeier.bsky.social · Sep 15

I was finally able to update meteoriteorbits.info, also comparing the list to the Jenniskens & Devillepoix 2025 review. The list now contains the orbits of Aguas Zarcas (CM2), Hradec Kralové (LL5), Renchen (L5-6), Pusté Úlany (H5) and Haag (LL4-6). A total of 60 meteorites with published orbits!

Five new meteorites added – Meteorite Orbits .info

www.meteoriteorbits.info

1 2

Reposted by Dr Áine O’Brien

Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans @astroroyalscot.bsky.social · Sep 10

Without the Mars Sample Return mission to return the core sample to Earth, however, we will never know if these are 3.5 billion yr old signs of fossilised microbial life or just a normal chemical process ☹️

Fab @sciam.bsky.social write-up here:
www.scientificamerican.com/article/is-t... 🔭🧪

This Martian Rock Might Be the Closest We’ve Come to Finding Alien Life

The Perseverance rover’s new findings set the stage for bringing Martian samples back to Earth to test whether microbes once inhabited the Red Planet

www.scientificamerican.com

16 69

Dr Áine O’Brien @aineclareob.bsky.social · Sep 12

Been a busy morning chatting to the BBC, here's hoping those munro baggers can bag a meteorite too!

UofGNews @uofgnews.bsky.social · Sep 12

Hillwalkers setting out to bag a Munro are being asked for their help to bag a meteorite too, as scientists from @uofgges.bsky.social and the UK Fireball Network race to recover samples of a space rock which lit up the skies over Scotland this summer.

Read more here: gla.ac.uk/news/headlin...

A map showing the likely fall zone of the July meteorite, which dropped fragments across Stob Coire Easain, Chno Dearg, and Ben Alder.

1 2 9

Dr Áine O’Brien @aineclareob.bsky.social · Sep 11

A very succinct summary of Christian's talk today at #EPSCDPS2025 on our work studying the effects of perchlorates on meteoritic organics 👇

Elise Harrington @elusieum.bsky.social · Sep 11

The presence of perchlorate alters organic compounds, but does not erase them - laboratory experiments on C12 acids

#EPSCDPS2025

2 3

Reposted by Dr Áine O’Brien

Nature @nature.com · Sep 10

The Perseverance rover on Mars has observed unusual minerals associated with organic matter — raising questions about the geochemistry of ancient Mars.

go.nature.com/469V1nr

Mystery Martian minerals hint at the planet’s complex geochemical past

The Perseverance rover on Mars has observed unusual minerals associated with organic matter — raising questions about the geochemistry of ancient Mars.

go.nature.com

1 37 72

Dr Áine O’Brien @aineclareob.bsky.social · Sep 7

I’m unfortunately not at #EPSCDPS but Christian Schröder will be presenting some cool stuff I’ve been working on (on and off since 2019😳) simulating martian conditions on CM chondrites in the Thursday morning Mars session ☄️

4

Reposted by Dr Áine O’Brien

Gabriel Milland @gabrielmilland.bsky.social · Sep 4

Thinking that the solicitors who are doing your conveyancing are incompetent morons who stand a very real chance of completely ruining your life just makes Rayner more relateable imho.

14 30 250

Reposted by Dr Áine O’Brien

Josiah Mortimer @josiah.writes.news · Sep 1

Such a bizarre pledge from the Tories - which ironically, makes it clear that oil and gas will run out, unlike...the sun, wind and tides.

A policy that appeals primarily to potential donors, and those who work in the sector who don't want a just transition
www.thenational.scot/news/2542953...

'Reckless ignorance': Kemi Badenoch vow to extract 'all' North Sea oil slammed

TORY leader Kemi Badenoch has been accused of “reckless ignorance” after vowing to extract every last drop of oil and gas from the North Sea.

www.thenational.scot

14 57 170

Reposted by Dr Áine O’Brien

Dr. Adeene Denton @spacewhalerider.com · Aug 21

Put all our abstracts about diversity and inclusion from past meetings back up first, you cowards

Save the Date

57th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference

March 16–20, 2026

The Woodlands, Texas/Virtual

2 10 63

Reposted by Dr Áine O’Brien

Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans @astroroyalscot.bsky.social · Aug 20

A rather misleading headline in the BBC this morning: the UK Space Agency is definitely not being scrapped!

#UKSA will change from being an exec agency of, to a unit within, the Dept of Science, Innovation & Tech, reducing UKGov red tape. Thoughts?🧪🔭🛰️

ℹ️: www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

UK independent space agency scrapped to cut costs

Britain's space agency is set to be scrapped - a scientist fears the UK space sector could fall behind as a result

www.bbc.co.uk

10 28 78

Dr Áine O’Brien @aineclareob.bsky.social · Aug 2

Congrats Laura! Looking forward to reading it ☺️

1

Reposted by Dr Áine O’Brien

Kevin Daly @kevinddaly.bsky.social · Jul 27

Farewell to the brilliant Tom Lehrer. www.nytimes.com/2025/07/27/a...

Tom Lehrer, Musical Satirist With a Dark Streak, Dies at 97

www.nytimes.com

9 140 340

Dr Áine O’Brien @aineclareob.bsky.social · Jul 27

Happy “one of the few days of the year I’m not embarrassed to be 50% English” to those who celebrate

3

Reposted by Dr Áine O’Brien

Josiah Mortimer @josiah.writes.news · Jul 23

We're at a pretty worrying place when it comes to protest rights in the UK, in my opinion.

Via the new Private Eye (alt text available)

ARE PRIVATE EYE JOKES CRIMINAL?!

'PALESTINE ACTION' EXPLAINED

❌ Unacceptable Palestine Action
Spraying military planes with paint

✅ Acceptable Palestine Action
Shooting Palestinians queueing for food

© Private Eye no. 1653

---

PALESTINE Solidarity campaigner Jon Farley was arrested, bundled into a van and taken to the cells during a silent march in Leeds last weekend. What egregious act had prompted the police to act? He was, er, carrying a Private Eye joke piece as a placard (pictured)!

As the Eye went to press, Mr Farley, a retired headteacher who marches regularly with the Leeds Palestine Solidarity Campaign, told the Eye that police had confirmed on Monday morning there would be no further action and all bail conditions were lifted. He described the ordeal as a “nasty experience”, noting that West Yorkshire cops are “normally quite reasonable” but that despite his efforts to explain the obvious point the Eye’s joke was making, “nuance isn’t their thing”.

More than 100 people were arrested at various protests over the same weekend, amid warnings from police not to test the limits of the law by expressing support for Palestine Action, now a proscribed organisation, meaning any show of “support” for the group is a criminal offence. Even when no charges are brought, being arrested under the Terrorism Act leaves a record potentially affecting travel and employment.

Home secretary Yvette Cooper took measures to proscribe Palestine Action after activists broke into RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire last month and sprayed two planes with paint.

As the Eye wrote in issue 1652: “Some will argue that proscribing Palestine Action and extending the definition of terrorism to direct action groups that destroy property but don’t aim attacks at the public — rather than using the current criminal law — is a high price for society to pay.” This was before the police decided to extend the definition of terrorism to include people cutting jokes out of satirical magazines…

5 32 62

Dr Áine O’Brien @aineclareob.bsky.social · Jul 23

Two days into my new job and this has already been a problem, couldn’t book trains on the university travel system bc of my apostrophe 🙃

Dr Áine O’Brien @aineclareob.bsky.social · Jul 22

Story of my life

Financial Times @financialtimes.com · Jul 22

Why does the internet hate my apostrophe? https://on.ft.com/45fkgW7 | opinion

Why does the internet hate my apostrophe?

It turns out I am not machine readable — but that might be an advantage in the future

on.ft.com

1 2

Reposted by Dr Áine O’Brien

Chris Lintott @chrislintott.bsky.social · Jul 21

Betelgeuse is a double! Fun to learn something new about a familiar star.

Tod Lauer @todlauer.bsky.social · Jul 21

Betelgeuse has a companion - a pre main-sequence B/A star with a semimajor axis of only 8 au. Required speckle observations to dig it out. noirlab.edu/public/news/...

Gemini North Discovers Long-Predicted Stellar Companion of Betelgeuse - Gemini North telescope in Hawai‘i reveals never-before-seen companion to Betelgeuse, solving millennia-old mystery

Astronomers have discovered a companion star in an incredibly tight orbit around Betelgeuse using the NASA and U.S. National Science Foundation-funded ‘Alopeke instrument on Gemini North, one half of ...

noirlab.edu

7 29 150

Dr Áine O’Brien @aineclareob.bsky.social · Jul 21

Tomorrow I’m returning to planetary science research & @uofglasgow.bsky.social as a post doc. I’ll be investing how shock pressures affect D/H ratios in hydrated minerals. 💫 I’ve had 2 years out of academia & more than 3 out of planetary science, anyone got any tips on returning to research?

6

Reposted by Dr Áine O’Brien

Climate Home News @climatechangenews.com · Jul 21

Amid suspected fraud in the production of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), a new report says the airline industry should stop calling all alternatives to kerosene “sustainable”

Airlines risk legal challenges by advertising jet fuel as "sustainable", NGO warns

A new report says the airline industry should stop calling all alternatives to kerosene as jet fuel "sustainable"

buff.ly

3 2

Reposted by Dr Áine O’Brien

Tiernan Douieb @tiernandouieb.bsky.social · Jul 19

Please say their lawyer is like a little hedgehog in a suit with a briefcase

Unofficial BBCNews (UK) Bot @bbcnews-uk-rss.bsky.social · Jul 19

Sylvanian Families in legal fight over TikTok sex and drugs videos

The toys' owner is suing a TikTok creator who makes videos of them in adult storylines.

www.bbc.com

17 250 1K

Reposted by Dr Áine O’Brien

Ember @ember-energy.org · Jul 19

CO2 emissions from Drax biomass power station are larger than the SIX most polluting gas power plants in the UK combined.

Drax is STILL the UK’s largest emitter, and is likely to stay top of the list through 2030.

https://ember-energy.org/latest-insights/drax-is-still-the-uks-largest-emitter

1 9 27