Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Angelos Amyntas @amyntas.bsky.social · 22h

I think his never-ending sentences are easy enough to follow, as long as they describe tangible things. But he does the same for abstract ideas, which was a real challenge.

1

Angelos Amyntas @amyntas.bsky.social · 22h

Watching Tarr's Turin Horse and Werkmeister Harmonies were not enough of a deterrent, so I read The Melancholy of Resistance recently. I'm glad I did but I'm also glad it's behind me.

1

Angelos Amyntas @amyntas.bsky.social · 23h

Does this mean I can let my co-authors know that starting a sentence and forgetting to finish it is about to become cool?

The Guardian @theguardian.com · 1d

László Krasznahorkai wins the Nobel prize in literature 2025

The author was announced as winner at a ceremony in Stockholm • Nobel prize in literature 2025 live: László Krasznahorkai wins ‘for his compelling and visionary oeuvre’ The Nobel prize in literature for 2025 has been awarded to Hungarian author László Krasznahorkai, the Swedish Academy has announced. The Academy cited the 71-year-old’s “compelling and visionary oeuvre that, in the midst of apocalyptic terror, reaffirms the power of art”. Continue reading...

www.theguardian.com

Reposted by Angelos Amyntas

Frank Pennekamp @pennekampster.bsky.social · 4d

Does body size predict abundance the same way in all environments, as predicted by the Metabolic theory of Ecology? Our new study challenges this assumption. Read it here: 📄 doi.org/10.1111/ele....

Biodiversity modulates the cross‐community scaling relationship in changing environments

Organismal abundance typically declines with increasing body size, with metabolic theory predicting a universal size–abundance slope of –0.75. Using protist microcosms across gradients of species ric...

doi.org

2 17 43

Reposted by Angelos Amyntas

Jacquelyn Gill @jacquelyngill.bsky.social · 3d

The new Wiley journal review system is an absolute nightmare. Editorial assistants have been replaced by a clunky, AI-enabled website that makes it harder to find and invite reviewers. Associate editor workloads have increased. I'm not convinced the invitations to reviewers are even going through.

10 60 150

Reposted by Angelos Amyntas

Thomas Spiteri @tespiteri.bsky.social · 7d

I sat down with Prof. Cordelia Fine for an in-depth discussion about her wonderful new book “Patriarchy, Inc.”

She critiques two dominant stories of inequality — the “different but equal” view and the “business case for diversity” — and sets out a richer vision of what equality should mean today.

S5 E10 - Cordelia Fine on

Podcast Episode · The HPS Podcast - Conversations from History, Philosophy and Social Studies of Science · 03/10/2025 · 53m

podcasts.apple.com

1 13 43

Reposted by Angelos Amyntas

Jenny Bryan @jennybryan.bsky.social · 6d

BTW this "Frequency Reduces Difficulty" post from @martinfowler.com is the origin of the mantra "if it hurts, do it more often" (at least, it's where I learned it). It's amazing how broadly this applies.

martinfowler.com/bliki/Freque...

bliki: Frequency Reduces Difficulty

"If it hurts - do it more often". Good advice if the amount of pain raises exponentially with the time between actions, such as for integrating software.

martinfowler.com

4 27

Reposted by Angelos Amyntas

Francesco Polazzo @fancescopolazzo.bsky.social · 7d

New paper out in Ecology Letters!
“The Imbalance of Nature: The Role of Species Environmental Responses for Community Stability”
📖 Read it here: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

We tried to answer the question: What drives community stability in fluctuating environments?

The Imbalance of Nature: The Role of Species Environmental Responses for Community Stability

This study shows that the distribution of species' fundamental responses to environmental change, quantified by a new metric, imbalance, is a key driver of ecological stability. In a large microcosm ...

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

1 3 7

Reposted by Angelos Amyntas

Clayton Hale (he/him) @chale9.bsky.social · 9d

Help! 🚨 Looking for resources on structural equation models—favorite methods papers, example studies, or guides for building an SEM pipeline. Thinking of using one for a dissertation chapter & not sure where to start. Suggestions? Please share!

2 5 3

Angelos Amyntas @amyntas.bsky.social · 9d

Here are two methods papers, a classic and a more recent one:

esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1890/...

esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

1 1

Reposted by Angelos Amyntas

Nick (derogatory) ✨ @slothropsmap.bsky.social · 13d

Now this is Content

17 1K 3.3K

Reposted by Angelos Amyntas

Zsófia Horváth @zsofiahorvath.bsky.social · 18d

Looking for openly available:
- before-after data in space
- with a restoration measure inbetween (e.g. dam/invasive spec. removal, urban green space creation...)
- min. 10 sites (quadrats / random places along a stream / ponds...)
- species data, env. data of some sort, GPS coordinates

1 11 7

Reposted by Angelos Amyntas

Susan Kaye Quinn is Writing Solarpunk 🌞🌱 @susankayequinn.bsky.social · 15d

They've lost the 9yos

JA Westenberg
@Daojoan@mastodon.social

My 9 year old and his classmates have started using “that’s AI” to mean “I don’t believe you.”

Me: we’re having dinosaur meat for dinner

Kiddo: that’s AI
Sep 24, 2025, 07:36 AM

110 2.9K 11K

Reposted by Angelos Amyntas

Zoe Drayson @zoedrayson.bsky.social · 17d

When a typo in your Google search leads to new and exciting philosophical positions

AI Overview: "Dental realism"refers to the philosophical debate about whether teeth exist independently of human perception, a concept rooted in metaphysical realism. While realism asserts an objective reality for teeth, idealist philosophies contend that teeth's existence is tied to our consciousness and perception. Philosophers use this idea, for example, to discuss the ethics of tooth extraction, examining whether a procedure impacts a real entity or merely a subjective experience.

56 400 1.4K

Angelos Amyntas @amyntas.bsky.social · 21d

I don't get it, what are they asking for exactly? A certificate for proficiency in English?

To be fair to the editor, I don't think that's on them; it has to be journal policy. So I say, name and shame the journal.

1 1

Reposted by Angelos Amyntas

MC Stan @mc-stan.org · 22d

MC Stan is here! Follow for the latest Stan news, and tag if you want us to repost your posts about new papers, packages, courses, etc. about Stan

1 33 38

Reposted by Angelos Amyntas

Jannice Friedman @jannicefriedman.bsky.social · 23d

Is this platform useful for asking biology questions? 🌾🧪

Question for my plant-peeps:
Is there something newer and better than microsatellites for assessing paternity? (where newer and better means cheaper and easier?) Have field arrays, known parents, need to genotype offspring seed for paternity.

3 13 10

Reposted by Angelos Amyntas

Andrew Gelman et al. @statmodeling.bsky.social · 24d

The Desperation of Causal Inference in Ecology
statmodeling.stat.columbia.edu/2025/09/15/t...

The Desperation of Causal Inference in Ecology | Statistical Modeling, Causal Inference, and Social Science

statmodeling.stat.columbia.edu

2 12

Angelos Amyntas @amyntas.bsky.social · 24d

Is there a website for this (besides the registration form)? Something I could share across my institute.

1 1

Reposted by Angelos Amyntas

Mridul K. Thomas @mridulkthomas.bsky.social · 25d

@raviranjan.bsky.social & I are teaching a free online workshop with on experimental design for environmental scientists on the 23rd.

We'll focus on using simulations to evaluate how well different experimental designs help achieve your goals.

Please sign up & share! forms.gle/MZTxeQs4UpMr...

Poster for 90 minute workshop on HOW TO DESIGN BETTER EXPERIMENTS, by Mridul Thomas & Ravi Ranjan.

Details: September 23rd 16:00 CEST ; 14:00 UTC

Description:

Experimental designs can make or break an experiment. A good experiment has a clear goal and efficiently uses experimental resources to achieve that goal. In this workshop, we will review what experiments are for, basic and advanced principles of designing experiments, and how to use simulations to evaluate designs before actually doing the
experiment. We’ll do a moderate amount of coding in R and so experience with this would be helpful but is not required. We intend to have small-group discussions to help participants develop their own experiments, and encourage participants to think of a specific question they would like to answer with an experiment.

2 21 27

Angelos Amyntas @amyntas.bsky.social · 25d

Kelp is pretty good.

The board game Kelp. The box top features a red octopus in the foreground and a shark lurkining in the background.

1 2

Reposted by Angelos Amyntas

The Guardian @theguardian.com · 27d

‘Like walking through time’: as glaciers retreat, new worlds are being created in their wake

As Swiss glaciers melt at an ever-faster rate, new species move in and flourish, but entire ecosystems and an alpine culture can be lost

www.theguardian.com

1 23 77

Reposted by Angelos Amyntas

Peter Tennant @pwgtennant.bsky.social · 28d

"AI isn’t magic; it’s a pyramid scheme of human labor"

www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

How thousands of ‘overworked, underpaid’ humans train Google’s AI to seem smart

Contracted AI raters describe grueling deadlines, poor pay and opacity around work to make chatbots intelligent

www.theguardian.com

5 19

Reposted by Angelos Amyntas

Dr. Joan Dudney @dudney-joan.bsky.social · 29d

Super awesome new paper in #MEE describing #causal #detection of shifts in #biodiversity! So many great insights here—a must read for those interested in #causalinference

And love Fig 3! Congrats team! @lsantinieco.bsky.social

doi.org/10.1111/2041...

DAGs showing confounding, mediator and collider variables

2 13 28

Reposted by Angelos Amyntas

Johannes Merz @mosssoup2.bsky.social · Sep 9

Sphagnum fallax in a mesotrophic sloping fen in central Germany 🌿

1 13 57