Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

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John Warner @biblioracle.bsky.social · 2d

I strongly urge everyone to not just read this warning from @marcwatkins.bsky.social, but heed it, and be vocal and forceful pushing back against using AI to grade student writing. This must be anathema if we're going to have a world where learning means something. substack.com/inbox/post/1...

The Dangers of using AI to Grade

Nobody Learns, Nobody Gains

substack.com

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bergelsonlab @bergelsonlab.bsky.social · 1d

New contender: hot Cheeto peppers (shishito) #LinguistBabyPhotos

bergelsonlab @bergelsonlab.bsky.social · 13d

Hello I have a nominee for best mondegreen heard in the wild since TSwift’s #StarbucksLovers , maybe even Alanis Morisette’s #CrossEyedBear:
Cape Cod Demon Hunters.

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Zoe Liberman @zoeliberman.bsky.social · 9d

Spread the word: I'm looking to recruit a PhD student for Fall 2026 to @ucsb.bsky.social! Reach out if you are applying this cycle and hoping to study infant and child social cognition, specifically expectations about friendship and/or groups. Bonus: live in paradise! And.. 1/3

UCSB Campus. Meadow in the foreground with Storke Tower and mountains in the distance

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bergelsonlab @bergelsonlab.bsky.social · 2d

googlescholar: okay but are you REALLY a person cuz you've been clicking on a lot of articles, here slide this slider.

me: TYSM, i *do* try to be well read, how flattering of you to notice

#AcademicSky

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bergelsonlab @bergelsonlab.bsky.social · 2d

ooooh this reply section's gonna be funnnnnn

Chaz Firestone @chazfirestone.bsky.social · 3d

This is a big one! A 4-year writing project over many timezones, arguing for a reimagining of the influential "core knowledge" thesis.

Led by @daweibai.bsky.social, we argue that much of our innate knowledge of the world is not "conceptual" in nature, but rather wired into perceptual processing. 👇

Screenshot of a paper abstract:

“Core knowledge” refers to a set of cognitive systems that underwrite early representations of the physical and social world, appear universally across cultures, and likely result from our genetic endowment. Although this framework is canonically considered as a hypothesis about early emerging conception — how we think and reason about the world — here we present an alternative view: that many such representations are inherently perceptual in nature. This “core perception” view explains an intriguing (and otherwise mysterious) aspect of core-knowledge processes and representations: that they also operate in adults, where they display key empirical signatures of perceptual processing. We first illustrate this overlap using recent work on “core physics”, the domain of core knowledge concerned with physical objects, representing properties such as persistence through time, cohesion, solidity, and causal interactions. We review evidence that adult vision incorporates exactly these representations of core physics, while also displaying empirical signatures of genuinely perceptual mechanisms, such as rapid and automatic operation on the basis of specific sensory inputs, informational encapsulation, and interaction with other perceptual processes. We further argue that the same pattern holds for other areas of core knowledge, including geometrical, numerical, and social domains. In light of this evidence, we conclude that many infant results appealing to precocious reasoning abilities are better explained by sophisticated perceptual mechanisms shared by infants and adults. Our core-perception view elevates the status of perception in accounting for the origins of conceptual knowledge, and generates a range of ready-to-test hypotheses in developmental psychology, vision science, and more.

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Margaret Mitchell @mmitchell.bsky.social · 3d

"Experimenter bias" refers to a mistake in scientific studies where the experimenter wants to see something, and so unconsciously designs protocols to prove what they want to see. RFK here provides an example, Let me explain what we might see based on this. 🧵

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 3d

RFK Jr on Tylenol and autism: "It is not proof. We're doing the studies to make the proof."

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Joshua Weitz @joshuasweitz.bsky.social · 3d

"American civil society has more than enough financial and organizational muscle to stop this authoritarian offensive. But it requires collective resolve... Harvard has shown resolve. Now it’s time to lead."

via @ryanenos.bsky.social & @stevelevitsky.bsky.social

www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...

Harvard Must Take a Stand Against Trump's Compact

https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2025/10/9/enos-levitsky-harvard-trump-compact/

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bergelsonlab @bergelsonlab.bsky.social · 3d

we once made a Tart Tatin(ic) #MyHeartWillGoOn
yours still looks delicious!

a heap of cooked dough and peaches in nothing even close to resembling the intended tart.

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NPR @npr.org · 3d

A Cornell University researcher has been developing an artificial heart for children for more than 20 years. Now, his research is on hold and his lab is shut down. n.pr/3KIfcSn

This 4-year-old's heart is failing. A federal grant that might help him was canceled

A Cornell University researcher has been developing an artificial heart for children for more than 20 years. Now, his research is on hold and his lab is shut down.

n.pr

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Prof Gavin Yamey @gavinyamey.bsky.social · 3d

“A study, published on Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine, showed that last season’s 2024–2025 mRNA COVID vaccines reduced people’s risk of emergency department visits by 29%, their risk of hospitalizations by 39% & their risk of death by 64%”

Benefits were seen even if 0 risk factors

Soren Larsen (SEGL) @sorenlarsen.bsky.social · 3d

Annual COVID Vaccines Protect People against Severe Disease, Even with Prior Immunity

"The new research also “calls into question the idea that younger individuals and those without risk factors don’t need the vaccine,” Viswanathan says."

Annual COVID Vaccines Save Lives, New Study Shows

A new study shows that receiving an updated COVID vaccine reduced people’s risk of severe disease and death in all age groups, regardless of immunity from prior infection or vaccination

www.scientificamerican.com

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Kathleen Bachynski @bachynski.bsky.social · 3d

“In 1961, when I was just eight years old, I contracted measles. There was no vaccine available at the time. Like many of my classmates, I suffered through dangerously high fevers — mine reached 106 degrees — and nearly died. The disease left me almost totally deaf.” cc @jackiantonovich.bsky.social

Commentary: A plea to protect our children

Vaccination requirements kept our communities safe. Do not listen to anti-vaccine rhetoric. Do not gamble with your child’s health.

www.orlandosentinel.com

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Carl Zimmer @carlzimmer.com · 3d

Today my @nytimes.com colleagues and I are launching a new series called Lost Science. We interview US scientists who can no longer discover something new about our world, thanks to this year‘s cuts. Here is my first interview with a scientist who studied bees and fires. Gift link: nyti.ms/3IWXbiE

nyti.ms

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bergelsonlab @bergelsonlab.bsky.social · 4d

now says "No upcoming due dates
Program 23-500 is currently waiting for a new publication"; in prior yrs, would've been due 11/5. Can't ask NSF POs right now... if any1 got info on this before the shutdown happy to hear it! @jaeyoungson.bsky.social i saw you had a similar q, tagging you in too. #NSF

mark brandt @mjbsp.bsky.social · Aug 19

The Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences (SBE) Postdoctoral Research Fellowships at NSF are no more?

But hopefully I misunderstand?

www.nsf.gov/funding/oppo...

screenshot of SBE fellowship webpage with words "archive" circled in red.

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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 5d

About 1 in 3 US Nobel prize winners are immigrants.
About 1 in 4 were government employees at some point.
About 44% of all Nobel prize winners were educated in US higher education.
As Trump demands a Nobel prize, he is destroying the means by which America came to dominate the prizes.

Sources below

Boston Tom Levenson @tomlevenson.bsky.social · 5d

Two things of note in today's announcement of the 2025 Nobel physics prize (besides the work being honored).

1: The US institutional dominance of the prize continues.
2: 2 of the three laureates are immigrants, drawn here decades ago by the then-unmatched opportunities for science here...

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Nobel Prize in Physics Is Awarded for Work in Quantum Mechanics

www.nytimes.com

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bergelsonlab @bergelsonlab.bsky.social · 5d

just spent 2 hours reviewing a paper in my reviewer queue on my calendar, went to find the portal link and things were weird...turns out i had actually said i didn't have time to do this review 2 months ago. 🤦‍♂️. i sent it to the editor anyway.

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bergelsonlab @bergelsonlab.bsky.social · 5d

beautiful, great day.

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Kevin J. CREATURE @kevinjkircher.com · 8d

Sometimes I think about how from 1935-1975ish, Bell Labs produced an insane amount of revolutionary science and technology, including 11 Nobel Prizes, the transistor, UNIX, C, the laser, the solar cell, information theory, etc. The secret? Provide scientists with ample, steady, no-strings funding.

sites.stat.columbia.edu

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bergelsonlab @bergelsonlab.bsky.social · 7d

Definitely punches above its weight in music and film! Had as many independent theaters as Philly ! The Public market there is a gem! Enjoy!

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bergelsonlab @bergelsonlab.bsky.social · 7d

Flour city bakery!! Many great coffee shops with verb names eg pour. Good luck had great cocktails. shiki for great simple sushi (caveat have not checked if any if these are still open, has been a decade 🫣)

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Rosa Lafer-Sousa @rosalafersousa.bsky.social · 9d

🚨 Are you an alum from one of the 9 universities Trump is attempting to extort right now?

✍️ Sign this petition to defend your university, free speech, and democracy. I signed.

This is a time for courage, not capitulation.
#JustSayNo #Compact 🧪🧠🧬

(context in thread)

Trump attacks 9 universities: Sign the alumni petition to defend your school now

Are you an alum outraged by Trump's attacks on universities? Defend your school now by signing this alumni petition in support of these 9 universities as well as campus communities across America.

alumni.controlshift.app

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David Zipper @davidzipper.bsky.social · 9d

A great way to keep kids safe: Place automatic traffic cameras near schools.

After cameras were installed in Toronto:
🔹 Share of vehicles speeding ⬇️ 45%
🔹 85th percentile speed ⬇️ 10.7 km/h

Droivers speeding the most were most likely to slow down.

injuryprevention.bmj.com/content/inju...

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Maggie Astor @maggieastor.bsky.social · 11d

Another call for sources: I'm reporting on pediatric Covid vaccine access. If you've had trouble finding pediatric doses in stock, or if your child was turned away, I'd love to hear from you: [email protected].

Thanks to those who replied to my pregnancy callout; that story will be out soon.

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bergelsonlab @bergelsonlab.bsky.social · 9d

wow sounds like *somebody's* grumpy from extreme sleep deprivation

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bergelsonlab @bergelsonlab.bsky.social · 9d

any insight on how gov't shutdown including stuff at NSF right now may be relevant here? @jasonwilliamsny.bsky.social? ironically i imagine NSF POs can't reply to this or maybe could reply generally speaking in their personal capacity? [won't tag bc they don't need more drama]

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bergelsonlab @bergelsonlab.bsky.social · 9d

data security for health info is critical.
sending a 'please login for an important message' email that you then need to login with a password, & confirm code w/a text, only to read that a doctor at a practice whom you've never seen is retiring is...a waste of everyone's time.

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