Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Roderick Bale

Andrew Hacket-Pain @andrewhacket-pain.bsky.social · 6h

Why are there so many acorns in the UK this year? Oaks everywhere seem to have been laden with acorns. Nice to quoted when the BBC investigated!
There are lots of chestnuts too, and beech seeds in some places but not others. Happy squirrels and jays this year! 🐿🌰🌳
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

The National Trust explains why there are so many acorns this year

A National Trust gardener said the volume of acorns was

www.bbc.co.uk

3 7

Reposted by Roderick Bale

Jan Dutkiewicz @jandutkiewicz.bsky.social · 1d

I wrote this article because so much media coverage of the soy trade drama focuses on farmers and not the political economy of ag. If a story covers rare earth it will explain its uses. Why is the same not standard for soy or alfalfa? Need to make the connection for readers.
bsky.app/profile/jand...

Jan Dutkiewicz @jandutkiewicz.bsky.social · 3d

"How much soy we produce shouldn’t be a barometer for how well our agriculture sector is doing, but for how unsustainable it is."

I wrote for @newrepublic.com that the trade war with China shows we grow too many crops to feed not people but factory-farmed animals.
newrepublic.com/article/2014...

Trump’s Tariffs Should Force a Reckoning With America’s Soy Industry

The industry became the world’s second largest not because of human demand for soy, but to feed China’s pigs.

newrepublic.com

1 10 19

Reposted by Roderick Bale

Peter Jukes @peterjukes.bsky.social · 1d

Can't resist.

How do you approach an angry Reform UK leader in Wales?

Caerphilly!

bylinetimes.com/2025/10/11/s...

'Stunned?' Farage's Admission He Knew Nathan Gill but Not His Kremlin Associates Does Not Stand Up to Scrutiny

Insiders have told Byline Times it is 'inconceivable' the Reform Leader did not know about his close aide's pro Russian statements

bylinetimes.com

31 110 410

Reposted by Roderick Bale

Laiken Jordahl @laikenjordahl.bsky.social · 5d

“We’re already seeing drought stress, with half the mature oaks in the valley dead,” Palma said. “The wall will only accelerate the collapse. You lose the trees, you lose the shade. The creek dries, the habitat dies. It’s a cascade of ecological devastation.”
azluminaria.org/2025/10/07/a...

A jaguar, a wall, a sacred valley: What's at stake in San Rafael - AZ Luminaria

In late summer, a jaguar padded somewhere near the San Rafael Valley, a pristine grassland nestled between the Patagonia and Huachuca Mountains southeast of Tucson. Trail cameras monitored by Sky Isla...

azluminaria.org

15 24

Reposted by Roderick Bale

Kevin Anchukaitis @thirstygecko.bsky.social · 10d

Very cool work (with a very sobering result) led by Andy Jones (a paleoCAMP alumnus!) in Science Advances: 'Glaciers in California’s Sierra Nevada are likely disappearing for the first time in the Holocene' www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Glaciers in California’s Sierra Nevada are likely disappearing for the first time in the Holocene

The projected loss of glaciers in California’s Sierra Nevada is likely unprecedented in at least the past 30,000 years.

www.science.org

1 18 32

Reposted by Roderick Bale

Brandon Keim @brandonkeim.bsky.social · 11d

"I stopped eating meat some 50 years ago," wrote Jane Goodall, "when I looked at the pork chop on my plate and thought: this represents fear, pain, death."

Best as I can tell, not one obituary or article on her passing mentions this fact. It's worth knowing. news.janegoodall.org/2017/04/28/w...

43 140

Reposted by Roderick Bale

c0nc0rdance @c0nc0rdance.bsky.social · 19d

Ponderosa pine smells like butterscotch.

Go ahead, sniff one the next time you're in the western US. Some say "vanilla", some say "oh no, my nose is covered in sap."

Let's talk about birds, butterscotch, forest fires, blue wood, & boring beetles.

But mostly this thread is about terpenes.

From a blog called "CreationsDawn", a photo of the author smelling a ponderosa pine. The author wears a green cap, light blue-green shirt and red camel pack. They are sniffing a tree with pine bark, with a sort of red-orange color. More trees in the background.

18 63 320

Reposted by Roderick Bale

Melaine Le Roy @subfossilguy.bsky.social · 24d

14,000 yr-old in situ stumps sampled today! 🥰

Wood that old cannot be found in the Alps, but in the Prealps!

In Southern Alps, some torrential systems feature Lateglacial Pinus sylvestris outcrops!

So BEAUTIFUL!
(Rooted stumps+paleosol+alluvial sediments)

📷 L. Francon
PI: C. Miramont
(both IMBE)

2 5 73

Roderick Bale @dendrorodbale.bsky.social · 25d

😊 It is!

2

Roderick Bale @dendrorodbale.bsky.social · 27d

Interesting site we sampled some years ago and has recently been published #dendrochronology #intertidal #archaeology

historicengland.org.uk/research/res...

historicengland.org.uk

4

Reposted by Roderick Bale

George Monbiot @georgemonbiot.bsky.social · 28d

Why is is so hard for people to say these words?:

Lough Neagh, the UK's biggest lake, is being killed by *livestock farms*.

36 290 1.1K

Reposted by Roderick Bale

Red Hot World @redhotworld.bsky.social · 29d

When speaking to Tommy Robinson at the far right demonstration in London today, Elon Musk wore a t-shirt saying "What would Orwell think?"

So let's dive in - what would George Orwell think about Tommy Robinson and Elon Musk? 🧵

86 620 1.3K

Reposted by Roderick Bale

Lara Band @laraband.bsky.social · Sep 10

Maritime Archaeology! Built Heritage! Trees! All together = perfect! Nice work here from @dendrorodbale.bsky.social

Roderick Bale @dendrorodbale.bsky.social · Sep 10

Ship’s floor (oak) reused as lintel. Removed during construction work from Cambrian Place Swansea. Dendro dated to spring summer 1778 and sourced from a locally grown Welsh 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 tree! #dendrochronology #wales #archaeology

2 8

Reposted by Roderick Bale

Roderick Bale @dendrorodbale.bsky.social · Sep 10

Ship’s floor (oak) reused as lintel. Removed during construction work from Cambrian Place Swansea. Dendro dated to spring summer 1778 and sourced from a locally grown Welsh 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 tree! #dendrochronology #wales #archaeology

5 12 52

Roderick Bale @dendrorodbale.bsky.social · Sep 10

❤️

1

Roderick Bale @dendrorodbale.bsky.social · Sep 10

Exactly. It was right by the east dock until it was infilled. The buildings are apparently from 1826 ish onwards, which would fit with the working life of a boat from late c18th. Who doesn’t love a good futtock!

1 2

Roderick Bale @dendrorodbale.bsky.social · Sep 10

We have a lot of definitively reused late Georgian ship timbers as lintels at this site. Mostly stringers, futtocks, floors. Also some planking reused as ceiling joists….nice stuff and it’s dating!

2 2

Roderick Bale @dendrorodbale.bsky.social · Sep 10

Ship’s floor (oak) reused as lintel. Removed during construction work from Cambrian Place Swansea. Dendro dated to spring summer 1778 and sourced from a locally grown Welsh 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 tree! #dendrochronology #wales #archaeology

5 12 52

Reposted by Roderick Bale

Jan Dutkiewicz @jandutkiewicz.bsky.social · Jul 23

This has always been clear: plant-based meat alternatives are better for the planet and, at least compared to red meat, better for your health. That this is not widely accepted is the product of meat industry disinfo, science illiteracy, and some very stupid journalists.
www.cnn.com/2025/07/21/h...

Eating this ultraprocessed food may be good for you and the planet, experts say | CNN

Plant-based meats have been viewed at times as ultraprocessed and possibly unhealthy. But some experts believe they deserve a second look.

www.cnn.com

21 170 570

Roderick Bale @dendrorodbale.bsky.social · Jul 23

Pith hit! 🍾

4

Reposted by Roderick Bale

Peter Jukes @peterjukes.bsky.social · Jul 16

Here's the alternative global warming plan. Draw up the drawbridge. Let the global south burn. Suck out the last fossil fuel profits. Get the population down to 1 billion (as per Peter Thiel) and let the oligarchs enjoy their vineyards in Siberia and feudal estates in other cool places

Josiah Mortimer @josiah.writes.news · Jul 16

Reform's Richard Tice has written to energy firms to inform them of the 'political risk' of Reform to renewables

Labour official: “Reform are now actively trying to discourage businesses from investing in clean energy in the UK...

"They are disgracefully... undermining the UK's national interest."

8 35 70

Roderick Bale @dendrorodbale.bsky.social · Jul 14

🐈

2

Reposted by Roderick Bale

Kenny Torrella @kennytorrella.bsky.social · Jul 10

The list of terrible things done to farmed animals is so long, and meat/dairy/egg companies don't have to disclose them. That'll soon change in Switzerland — at least for one set of really awful practices. New story today in our Processing Meat newsletter:

A screenshot of a news story with the headline: Would this food label change how you eat? The picture for the story is of a shrink-wrapped meat package that has a sticker that reads "Warning: The cattle raised for this meat were castrated without pain relief."

3 26 75

Roderick Bale @dendrorodbale.bsky.social · Jun 15

BBC do this for any reporting about farming animals, particularly British farming. Critical reporting skills similar to a bag of suet

Roderick Bale @dendrorodbale.bsky.social · Jun 9

Yet, unbelievably, many who should know better think this is a beautiful landscape that is fine as it is

12