Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Matt Grainger @drmattg.bsky.social · 16h

I’m at the stage of the holiday when my mind turns back to research. Does anyone know of a high quality systematic review on the effectiveness of bird scaring devices? These ones don’t seem to work well. (If you have pictures of them failing that would be interesting too!)

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The Guardian @theguardian.com · 1d

Century-old papers saved from the bin reveal changes in Europe’s plant life

Plant inventories dating back to 1884 and nearly thrown away enable unique time-lapse study of biodiversity in Swiss meadows

www.theguardian.com

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Katherine Trebeck @katherinetrebeck.bsky.social · Jul 25

Can we please take climate breakdown seriously now....?
"Santa feels the heat as Lapland buckles in Finland's record-breaking heatwave"- BBC

"for the 14th day in a row a temp of 30C was measured somewhere in Finland - 1st time since records began"
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Santa feels the heat as Lapland buckles in Finland's record-breaking heatwave

After an unusually cold early summer, Finland has seen two weeks of temperatures topping 30C.

www.bbc.co.uk

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Olivia Guest · Ολίβια Γκεστ @olivia.science · 1d

please think about this deeply & consult with experts who do NOT have Conflicts of Interest! See:

Guest, O., Suarez, M., Müller, B., et al. (2025). Against the Uncritical Adoption of 'AI' Technologies in Academia. Zenodo. doi.org/10.5281/zeno...

bsky.app/profile/oliv...

Olivia Guest · Ολίβια Γκεστ @olivia.science · Sep 6

Finally! 🤩 Our position piece: Against the Uncritical Adoption of 'AI' Technologies in Academia:
doi.org/10.5281/zeno...

We unpick the tech industry’s marketing, hype, & harm; and we argue for safeguarding higher education, critical
thinking, expertise, academic freedom, & scientific integrity.
1/n

Abstract: Under the banner of progress, products have been uncritically adopted or
even imposed on users — in past centuries with tobacco and combustion engines, and in
the 21st with social media. For these collective blunders, we now regret our involvement or
apathy as scientists, and society struggles to put the genie back in the bottle. Currently, we
are similarly entangled with artificial intelligence (AI) technology. For example, software updates are rolled out seamlessly and non-consensually, Microsoft Office is bundled with chatbots, and we, our students, and our employers have had no say, as it is not
considered a valid position to reject AI technologies in our teaching and research. This
is why in June 2025, we co-authored an Open Letter calling on our employers to reverse
and rethink their stance on uncritically adopting AI technologies. In this position piece,
we expound on why universities must take their role seriously toa) counter the technology
industry’s marketing, hype, and harm; and to b) safeguard higher education, critical
thinking, expertise, academic freedom, and scientific integrity. We include pointers to
relevant work to further inform our colleagues.

Figure 1. A cartoon set theoretic view on various terms (see Table 1) used when discussing the superset AI
(black outline, hatched background): LLMs are in orange; ANNs are in magenta; generative models are
in blue; and finally, chatbots are in green. Where these intersect, the colours reflect that, e.g. generative adversarial network (GAN) and Boltzmann machine (BM) models are in the purple subset because they are
both generative and ANNs. In the case of proprietary closed source models, e.g. OpenAI’s ChatGPT and
Apple’s Siri, we cannot verify their implementation and so academics can only make educated guesses (cf.
Dingemanse 2025). Undefined terms used above: BERT (Devlin et al. 2019); AlexNet (Krizhevsky et al.
2017); A.L.I.C.E. (Wallace 2009); ELIZA (Weizenbaum 1966); Jabberwacky (Twist 2003); linear discriminant analysis (LDA); quadratic discriminant analysis (QDA).

Table 1. Below some of the typical terminological disarray is untangled. Importantly, none of these terms
are orthogonal nor do they exclusively pick out the types of products we may wish to critique or proscribe.

Protecting the Ecosystem of Human Knowledge: Five Principles

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Makkon @makkon.bsky.social · 7d

a flow-chart with 2 islands. "Do I need AI?" that flows into a final island saying "No"

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Graeme Cumming @gscumming.bsky.social · 2d

Now watch humanity embed the minimum levels in policy… rather than maximising this important habitat. 🤡

Science Magazine @science.org · 4d

A new study in Science evaluating published data from 19 countries has pinpointed the minimum habitat levels needed to sustain pollinators in agricultural landscapes. https://scim.ag/3VIq4Cg

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Steve Dudley @stevedudley.bsky.social · 2d

Forget environmental implications (altho most national parks are already trashed by overgrazing, etc) the sheer idiocy of choosing the most expensive option to deliver housing is breathtaking. Build new homes where there is no infrastructure to support them. No jobs. Poor connectivity. It’s moronic.

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Katharine Hayhoe @katharinehayhoe.com · 3d

Two of the most common climate misconceptions I see, even among knowledgeable folks, are that (1) most people aren't worried about climate change, and (2) if they were, they'd act.

Not true! Data show (1) most people are worried, but (2) they won’t act if they don’t know what to do-and most don’t.

A map of the world showing how levels of worry in most countries are greater than 70%. Source: Yale Program on Climate Change Communication, International Public Opinion on Climate Change, 2023.

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Matt Grainger @drmattg.bsky.social · 9d

"Nature in Europe is being lost piece by piece. No complete overview has existed on how much is disappearing – until now". www.nina.no/english/Abou... @ninanatureresearch.bsky.social

How We Helped Journalists Uncover Nature Loss in Europe

XX, YY reports The Guardian. Using satellite imagery and artificial intelligence (AI), we have, together with 40 journalists and researchers from eleven countries, uncovered large-scale loss of nature...

www.nina.no

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Corrie Moreau @corriemoreau.bsky.social · 20d

UPDATE: The 2025-2026 list of faculty and postdoc positions in ecology and evolutionary biology is out! Be sure to check out this active and helpful community run resources! docs.google.com/spreadsheets...

ecoevojobs.net 2025-26

docs.google.com

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Steve Portugal @sjportugal.bsky.social · 20d

We're looking for a new postdoc on our new BBSCR grant (Graham Taylor/Tim Guilford/Cait Newport). See link below!

my.corehr.com/pls/uoxrecru...

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Antica Culina @anticac.bsky.social · 22d

Excited to be kicking off our symposium on improving research quality & impact with a plenary by Tracey Weissgerber. We have also been lucky with the weather!

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Ed Ivimey-Cook @eivimeycook.bsky.social · 22d

Our latest #SORTEE-led paper is out now in #ProcB!

We reviewed data/code-sharing policy clarity, strictness & timing across 275 EcoEvo journals

We also worked with #ProcB & #EcologyLetters to assess initial compliance with sharing mandates. Huge team effort! 👉 doi.org/10.1098/rspb...

From policy to practice: progress towards data- and code-sharing in ecology and evolution | Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences

Data and code are essential for ensuring the credibility of scientific results and facilitating reproducibility, areas in which journal sharing policies play a crucial role. However, in ecology and evolution, we still do not know how widespread data- and ...

doi.org

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Alfredo Sánchez-Tójar @asanchez-tojar.bsky.social · 23d

📣 Hot off the press at #ProcB!

🔍 Our study checked data/code-sharing policies in 275 eco/evo journals and compliance in Proc B (n=2,340) & Ecology Letters (n=571). Policies exist, but clarity and strictness vary, affecting reproducibility.

🔗 doi.org/10.1098/rspb...

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Matt Grainger @drmattg.bsky.social · 23d

Also a good argument for registered reports… (and predefined peer-reviewed protocols)

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Bruno Rodrigues @brodriguesco.bsky.social · Sep 7

vibedesigned rixpress hex logo

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Prof. Vigdis Vandvik @vvandvik.bsky.social · Sep 6

#valg2025 - selv om valgkampen har handlet om alt mulig annet har dette valget enorme konsekvenser for #klima og #natur. Her er min appell, formidlet av @naturvernforbundet.no @naturvernhordaland.bsky.social #jegståropp

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James Bullock @jmbecologist.bsky.social · Sep 6

Reminded of this as an academic told me the other day that they were off to a country in South America, then one in Africa & then one in Asia, in rapid succession

I really didn’t know what to say…
www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Academics say flying to meetings harms the climate — but they carry on

A survey at one of the biggest UK research universities finds that staff often end up flying to meetings despite a preference to avoid air travel.

www.nature.com

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Michael Bertram @michaelgbertram.bsky.social · Sep 4

Great to see our paper on the importance of experimental approaches in movement ecology out in an issue today! @camphilsoc.bsky.social

Conceived at a Gordon Research Conference and led by the fantastic Whitney Hansen www.kwhitneyhansen.com

👉 dx.doi.org/10.1111/brv....

@jack-brand.bsky.social

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DrZP @zarahpattison.bsky.social · Sep 4

🏞️𝐅𝐢𝐞𝐥𝐝𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐛𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐟𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐥𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐝𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐞𝐧𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡?
Our new study looked at fieldwork policies and risk assessments from 90 UK universities offering environmental science courses.
The results are eye-opening:
besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Improving university policies and risk assessment to support inclusive fieldwork in environmental sciences

Among 90 UK higher education institutions, there was patchy mention of protected and other identity-related characteristics in fieldwork policy and risk assessments, and very limited consideration of....

besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com

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Matt Grainger @drmattg.bsky.social · Sep 4

"We did not understand what publication bias was"

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Matt Grainger @drmattg.bsky.social · Sep 4

Apropos of nothing....
Peer-review should be rigorous, not rude.

Critique the work, not the author team.
Explain, don’t sneer.
Build science up, don’t beat the authors down.

Respect in peer-reviews isn’t optional — it’s how good research gets better.

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Paul Whaley @dangerwhale.bsky.social · Sep 1

christ i hate article proofs a live-tweeted thread 🧵

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Matt Grainger @drmattg.bsky.social · Aug 25

Exciting PhD opportunity at Nord University with @ebnilsen.bsky.social. The PhD will work together with a team of researchers to assess sustainable levels of recreational harvest on willow ptarmigan, black grouse and capercaillie populations.

www.jobbnorge.no/en/available...

PhD - Terrestrial Ecology (284000) | Nord University

Job title: PhD - Terrestrial Ecology (284000), Employer: Nord University, Deadline: Wednesday, October 1, 2025

www.jobbnorge.no

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Ulf Bergström @ulfbergstrom.bsky.social · Aug 18

Come work with us! 2-year postdoc position open at SLU Aqua, on the role of herring in coastal food webs of the Baltic Sea. Applications due August 25.

www.slu.se/om-slu/jobba...

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