Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Piet

Kara Gavin @karagavin.bsky.social · Jun 19

Researchers: please read & share this excellent piece in @sigmaxi.bsky.social ‘s magazine @americanscientist.org by @whysharksmatter.bsky.social about the importance of communicating about your work to non-scientists, and how to do it! #scicomm

www.americanscientist.org/article/%E2%...

“Why Are We Funding This?”

Long-standing myths about “silly science” have contributed to the reckless slashing of government-supported research.

www.americanscientist.org

5 70 160

Piet @drpiet.bsky.social · Jun 11

www.ign.com/articles/ani...

New animal farm movie screenshot showing Napoleon doing a speech

1

Reposted by Piet

The Beaverton @thebeaverton.com · May 26

5 small joys you can cut out of your life and still not be able to afford a home

With home prices doubling in the last 5 years and increasingly divorced from the incomes of Canadians such that the real estate market has created a completely parallel universe devoid of anything res...

www.thebeaverton.com

6 45 250

Piet @drpiet.bsky.social · May 24

This is after having recently learned from IT that all our perfectly fine lab computers will need to be replaced because they don't meet the upcoming Windows 11 system requirements. 💸💸/💸💸

Meme with Luke and Leia in the field, where Luke is Microsoft saying PCs need to be updated for Windows 11, and Leia is asking if they made sure that it runs on slightly old hardware. Right?

Piet @drpiet.bsky.social · May 24

Learned this week that after having been forced to use Office 365, and only Office 365, for the entire lab, and having restructured all our collaboration and documentation practices to comply with that directive, we are now also expected to pay for every single account we have. 💸/💸💸

Meme depicting Oprah announcing to her audience that everyone gets an invoice.

1 1

Reposted by Piet

Richard Sever @richardsever.bsky.social · May 22

Our "goal is to create a stable, independent non-profit organization that ensures [bioRxiv & medRxiv] remain open...governed by and for the research community, not a single funder...or any one stakeholder."

Some common questions about openRxiv answered:

openrxiv.org/qa-governanc...

openRxiv Q&A: Questions About Governance, Funding, and the Future of Preprints - openRxiv

Following the March 2025 launch of openRxiv as an independent nonprofit, we’ve received a range of thoughtful questions from researchers, partners, and the broader scientific community. To answer thes...

openrxiv.org

10 36

Reposted by Piet

Stem Cell Network @stemcellnetwork.ca · May 14

We’ve just wrapped up Session 2: Creating Clarity: Crafting Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) that Simplify and Succeed! 👏

Thank you to Janet Rothberg, for leading such an insightful and interactive session on best practices for crafting SOPs that are clear, effective, and streamlined!

1 1

Reposted by Piet

kenzo ivanovitch @kenzoivanovitch.bsky.social · May 13

We’re excited to share the first publication from our lab, now out in @EMBOPress! @shayma-a.bsky.social @ucl.ac.uk
Using live imaging in the mouse embryo, we tracked how heart progenitors migrate and assemble into the heart tube.

The EMBO Journal @embojournal.org · May 13

Early coordination of cell migration and cardiac fate determination during mammalian gastrulation, revealed by light-sheet microscopy tracking of individual mesodermal cells
#RefereedPreprint c/o @reviewcommons.org by @kenzoivanovitch.bsky.social and colleagues
www.embopress.org/doi/full/10....

7 11 31

Reposted by Piet

Rafeeque Mavoor @rafeeque.com · May 13

🧵5 Top Free Alternatives to BioRender for Scientific Illustrations!

These five websites offer free scientific illustrations for biologists. Great for presentations, research papers and other research communication needs.

Save and share the post!

33 350 680

Reposted by Piet

Simon Fisher @profsimonfisher.bsky.social · May 2

“How about eye colour?” I hear you ask. “We all know the story behind blue eyes - caused by recessive alleles of a single gene. If both parents are blue-eyed, a child’s eyes must be blue, yes?” Nope! A myth busted long ago: a 1908 study found non-blue-eyed children in 12% of blue-blue pairings. 6/n

Close-up photograph of a person’s eye, with a vivid blue colouration.

10 19 250

Reposted by Piet

Het is koers @hetiskoers.bsky.social · May 1

Kroonieken | Toen Erik Breukink op weg leek Nederlands eerste Giro-winnaar te worden | Het is Koers!

Erik Breukink leek voorbestemd de Giro d’Italia op zijn naam te schrijven, maar die eindzege kwam er helaas nooit.

hetiskoers.nl

1 4

Reposted by Piet

Kurianlab @kurianlab.bsky.social · May 1

👇🏾💥💥💥
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Selective inhibition of stromal mechanosensing suppresses cardiac fibrosis - Nature

Inhibition of a cardiac stroma-enriched mechanosensor, SRC—in concert with suppression of the TGFβ pathway—potentiates the reversal of fibroblast activation and alleviates contractile dysfunction in f...

www.nature.com

1 3

Reposted by Piet

Michael W. Kraus @mwkraus.bsky.social · Apr 23

I am teaching my phd writing workshop course this quarter, question: are there any words/phrases said to you by an advisor/mentor that stuck with you, were memorable, or particularly helpful? If so please reply below!

340 150 650

Reposted by Piet

Pro Cycling Trumps @procyclingtrumps.com · Apr 20

WOWOWOW! What a race! What a finish 😍 #AGR25

🥇 Mattias Skjelmose
🥈 Tadej Pogačar
🥉 Remco Evenepoel

1 15 87

Reposted by Piet

Tonke @tonke.bsky.social · Apr 15

😮‍💨😮‍💨😮‍💨 That’s a pretty good flex to be honest 💪🏻 #MvdP #ParisRoubaix 🪨🪨🪨

Photo of the three cobble trophies Mathieu van der Poel won at Paris-Roubaix shared on Instagram by his girl Roxanne Bertels

4 6 64

Reposted by Piet

Denis Wirtz @deniswirtz.bsky.social · Apr 14

CODA for the masses!

Valentina Matos-Romero, Ashley Kiemen and team have put together an ultra detailed protocol to use CODA for 3D single-cell mapping of tissues, organs, and organisms.

Use CODA by downloading this protocol here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

16 36

Reposted by Piet

Esther Verheyen 🇨🇦 @estherverheyen.bsky.social · Apr 12

I urge folks to sign this letter and share it with their university colleagues to get critical mass.

Dylan MacKay @dylanmackayphd.bsky.social · Apr 12

Dear Canadian researchers, faculty, RAs, PDFs and grad students, this letter is for the federal party leaders asking them to defend and expand Canadian research sovereignty with a historic investment in science, please sign and share
docs.google.com/document/d/1...

National Letter

Open Letter from Canadian Researchers to the Federal party leaders Click here to sign this letter See who has signed - version française se trouve à page 3 - Dear Party Leaders We, the undersigne...

docs.google.com

2 24 27

Reposted by Piet

Jess McLaughlin, PhD (they/them) @jfmclaughlin92.bsky.social · Apr 12

first up, including "fantasy author who popularized a make-believe version of the species and also investor" as an author on this is, uhh, A Choice??

i know of PIs who won't give authorship to lab techs or undergrads bc "their paycheck is their compensation" so this is. hmm. not great imo?

author list with George R. R. Martin highlighted. he's towards the back where you usually put the people who contributed but are unlikely to actually do anything in the writing of the paper.

4 21 200

Reposted by Piet

Katy M @writebikerepeat.bsky.social · Apr 12

Float like a butterfly, sting like a BEE!!

How is this even real?!! 🥹🦋🐝

Pfp crosses line with a butterfly in shot!!!

13 13 160

Reposted by Piet

🕷️Gory Thing🕷️ @korybing.bsky.social · Apr 8

Instead of believing the myth that three expensive, genetically modified wolves are “de-extinct” dire wolves, let’s look at animals humanity has actually brought back from the brink of extinction using proven science and dedicated hard work: 🧵/6

54 1.6K 3.3K

Reposted by Piet

Mathieu Ferron @mathieuferron.bsky.social · Apr 2

Fantastic opportunity if you are interested in moving your lab to Montreal, Canada! Through this program, Chairholders will be awarded up to $1 million per year for a period of 8 years.

Contact me if you are interested.

www.nature.com/naturecareer...

Canada Excellence Research Chairs (CERC) - Montréal, Quebec (CA) job with University of Montreal (UdeM) | 12838461

Canada Excellence Research Chairs (CERC)

www.nature.com

3 120 170

Reposted by Piet

Martin Sauvageau @martinsauvageau.bsky.social · Apr 2

If you’re interested in moving your lab to beautiful Montreal Canada, this program offers chairholders funding of up to 1M$ a year for 8 years. See link for details.
www.nature.com/naturecareer...

Canada Excellence Research Chairs (CERC) - Montréal, Quebec (CA) job with University of Montreal (UdeM) | 12838461

Canada Excellence Research Chairs (CERC)

www.nature.com

1 34 74

Reposted by Piet

André Picard @picardonhealth @picardonhealth.bsky.social · Mar 20

Bird flu is hitting the U.S. hard. Now, migratory birds are flying north. How Canadian scientists are ramping up efforts to curb the virus that could cause the next pandemic, by Jennifer Yoon www.cbc.ca/news/health/... via @cbcnews.ca #H5N1