Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Ian Foster

Governor JB Pritzker @govpritzker.illinois.gov · 2d

BEST BIG CITY IN THE US 9 YEARS IN A ROW.

While critics try to paint Chicago as something to fear, the rest of the world knows the truth — this is the best big city in America.

Best Big City: Chicago Wins Award 9th Year in a Row

Learn why Chicago was voted the Best Big City for the 9th consecutive year by exploring our vibrant culture, welcoming inclusion, and so much more.

www.choosechicago.com

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Reposted by Ian Foster

Chicago Sun-Times @chicago.suntimes.com · 3d

Body-camera video appears to contradict the government’s claim that Marimar Martinez, 30, drove toward officers before one of them opened fire at her late Saturday morning in Brighton Park, her attorney claimed.
trib.al/9Sxu9IN

Attorney for woman shot by Border Patrol claims officer said 'Do something b-----' before shooting

Body-camera video appears to contradict the government's claim that Marimar Martinez, 30, drove toward officers before one of them opened fire at her late Saturday morning in Brighton Park, her attorney claimed. A judge ordered Martinez and a co-defendant released pending trial.

trib.al

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Ian Foster @ianfoster42.bsky.social · 3d

Yes that is quite out of date. Not enough hours …

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Ian Foster @ianfoster42.bsky.social · 3d

"The Globus Striped GridFTP Framework and Server", published in 2005, received the SC 2025 "Test of Time" award. This technology underpins the Globus service used by 100,000s worldwide to transfer and share data. Thanks to SC TOT committee; congrats to all!

sc25.supercomputing.org/2025/10/last...

Lasting Innovation in Data Movement: SC25 Test of Time Award • SC25

The annual Test of Time Award recognizes an outstanding paper that has deeply influenced the HPC discipline.

sc25.supercomputing.org

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Reposted by Ian Foster

Theresa Kim, PhD, MS @tyk314.net · 4d

1. Take this seriously. Here is how you do it. Take a screenshot of the #HatchAct violation, whether it's on LinkedIn or other social media or on the actual US Government website. When you file your complaint, provide your personal contact information. If you're a furloughed fed, you're off-duty.

Theresa Kim, PhD, MS @tyk314.net · 5d

OSC tells us how to file a #HatchAct complaint. Nearly all federal sites are in violation. Do not accept this as normal. #FEDSTRONG
osc.gov/Services/Pag...

How to File a Hatch Act Complaint

osc.gov

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Reposted by Ian Foster

Mike Galsworthy @mikegalsworthy.bsky.social · 5d

History repeats.

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Reposted by Ian Foster

Data Science Institute @dsi-uchicago.bsky.social · 6d

We're excited to share that Jiwen Fan, Faculty Co-Director of the AI for Climate (AICE) research initiative, has been named an American Geophysical Union Fellow!

This program recognizes scientists making major contributions to our understanding of the planet

Learn more 🔗 in reply ⬇️

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Ian Foster @ianfoster42.bsky.social · 7d

Paul Alivisatos [president UChicago] writes that the university "has a great calling to organize itself to promote excellence in how to think with machines." Humans have been thinking "with machines" (e.g., books) for millennia. Will more powerful machines enable more powerful thoughts?

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Reposted by Ian Foster

Larry Hunter @proflhunter.bsky.social · 8d

I donate to them, and I think everyone who can should. donate.wikimedia.org

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Ian Foster @ianfoster42.bsky.social · 10d

Start of the fall quarter here at UChicago and thus of my new "AI Agents for Science" course, which reached capacity almost as soon as enrollment opened. agents4science.github.io. It's going to be fun! #agents

agents4science

agents4science.github.io

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Reposted by Ian Foster

Yale Climate Connections @climateconnections.bsky.social · 13d

Chicago now powers EVERY city-owned building – from airports to police stations – with renewable energy. That includes O’Hare airport. ⚡🌞 #CleanEnergy

Chicago just went all in on renewable energy » Yale Climate Connections

From City Hall to O’Hare Airport, every city-owned building now runs on renewables.

yaleclimateconnections.org

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Reposted by Ian Foster

Max Kozlov @maxkozlov.bsky.social · 14d

NEW: Nature trained AI to predict which NIH grants from 2014 would have been cut if the Trump admin had its way back then — and what science would have been lost to history.

"The results show the damage that cuts in funding can do to research, and the unpredictable nature of the research process."

Nature @nature.com · 14d

We used machine-learning tools in an attempt to recreate the method for cutting funding, and then applied it to past US NIH grants to reveal the broad-reaching consequences

go.nature.com/4pBArFH

What research might be lost after the NIH’s cuts? Nature trained a bot to find out

We used machine-learning tools in an attempt to recreate the method for cutting funding, and then applied it to past US National Institutes of Health grants to reveal the broad-reaching consequences of such action.

go.nature.com

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Reposted by Ian Foster

chenhaotan.bsky.social @chenhaotan.bsky.social · 14d

🚀 We’re thrilled to announce the upcoming AI & Scientific Discovery online seminar! We have an amazing lineup of speakers.

This series will dive into how AI is accelerating research, enabling breakthroughs, and shaping the future of research across disciplines.

ai-scientific-discovery.github.io

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Reposted by Ian Foster

Ben Blaiszik @benblaiszik.bsky.social · 15d

🔥 Today we announce the Meta OMol25 Electronic Structures Dataset - 500 TB of molecular data in collaboration with the AI at Meta team.

Access Details: github.com/facebookrese...

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Ian Foster @ianfoster42.bsky.social · 18d

That was 30 not 40

Ian Foster @ianfoster42.bsky.social · 18d

Exactly

Ian Foster @ianfoster42.bsky.social · 18d

It was a pleasure to meet him at Argonne some 40 years ago. I asked him what he thought of the NCAR CCM, which we were working with at the time. “Too many IF statements” he replied 😃

All Our Yesterdays @allouryesterdays.bsky.social · 18d

Happy 94th birthday, Syukuro Manabe, one of the gods of computer climate modelling (co-author on two pivotal papers in 1967 and 1975).

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syukuro...

Syukuro Manabe - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

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Reposted by Ian Foster

Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 21d

Luckily, Sinclair has a helpful database of all their stations, so you can see if they're operating in your area and respond accordingly.

sbgi.net/tv-stations/

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Ian Foster @ianfoster42.bsky.social · 21d

“Of all the women incarcerated worldwide, one in four is imprisoned in the United States.”

Carceral Abolition @carceralabolition.bsky.social · 21d

Writing Their Prison’s History:

A recent study by a group of incarcerated scholars at Indiana Women’s Prison reveals how progressive reforms turned into profitable abuse. www.nybooks.com/articles/202...

Writing Their Prison’s History | Scott W. Stern

A recent study by a group of incarcerated scholars at Indiana Women’s Prison reveals how progressive reforms turned into profitable abuse.

www.nybooks.com

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Reposted by Ian Foster

Chanda Prescod-Weinstein 🌌 @chanda.blacksky.app · 21d

These are precedented times and the precedent is a loud ass warning

www.nytimes.com/1939/02/04/a...

Goebbels Ends Careers of Five 'Aryan' Actors Who Made Witticisms About the Nazi Regime (Published 1939)

www.nytimes.com

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Chanda Prescod-Weinstein 🌌 @chanda.blacksky.app · 24d

I’m gonna be crass and say, preorder *my* book!

Kiese Laymon calls it “the most politically audacious book I’ve read in decades”

and

Moiya McTier calls it “deft weave of quantum physics and cultural wisdom”

😻

#BookSky

www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/746817...

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Reposted by Ian Foster

🎃 🧟 Prof. Dr Beth Singler 👻 🎃 @bvlsingler.bsky.social · 28d

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Reposted by Ian Foster

Meredith Whittaker @meredithmeredith.bsky.social · Sep 9

📣 NEW -- In The Economist, discussing the privacy perils of AI agents and what AI companies and operating systems need to do--NOW--to protect Signal and much else!

www.economist.com/by-invitatio...

An illustration of me, and the headline: "AI agents are coming for your privacy, warns Meredith Whittaker
The Signal Foundation’s president worries they will also blunt competition and undermine cyber-security"

To put it bluntly, the path currently being taken towards agentic AI leads to an elimination of privacy and security at the application layer. It will not be possible for apps like Signal—the messaging app whose foundation I run—to continue to provide strong privacy guarantees, built on robust and openly validated encryption, if device-makers and OS developers insist on puncturing the metaphoric blood-brain barrier between apps and the OS. Feeding your sensitive Signal messages into an undifferentiated data slurry connected to cloud servers in service of their AI-agent aspirations is a dangerous abdication of responsibility.

Happily, it’s not too late. There is much that can still be done, particularly when it comes to protecting the sanctity of private data. What’s needed is a fundamental shift in how we approach the development and deployment of AI agents. First, privacy must be the default, and control must remain in the hands of application developers exercising agency on behalf of their users. Developers need the ability to designate applications as “sensitive” and mark them as off-limits to agents, at the OS level and otherwise. This cannot be a convoluted workaround buried in settings; it must be a straightforward, well-documented mechanism (similar to Global Privacy Control) that blocks an agent from accessing our data or taking actions within an app.

Second, radical transparency must be the norm. Vague assurances and marketing-speak are no longer acceptable. OS vendors have an obligation to be clear and precise about their architecture and what data their AI agents are accessing, how it is being used and the measures in place to protect it.

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Reposted by Ian Foster

dmercer.bsky.social @dmercer.bsky.social · Sep 6

Clarence Darrow Bridge, Jackson Park, Chicago. Built in 1880 by Burnham and Root.

Stone bridge crossing the green water of a lagoon.

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Reposted by Ian Foster

Peter Gleick @petergleick.bsky.social · Sep 6

During the day yesterday in California, >75%of all electricity was produced by renewable #energy, including solar.
After the sun went down, half of all electricity STILL came from renewables, including wind batteries, hydro, geothermal, etc.

The graph from the California independent system operator showing the mix of electricity produced yesterday generated from imports, exports, wind, nuclear, fossil fuels and lots of solar and batteries.

Tweet from the Department of Energy saying wind and solar energy is essentially worthless when it's dark outside and the wind is not blowing. Basically showing the DOE doesn't understand energy.

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