Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Iwan Rhys Morus @irmorus.bsky.social · 23h

Still going cheap. You can't afford NOT to buy at this price!

Iwan Rhys Morus @irmorus.bsky.social · 23d

UK readers: if you want to buy a hardback HTVTUTTM at a paperback price, Amazon currently have it at a whopping 68% off. Worth it for the amazing dust-jacket alone:

How the Victorians Took Us to the Moon: The Story of the Nineteenth-Century Innovators Who Forged the Future

Buy How the Victorians Took Us to the Moon: The Story of the Nineteenth-Century Innovators Who Forged the Future by Rhys Morus, Iwan (ISBN: 9781785789281) from Amazon's Book Store. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders.

www.amazon.co.uk

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Iwan Rhys Morus @irmorus.bsky.social · 1d

Bloody hell Thony, don’t do that again!

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Adam Mosley @adamjmosley.bsky.social · 8d

I'm pleased to share the news that I have recently begun a term as co-editor of the British Journal for the History of Science (BJHS), working together with the now editor-in-chief, the brilliant Amanda Rees @amandarees.bsky.social.

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Iwan Rhys Morus @irmorus.bsky.social · 16d

Still going cheap. Hurry - it can’t last!

Iwan Rhys Morus @irmorus.bsky.social · 23d

UK readers: if you want to buy a hardback HTVTUTTM at a paperback price, Amazon currently have it at a whopping 68% off. Worth it for the amazing dust-jacket alone:

How the Victorians Took Us to the Moon: The Story of the Nineteenth-Century Innovators Who Forged the Future

Buy How the Victorians Took Us to the Moon: The Story of the Nineteenth-Century Innovators Who Forged the Future by Rhys Morus, Iwan (ISBN: 9781785789281) from Amazon's Book Store. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders.

www.amazon.co.uk

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Iwan Rhys Morus @irmorus.bsky.social · 19d

Ha! I think I wrote a couple of things for you. Forty years! Sheesh.

Iwan Rhys Morus @irmorus.bsky.social · 19d

It's suddenly struck me. Were you features editor of Stop Press around 1984/85?

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Iwan Rhys Morus @irmorus.bsky.social · 22d

And if you happened to leave some nice reviews, I wouldn't mind at all!

Iwan Rhys Morus @irmorus.bsky.social · 23d

UK readers: if you want to buy a hardback HTVTUTTM at a paperback price, Amazon currently have it at a whopping 68% off. Worth it for the amazing dust-jacket alone:

How the Victorians Took Us to the Moon: The Story of the Nineteenth-Century Innovators Who Forged the Future

Buy How the Victorians Took Us to the Moon: The Story of the Nineteenth-Century Innovators Who Forged the Future by Rhys Morus, Iwan (ISBN: 9781785789281) from Amazon's Book Store. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders.

www.amazon.co.uk

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Iwan Rhys Morus @irmorus.bsky.social · 23d

Oh, and there's a bridge in Brooklyn we'd like to sell you, too.

Nvidia and Microsoft bosses hail huge UK AI investment

Microsoft, Google and Nvidia have announced investments as part of a £31bn UK-US

www.bbc.co.uk

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Iwan Rhys Morus @irmorus.bsky.social · 23d

Entirely agree.

How AI is undermining learning and teaching in universities | Letter

Letter: Prof Leo McCann and Prof Simon Sweeney say student misuse of generative artificial intelligence is widespread and we must be sceptical of its usefulness

www.theguardian.com

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Iwan Rhys Morus @irmorus.bsky.social · 23d

UK readers: if you want to buy a hardback HTVTUTTM at a paperback price, Amazon currently have it at a whopping 68% off. Worth it for the amazing dust-jacket alone:

How the Victorians Took Us to the Moon: The Story of the Nineteenth-Century Innovators Who Forged the Future

Buy How the Victorians Took Us to the Moon: The Story of the Nineteenth-Century Innovators Who Forged the Future by Rhys Morus, Iwan (ISBN: 9781785789281) from Amazon's Book Store. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders.

www.amazon.co.uk

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Iwan Rhys Morus @irmorus.bsky.social · 24d

Drooling.

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Iwan Rhys Morus @irmorus.bsky.social · 24d

Because it's all we can do.

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Iwan Rhys Morus @irmorus.bsky.social · 25d

I just missed out on the first printing - sold out by the time I ordered a copy. Still got mine on the 15th though, it seems!

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Iwan Rhys Morus @irmorus.bsky.social · 26d

O, mae nhw ar eu ffordd….

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Iwan Rhys Morus @irmorus.bsky.social · Sep 9

Funnily enough, I can remember Don Pacifico from my History O Levels. Not diplomatic history's greatest episode I'd have thought ....

Iwan Rhys Morus @irmorus.bsky.social · Sep 8

Is that really you, Wil?

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Iwan Rhys Morus @irmorus.bsky.social · Sep 8

Oh, don’t get me wrong. Lots of us are likely to lose our jobs (I’m at a highly expendable age) but not because of AI. It will be because the HE model in both the UK and the US is fucked.

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Iwan Rhys Morus @irmorus.bsky.social · Sep 8

Yes.

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Iwan Rhys Morus @irmorus.bsky.social · Sep 8

Fascinating Aberystwyth connection to this story:

The Welshman who broadcast Nazi propaganda to soldiers

After becoming a prisoner of war, he became a useful tool in the Nazi propaganda machine.

www.bbc.co.uk

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Iwan Rhys Morus @irmorus.bsky.social · Sep 7

Rage, horror, despair, anguish, and ghastly smiles, united their hideous expressions in the murderer's face, surpassing far the wildest representations of a Fuseli or a Kean.

That's Matthew Clydesdale's corpse being electrified by Andrew Ure in 1818!

Greg Jenner @gregjenner.bsky.social · Sep 7

I recently had the enormous pleasure of telling @ceaubin.bsky.social why the genius Shakespearean actor Edmund Kean was my fave problematic douchebag from history.
Our podcast chat is a deep dive on a true fame monster — give it a listen here! @thisguysucked.com

podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/e...

Edmund Kean with Greg Jenner

Podcast Episode · This Guy Sucked · 04/09/2025 · 1h 41m

podcasts.apple.com

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Greg Jenner @gregjenner.bsky.social · Sep 7

I recently had the enormous pleasure of telling @ceaubin.bsky.social why the genius Shakespearean actor Edmund Kean was my fave problematic douchebag from history.
Our podcast chat is a deep dive on a true fame monster — give it a listen here! @thisguysucked.com

podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/e...

Edmund Kean with Greg Jenner

Podcast Episode · This Guy Sucked · 04/09/2025 · 1h 41m

podcasts.apple.com

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Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · Sep 6

'Nigel Farage has hit out at universities for “poisoning the minds” of students with what he said was a “twisted interpretation of history” in his speech on the opening day of the Reform UK conference.' 1/3

Universities ‘poisoning student minds’, says Farage

Populist leader takes aim at higher education in speech on first day of the Reform UK conference in Birmingham

www.timeshighereducation.com

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Jennifer Ouellette @jenlucpiquant.bsky.social · Sep 5

This is a massive fail. "We made errors here" does not begin to cover it. www.techdirt.com/2025/09/02/w...

Wired, Business Insider Editors Duped By Completely Bogus ‘AI’ Using ‘Journalist’ Who Made Up Towns, People That Don’t Exist

The rushed integration of half-cooked automation into the already broken U.S. journalism industry simply isn’t going very well. There have been just countless examples where affluent media owners r…

www.techdirt.com

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Iwan Rhys Morus @irmorus.bsky.social · Sep 5

Old but still relevant - possibly even more so now. I should update this.

The I at the Heart of the AI Storm

Speaking at the New Economy Summit in Singapore last November, Jeff Katzenberg, former chair of Disney and founder of Dreamworks Animation…

medium.com

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Iwan Rhys Morus @irmorus.bsky.social · Sep 4

Isn’t that pretty much the opposite direction?!

Iwan Rhys Morus @irmorus.bsky.social · Sep 4

Well I've voted calcite. I don't think David Brewster's ghost would forgive me if I didn't.

Kristin Mai @kristinmaiart.bsky.social · Sep 4

I'm once again imploring everyone to vote for Iceland Spar, the Viking compass! A type of calcite used by the Vikings to navigate on cloudy days.

#TeamCalcite #MinCup25

$A small, clear square of optical calcite/ Iceland spar refracting hues of blue, purple and yellow. There is a crackle quartz next to it also catching some of the light/ color.$

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Kristin Mai @kristinmaiart.bsky.social · Sep 4

I'm once again imploring everyone to vote for Iceland Spar, the Viking compass! A type of calcite used by the Vikings to navigate on cloudy days.

#TeamCalcite #MinCup25

$A small, clear square of optical calcite/ Iceland spar refracting hues of blue, purple and yellow. There is a crackle quartz next to it also catching some of the light/ color.$

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Iwan Rhys Morus @irmorus.bsky.social · Sep 3

Particularly ironic given that it's documented this has happened to non-US citizens entering the US.

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Iwan Rhys Morus @irmorus.bsky.social · Sep 3

I'm not entirely sure I know that an ideological and occupational foot-soldier even is.

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