Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Mira Rojanasakul @rjnskl.bsky.social · 17h

"The order and structure give it the appearance of rationality and rigor. This appearance is easy to emulate." (David Byrne)

Jack Sapoch @jacksapoch.bsky.social · 1d

NEW: Since October 2023, the IDF Spokesperson's Unit has released dozens of 3D animations illustrating alleged Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iranian sites

The style is now unmistakable: satellite zoom-ins, black & white wireframes, and red-textured houses - a new visual language of war

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Mira Rojanasakul @rjnskl.bsky.social · 2d

new hat 🙃

A black hat, embroidered with the a rainbow-colored radar image of a hurricane. Embroidered white text below reads, in all caps "DO YOU EVER FEEL LIKE YOUR LIFE IS SPIRALING OUT OF CONTROL?"

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Reposted by Mira Rojanasakul

Minnesota Star Tribune @startribune.com · 5d

The messages show high-level officials in the Trump administration discussing the possible deployment of the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division, an infantry force that has dropped into combat zones in both World Wars, Vietnam and Afghanistan.

Trump officials discussed sending elite Army division to Portland, text messages show

A high-ranking White House official was indiscreetly texting about the Portland, Ore., planning last weekend, according to messages shared with the Minnesota Star Tribune.

bit.ly

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Reposted by Mira Rojanasakul

More Perfect Union @moreperfectunion.bsky.social · 9d

Electricity now costs up to 267% more than it did five years ago in areas near data centers.

www.bloomberg.com/graphics/202...

AI Data Centers Are Sending Power Bills Soaring

Wholesale electricity costs as much as 267% more than it did five years ago in areas near data centers. That’s being passed on to customers.

www.bloomberg.com

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Mira Rojanasakul @rjnskl.bsky.social · 9d

www.nytimes.com/2025/09/29/c...

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Mira Rojanasakul @rjnskl.bsky.social · 9d

www.nytimes.com/2025/09/29/b...

In Coal-Powered West Virginia, Sky-High Energy Costs Strain Residents

www.nytimes.com

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Reposted by Mira Rojanasakul

Conrad Hackett @conradhackett.bsky.social · 14d

NEW: In 2025, 43% of young American adults regularly get their news from TikTok.
www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/...

A bar chart showing that TikTok is increasingly a place for news, especially among young U.S. adults.
Adults ages 30 to 49 have also increasingly been getting news on TikTok: A quarter now say they do so regularly, up from just 2% five years ago. Much smaller shares of adults ages 50 to 64 and 65 and older say they regularly get news there (10% and 3%, respectively, as of this year).

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Reposted by Mira Rojanasakul

Hannah Waters @hanner.bsky.social · 24d

Hi! Today @quantamagazine.bsky.social published a special issue on climate science, featuring stories about how Earth's climate fundamentally works that I needed to read after covering climate impacts for so many years. I hope you'll check it out! <3 www.quantamagazine.org/how-we-came-...

How We Came To Know Earth | Quanta Magazine

Climate science is the most significant scientific collaboration in history. This series from Quanta Magazine guides you through basic climate science — from quantum effects to ancient hothouses, from...

www.quantamagazine.org

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Reposted by Mira Rojanasakul

Ben Mullin @benmullin.bsky.social · 27d

This is the first NPR/PBS station I've seen that's going out of business as a result of the federal rescission:
radio.wpsu.org/2025-09-11/p...

Penn State plans to 'wind down' WPSU after board committee rejects plan to transfer it to WHYY

WPSU, which recently celebrated its 60th anniversary of bringing public media to Pennsylvania, is slated to close soon, after a Penn State board of trustees committee voted Thursday against a proposal...

radio.wpsu.org

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Reposted by Mira Rojanasakul

Dhruv Mehrotra @dmehro.bsky.social · 28d

NEW: We got access to Jeffrey Epstein’s personal Yahoo inbox — more than 18,000 emails.

It shows Epstein’s world in his own words: an unfiltered look at how his operation worked, who enabled it, and how Ghislaine Maxwell stayed at the center of it all.

Jeffrey Epstein Email Trove Reveals Ghislaine Maxwell’s Secrets

A cache of 18,000 messages obtained by Bloomberg News reveals Maxwell’s deep ties and involvement with the disgraced financier and sex offender.

www.bloomberg.com

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◥◤Kriston Capps @kristoncapps.bsky.social · 28d

Just last month the FBI forced out its top agent in Salt Lake City, a Pakistani American woman whom a former FBI agent describes as a “legendary case agent who was involved in some of the most significant national security cases of the last two decades.” www.msnbc.com/msnbc/amp/rc...

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Mira Rojanasakul @rjnskl.bsky.social · 29d

doom scroll interlude!! please enjoy this fantastic visual explainer about earth's wobbles and whether your star sign is even really star sign 💫

Aatish Bhatia @aatishb.bsky.social · Sep 9

I wrote about how Earth's wobble causes our view of the skies to shift over time. Here's a paywall-free gift link. With @fparis.bsky.social and @iamrumz.bsky.social

Your Zodiac Sign Is 2,000 Years Out of Date (Gift Article)

Over millennia, our view of the stars has shifted, because of Earth’s wobble. It may be time to rethink your sign.

www.nytimes.com

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Reposted by Mira Rojanasakul

Aatish Bhatia @aatishb.bsky.social · Sep 9

I wrote about how Earth's wobble causes our view of the skies to shift over time. Here's a paywall-free gift link. With @fparis.bsky.social and @iamrumz.bsky.social

Your Zodiac Sign Is 2,000 Years Out of Date (Gift Article)

Over millennia, our view of the stars has shifted, because of Earth’s wobble. It may be time to rethink your sign.

www.nytimes.com

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Reposted by Mira Rojanasakul

Delger Erdenesanaa @edelger.bsky.social · Sep 8

Published a story with @rjnskl.bsky.social last week on the future of the ocean under growing human pressures -- and the future of cultures and economies built on the ocean and coastlines. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Humans Are Altering the Seas. Here’s What the Future Ocean Might Look Like. (Gift Article)

Some marine ecosystems could soon be unrecognizable, according to new research. We mapped the possibilities.

www.nytimes.com

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Reposted by Mira Rojanasakul

Mark Joseph Stern @mjsdc.bsky.social · Sep 8

BREAKING: By an apparent 6–3 vote, the Supreme Court halts an injunction that had prevented immigration agents from racially profiling Latinos in central California.

Sotomayor, dissenting, says the decision is "unconscionably irreconcilable with our nation's constitutional guarantees."

https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/26085894-25a169-order/

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Lisa Song @lisalsong.bsky.social · Sep 3

Holy shit:

Stateline spoke to nearly a dozen firefighters, agency staffers and contractors, who said that top officials assigned to the fire deployed the crews to a remote location under false pretenses so federal agents could check their immigration status.

www.hcn.org/articles/fir...

Firefighters question leaders’ role in ICE raid near Bear Gulch Fire - High Country News

Firefighting veterans believe the management team overseeing fire crews played a key role in handing team members over to immigration authorities.

www.hcn.org

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Jane Mayer @janemayer.bsky.social · Aug 28

Vermont wants to make Polluters Pay so Now a Koch-funded campaign is trying to reverse climate action in Vermont vtdigger.org/2025/08/28/h...

How a Koch-funded campaign is trying to reverse climate action in Vermont - VTDigger

Americans for Prosperity claims its mission is to make Vermont more affordable. But its founding and financing by some of the world’s richest oil men and a history of spreading climate disinformation ...

vtdigger.org

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Reposted by Mira Rojanasakul

Jeff Goodell @jeffgoodell.bsky.social · Aug 29

The dumb but deadly fossil fuel virus appears in Vermont.

vtdigger.org/2025/08/28/h...

How a Koch-funded campaign is trying to reverse climate action in Vermont - VTDigger

Americans for Prosperity claims its mission is to make Vermont more affordable. But its founding and financing by some of the world’s richest oil men and a history of spreading climate disinformation ...

vtdigger.org

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Reposted by Mira Rojanasakul

Maggie Astor @maggieastor.bsky.social · Aug 29

NEWS: CVS, the largest pharmacy chain in the country, is currently not offering Covid vaccines in 16 states and DC — even to people who meet the new FDA criteria — because the CDC hasn't signed off and isn't expected to do so (if it does so) for at least three weeks.

CVS Holds Off on Offering Covid Vaccines in 16 States

www.nytimes.com

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Phil Lewis @phillewis.bsky.social · Aug 28

"Two people fighting the Bear Gulch fire on the Olympic Peninsula were arrested by federal law enforcement, in a confrontation described by firefighters and depicted in photos and video."

Federal agents arrest firefighters working on WA wildfire

Federal agents showed up northeast of Lake Cushman to check identification of crew members fighting Washington's largest active wildfire.

www.seattletimes.com

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Reposted by Mira Rojanasakul

Thomas Kennedy @tomaskenn.bsky.social · Aug 27

Message from Florida Division of Emergency Management Executive Director Kevin Guthrie says “we are probably going to be down to 0 individuals within a few days.”

Top Florida official says 'Alligator Alcatraz' will likely be empty within days, email shows

A top Florida official says the controversial state-run immigration detention facility in the Everglades will likely be empty in a matter of days, even as Republican Gov.

apnews.com

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Reposted by Mira Rojanasakul

Kashmir Hill @kashhill.bsky.social · Aug 26

Adam Raine, 16, died from suicide in April after months on ChatGPT discussing plans to end his life. His parents have filed the first known case against OpenAI for wrongful death.

Overwhelming at times to work on this story, but here it is. My latest on AI chatbots: www.nytimes.com/2025/08/26/t...

A Teen Was Suicidal. ChatGPT Was the Friend He Confided In.

www.nytimes.com

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Timmons Roberts @timmonsroberts.bsky.social · Aug 25

My lab's been attacked by an anti-wind group and their lawyers. They threatened the science funding of my whole university, to shut me and my undergraduate research assistants up.

NYT just covered it. 1/n

www.nytimes.com/2025/08/25/c...