Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Roberta McMorran-Lait @rrmcmorranlait.bsky.social · Aug 6

Happy to share that I passed my upgrade and I'm now an official PhD candidate! I had a stimulating, thoughtful conversation with my assessing panel and am excited to get started on my research 🔎🌍📈 Been celebrating by hiding in caves, exploring old castles, and having Bloody Mary's on the beach 🍹

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Dr Josh Lait @joshualait.bsky.social · Jul 14

Great to see a more combative tone from @teamlabouruk.bsky.social on delivering net zero. The conservatives should be ashamed www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Ed Miliband says Tories are ‘anti-science’ for abandoning net zero consensus

Energy and net zero secretary lays out stark picture of how climate crisis and nature depletion is affecting UK

www.theguardian.com

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Roberta McMorran-Lait @rrmcmorranlait.bsky.social · Apr 1

Important read! Good to see some pushback against a emerging poisonous narrative about SEND transport costs.

Dr Josh Lait @joshualait.bsky.social · Apr 1

Seeing school travel, especially for SEND students, as just a cost makes children seem like a burden to local authorities. Our research shows that national education policy reforms have made school commutes longer, undermining health and environmental goals (1/4) www.bera.ac.uk/blog/escalat...

Escalating school travel costs: Recognising the role of national policy

A BBC news article from March 2024 highlights that local authority spending on school travel for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) has increased from £728m in 2018 to...

www.bera.ac.uk

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Caroline Lucas @carolinelucas.bsky.social · Mar 21

Brilliant news! At last, confirmation that the Govt *will* go ahead with the #NaturalHistoryGCSE 🎉 We have to get to know our fellow travellers on this planet again. Young people who know & love nature are far more likely to protect & restore it - as well as enjoying better physical & mental health

Department for Education confirms launch of natural history GCSE

Campaigners have been calling for the qualification for years but plan stalled despite a curriculum being drawn up

www.theguardian.com

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Roberta McMorran-Lait @rrmcmorranlait.bsky.social · Mar 21

Had a fabulous time on my DTP field trip with @centa.bsky.social! We learned from @severntrentwater.bsky.social about innovative technologies for mitigating N2O emissions from wastewater treatment plants 🧪🏭💨, culminating in a fun info-video and POSTNote. Also managed some gorgeous sunset walks ☀️🌿

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Annals of Botany @annbot.bsky.social · Mar 15

📣Now Free Access: Non-stressful temperature changes affect transgenerational phenotypic plasticity across the life cycle of Arabidopsis thaliana plants
Get the Paper:

doi.org

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Reposted by Roberta McMorran-Lait

Kew Gardens @rbgkew.bsky.social · Mar 8

This #InternationalWomensDay we're celebrating the many recent stories of trailblazing women — researchers, curators, educators, and horticulturists — that are each advancing our shared understanding of plants and fungi! 🌱👩‍🔬🍄

www.kew.org/read-and-wat...

International Women's Day 2025: our favourite Kew stories

Read and watch our top science and garden stories from the trailblazing women of Kew over the past year.

www.kew.org

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Reposted by Roberta McMorran-Lait

Dr Josh Lait @joshualait.bsky.social · Mar 8

Refreshing to see someone at the House of Lords question the cult of economic growth! Growth at all costs without considering public good is absurd. This outdated mentality is how we end up with projects like expanding Heathrow during a climate emergency 🙃 www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

When politicians tell us to focus on growth we need to ask: ‘Why, and for whom?’

Isolate growth from public good and you are simply planning for breakdown. My research shows that a resilient society should be rooted in wellbeing, not wealth, says former archbishop of Canterbury Ro...

www.theguardian.com

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The Guardian @theguardian.com · Feb 26

Stonehenge-like circle unearthed in Denmark may have links to UK

Archaeologists suggest ‘woodhenge’ was built between 2600 and 1600BC on similar axis to English stone circle An “extraordinary” timber circle believed to be thousands of years old and connected to Stonehenge in England has been discovered in the ground…

www.theguardian.com

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Jazz @coyotesdaughter.bsky.social · Nov 22

Niche nerd alert, but this is huge! Genetic analysis validates the permaculture/forest gardening practices of precolonial North America as serious agriculture on a similar time scale with domestication of corn, rice, potatoes, and other global staple crops!

www.science.org/content/arti...

Indigenous tribes engineered British Columbia’s modern hazelnut forests more than 7000 years ago

Genetic analysis of hazelnut trees could help First Nations secure land rights in Canadian courts

www.science.org

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Markus Eichhorn @markuseichhorn.bsky.social · Dec 12

Lucy Waruingi of the African Conservation Centre is a fabulous choice as plenary at #BES2024.

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Matt Thompson @matt-thompson.bsky.social · Nov 21

I am creating a #starter pack for #environmental #sciences doctoral research students.

Reach out to be added to the starter pack! I need 7 to start.

#students #phd #academics #scientists #researchers #biology #chemistry #physics #ecology #conservationists #geographers #geospatial

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Roberta McMorran-Lait @rrmcmorranlait.bsky.social · Nov 21

You can add me as well if you want! :)

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Roberta McMorran-Lait @rrmcmorranlait.bsky.social · Nov 20

Jimi? Cleopatra? Foxy Brown? Robin Hood? Nick Wilde? Tails? Fantastic Mister? The possibilities are endless and I simply cannot choose 🤔

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georgia 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 @blahttodea.bsky.social · Nov 11

hey everyone! i made a list of some useful starter packs (primarily biology/earth sciences with a few bonus things thrown in) to share with friends who have joined bsky in the last week and thought it may be useful for some people here too! 🌍🧪 #SciSky #BioSky docs.google.com/document/d/1...

Starter packs

BIOLOGY Ecology Macroecology https://go.bsky.app/GBn9pNZ Global ecology https://go.bsky.app/V6tN4cv Trait based ecology and evolution https://go.bsky.app/PThMXeX Invasion biology https://go.b...

docs.google.com

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Roberta McMorran-Lait @rrmcmorranlait.bsky.social · Nov 20

May I be added please?

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Roberta McMorran-Lait @rrmcmorranlait.bsky.social · Nov 20

Spotted in the rock garden at work 🦊

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Ed Balls @officialedballs.bsky.social · Nov 17

Ed Balls

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LeVar Burton @levarburton.bsky.social · Nov 18

Okay, y’all… I have finally decided that retreat is the better part of valor. Bringing some rainbow energy over to these blue skies.
#bydhttmwdi

a pixel art of a man standing under a rainbow on a blue background

Alt: a pixel art of Levar standing under a rainbow on a blue background

media.tenor.com

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Roberta McMorran-Lait @rrmcmorranlait.bsky.social · Nov 17

May I please be added?

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Channa Prakash @agbioworld.bsky.social · Nov 15

With domestication, humans directed the evolution of crops & livestock. But farming likewise reshaped our genomes too! DNA from ancient hunter-gatherers and farmers alike shows how the rise of farming changed our biology

www.science.org/content/arti...

How Farming Reshaped Our Genomes

Analysis of 8000-year-old European hunter-gatherer suggests cultivation of crops and livestock dramatically reshaped our DNA

www.science.org

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Roberta McMorran-Lait @rrmcmorranlait.bsky.social · Nov 15

Well said!!

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Eric Brandom @ebrandom.bsky.social · Oct 22

Or, according to James C. Scott, the other way around.

Rogs Pumpkin 🎃 @stev.bsky.social · Oct 22

No pain no grain

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MwahahahahahadScientist @mads100tist.bsky.social · Nov 14

The Onion should buy Elsevier next

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Nature Reviews Biodiversity @natrevbiodiv.nature.com · Nov 13

Impressive synthesis of biodiversity responses to the 2019–2020 megafires in Australia, now out in @natureportfolio.bsky.social. 🧪🌍https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-08174-6

Biodiversity impacts of the 2019–2020 Australian megafires - Nature

Data collected from more than 2,000 taxa provide an unparalleled opportunity to quantify how extreme wildfires affect biodiversity, revealing that the largest effects on plants and animals were in are...

www.nature.com

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