Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Dr Georgia Grainger

Gavan Reilly @gavreilly.com · 11d

Sinn Féin has lost contact with senator Chris Andrews, who was aboard the Spectre as part of the Sumud Flotilla aiming to break Israel’s blockade of Gaza, some of vessels of which have seemingly been boarded by Israel tonight.

@virginmedianews.bsky.social

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Zoë “Baddie Proctor” Quinn @unburntwitch.com · 11d

Microsoft says its Agent Mode in Excel has an accuracy rate of 57.2 percent in SpreadsheetBench, a benchmark for evaluating an Al model's ability to edit real world spreadsheets. This result

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Andrew Bloomberg @andrewbloomberg.bsky.social · 22d

It’s easy to scoff at this, but Oxford generating artificial intelligence is how the British Empire was run

University of Oxford @ox.ac.uk · 23d

NEW: Oxford will be the first UK university to give all staff and students free ChatGPT Edu access, from this academic year.

ChatGPT Edu is built for education, with enhanced privacy and security.

Graphic from the University of Oxford, featuring an image of a glowing, digital brain with the text: 'Generative AI at Oxford'. Highlights that ChatGPT Edu is now available to all staff and students. Includes a link for more information: ox.ac.uk/gen-ai

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Pavel @spavel.bsky.social · Sep 6

Two trials will be repeated endlessly despite always producing the same results:

1) Does UBI work? (yes)
2) Does AI improve productivity? (no)

M365 Copilot fails to up productivity in UK government trial

: AI tech shows promise writing emails or summarizing meetings. Don't bother with anything more complex

www.theregister.com

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Lee Hurley @hleehurley.com · Sep 1

Did you know that in the 70s, the British Army created Satanic Panic stories in Northern Ireland. They used blood from the mess hall, set up altars etc and then contacted the media

Nora Reed (they/them ze/hir) @nora.zone · Aug 31

i am almost 40 and i literally do not have any point in my life where the right wing has not been doing moral panics about imaginary child abuse while institutionally working to enable real abuse of real children. if it's not the satanic panic it's fucking pronouns.

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Aparna Nair @disabilitystor1.bsky.social · Aug 31

"Eugenics was rooted in rational modern science then" needs re-stating. Far too many people describe eugenics as a "pseudoscience", but it wasn't to those who studied it, wrote books and papers, formed societies and argued its benefits.

Robert Heinze @rheinze.bsky.social · Aug 31

But that was also rooted in „rational“, modern science then and these eugenicist elements are still present in science today. I think it’s dangerous, as Gourevitch does, to act as if this logics aren’t deeply rooted in specific forms of modernity, rationality and science.

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Gregor/Fisher @grogipher.bsky.social · Aug 26

Or the SNP, or Plaid, or any of the NI Parties, or...

Adam Bienkov @adambienkov.bsky.social · Aug 26

Reform UK, which has a grand total of four MPs, was just given an uninterrupted platform for an hour and a half on the BBC and Sky News channels, in order to talk about its plans for mass deportations

When was the last time the Greens (with four MPs) or the Lib Dems (with 72) were given the same?

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Erin Grievances @erinbartram.bsky.social · Aug 9

I think this is all true, but I also think about the number of people who have assumed my PhD (in history) took a long time because it takes that long to memorize all those facts. They eschew skill building, of course, but also confuse knowledge accumulation/regurgitation with knowledge production.

Dr. Johnathan Flowers, Blade Wielding Bisexual (Lordean arc) @shengokai.blacksky.app · Aug 9

Something that I have been thinking about with attribution of "PhD level intelligence" or "PhD level expertise" to a machine is that it reflects an increasing trend among these AI bros and their sycophants to want the products of highly skilled training without actually doing any of the work.

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Neil Mackay @neilmackay.bsky.social · Aug 24

‘I’m a lesbian and feminist. I’ve been harmed by men. So I wouldn’t fight for trans people if it hurt women’s rights. Yet I’m called a groomer and a misogynist’

Rebecca Don Kennedy, head of the Equality Network, on how dark it’s got for trans people in Britain www.heraldscotland.com/news/2541309...

It’s so f*****g tedious and soul-destroying as it’s so unjust'

Rebecca Don Kennedy runs the Equality Network. She talks candidly to our Writer at Large about the attacks, abuse and hate she’s suffered…

www.heraldscotland.com

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Kirsti Miller @kirstimiller30.bsky.social · Aug 17

Academic historians rarely speak up like this but have made an exception in speaking in support of trans people in the UK and against the current trans exclusionary situation over there.

Not just a few historians but hundreds signed this.

www.thepinknews.com/2025/05/02/h...

Warning from historians over government's treatment of trans people

Over 350 historians and academics have urged the government to turn back on its growing attacks on trans rights in the UK.

www.thepinknews.com

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Dr Georgia Grainger @sniphist.bsky.social · Aug 12

There's been an increase, especially in younger men (up 59%) and single men (up 13%)! Tubal sterilisations also increased for younger women but not by as much, and not at all for single women.

www.scientificamerican.com/article/more...

Vasectomies Are Becoming Popular in a Post-Roe World

Recent studies show that the Supreme Court ruling that overturned the national right to abortion led to a sharp increase in people—particularly younger, single individuals—seeking a vasectomy or a tub...

www.scientificamerican.com

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Dr Georgia Grainger @sniphist.bsky.social · Aug 12

Interestingly, female sterilisation rates have also dropped! There's been an increase in availability of reversible options (such as IUDs), so more people seem to be using them to delay til menopause. But it feels counterintuitive to see birth rates drop at the same time as sterilisations.

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Dr Georgia Grainger @sniphist.bsky.social · Aug 12

In the UK vasectomy rates have dropped a lot in the last ~20 years! This is from 2016, and it's continued since then (though a slight uptick post-pandemic, possibly due to delayed surgeries during lockdowns but also increased awareness)

www.theguardian.com/society/2016...

Number of vasectomies in England falls 64% in 10 years

Procedure goes out of fashion on fears about sex life, but NHS funding is also a factor, says contraception NGO

www.theguardian.com

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Charlotte Lydia Riley @lottelydia.bsky.social · Aug 11

Sorry why is “economics” deemed “career related” in comparison to history?? Both of these topics have direct careers that follow from their study, and both send students into a wide range of future jobs (how many economics graduates become economists, exactly?)

Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · Aug 11

'Just 40,900 students entered to take history, compared with 41,900 taking economics and 43,000 for physics. Maths remains the most popular A-level with 105,000 entries this year, up by more than 4% compared with 2024.'

Both 'Just' and 'career-related' doing heavy lifting here. 1/2

A-level results in England expected to return to near pre-pandemic levels

Career-focused subjects such as business studies and economics to surpass traditional academic disciplines like history in popularity

www.theguardian.com

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Catherine Fletcher @cathfletcher.bsky.social · Aug 7

Obviously a lie, since the definition of PhD-level expertise, standard across universities worldwide, is that you can produce original knowledge.

OpenAI claims new GPT-5 model boosts ChatGPT to ‘PhD level’

GPT-5's release comes as tech firms continue to compete in an effort to claim the world's most advanced AI.

www.bbc.co.uk

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valebodi.bsky.social @valebodi.bsky.social · Aug 6

Key genetic differences found in people with #ME/CFS the latest news from The University of Edinburgh on the key findings of the @decodemestudy.bsky.social
The very first large #GWAS study on #pwME www.ed.ac.uk/news/key-gen...

Key genetic differences found in people with ME/CFS | News | The University of Edinburgh

Scientists have discovered that people diagnosed with ME/CFS have significant differences in their DNA, offering the first robust evidence that genes contribute to a person’s chance of developing the ...

www.ed.ac.uk

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QM_UCU @qmucu.bsky.social · Jul 22

So, just to reiterate: PLEASE REGULATE THE USE OF EXTERNAL CONSULTANCIES, Government.

We all had a good laugh today, but it wasn't worth the millions this will have cost in tuition fee money going to some consultancy that is about to do exactly the same two towns over.

michael veale @michae.lv · Jul 22

Self-inflicted embarrassment for the University of Warwick — first it rebrands hyper-generically, then someone totally unhinged decides the *front page of the uni website* should say ‘Learn more about our Brand’.

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Charlotte Lydia Riley @lottelydia.bsky.social · Jul 31

now google each of those six universities and “redundancies”

QM_UCU @qmucu.bsky.social · Jul 28

Exeter, Galway, Queen’s, Birmingham, Warwick, Kent, and UKRI’s KTN…

If anyone wondered where the same obsession with ‘modernising’ the crest, speaking in abstract nouns, and questionable colour schemes for these originated:

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Kirsten the Librarian @librarykirsten.bsky.social · Jul 30

I strongly recommend Lesley Hall’s website and blog for really thorough rooting out of zombie factoids (especially on the history of sex) www.lesleyahall.net/factoids.htm

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Charlotte Lydia Riley @lottelydia.bsky.social · Jul 30

Yep!! PhD students are often extremely good at catching these zombie factoids because they are tenacious, buried in footnotes and have *time* to root stuff out. But at some point stuff just gets footnoted to the most prominent historian who repeated the claim, and nobody bothers to look it up.

Ned Richardson-Little @historyned.bsky.social · Jul 30

From my own academic research, even pre LLMs there was a huge danger of zombie factoids that begin in a respectable publication by mistake and then get reprinted for decades because no one is backtracing to the original source. Once bad info gets into the system it can take years to clear it out.

BeijingPalmer @beijingpalmer.bsky.social · Jul 29

I've seen numerous examples of this in recent days - we're at a point where some reporters are using LLMs as a source and not even remotely properly factchecking, but also where LLM generated material is making its way into other material and being unknowingly reproduced by others.

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Lee Hurley @hleehurley.com · Jul 29

NHS Fife’s lawyer Jane Russell KC says Ms Peggie is not paying for her own case and she asks who is paying for it.

Ms Peggie’s lawyer Naomi Cunningham objects to this and says it is “of no relevance and it’s privileged”. Employment Judge Sandy Kemp agrees and the question is withdrawn.

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Charlie Lynch @charlielynch.bsky.social · Jul 24

“We’re committed to diversity and inclusion. But for our entry level, part-time job on a fixed term contract, we won’t consider shortlisting anyone who hasn’t done this exact job before.”

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Jamal abu hashem🇵🇸 @jamalzuhir.bsky.social · Jul 24

If u ask me what’s the situation in gaza :

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Rhys Kaminski-Jones @rhyskamjones.bsky.social · Jul 24

What's the betting this study has been written by people who think "History" just means "synthesizing the information in printed sources"

Greg Jenner @gregjenner.bsky.social · Jul 24

This incredibly worrying study suggests Historians are the 2nd most likely occupation to be supplanted by AI.

That’s despite the fact that current AI history output is wildly unreliable, unsourced, hallucinates fale events, sources, and previous historians!!

Yay 😬😩🤪
arxiv.org/pdf/2507.07935

arxiv.org

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BremainInSpain @bremaininspain.com · Jul 22

Stop Trump Scotland protest details – 26 July
Aberdeen
Noon, Saturday 26th July
Union Terrace Gardens

Edinburgh
Noon, Saturday 26th July
at the US Consulate,
3 Regent Terrace, EH7 5BW
stoptrump.org.uk/stop-trump-s...

Stop Trump Scotland protest details – 26 July

Stop Trump Coalition

stoptrump.org.uk

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