Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Susan Board, PhD @suseboard.bsky.social · 22h

Including fifteen species of bumblebees, which play a crucial role in pollinating peas, beans, peanuts and clover

The Guardian @theguardian.com · 23h

Number of wild bee species at risk of extinction in Europe doubles in 10 years

Number of endangered butterfly species also surging amid habitat destruction and global heating, finds study The number of wild bee species in Europe at risk of extinction has more than doubled over the past decade, while the number of endangered butterfly species has almost doubled. The jeopardy facing crucial pollinators was revealed by scientific studies for the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) red list of threatened species, which found that at least 172 bee species out of 1,928 were at risk of extinction in Europe. Continue reading...

www.theguardian.com

1 1

Susan Board, PhD @suseboard.bsky.social · 1d

Wish Tern would come over here..

1 3

Reposted by Susan Board, PhD

Prof Christina Pagel @chrischirp.bsky.social · 1d

Also, if you're "in bed with flu", it's almost certainly Covid.

Prof Christina Pagel @chrischirp.bsky.social · 1d

After a long pause, I've just done another England Covid & NHS update as we head into the autumn/winter season.

TLDR: we're in a significant Covid wave now, the NHS is stretched, get boosted if you're eligible.

christinapagel.substack.com/p/england-is...

England is now experiencing a significant Covid wave, after 10 months of relative quiet

The latest Covid situation in England and a look at where NHS services are as we head into winter

christinapagel.substack.com

34 220 390

Reposted by Susan Board, PhD

Prof Christina Pagel @chrischirp.bsky.social · 2d

🧵🚨

The UK’s independent scientific bodies are highly vulnerable to politicisation - over the past 5 months I've been working with @martinmckee.bsky.social to map out their vulnerabilities and it's not good news.

Today our report is published!
www.ucl.ac.uk/policy-lab/n...

1/11

UK’s arm’s length public bodies are highly vulnerable to politicisation

Seven in ten Britons say it is important for top scientific institutions to be independent in exclusive new polling.

www.ucl.ac.uk

20 400 600

Reposted by Susan Board, PhD

Mike Galsworthy @mikegalsworthy.bsky.social · 6d

For shame. 😡

78 310 770

Susan Board, PhD @suseboard.bsky.social · 6d

Listen … 💚

KOJAMF🤘🖤🤘 @kojamf.bsky.social · 6d

Dr. Jane Goodall filmed an interview with Netflix in March 2025 that she understood would only be released after her death.

Reposted by Susan Board, PhD

Carole Cadwalladr @carolecadwalla.bsky.social · 6d

And he’s back!!

Sunday isn’t Sunday without Stewart Lee. We were so thrilled at @thenerve.news that Stewart came with us.

His satirical columns for the Observer were some of our most-read content: funny, surreal, angry true. Essential weekend reading.

www.thenerve.news/p/stewart-le...

DOUBLETHINK DOES DOUBLETIME

STEWART LEE

www.thenerve.news

18 140 560

Susan Board, PhD @suseboard.bsky.social · 7d

What happened to the idea of the circular economy? 🥺

1

Reposted by Susan Board, PhD

George Monbiot @georgemonbiot.bsky.social · 8d

Keeping people in poverty is an expensive luxury.
My column on the false economies of austerity, which costs us all a fortune. Despite the government's claims, austerity continues under Labour. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

It hurt when I crashed my bike into a pothole – and it taught me the true price of austerity | George Monbiot

Fixing that hole could have cost under £100; the cost of not doing so is limitless. My prang highlights the neoliberal folly of false economies, says Guardian columnist George Monbiot

www.theguardian.com

53 600 1.4K

Reposted by Susan Board, PhD

The Guardian @theguardian.com · 9d

Dame Jane Goodall obituary

Pioneering scientist whose breakthrough studies of chimpanzees changed how the animals were perceived and led to greater protection

www.theguardian.com

3 43 150

Reposted by Susan Board, PhD

Claire #FBPE ☘️ 🍉 🇺🇦 🇪🇺🐝 🦮🇮🇪🇧🇪 💙💚 @fbpech.bsky.social · 10d

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

This needs to be shared widely

Farage, Trump, Musk: your boy Javier Milei just took one hell of a beating. Why so quiet? | Aditya Chakrabortty

The wild politics and chainsaw made Argentina’s president an economic hero for the right. And now, with his nation’s finances in chaos: silence, writes Guardian columnist Aditya Chakrabortty

www.theguardian.com

1 20 24

Susan Board, PhD @suseboard.bsky.social · 9d

We’d better start!

Hannah Daly @hannahdaly.ie · 9d

The best guess of climate experts at this Overshoot Conference is that - in an optimistic scenario - we return to 1.5C (where we are now) in 7 generations time.

That's about the same distance from now as the start of the Industrial Revolution.

1

Reposted by Susan Board, PhD

Kit Yates @kityates.bsky.social · 10d

The Royal Society is meeting today to determine what action to take on Elon Musk's continued membership.
What they decide will say a great deal about what the society stands for and whether it is able to meet the needs of the modern scientific community.

Royal Society to consider expelling Musk after rally speech - Research Professional News

“Language of violence” in address to anti-immigration march pushes science academy to reassess billionaire’s fellowship

www.researchprofessionalnews.com

8 34 91

Reposted by Susan Board, PhD

Ed Hawkins @edhawkins.org · 10d

We will regret not acting faster on climate change.

85 280 1.2K

Susan Board, PhD @suseboard.bsky.social · 10d

Read this thread of how deeply tied up Tony Blair is with the Israeli govt and more!

Carole Cadwalladr @carolecadwalla.bsky.social · 10d

REVEALED: Donald Trump has picked Tony Blair for central role in Gaza ‘peace plan’…

…but in our inaugural investigation for @thenerve_news, we reveal extensive previously unreported links to Israeli defence, media & tech. 🧵
1/

www.thenerve.news/p/tony-blair...

'WHAT WILL JESUS SAY?' TONY BLAIR, BIG TECH AND THE ISRAEL CONNECTION

As Trump announces the former British PM as his choice to help govern Gaza, Carole Cadwalladr investigates the opaque workings of Blair's institute, its funding from friends of Israel – including bill...

www.thenerve.news

1

Reposted by Susan Board, PhD

Long Covid Advocacy @longcovidadvoc.com · 10d

🚸 Massive study in The Lancet of nearly half a million children & young people.

⏫ Increased risk of multisystem complications incl. POTS, kidney injury, arrthyhmias & myocarditis

👉 This is why Violet was furious @loosewomen @kayeadams

🖇️ tinyurl.com/45x4633e

25 32

Reposted by Susan Board, PhD

Bylines Network @bylinesnetwork.co.uk · 11d

✍️ Research shows that ChatGPT is changing your brain

What happens to your brain when you use ChatGPT to write your essay? MIT watched students’ brain activity to find out. The results are worrying.

@eastangliabylines.co.uk @stephenmcnair.bsky.social

Research shows that ChatGPT is changing your brain

People worry that students are increasingly using generative AI in their work. It saves time, but what is it doing to their brains?

eastangliabylines.co.uk

4 39 57

Reposted by Susan Board, PhD

Dr Charlie Gardner @charliejgardner.bsky.social · 12d

Delayers and obstructionists paint decarbonisation as a threat to our way of life

They're trying to persuade people that it's better to carry on with the way things are

But maintaining our way of life isn't an option - either we change it, or climate and nature breakdown change it for us

Environmental damage is putting European way of life at risk, says report

EU officials warn climate breakdown and wildlife loss ‘are ruining ecosystems that underpin the economy’

www.theguardian.com

3 29 61

Susan Board, PhD @suseboard.bsky.social · 14d

And last night on @channel4news.bsky.social the Israeli spokesman said he was proud!

George Monbiot @georgemonbiot.bsky.social · 15d

When you consider the *ecocide* alongside the genocide being perpetrated in Gaza, you begin to grasp the totality of the Israeli state’s attempt to eliminate both the Palestinians and their homeland.
My column today.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Israel’s ecocide in Gaza sends this message: even if we stopped dropping bombs, you couldn’t live here | George Monbiot

Consider the annihilation of agricultural land alongside the genocide – and grasp the chilling totality of this attempt to eliminate all life, says Guardian columnist George Monbiot

www.theguardian.com

1

Reposted by Susan Board, PhD

itsmariam.bsky.social @itsmariam.bsky.social · 15d

Not one damn word is untrue 🕊️

@freedomflotilla.bsky.social
#Sumud
#FeedGaza
#FreePalestine
#SupportDissent

mleroi.bsky.social @mleroi.bsky.social · 16d

www.instagram.com/reel/DPCD_rh...

10 170 370

Susan Board, PhD @suseboard.bsky.social · 15d

No idea apart from the norm of peer pressure… medics seem oblivious to the Hippocratic oath when it comes to air borne viruses. I don’t get it

1 1

Susan Board, PhD @suseboard.bsky.social · 15d

Conceited ignorance and spiteful cruelty 🤷‍♀️

1 1

Susan Board, PhD @suseboard.bsky.social · 16d

This is important reading

James Dyke @jamesgdyke.info · 16d

"Who is willing to join forces to drag the Overton Window out of the grip of the self-destructive cult of fossil-fuelled lunatics and into the centre of a compassionate, fairer, more reasoned world?" My latest at Technosphere Earth.
www.technosphere.earth/roaming-deat...

Roaming death squads or climate justice - the future will be what we make it

If in 2020 you had said that by 2025 masked agents would be kidnapping thousands of people off US streets, disappearing them into an incarceration system, and then deporting them to countries in Afric...

www.technosphere.earth

3

Reposted by Susan Board, PhD

Prof Christina Pagel @chrischirp.bsky.social · 18d

IMPORTANT 🧵

We've been seeing how RFK Jr & anti-vax lobby has been steadily and effectively reducing access to vaccines in the US.

But it could happen in UK too.

It's a threat worth considering given Malhotra's speech at Reform conf & big overlap between anti-vax and RW populsim.

Read on!
1/11

20 250 510

Reposted by Susan Board, PhD

Dr. Aaron Thierry @thierryaaron.bsky.social · 17d

“To be a good scientist, I have to take emotions out of work. Still, I would say looking at this data, when I allow myself to connect to it emotionally, then I am afraid. This really scares me”

- Dr. Levke Caesar, co-lead of Planetary Boundaries Science Lab

World’s oceans fail key health check as acidity crosses critical threshold for marine life

Scientists call for renewed global effort to curb fossil fuels as seven of nine planetary boundaries now transgressed

www.theguardian.com

7 74 140