Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 6h

Jeffries: "It's perplexing to us that Rs refuse to spend a dime to protect the healthcare of the American people, but somehow the Trump admin found $40b to bail out a right-wing wannabe dictator in Argentina in ways that are also going to continue to hurt our soybean farmers in Iowa & the Midwest"

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Dr. Jens Foell @jensfoell.de · 10h

Award-winning pain researcher here. This is not something that can be done. Hope this helps.

Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 11h

“In nursing homes, neonatal units, and ICU wards, researchers are racing to turn pain—medicine’s most subjective vital sign—into something a camera or sensor can score as reliably as blood pressure.”

AI is changing how we quantify pain

Artificial intelligence is helping health-care providers better assess their patients’ discomfort.

www.technologyreview.com

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Greg Jefferis @jefferis.bsky.social · 8h

Excited to share our new #biorxivpreprint:
“Sexual dimorphism in the complete connectome of the Drosophila male central nervous system” www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

We describe the #connectomics reconstruction and analysis of an entire adult #maleCNS #drosophila central nervous system. 1/10

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Rebecca Oramas, PhD @rebeccaoramas.bsky.social · 8h

Ever wonder how fruit flies can be used to help uncover novel therapies for #AlcoholUseDisorder? My new paper with @karlakaun.bsky.social describes a behavioral assay pipeline using #Drosophila that can be used to screen new treatments and to investigate the mechanism of currently available drugs.

Investigating pharmacotherapies for alcohol use disorder using Drosophila melanogaster

This study validates Drosophila melanogaster as a powerful model for alcohol use disorder (AUD) drug discovery. A pipeline to test drug effects on acute alcohol response, alcohol consumption, and mem...

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

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Karla Kaun @karlakaun.bsky.social · 7h

Are flies a good model to discover and investigate mechanisms of treatments for alcohol use disorder? We validated known treatments and suggest a potential new treatment: gamma secretase inhibitors.

Rebecca Oramas, PhD @rebeccaoramas.bsky.social · 8h

Ever wonder how fruit flies can be used to help uncover novel therapies for #AlcoholUseDisorder? My new paper with @karlakaun.bsky.social describes a behavioral assay pipeline using #Drosophila that can be used to screen new treatments and to investigate the mechanism of currently available drugs.

Investigating pharmacotherapies for alcohol use disorder using Drosophila melanogaster

This study validates Drosophila melanogaster as a powerful model for alcohol use disorder (AUD) drug discovery. A pipeline to test drug effects on acute alcohol response, alcohol consumption, and mem...

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

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Sven Dorkenwald @sdorkenw.bsky.social · 7h

Excited to share more widely: I am starting the Dorkenwald Lab at MIT (McGovern Institute + BCS) in January 2026. We study the organizational principles of neuronal circuits using connectomics.

And we are hiring postdocs & tech associates! dorkenwaldlab.com/join

MIT’s McGovern Institute and Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences welcome new faculty member Sven Dorkenwald - MIT McGovern Institute

The McGovern Institute and the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences are pleased to announce the appointment of Sven Dorkenwald as an assistant professor starting in January 2026. A trailblazer i...

mcgovern.mit.edu

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International Society for Neuroethology @neuroethology.org · 6h

Vector navigation is common in insects. While directional coding has been studied in great detail, we know less about how distances are represented in the brain. @idatri.bsky.social & S. DasGrupta study the neural mechanisms of odometry in flies.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Neural Basis of Odometry in Drosophila

Path integration is a mode of navigation in which travel distance and direction are integrated to calculate position. Estimating travel distance, or ‘odometry,’ requires the summation of translational...

www.biorxiv.org

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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 2d

if anybody is good at lip reading or can isolate the audio, I'd be very curious to learn more about what these two were talking about here. it certainly didn't sound on the level.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 2d

Trump's conversation with Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto is caught on a hot mic. Hard to tell exactly what they are talking about, but Subianto asks Trump about meeting Eric Trump and Don Jr, who supposedly have nothing to do with government while they run the family business.

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Janelia Research Campus @hhmijanelia.bsky.social · 2d

🧠 A new wiring diagram of the 166,000+ neurons in the brain & nerve cord of a male fruit fly is a key tool in uncovering how the brain enables complex behavior—information that could ultimately help scientists better understand what causes different diseases ➡️ https://hhmi.news/4o3EJnk

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Konrad Kording @kordinglab.bsky.social · 2d

indeed. Evolution is amazing!

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Ben Saunders @bensaunders.bsky.social · 2d

Really excited to have this paper accepted for publication now in @natcomms.nature.com - stay tuned for the final version and huge congrats to @margestelzner.bsky.social!!!!

Ben Saunders @bensaunders.bsky.social · Aug 21

Very excited to share this major update to our paper delineating VTA GABA neuron encoding of valence and decision conflict. Studies led by the amazing @margestelzner.bsky.social. We leaned in here, taking the opportunity to add a lot of cool new data. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

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Josh Moody @byjoshmoody.bsky.social · 2d

The sharpest criticism I've seen of the Trump administration's "Compact for Excellence in Higher Education" comes from Wesleyan President Michael Roth who compares the proposal to Hitler's demand that professors sign an oath of loyalty.
www.thebulwark.com/p/colleges-u...

What’s a College President to Do in the Trump Era?

Not going on bended knee to Washington would be a good start.

www.thebulwark.com

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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 2d

If you make "controversial statements" outside of classroom, that the President of the university dislikes, you can be summarily fired even if you are tenured.

Julie Greene @greeneland.bsky.social · 2d

I just learned, Thomas Alter, tenured professor, has been terminated effective immediately. Shame on Texas State! We mst build support for Tom. spectrumlocalnews.com/tx/south-tex...

Texas State upholds the firing of associate history professor Thomas Alter

Alter’s termination occurred on Sept. 10, stemming from his remarks at the Revolutionary Socialism Conference on Sept. 7.

spectrumlocalnews.com

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Drug Monkey @drugmonkey.bsky.social · 2d

NIH Study Sections are on hold...again. drugmonkey.wordpress.com/2025/10/13/n...

NIH Study Sections are on hold…again.

The primary input to deciding on the merit of proposals submitted to the NIH for potential funding, as most of my remaining blog audience well knows, is the outcome of the initial peer-review proce…

drugmonkey.wordpress.com

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Patti Olivier EPSTEIN FILES NEVER FORGET @patti3333.bsky.social · 2d

HAPPY INDIGENOUS PEOPLES DAY

TODAY
We celebrate and honor the first people of North America
Their history, culture, and resilience
Trump cannot sweep history away
Honor and Respect

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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 2d

Q: Why are you keeping the House out if you have a lot of other work to do? Are you saying you can't work on appropriations while the govt is shut down?

JOHNSON: Republicans have been very busy in their districts helping constituents navigate this crisis that's been created by Schumer and the Dems

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The New Republic @newrepublic.com · 3d

Reverend David Black, the senior pastor at First Presbyterian Church of Chicago, was praying at the armed agents above him before being shot in the head with a pepper ball at least twice and falling to his knees.

Black said he could hear ICE laughing. trib.al/9Nstfnp

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Graham Platner for Senate @grahamformaine.bsky.social · Aug 19

My name is Graham Platner and I’m running for US Senate to defeat Susan Collins and topple the oligarchy that’s destroying our country.

I’m a veteran, oysterman, and working class Mainer who’s seen this state become unlivable for working people. And that makes me deeply angry.

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Tyler Ryan Sizemore @tsizzle2.bsky.social · 3d

If you can’t read the story FWR, then listen to this story here: open.spotify.com/episode/3T9r...

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Alex Kwan @alexkwan.bsky.social · 3d

This one hits close to home. Jim is my office neighbor. Absolutely devastating.

NPR @npr.org · 3d

A Cornell University researcher has been developing an artificial heart for children for more than 20 years. Now, his research is on hold and his lab is shut down.

This 4-year-old's heart is failing. A federal grant that might help him was canceled

A Cornell University researcher has been developing an artificial heart for children for more than 20 years. Now, his research is on hold and his lab is shut down.

n.pr

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Alejandro Montenegro @aemonten.bsky.social · 5d

PREACH!

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Reaffirming the value of model organisms in training scientific minds - Nature Cell Biology

As biomedical research prioritizes human models and translational promise, classic model organisms are increasingly dismissed. Here we argue that they have a lasting value, both in enabling discovery and in cultivating scientific thinking, by training researchers in systems reasoning, integrative thinking and independent inquiry.

www.nature.com

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Teresa Rayon @trayon.bsky.social · 3d

Model organisms as platforms for training scientific minds

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

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Mark Copelovitch @mcopelov.bsky.social · 3d

Not sure why it has taken until late 2025 to see this, but this is how you do it. Every time. For every one of these guests.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 3d

STEPHANOPOULOS: I didn't insinuate anything. I asked you whether Tom Homan accepted $50k as was heard on an audio tape recorded by the FBI in September 2024. You did not answer the question. Thank you for your time.

VANCE: No, George, I sai--

STEPHANOPOULOS: We'll be right back

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Micah @rincewind.run · 3d

if we'd treated their obvious baldfaced lies and deflections more like this over the past eight years maybe we wouldn't be in this situation

shocking how easy it is when you actually see it done

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 3d

STEPHANOPOULOS: I didn't insinuate anything. I asked you whether Tom Homan accepted $50k as was heard on an audio tape recorded by the FBI in September 2024. You did not answer the question. Thank you for your time.

VANCE: No, George, I sai--

STEPHANOPOULOS: We'll be right back

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Brandon Friedman @brandonfriedman.bsky.social · 3d

This is great. Normally, with U.S. press, when a Republican lies, they go, "well, we'll have to leave it there because I want to move on."

In this case, however, Vance lies and Stephanopoulos is immediately, "into the trebuchet, my dude."

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 3d

STEPHANOPOULOS: I didn't insinuate anything. I asked you whether Tom Homan accepted $50k as was heard on an audio tape recorded by the FBI in September 2024. You did not answer the question. Thank you for your time.

VANCE: No, George, I sai--

STEPHANOPOULOS: We'll be right back

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