Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Vivek Nityananda @viveknityananda.bsky.social · 9h

Turns out magic evolved twice in this world.

Taylor Mitchell Brown @tmitchellbrown.bsky.social · 10h

Scientists recently found two evolutionarily distinct mushrooms converged to produce the same psychedelic molecule—psilocybin.

The “surprising” results underscore the significance of the hallucinogen but leave questions about its ultimate purpose.

#Psilocybe #MagicMushrooms

New at @science.org 🧪🏺

In mind-bending twist, ‘magic’ mushrooms evolved twice independently

Study identifies entirely new suite of enzymes that can make psilocybin

www.science.org

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Reposted by Vivek Nityananda

Vivek Nityananda @viveknityananda.bsky.social · 14h

Soooo exciting to see the team come together! Please come and see our play! It's my first full length play on stage 😊

Tara Theatre @taratheatre.com · 1d

🌟 CAST ANNOUNCEMENT 🌟

We are thrilled to announce our cast and creative team for I Dream of Theresa May written by Vivek Nityananda and directed by our Artistic Director, Natasha Kathi-Chandra.

Find our full cast and creative team - and book your tickets! - here:
taratheatre.com/whats-on/i-d...

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Vivek Nityananda @viveknityananda.bsky.social · 14h

Soooo exciting to see the team come together! Please come and see our play! It's my first full length play on stage 😊

Tara Theatre @taratheatre.com · 1d

🌟 CAST ANNOUNCEMENT 🌟

We are thrilled to announce our cast and creative team for I Dream of Theresa May written by Vivek Nityananda and directed by our Artistic Director, Natasha Kathi-Chandra.

Find our full cast and creative team - and book your tickets! - here:
taratheatre.com/whats-on/i-d...

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Reposted by Vivek Nityananda

Ben de Bivort @debivort.bsky.social · 1d

Our new study modeling selection for (behavioral) variability has been covered in a lovely @genetics-gsa.bsky.social podcast featuring first author Shraddha Lall and @ecoevogal.bsky.social

academic.oup.com/g3journal/ad...

Family-based selection: an efficient method for increasing phenotypic variability

This article introduces a model comparing various selection regimes for increasing phenotypic variability. Individuals with the same genotype, reared in id

academic.oup.com

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Reposted by Vivek Nityananda

Niamh Ní Mhaoileoin @niamhsquared.bsky.social · 18h

Such an honour to have Ordinary Saints nominated in two categories in the Books Are My Bag Readers Awards. Winners are decided by readers - you can vote at the link below!

National Book Tokens @nationalbooktokens.bsky.social · 19h

The Books Are My Bag #ReadersAwards are one of a kind. They're the only book awards with shortlists curated by bookshops, and winners voted for by readers, like you!

Vote for your favourite books for the chance to win a £100/€120 National Book Token.

Vote now: buff.ly/U5ylHv9

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Sakher and Reem 🍉🇵🇸 @sakher-gaza.bsky.social · 1d

I'm sakher
God willing, this will be the end of the war.
Today, a preliminary ceasefire agreement was announced between the parties, and our hearts are full of hope that this will be the beginning of peace — after all the destruction, pain, and loss.

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Reposted by Vivek Nityananda

Claudia Wascher @wascherclaudia.bsky.social · 1d

Job alert: want to be my boss? 😁 The School of Life Sciences @ARU is looking for a new Head of School. It’s a great place to work with brilliant colleagues, students, and partners. Please share widely! #AcademicJobs #Leadership #LifeSciences #HigherEducation jobs.aru.ac.uk/vacancy/head...

Head of School of Life Sciences - ARU

jobs.aru.ac.uk

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Reposted by Vivek Nityananda

Cephalopod Whisperer @ceph-whisperer.bsky.social · 1d

I want to share a new project: We are working to support the neurodivergent community with the goal to educate young children about different brains and skills that people have to offer. Along with some fun about insects, vision, flight and ecology.

See here: www.kickstarter.com/projects/fli...

Flight Camp - The Animated Series

This is the pilot for a comedic and educational animated series, where an amazing group of insects attends summer camp.

www.kickstarter.com

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Vivek Nityananda @viveknityananda.bsky.social · 1d

Amazing! Congratulations 🥳

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Ishmail Abdus-Saboor @ishmailsaboor.bsky.social · 1d

I’m extremely honored to be a recipient of the NIH Director’s Pioneer Award!

Columbia University's Zuckerman Institute @zuckermanbrain.bsky.social · 1d

Congratulations to @ishmailsaboor.bsky.social on receiving the NIH Director’s Pioneer Award, celebrating “scientists with outstanding records of creativity.” His lab will explore how the sense of touch can help build relationships. 🫶🧠💡

See zuckermaninstitute.columbia.edu/zuckerman-in...

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Filip Husnik @filiphusnik.bsky.social · 2d

OIST is seeking up to four tenure-track or tenured faculty in Ecology, Environmental Science, Earth Science, and Oceanography. Application deadline: Oct 15. Please share. Thx!
www.oist.jp/careers/facu...

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Jennifer Kretchmer @dreamwisp.bsky.social · 2d

Because it feels relevant as we continue to evaluate the media and our representatives’ statements, my favorite way to identify the active vs. passive voice.

A post by Rebecca Johnson:
“I finally learned how to teach my guys to ID the passive voice. If you can insert "by zombies" after the verb, you have passive voice.”

A tumblr respond from mightymur:
“The final, brilliant word on passive voice.
"She was killed [by zombies.]"<--passive
"Zombies killed [by zombies] her." <-- active”

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Val 🏳️‍⚧️ @valondar.bsky.social · 2d

Dmitri Shostakovich saw Jesus Christ Superstar! He also liked it so much he considered writing a rock music themed suite (like his earlier Jazz suites) but died soon after.

rax ‘levon honkers’ king @raxkingisdead.bsky.social · 2d

you ever think about those real weird overlaps. like tennessee williams might have listened to the ramones

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Reposted by Vivek Nityananda

Shiv Ramdas Mens Rice Activist @nameshiv.bsky.social · 2d

me: fandom is so weird you get super invested in the doings of these other people who don't even care about your opinion most of the time and your entire day is based on whether they did good or feel bad and then you have to feel the same way

mom: This is just parenthood

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Dr. Divya 🇵🇸🧿 (offline) @divyampersaud.com · 2d

Survival funds are STILL survival funds—but that isn’t hopeless. It’s hopeful that we can have a material impact and help anyone survive.

One link, SIX families & a camp, food, tents, blankets; most were just displaced. WE can help.

8 hours to go. 40/500

Keep Hope Alive: a Gaza Giving Circle

We are a team of volunteers in the US and UK, led by two sisters passionate about helping our friends on the ground keep their families and neighbors alive with food, water, & shelter. We saw that…

chuffed.org

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Reposted by Vivek Nityananda

Damian Barr @damianbarr.bsky.social · 2d

This story reveals so much. Why is still disturbing and distressing to some folk to consider the possibility that a historical figure might just be, well, not completely straight? Nelson was still Nelson. Queer people have always existed. We always will.

Lee Hurley @hleehurley.com · 2d

"Nelson branded ‘queer’ by museum" [Telegraph]

Kate Barker, LGB Alliance, "We already have enough LGB heroes from history, without pretending that straight people were gay."

Nelson branded ‘queer’ by museum
Liverpool exhibition gives paintings of British naval hero a place in its same-sex relationships collection
The Daily Telegraph front page 7 Oct 2025 By Craig Simpson Arts editor

The Death of Nelson, 1859-64 (oil on canvas) by Daniel Maclise. The museum’s collection examines bonds that ‘go beyond platonic friendship in some way’
Lord Nelson has been branded queer by a leading museum. The naval hero was killed during his victory at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. Curators at the Walker Art Gallery have described him as queer despite his marriage and numerous affairs with women. The Liverpool gallery holds two paintings depicting Lord Nelson’s final moments aboard HMS Victory, during which the wounded admiral uttered the words to his friend and fellow officer Captain Thomas Hardy, “kiss me Hardy”.

LORD NELSON has been branded queer by a leading museum, The Telegraph can reveal.

The naval commander became a national hero and ensured the dominance of British sea power before he was killed during his victory at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. Now, curators at the taxpayer-funded Walker Art Gallery have described him as queer despite his marriage and numerous affairs with women.

The Liverpool gallery holds two paintings depicting Lord Nelson’s final moments aboard HMS Victory, during which the mortally wounded admiral uttered the famous words to his friend and fellow officer Captain Thomas Hardy, “kiss me Hardy”.

The request – with which Hardy duly complied – has proved enough for Nelson to be placed in a “Queer relationships” collection at the gallery, which examines bonds that “go beyond platonic friendship in some way”.

Paintings of Nelson’s death at Trafalgar have also been added to an online article about the “history of LGBTQ+ love”, and in a broader collection of “Love and Relationships” paintings, which itself sits within the “LGBTQ+ collections”.

Information provided by the gallery, part of the publicly funded National Museums Liverpool group, states: “Historians have speculated about the exact nature of the relationship between Hardy and Nelson.

“Regardless of the truth, for many, Nelson’s famous request is symbolic of the sometimes hidden queer history of life at sea.”

Further information adds: “Whether or not their relationship was sexual remains unknown, but their friendship is reflective of the close relationships formed between men at sea.”

Online information on the death scene explains that “intimate relationships, both sexual and platonic, could develop between those on board”.

The inclusion of two canvases depicting Nelson’s death, by Daniel Maclise and Benjamin West, comes after an effort by National Museums Liverpool to highlight “often hidden or overlooked LGBTQ+ histories”.

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Rishika Pardikar @rishpardikar.bsky.social · 2d

New report on navigating challenges of doing science in Global South countries. We often hear about obstacles like bureaucracy and funding constraints. Some practical here on how to navigate

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Reposted by Vivek Nityananda

Hetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · 2d

Renewables overtake coal as world's biggest source of electricity in the first half of this year - driven largely by China and other poorer countries www.bbc.com/news/article...

Renewables overtake coal as world's biggest source of electricity

Developing countries lead the historic clean energy charge but the US and EU rely more on fossil fuels than before, a think tank study shows.

www.bbc.com

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Max Farnworth @maxfarnworth.bsky.social · 3d

Excellent talk by Andrea Adden of the @neuroluci.bsky.social lab @crick.ac.uk. @neuroethology.org @dzg-neurobiology.bsky.social Check out her Nature paper here: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

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Rob Mullins @robertmullins.bsky.social · 3d

If people are looking for a good entryway to this whole debate, to the extent that I had any doubts about what was happening with Cass etc, this guy's intervention settled them: www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

Trans health care "skeptics" lost a key ally—now they're having a meltdown

The godfather of evidence-based medicine on rejecting anti-trans "misuse" of his work.

www.motherjones.com

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Rob Mullins @robertmullins.bsky.social · 3d

If I were an investigative journalist in the UK (are there any left?), I would be having a good look at the extent to which NHS leadership seems to have allied itself with a fringe medical movement that more or less condones conversion therapy. qnews.com.au/australian-r...

Australian report says UK’s Cass review should not guide transgender healthcare

QNews LGBTIQA+ News

qnews.com.au

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Journal of Experimental Biology @jexpbiol.bsky.social · 3d

Apply by 24 October. Our Travelling Fellowships offer PhD students and postdocs up to £3,000 for undertaking collaborative visits to other laboratories. Find out more and apply at biologists.com/grants/trave...

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Elham Nourani @enourani.bsky.social · 3d

🦅PhD position 🦅 in my new group at @fbm-unil.bsky.social in Switzerland, studying how the social and resource landscapes shape the learning process for soaring flight. Deadline: Oct 30. Pls repost! career5.successfactors.eu/career?caree...

Golden eagle on the nest in Finland (by O. Karlin)

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Ari Strandburg-Peshkin @arispeshkin.bsky.social · 6d

⭐PhD position available!⭐
Come join us @imprs-qbee.bsky.social to study communication and collective behavior in animal groups! We're looking for someone excited to use computational approaches to tackle biological questions, using our full-group tracking datasets
imprs-qbee.mpg.de/121465/analy...

Analysis of communication and collective behavior in animal groups

imprs-qbee.mpg.de

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Patrick Dunleavy @patrickdunleavy.bsky.social · 7d

Elite school students end up in better universities than expected, based on their grades blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandp...

Elite school students end up in better universities than expected, based on their grades | British Politics and Policy at LSE

Students of private and grammar schools are over-represented in elite universities, but only part of that is explained by better grades.

blogs.lse.ac.uk

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