Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Chris Skurka @chrisskurka.bsky.social · Sep 8

You've got one week left to submit your application for our Health/Sci Comm Assistant Professor position here in
@bellisariograded.bsky.social, so please share with anyone who might be interested!

Chris Skurka @chrisskurka.bsky.social · Jul 25

🚨 We are hiring at Penn State! My college (@bellisariograded.bsky.social‬) is hiring an Assistant Professor in Health/Science Communication (emphasis on social scientific approaches).

I'm leading the search, so feel free to reach out with any questions.

psu.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/PSU_Academic...

Assistant Professor in Media Studies

APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS: CURRENT PENN STATE EMPLOYEE (faculty, staff, technical service, or student), please login to Workday to complete the internal application process. Please do not apply here, a...

psu.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com

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amy brown @amybrown.xyz · Aug 22

this iconic advertising copywriter named Kathy Hepinstall Parks died over the weekend and I wanted to share something from her website I thought Bluesky would like

Why should I write better when a machine can do it for me?
Because actually no one can do it for you, because your voice is unique among all the people on earth. Siri never petted a horse's neck. Alexa has never been ghosted by the captain of the football team. But you have lived, your heart is beating, you have suffered, and you have something important to say. It's a human's job, to use words, and whatever job you give to a machine, that part of your brain goes dark. Maybe it's worth it when it comes to remembering phone numbers and directions, but when that part of your brain that uses words goes dark, that's a vast area that's very close to your soul. Don't let some internet platform convince you that what you have to say and create isn't worthwhile. Words are the echo of your soul. Honing that echo matters.

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Casey Crownhart @caseycrownhart.bsky.social · Aug 21

We've finally got some hard numbers on AI's energy demand from a major tech company: Google says a median prompt to Gemini uses 0.24 watt-hours of electricity. 🧵 @technologyreview.com www.technologyreview.com/2025/08/21/1...

In a first, Google has released data on how much energy an AI prompt uses

It’s the most transparent estimate yet from one of the big AI companies, and a long-awaited peek behind the curtain for researchers.

www.technologyreview.com

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Dave Vetter @davidrvetter.bsky.social · Aug 8

The Trump administration has announced that the US will rewrite past climate reports, in a clear attempt to erase scientific history and undermine the consensus on human-caused climate change.

US to rewrite its past national climate reports

US President Donald Trump's administration is revising past editions of the nation's premier climate report -- its latest move to undermine the scientific consensus on human-caused global warming.

www.france24.com

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Bellisario Grad Ed @bellisariograded.bsky.social · Aug 5

@chrisskurka.bsky.social, @clctroy.bsky.social, Yin Yang, & @jessgallmyrick.bsky.social are among the coauthors of "'It Is in the Air': Seeking & Scanning for Information About Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis Among Young-Adult Men Who Have Sex w/ Men in the US." www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

“It Is in the Air”: Seeking and Scanning for Information About Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis Among Young-Adult Men Who Have Sex with Men in the US

Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is a biomedical intervention that dramatically lowers one’s risk of acquiring HIV. However, PrEP uptake has been slow among young-adult men who have sex with men (YM...

www.tandfonline.com

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Reposted by Chris Skurka

Matt Grossmann @mattgrossmann.bsky.social · Jul 29

We have a JOP article about how swifties ~randomly denied tickets to the eras tour due to website allocation errors changed their views on related policies
www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1...

The Development of an Issue Public: Evidence from The Eras Tour | The Journal of Politics: Vol 0, No ja

www.journals.uchicago.edu

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Chris Skurka @chrisskurka.bsky.social · Jul 25

🚨 We are hiring at Penn State! My college (@bellisariograded.bsky.social‬) is hiring an Assistant Professor in Health/Science Communication (emphasis on social scientific approaches).

I'm leading the search, so feel free to reach out with any questions.

psu.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/PSU_Academic...

Assistant Professor in Media Studies

APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS: CURRENT PENN STATE EMPLOYEE (faculty, staff, technical service, or student), please login to Workday to complete the internal application process. Please do not apply here, a...

psu.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com

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Reposted by Chris Skurka

Hannah Overbye-Thompson @overbye.bsky.social · Jul 24

For anyone on the Communication job market this year S. Rutherford McEwan has put together an excellent spreadsheet for 2025-2026 openings. Highly recommend checking it out (whether you're applying or hiring):

docs.getgrist.com/rHppfvPrMDQd...

#commsky #academicsky #communication

Comm Job Spreadsheet 2025-2026 - Grist

A modern, open source spreadsheet that goes beyond the grid

docs.getgrist.com

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Annie Waldherr @anniewald.bsky.social · Jul 23

Want to join us @univie.ac.at? Our department @ipk-univie.bsky.social is hiring a tenure-track professor in interactive communication, with a special focus on human-AI communication.

📆 Apply until September 17!
👀 More information here: jobs.univie.ac.at/job/Tenure-T...

#AcademicSky #CommSky

Tenure-Track Professorship in Interactive Communication

jobs.univie.ac.at

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Daryl Cameron @dcameron.bsky.social · Jul 22

Next up at our Political Divisions event at the Penn State Consortium on Moral Decision-Making was @chrisskurka.bsky.social, talking about passive "news finds me" approaches to media consumption & how they relate to democracy-relevant outcomes. How we relate to media matters
youtu.be/GaY-mfwBWbI?...

The Democratic and Moral Implications of a “News Finds Me” Mindset | Chris Skurka (Penn State)

YouTube video by Penn State Social Science Research Institute

youtu.be

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Prof Christina Pagel @chrischirp.bsky.social · Jul 21

🧵Introducing the Trump Action Tracker website!

Today I’m launching www.trumpactiontracker.info - a live, searchable list of authoritarian‑style actions from Trump’s second term (over 740 actions so far). 1/14

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Briony Swire-Thompson @brionyswire.bsky.social · Jul 21

The truth sandwich is baloney! New paper out. We show that the “truth sandwich” correction format (in which false information is bookended by factual information) does not enhance corrections. psycnet.apa.org/fulltext/202...

APA PsycNet

psycnet.apa.org

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Gretchen Goldman, PhD @gretchentg.bsky.social · Jul 18

Terrible Friday news dump.The wealth of expertise. The decades of scientific progress. The emerging and urgent challenges we were focused on tackling. It is all so short-sided and cruel. www.nytimes.com/2025/07/18/c...

E.P.A. Says It Will Eliminate Its Scientific Research Arm

www.nytimes.com

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Neil Lewis, Jr. @neillewisjr.bsky.social · Jul 15

We're hiring!

academicjobsonline.org/ajo/jobs/30219

The Cornell Department of Communication is hiring an Assistant Professor in Science, Environment, and Risk Communication!

Applications received by September 15, 2025, will be given full consideration.

Cornell University, Department of Communication

Job #AJO30219, WDR-00053939 Assistant Professor in Science, Environment, and Risk Communication, Department of Communication, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, US

academicjobsonline.org

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Ben Lyons @benlyons.bsky.social · Jul 14

Now out @hcr-journal.bsky.social: we find evidence of overconfidence, but decomposition analyses show assoc. b/w OC & behavioral correlates are accounted for by deficits in actual discernment ability rather than lack of metacognitive insight academic.oup.com/hcr/advance-...

Overconfidence in ability to discern cancer misinformation: a conceptual replication and extension

Abstract. This study conducts a conceptual replication and extension of prior research on overconfidence in discerning political misinformation, shifting f

academic.oup.com

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Jess Calarco @jessicacalarco.com · Jun 24

This is very, very bad.

A new state law will likely force the closure of hundreds of low-enrollment programs at Indiana University. The cutoff is 15 graduates/year for undergrad majors, 7 for Masters programs, and 3 for PhD programs, averaged over 3 years.

wfiunews.wordpress.com/2025/06/24/h...

Hundreds of IU degree programs at risk of disappearing

By Ethan Sandweiss Indiana University could lose hundreds of degree programs as part of compliance with an array of new laws affecting higher education that passed at the 11th hour of the legislati…

wfiunews.wordpress.com

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Bellisario Grad Ed @bellisariograded.bsky.social · May 24

A big congratulations to Dr. Megan Norman on successfully defending her dissertation today! With advisor @jessgallmyrick.bsky.social and committee members @chrisskurka.bsky.social, S. Shyam Sundar, and Stephanie Madden.

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Bellisario Grad Ed @bellisariograded.bsky.social · Jun 9

Congratulations to Dr. Jiaqi (Agnes) Bao, who passed her dissertation defense today! With chair/advisor @jessgallmyrick.bsky.social and committee members @chrisskurka.bsky.social, Fuyuan Shen, and S. Shyam Sundar.

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Joshua Weitz @joshuasweitz.bsky.social · May 28

Major update to #SCIMaP visualization of impacts of cuts to federally supported health research. Map now includes information on future economic losses (impact of proposed reduction of NIH IDC to 15%) and current economic losses (impact of terminated NIH grants).

scienceimpacts.org

Update to https://scienceimpacts.org to include terminated grants

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ProPublica @propublica.org · May 16

THREAD: We recently heard that the Trump administration was leaning on the government of Gambia to help Elon Musk. For weeks, our team made phone calls, wrote letters and knocked on folks’ doors to try to confirm it. But we were stuck.

So our reporters got on a plane to Banjul. 1/

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Chris Kluwe @chriswarcraft.bsky.social · May 16

There is no hell deep enough to contain the people involved with this

The Daily Beast @thedailybeast.bsky.social · May 15

Kristi Noem has been working with the producer of “Duck Dynasty” to pitch a reality TV show—titled “The American”—where immigrants will compete in a string of challenges across the country “for the honor of fast-tracking their way to U.S. citizenship,” according to a new report.

Noem Plots Reality Show Where Migrants Fight for Citizenship

A Homeland Security official told the Daily Beast that the show is in the early stages of vetting, though approval has not been given—or denied.

www.thedailybeast.com

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Julia M. Rohrer @dingdingpeng.the100.ci · May 11

Thanks to everybody who chimed in!

I arrived at the conclusion that (1) there's a lot of interesting stuff about interactions and (2) the figure I was looking for does not exist.

So, I made it myself! Here's a simple illustration of how to control for confounding in interactions:>

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Matt Grossmann @mattgrossmann.bsky.social · May 11

Congressional committees & think tanks increasingly cite scientific articles over time, but Democrats & (especially) liberal think tanks cite science more; partisan overlap is low & stable
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

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Charles Logan @charleswlogan.bsky.social · May 2

FYI: The Spencer Foundation, Kapor Foundation, The William T. Grant Foundation, and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation have collaborated to offer $25K rapid response grants.

"This rapid response bridge funding opportunity is for scholars and teams whose grants have recently been cancelled by NSF."

Rapid Response Bridge Funding Program

In the face of recent abrupt shifts in federal funding for education research, including large-scale terminations of National Science Foundation (NSF) research grant awards, we have developed a rap...

www.spencer.org

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Matthew Facciani @matthewfacciani.bsky.social · Apr 25

New study estimates that the Trump administration's 90-day funding freeze for USAID's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief would result in ~60 thousand HIV deaths across 7 countries.
www.thelancet.com/journals/ecl...

The impact of the PEPFAR funding freeze on HIV deaths and infections: a mathematical modelling study of seven countries in sub-Saharan Africa

The sudden cessation of PEPFAR funding likely results in tens of thousands of HIV deaths and new infections. These losses of life and health should compel the United States government to rapidly and f...

www.thelancet.com

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