Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Cole Donovan @colesci.bsky.social · 2h

SciShow coming in strong with their candidate for “SubTweet-equivalent of the Week.”

Joseph Stalin Was Very Wrong About Agriculture

YouTube video by SciShow

youtu.be

Cole Donovan @colesci.bsky.social · 4h

For what it’s worth, I know because I was there, too… 😬

Washington to Brussels: We don’t like the Horizon deal you’re offering

The Trump administration fired a diplomatic shot across the European Commission’s bow, with a public warning that it may reject an offer for the US to join the EU’s next big research programme.

sciencebusiness.net

Cole Donovan @colesci.bsky.social · 4h

Key here is “another lesson.” This isn’t new behavior, and the current commission leadership was mostly around for the first experience.

Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 5h

Europeans getting another lesson in how Trump always moves the goal posts.

@bloomberg.com
www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

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Cole Donovan @colesci.bsky.social · 4h

Better late than never I guess? (I was the China officer in OSC…)

Even in the current orbital environment this needs to happen dozens of times a day to make space a safe operating environment.

Natsec groups within the USG partly to blame—lots of people incentivized to block all bilateral contacts.

vsamsondc.bsky.social @vsamsondc.bsky.social · 6h

payloadspace.com/china-calls-...

China Calls NASA On Orbital Conjunction

China’s message to the US space agency urged the American spacecraft to stay put while Beijing maneuvered its own assets, NASA space sustainability director Drew Alvin said during a panel at the Inter...

payloadspace.com

Cole Donovan @colesci.bsky.social · 22h

Please do!

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Cole Donovan @colesci.bsky.social · 22h

It does, (and for the non experts reading this, right now it looks like ITER alone will consume much of the world’s production). There are also substantial non-proliferation concerns associated with massively scaling up tritium.

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Cole Donovan @colesci.bsky.social · 23h

We can choose not to do this as a society, but we often don’t. The overwhelming majority of USG R&D expenditure is Defense research, development, and deployment.

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Cole Donovan @colesci.bsky.social · 23h

Good mini thread on the fact that a lot of civil programs end up getting vacuumed into defense programs and that the pressure to do so in order to pay the bills/eat is pretty extreme.

Miriam Grace @miriamgrace.bsky.social · 1d

My grandfather helped engineer and machine the o-rings for the apollo program. His (metaphorical) fingerprints were all over the LRM’s ascent stage, along with 100s of others.

I’d a perfect ASVAB. The Navy wanted me in nukes. The AF wanted me for weapons platforms. The calls never stopped.

He…

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Cole Donovan @colesci.bsky.social · 1d

Science Policy Content

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Cole Donovan @colesci.bsky.social · 1d

For what it's worth, this number is pretty close to what we figured we'd need when we were reviewing the Bold Decadal Vision.

Having worked with the science side of things, the problem is more deployment of existing tech than it is the underlying science. Still big challenges ahead (the blanket).

Fusion Industry Seeks $10 Billion Injection of Federal Money

Experts have proposed the one-time boost to jumpstart U.S. initiatives amid competition with China.

www.aip.org

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Cole Donovan @colesci.bsky.social · 1d

Some poor parking manager at Berkeley panicking right now

NOBELPRISET I FYSIK 2025
THE NOBEL PRIZE IN PHYSICS 2025
KUNGL.
VETENSKAPS-
AKADEMIEN
THE ROYAL SWEDISH ACADEMY OF SCIENCES
Soto: University et Calforni
Photo: Yale Universit
Photo: Rocco Caselin, Natura
John Clarke
University of California,
USA
Michel H. Devoret
Yale University &
University of California, USA
John M. Martinis
University of California,
USA
"för upptäckten av makroskopisk kvantmekanisk tunnling och energikvantisering i en elektrisk krets"
"for the discovery of macroscopic quantum mechanical tunnelling and energy quantisation in an electric circuit"

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Cole Donovan @colesci.bsky.social · 1d

Worse than it looks. Certain unconstitutional issues, like the re-emergence of Alien Land Laws and other things that I can’t go into, didn’t get pushback because of security concerns (not necessarily evidence).

Terrified of an impulse to restore the institutions & ppl who produced those results.

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Cole Donovan @colesci.bsky.social · 2d

When you consider that 41% of PhD level STEM jobs in this country are occupied by folks born in foreign countries, this is huge.

www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Nearly 20 Percent Fewer International Students Traveled to the U.S. in August

The data shows the steepest decline in August international student arrivals since the pandemic.

www.nytimes.com

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Cole Donovan @colesci.bsky.social · 2d

Hallway policy talks are really at EEOB and half the actors would bump into the West Wing’s walls, ceiling, or both while walking.

Costa Samaras @costasamaras.com · 2d

Even though I thrive on cringe, the show was too much cringe. And [eyeroll I know], the WW doesn't even look that that IRL. It's like making a show called Chipolte and designing a set that looks like Pizza Hut

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Cole Donovan @colesci.bsky.social · 2d

I had two different jobs at the Annapolis Mall (movie theater and Apple trainer). I can’t remember ever going to the one they by the pit and jewelers in the middle. Maybe like 3 or 4 times IDK?

Remember that Orange Julius is pretty good, though.

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Cole Donovan @colesci.bsky.social · 3d

The thing I come back to is that Starlink is still heavily reliant on government contracting services—Musk wouldn’t be out there trying to get every agency in the world to sign if it weren’t. The commercial viability of space is still really difficult. Governments aren’t entirely powerless yet.

Kara Swisher @karaswisher.bsky.social · 3d

Read: www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...

Opinion | Elon Musk’s latest power grab points in a clear direction

His SpaceX deal could fundamentally alter the relationship between a state and its citizens.

www.washingtonpost.com

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Cole Donovan @colesci.bsky.social · 3d

DHS is literally arresting people and then figuring it out later. No warrant, no probable cause, no Miranda rights, none of it. This isn’t exaggerating—this is literally what DHS is saying they’re doing.

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Cole Donovan @colesci.bsky.social · 3d

Was talking to a friend in gov’t yesterday. They described a growing sense of normalcy, but only when they take a step back do they see how far they’ve fallen.

This is my biggest fear: that after all this, civil servants start to believe their ugly compromises were actually the right thing to do.

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Reposted by Cole Donovan

Asha Rangappa @asharangappa.bsky.social · 7d

I can’t believe I’m watching interviews of city mayors talking about how they are coordinating with other mayors to discuss how to protect their residents FROM THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES

I know we are “used to it” but it is absolutely insane