Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Dr Ross Barnett @deepfrieddna.bsky.social · 8h

🐅 Animal #800 🐡
I figured it out in 6 guesses!
🟨🟨🟩🟩🟩🟩
🔥 18 | Avg. Guesses: 6.2

metazooa.com
#metazooa

Metazooa

Become an evolutionary detective to find the Mystery Animal!

metazooa.com

1

Dr Ross Barnett @deepfrieddna.bsky.social · 8h

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Bethan's Rock: Beloved exhibit returns to revamped Poole Museum - BBC News

The museum said Bethan's "selfless gesture" to donate her rock had made a lasting impact.

www.bbc.co.uk

3 5

Reposted by Dr Ross Barnett

Te Ara Paerangi Com - Research Advocacy Capability @te-ara-paerangi.community · 19h

We'd love to have a huge turn out for Nic's talk. Please help spread the word. There are downloadable pdf adverts in the link below. They can be emailed or printed. If you work in a public space (e.g. Library) you could help by printing and posting one of the flyers. Ngā mihi nui!

29 25

Reposted by Dr Ross Barnett

Evolutionary Ecology Group, Cambridge @eegcam.bsky.social · 18h

#newpreprint: "Climate Shaped the Global Population Structure of Leopards and their Extinction in Europe": www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...! Leopards are charming big cats but there are many mysteries around them. Thread 🧵

1 13 27

Reposted by Dr Ross Barnett

Screens of the Stone Age Podcast @sotsapodcast.bsky.social · 4d

It's officially October, so we're planning some scary movies for upcoming episodes! We just watched Legend of the Bog (2009), which prompted Ross to plot the decline of Vinnie Jones' IMDB scores over time (this is what happens when scientists watch movies) www.imdb.com/title/tt0928...

A graph with a zig-zaggy blue line showing the IMDB ratings for 79 Vinnie Jones movies in chronological order, which range from about 8/10 to about 2/10. A best-fit line indicates a downward trend over time, starting at about 6/10 and declining to about 4/10.

y = -0.0230x + 5.6722
R squared = 0.15821

1 3

Reposted by Dr Ross Barnett

Ryan Marino, MD @ryanmarino.bsky.social · 19h

Tell me you’re a serious educational institution when you tell an infectious disease educator that they can’t talk about real, current infectious disease outbreaks

Harms Committed @harmscommitted.com · 1d

Tulane "terminated an academic director this summer after the syllabus she'd helped create for an infectious disease class was rejected by a newly hired instructor because it included an academic article about a polio outbreak in Gaza."
#Louisiana #USA #Gaza #Palestine #Israel #Healthcare #Genocide

Tulane changes syllabus, fires academic director over Gaza article • Louisiana Illuminator

Some say that the incident is yet another glimpse of the tense climate experienced on local and national campuses by people who support Palestine.

lailluminator.com

6 51 150

Reposted by Dr Ross Barnett

Jonny Morris @jonnymorris.bsky.social · 1d

RISQUE GALORE

Dozens of sex toys have been found washed up on a Scottish beach.

41 150 580

Reposted by Dr Ross Barnett

Brian Clevinger @bclev.bsky.social · 1d

This would single-handedly transform the lives of everyone I know in such profound ways it is difficult to fully articulate, but it would also let us actually make more and different and crazy things

Mike Sowden @mikeachim.bsky.social · 1d

Damn. This is amazing. £325 per week, paid monthly, for 3 years - and the result was a profit for the Irish economy:
www.citizensinformation.ie/en/employmen...

Post from Threads user rodneyowl: "Ireland has declared the Basic Income for Artists scheme permanent. This will be officially announced in tomorrow’s budget. Details to follow. Congratulations to all who fought for it and the present and future artists of all sorts in Ireland. That includes me 👌We’re just comin to the end of a 3 year pilot scheme. It’s been a roaring success. For every €1 paid out to the 2000 participants, the government got €1.46 back. Can’t argue with that. Other countries are already taking note."

16 890 2.4K

Dr Ross Barnett @deepfrieddna.bsky.social · 23h

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Spalding Wargames Club putting mental health on the front line - BBC News

Members of a wargaming club say the support they have been getting from the sessions are 'crucial'.

www.bbc.co.uk

1

Dr Ross Barnett @deepfrieddna.bsky.social · 1d

english.elpais.com/science-tech...

Svante Pääbo, father of paleogenetics: ‘The reason for the Neanderthals’ extinction lies in how numerous we’ve become’

The Nobel Prize winner in Medicine is investigating genetic changes that could have given our species a competitive advantage, and the possibility of extracting the genome of the Flores hobbit

english.elpais.com

2 3

Dr Ross Barnett @deepfrieddna.bsky.social · 1d

All of these lambs look like they've been dead for a while. www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/10...

Access Restricted

www.telegraph.co.uk

1

Reposted by Dr Ross Barnett

Glennyrodge @glennyrodge.bsky.social · 2d

KITCHENWARE COMPANY BOSS: So, did you come up with a name for that revolving food tray, Susan?

SUSAN: No, couldn't be arsed.

4 89 340

Reposted by Dr Ross Barnett

Nic Rawlence @nicrawlencenz.bsky.social · 1d

These talks are next week. It would be good to see you all there bsky.app/profile/nicr...

Nic Rawlence @nicrawlencenz.bsky.social · 7d

A few days later, on Thurs 16th Oct 4-5pm NZ time I'll be giving an online talk with the NZ Science Learning Hub. You can register for the talk here (www.sciencelearn.org.nz/events/slh-m...) 2/2

8 8

Dr Ross Barnett @deepfrieddna.bsky.social · 1d

🐲 Animal #799 🐪
I figured it out in 5 guesses!
🟨🟩🟩🟩🟩
🔥 17 | Avg. Guesses: 6.2

metazooa.com
#metazooa

Metazooa

Become an evolutionary detective to find the Mystery Animal!

metazooa.com

3

Dr Ross Barnett @deepfrieddna.bsky.social · 1d

www.pressandjournal.co.uk/fp/past-time...

Underwater archaeology reveals centuries-old secrets at Highland loch

The small stone island in Loch Achilty near Contin is known to be a crannog, but underwater excavations now show there are two more in the loch.

www.pressandjournal.co.uk

2

Dr Ross Barnett @deepfrieddna.bsky.social · 1d

www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...

The Loch Ness monster, 1934 - a picture from the past

One of the most famous photographic hoaxes which had many people fooled until it was revealed as a fake by one of his co-conspirators in a deathbed confession

www.theguardian.com

1

Reposted by Dr Ross Barnett

Cait @wisecelticlass.bsky.social · 2d

and the consequences of deregulation for the environment is clear: northeastbylines.co.uk/news/environ...

Pollution kills all Tees Estuary seal pups

Harbour seal pups in Tees Estuary suffer 100% mortality in 2025, prompting MPs to demand a Defra inquiry into the deaths

northeastbylines.co.uk

3 19 28

Dr Ross Barnett @deepfrieddna.bsky.social · 2d

General Sir Anthony Cecil Hogmanay Melchett:
Oh my God, she's not Welsh, is she? www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

MoD spends millions on private schools to avoid Welsh language

Military personnel receive a private education allowance to avoid lessons in Welsh in state schools.

www.bbc.co.uk

3 1

Dr Ross Barnett @deepfrieddna.bsky.social · 2d

It's a toy submarine with a plasticine head and neck but still the definitive monster image.

1 1

Dr Ross Barnett @deepfrieddna.bsky.social · 2d

www.bbc.com/culture/arti...

'You cannot kill a legend with science': The century-long search for the Loch Ness Monster

A hotel manager's glimpse of something strange in 1933 helped to create a modern monster myth. In 1987, the BBC reported on the scientists who used sonar to hunt for Nessie.

www.bbc.com

1 2

Dr Ross Barnett @deepfrieddna.bsky.social · 2d

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Going extinct ‘right under our noses’: the quiet plight of Australia’s rarest bird of prey

Restricted now to the tropical north, the mysterious red goshawk is fast disappearing as a result of climate change and habitat loss

www.theguardian.com

1

Reposted by Dr Ross Barnett

Adam Bienkov @adambienkov.bsky.social · 2d

The Greens requested an interview on the Laura Kuenssberg Show with Zack Polanski when he was elected leader, but were denied, with a promise to interview him during Green conference instead.

This was then scrapped citing the Manchester synagogue attack. Polanski is both Jewish and from Manchester