Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Duncan K Galloway

Ben Coates @bencoates1.bsky.social · 3h

We’re becoming immune to it, but it’s worth emphasizing:

In a country generally known for its good governance and good sense, *more than a third* of all seats in parliament are set to be won by the anti-immigrant populist far right

(PVV+BBB+JA21+FvD = 52 seats, out of 150)

Ben Coates @bencoates1.bsky.social · 11h

Latest Dutch ‘poll of polls’, 20 days before election:

- Wilders still comfortably first
- centre right (CDA) and left (GLPvdA) strong second
- VVD’s pandering to the far right still woefully unpopular
- lunatic-adjacent JA21 doing v well

And only 11% of PVV voters say stable govt is important!

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Reposted by Duncan K Galloway

Jack McGovan @jackmcgovan.bsky.social · 3h

With Jane Goodall's death last week and the Nobel Prize announcements this week, I wrote about why it's a big problem that we lionise individuals for achievements that resulted from the work of collective groups of people.

We spend too much time lionising people like Jane Goodall

Idolising people only entrenches the idea that it is spectacular individuals, not collectives, who change the world.

www.sower.world

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Reposted by Duncan K Galloway

Benjamin Pope @benjaminpope.bsky.social · 7h

Super proud of @tamarastro.bsky.social winning this year’s Moyal Medal!

Tamara Davis pointing at a picture of herself on a big screen listing Moyal Medal recipients

Dean of Science Prof Sam Muller awarding Tamara Davis the Moyal Medal

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Reposted by Duncan K Galloway

Prof Anna Watts @profannawatts.bsky.social · 1d

The eXTP dense matter white paper is published! eXTP is going to be a great telescope for e.g. pulse profile modeling of both rotation-powered and accretion-powered millisecond pulsars. Launching in 2030! #highenergyastro 🔭 #densematter #neutronstars

ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2025SCPM...

Dense matter in neutron stars with eXTP

In this white paper, we present the potential of the enhanced X-ray timing and polarimetry (eXTP) mission to constrain the equation of state of dense matter in neutron stars, exploring regimes not dir...

ui.adsabs.harvard.edu

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Reposted by Duncan K Galloway

The Australia Institute @australiainstitute.org.au · 15h

Steel and aluminium manufacturers are feeling the effects of high gas prices driven up by exports.

Australia Institute research shows gas exports have TRIPLED Aus gas prices and DOUBLED electricity prices.

📺 Deputy Director Ebony Bennett on ABC News Breakfast
@ebonybennett.bsky.social #auspol

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Reposted by Duncan K Galloway

Dr. Lucky Tran @luckytran.com · 1d

🎵 They did the Monster Slash 😭 @ellecordova.bsky.social

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Reposted by Duncan K Galloway

Hossam Aly @astrohoss.bsky.social · 1d

It might've been missed in the coverage today, but one of the recipients of today's Nobel prize, Omar Yaghi, is the first Palestinian to win the chemistry award.

Omar's family comes from a village which, like 100s of Palestinian villages, stopped existing after 1948

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Reposted by Duncan K Galloway

Chanda Prescod-Weinstein 🌌 @chanda.blacksky.app · 23h

do the reading. do the reading. do the reading. do the reading. do the reading. do the reading. do the reading. do the reading. do the reading. do the reading. do the reading. do the reading. do the reading. do the reading. do the reading. do the reading. do the reading. do the reading. do the readi

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Reposted by Duncan K Galloway

Ketan Joshi @ketanjoshi.co · 1d

Folks, please, never ever use generative AI to render charts.......

Okay, now that I've insulted half the internet, let's reel it in and talk about how AI art can be useful.
I believe it can be a powerful tool for dealing with the minutiae of drawing the parts of it that feel
--
administrative, not creative.
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Every artist has their own minutiae. For me, it's backgrounds. Most of my comics don't have them, which is why I often draw pale blobs floating in space.
Do not fear RatCopter.
RatCopter is here
to bring u juicy rat
goodness.

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Reposted by Duncan K Galloway

Prof Anna Watts @profannawatts.bsky.social · 1d

Our annual PhD recruitment process @api.uva.nl is open!! Details of the process and projects are here, deadline November 3! 🔭 #astronomy #astrophysics

werkenbij.uva.nl/en/vacancies...

Vacancy — PhD Positions in Astronomy and Astrophysics

Are you passionate about astronomy and cutting-edge research?Join our dynamic team and explore the universe through multiple PhD positions now open! Work on a range of exciting research topics in a co...

werkenbij.uva.nl

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Reposted by Duncan K Galloway

University and College Union (UCU) @ucu.org.uk · 2d

Imperial staff have had enough.

A 2% below-inflation offer from one of the wealthiest universities in the UK is an insult to every worker who keeps it running.

Today we strike for fair pay, decent conditions, and respect ✊🔥

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Reposted by Duncan K Galloway

Lena📎 @eriksdotter.bsky.social · 1d

“We are all going to be rich and famous… or we would be.. if we followed our passion.

It’s rubbish. It’s marketing. It’s advertising. It’s cynical. It’s a lie.“

open.substack.com/pub/jeanette...

Passion or Process?

How to find what you love...

open.substack.com

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Reposted by Duncan K Galloway

Kate-Eviva @kate-eviva.bsky.social · 2d

Excellent article!! 🙏👏👏 @theshot.net.au
theshot.net.au/uncategorize...

The myth of 'social cohesion' - do as they say, not as they do - The Shot

There’s an established principle in law: he who comes looking for equity must come with clean hands. The clean hands...

theshot.net.au

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Reposted by Duncan K Galloway

David W Hogg @hogg.bsky.social · 2d

Excellent piece by @briles34.bsky.social on writing in the discipline. It’s depressing that we think that theoretical physics expertise is not just more important but INFINITELY more important than writing to… *writing* PhD dissertations (on any subfield of astro, say). arxiv.org/abs/2510.03493

Surveying the State of Writing Education in Physics and Astronomy

Writing is a critical skill for modern science, enabling collaboration, scientific discourse, public outreach, and more. Accordingly, it is important to consider how physicists and astronomers are tra...

arxiv.org

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Reposted by Duncan K Galloway

Ethan Siegel @startswithabang.bsky.social · 2d

Today is the day!

The Grand Cosmic Story, my newest book (with Jon Lomberg, Mark Garlick, and Will Lidwell), from National Geographic, is released!

Get the history of the whole Universe, one page and 100 Myr at a time, today!
amzn.to/46GsS9d

www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/789623...
#space #book

An inside look at four individual page spreads from the book The Grand Cosmic Story, featuring artwork, page titles, intricate text, and statistics about the Universe.

Cover image and a look at the introduction inside to the book The Grand Cosmic Story, telling our cosmic history 1 page and 100 million years at a time.

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Reposted by Duncan K Galloway

Margaret Morgan 🇳🇱🇦🇺🇪🇺 @margaretmorgan.bsky.social · 2d

Skyhooks was the first band I saw live, in (indeed) the seventies.

The last track on side 1 (You Just Like Me Cos I'm Good in Bed) was banned on commercial radio, and was the first song played on the magnificent new "youth" station, 2JJ, on January 19, 1975.

Glory days.

youtu.be/XjeoNAbXYkw?...

Double J's first broadcast: January 19, 1975

YouTube video by triple j

youtu.be

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Reposted by Duncan K Galloway

Paul Byrne @theplanetaryguy.bsky.social · 2d

See that small, moving splotch?

That's 3I/ATLAS, a comet that formed in a different star system, photographed from Mars orbit by the ESA Exomars Trace Gas Orbiter.

A comet from a DIFFERENT SOLAR SYSTEM photographed by a ROBOT ORBITING MARS

last Friday

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Reposted by Duncan K Galloway

Ketan Joshi @ketanjoshi.co · 2d

Textbook drug dealer's defence (note: some drugs are good and cool)

You don't hear it about other harmful stuff ("If we didn't build and sell defective, deadly children's toys, others countries would just fill the gap, so we gotta do it")

Michael Mazengarb @michaelmazengarb.bsky.social · 2d

The 'statement of reasons' given by enviro minister Murray Watt approving the North West Shelf gas project extension contains some astonishing mental gymnastics.
He assumes the same level of emissions could occur even if the project didn't proceed
epbcpublicportal.environment.gov.au/_entity/shar...

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Reposted by Duncan K Galloway

ESA Space Science @science.esa.int · 2d

Interested in research based on our archive data?

Then the ESA Archival Research Visitor Programme might be for you.

The next deadline for applications is 10 November 2025. Check out all the application details here 👉 www.cosmos.esa.int/web/esdc/vis... ☄️ 🧪 🔭

Illustration promoting the Archival Research Visitor Programme and the next deadline date of 10 November 2025. In the background, a model image of what our home galaxy, the Milky Way, might look like face-on: as viewed from above the disc of the galaxy, with its spiral arms and bulge in full view. In the centre of the galaxy, the bulge shines as a hazy oval, emitting a faint golden gleam. Starting at the central bulge, several glistening spiral arms coil outwards, creating a perfectly circle-shaped spiral. They give the impression of someone having sprinkled pastel purple glitter on the pitch-black background, in the shape of sparkling, curled-up snakes. Milky Way illustration by ESA/Gaia/DPAC, Stefan Payne-Wardenaar.

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Reposted by Duncan K Galloway

Jose Been @josebeentv.bsky.social · 2d

Most of our agricultural produce (pigs, flowers, dairy) is exported abroad. It brought the country enormous wealth. Second largest exporter behind USA.

But that wealth comes with a huge economic mess.

Right wing parties disagree but environmentalists are sure: the country is in a real bad shape.

Jose Been @josebeentv.bsky.social · 2d

Due to excessive intensive farming, most of the NL are locked up in what we call a stikstofslot, a nitrogen lock.

There aren’t many solutions that will help open up the country, most importantly to build houses. The biggest solution is simple: less cows.

My view is that we should do that.

Jose Been @josebeentv.bsky.social · 2d

This means that if you want a permit for any activity like a bike race you need to hand in an environmental impact report.

Ronde van Drenthe for example passed through a few natura2000 areas which would be impacted, therefore it was a factor to cancel the race forever.

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Reposted by Duncan K Galloway

Michael Mazengarb @michaelmazengarb.bsky.social · 2d

The 'statement of reasons' given by enviro minister Murray Watt approving the North West Shelf gas project extension contains some astonishing mental gymnastics.
He assumes the same level of emissions could occur even if the project didn't proceed
epbcpublicportal.environment.gov.au/_entity/shar...

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Reposted by Duncan K Galloway

The Conversation AUNZ @aunz.theconversation.com · 2d

Just because you ‘heard it on a podcast’, it doesn’t mean the info is necessarily more trustworthy than a random social media post.

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Reposted by Duncan K Galloway

ARC Tracker @arc-tracker.bsky.social · 2d

The ARC is up at #SenateEstimates this Friday. As per tradition, they come in last on the schedule ▶️ www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentar...

I'm sure there won't be many questions about ANU & TEQSA, so there'll definitely be time for lengthly discussion about the ARC 🫠

Tablular schedule with black text on light brown background showing breaks, and red text on white background showing the ANU, TEQSA and the ARC's time-slots at Senate Estimates, 9th October 2025.

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Reposted by Duncan K Galloway

ithinkwellhugh.bsky.social @ithinkwellhugh.bsky.social · 2d

What you think about:
Your thesis - most of the time
Other things - a small amount of time

What your advisor thinks about:
Your thesis - a small amount of time
Other things - most of the time

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Reposted by Duncan K Galloway

Mike Keil @mikekeil.bsky.social · 2d

A good news story! Have a great day.
Renewables overtake coal as world's biggest source of electricity
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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