Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

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Sergiu P. Pasca @sergiuppasca.bsky.social · 13h

We are getting closer to this special event at Asilomar

Dana Foundation @danafoundation.bsky.social · 15h

(1/2) On Nov. 10-12, scientists, ethicists, policymakers, patient advocates, and science communicators will convene to explore the ethical and societal questions posed by #organoid and #assembloid research.

Hear more from @sergiuppasca.bsky.social in this clip from #NeuroSociety Stories.

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Hank Greely @hankgreely.bsky.social · 20h

Stanford football gets a 50 million dollar gift. Story doesn't say how it will be used. If it's for endowment, for example, that spins off about $3 million a year...very nice, but not revolutionary. Still, thank you Brad Freeman! news.stanford.edu/stories/2025...

Stanford football receives $50 million gift from Bradford M. Freeman

A transformational gift from the former university trustee will help reposition Stanford football for success.

news.stanford.edu

Hank Greely @hankgreely.bsky.social · 1d

AI can learn Navajo on Duolingo

Andrea Matranga @andreamatranga.bsky.social · 1d

We have to all learn Navajo so we can talk without AI unserstanding

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Kevin J. CREATURE @kevinjkircher.com · 2d

It's Nobel Prize week! A good time to remember that the economics prize was created by Swedish bankers in 1968 (67 years after the 5 original Nobel prizes) against the wishes of the Nobel family, partly to legitimize neoclassical economics in the public eye and partly to help banks avoid regulation.

Philip Mirowski - Why Is There a Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics?

YouTube video by New Economic Thinking

m.youtube.com

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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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Philip Ball @philipcball.bsky.social · 1d

2012 Nobel laureate John Gurdon has died. His work was central to both the development of animal cloning and the possibility of reprogramming cells to a different state. A giant of cell and developmental biology.
www.magd.cam.ac.uk/news/profess...

Professor Sir John Gurdon FRS (1933-2025) | Magdalene College

Magdalene College is deeply saddened to announce the death of Professor Sir John Gurdon FRS, who served as Master of the College from 1995 to 2002.

www.magd.cam.ac.uk

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Hank Greely @hankgreely.bsky.social · 1d

Making Macron look normal: "The IRS got its 7th boss since Mr Trump took office. Scott Bessent..said that Frank Bisignano, now the social-security commissioner, will also become the IRS’s “chief executive officer”. That’s a new title. Mr Bessent will remain the acting IRS commissioner."
In 33 wks

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jeff computers @helldude.bsky.social · 3d

its truly remarkable, you have to really take the measure of it and it's almost hard to comprehend it, but the president of the united states is having texas invade illinois and oregon just to make twitter content

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samuel mehr @mehr.nz · 3d

"the quickest way to get a collaborator to return edits on your manuscript is to write down their affiliation wrong" (ancient academic proverb)

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Hank Greely @hankgreely.bsky.social · 2d

From @theguardian.com:
"White House calls court ruling blocking Portland national guard deployment ‘untethered from reality’"
Funny. The Trump appointed judge who issued it said the same thing about the Admin's claims concerning Portland. I know who I believe
www.theguardian.com/us-news/live...

White House calls court ruling blocking Portland national guard deployment ‘untethered from reality’ – live

Karoline Leavitt criticizes Trump-appointed judge’s decision; Trump deploying military to Chicago on ‘flimsy pretext’, Illinois lawsuit alleges

www.theguardian.com

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Dr Lindsey Fitzharris @drlindseyfitz.bsky.social · 4d

Memphis writer Dan Conaway, who helped found the @dailymemphian.bsky.social & comes from a century of local journalism, has just been censored by his own publication.

Here’s the column they wouldn't run.

Please consider writing:
[email protected]
[email protected]

Stand with Dan.

"Family and friends," he said, "then home – where you live, your neighborhood, your town, your city – then your state, then your region, then your country."
My father was explaining to me when I was 11 or 12 why he went to war when he didn't have to. He was driving me to Boy Scout camp, and we had some time to talk. When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, he was an engineer, and his company had government contracts that could keep him here. At almost 33, he was also getting long in the tooth for war. My mother would also have me tell you he also had two small children, my brothers, one eight months, and the other five.
He joined the Navy a week after Pearl Harbor.
"Those are the priorities in the order of priority," he continued. "But if your country is threatened, really threatened, everything flips. If your country, this country, falls, everything in that lineup falls, everything in that lineup is at mortal risk."
"So, I'll know when it's country first?"
"You'll know," he answered.
Last week, I shared the mayor's plan for peacefully enduring, if not gaining, from the National Guard presence in our city.
That was last week.
This week changed everything.
This week, the president called an extraordinary meeting. He and the secretary of defense addressed a room of some 800 generals and admirals called from their command posts around the world to hear the president's words in Virginia.
He told our country's top brass their attention would soon be turned inward. That they would be commanding military operations in our cities against the "enemy within." Further, he said that they should hold military training exercises in our cities.
Never mind what Secretary Hegseth told them. His message was as empty as his suit. He basically told them they had to shave and lose weight.
The Commander in Chief told them their enemies are Americans, and that their field of battle would be Democratic cities. The great power and might of America's military would be turned toward its own.

Toward here, people. Not here in general terms, here in very specific terms. Memphis is an official battlefield.
"Family and friends," he said, "then home – where you live, your neighborhood, your town, your city ..."
As the rest of the world rages, the president told his top military leaders that we will disengage from the protection of our interests and those of our allies and attack the political enemies of our president, root out the "radical left," crush "the woke," seal our borders against mighty Venezuela, and reduce blue cities and states to whimpering vassals of the federal government.
The president who would be king.
Before this week, he commanded the justice department to intimidate and threaten, even indite, his political enemies including a former director of the FBI, and DA's in Georgia and New York.
A president can't do that. Not just because it's blatantly personal and political. Not just because it's abuse of power, petty, and childish.
Because most if not all of what he's doing is straight-up, in-your-face, unconstitutional. It is, in fact, just the latest additions to the long list of unconstitutional that defines the dangerous actions of this man.
You know this is wrong. No what-about this or that. You know this is wrong. No bemoaning the awful state of something or somewhere. You know this is wrong.
Nothing excuses this. Nothing.
Now, he has openly told the military that anyone in America that challenges him is the enemy, and where they live the new front.
The National Guard deployed here will be unarmed and have no power to arrest. They are a camo-covered smokescreen, eye candy for the cameras disguising what will really be going on, click bait for the internet.
We now know that Trump and his minions are sending hundreds of ICE agents and FBI agents to Memphis, not to mention a small army of Justice Department prosecutors and investigators. The mission is to arrest, prosecute, incarcerate/deport as many people as possible.

Pam Bondi, U.S. Attorney General, was here this week to tell us that, along with Pete Hegseth, the Secretary of Defense, and Stephen Miller, Trump's Deputy Chief of Staff. Not to mention, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee, looking very much like he was waiting to be told wat to do, bless his heart.
Here, ready to rumble.
Who wasn't here or invited was Steve Cohen, the duly elected Democratic representative in Congress of all the people who will be in that rumble.
Republicans should be every bit as alarmed as Democrats – every American should – because every time Trump stomps on the Constitution, he leaves that boot print on every one of us.
Or, as the very first Republican president, Abraham Lincoln, famously put it, "A house divided against itself cannot stand."
Due process and habeas corpus are becoming quaint reminders of a once proud nation of constitutional laws and justice.
What happened in that room in Virginia this week, and what happened out at Shelby Farms give us more than a hint of what could follow the National Guard to Memphis.
"So, I'll know when it's country first?"
"You'll know," he answered.

One man has put 340 million people at risk of losing this democracy. Just as surely as he's made the Oval Office look like a bad imitation of royal chambers at Versailles, just as surely as he's made the majority of both house of Congress look like lackeys waiting to empty the king's chamber pot, just as surely as he's turning the Constitution into a Mara-a-Lago doormat, just as surely, he's coming for us.
You're right, Dad. I know.
I'm a Memphian, soon under siege.
(Lt. Frank E. Conaway Sr., 1943)

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Hank Greely @hankgreely.bsky.social · 4d

California has hit 50% of its electricity generated by solar on several days, but not longer term. Yet.

Dr Paul Dorfman @drpauldorfman.bsky.social · 6d

#Solar becomes main source of electricity in the #EU for first time. More than half of the EU’s #electricity in the second quarter of 2025 came from #RenewableEnergy
www.independent.co.uk/tech/solar-p...

Solar becomes main source of electricity in the EU for first time

More than half of the EU’s electricity in the second quarter of 2025 came from renewable energy

www.independent.co.uk

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Dr Paul Dorfman @drpauldorfman.bsky.social · 6d

#Solar becomes main source of electricity in the #EU for first time. More than half of the EU’s #electricity in the second quarter of 2025 came from #RenewableEnergy
www.independent.co.uk/tech/solar-p...

Solar becomes main source of electricity in the EU for first time

More than half of the EU’s electricity in the second quarter of 2025 came from renewable energy

www.independent.co.uk

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Hank Greely @hankgreely.bsky.social · 4d

That apple didn't fall far from the tree.
(And don't tell me about Newton myths in reply, Philip!)

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Julian Sanchez @normative.bsky.social · 5d

One thing that comes through awfully clearly in these ICE videos is how many of these goons gravitated toward the job because being able to assault people with impunity is a big thrill for them.

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Philip Ball @philipcball.bsky.social · 5d

Oh wow, that's really something.

Jacob Aron @jjaron.bsky.social · 6d

Really cool story - bird species from across the world make the same sound to warn against cuckoos, and they can even understand each other. Feeds into ideas Darwin had about the origin of language! www.newscientist.com/article/2498...

20 bird species can understand each other’s anti-cuckoo call

Several species of birds from different continents use and understand similar alarm calls when they see an invader that might lay an egg in their nest – this shared call hints at the origin of languag...

www.newscientist.com

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Hank Greely @hankgreely.bsky.social · 5d

A 25 year research project. Now, I suspect there's a good possibility time and chance will mean this doesn't fully happen or pay off. But the very idea of such an ambitious science project seems inconceivable in today's US.
(And, no, I do know what that word means - today's Princess Bride reference

Science Magazine @science.org · 5d

Set to run for 25 years, the effort will produce multiomic maps not just for monkeys but for developing, adult, aging, and diseased human brains from diverse populations. https://scim.ag/4o44CDP

China launches ambitious collaboration to map primate brains—including ours

25-year plan will tap brain-mapping prowess in two dozen countries to visualize the organ in unprecedented detail

scim.ag

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Laura Hercher @laurahercher.bsky.social · 5d

As I was saying, affirmative action for incompetent ideologues.

Ida Bae Wells @nhannahjones.bsky.social · 6d

In case it wasn’t clear, the anti-DEI crusade has never been about merit. Zero news experience. Never been a reporter. Elevated to Editor in Chief of CBS News, one of the most storied news institutions in the nation. www.mediaite.com/media/news/p...

Paramount Officially Acquiring The Free Press and Making Bari Weiss CBS News Editor in Chief: Report

Paramount Skydance will be officially acquiring The Free Press and hiring its founder Bari Weiss as editor in chief of its CBS News division, with the deal to be announced this coming Monday, accordin...

www.mediaite.com

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Laura Hercher @laurahercher.bsky.social · 5d

Every time politicians demand equal representation for conservative academics, remember that they are requesting affirmative action for incompetent ideologues.

Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 6d

Yes, New College is incredibly inefficient but it also dropped 60(!) spots on the US News & World Report rankings. Not easy!
Everytime Chris Rufo is introduced as an impt voice in higher ed, remember that the one time he had a hand in running an institution has been a disaster.
Competence matters.

Will Bunch @willbunch.bsky.social · 7d

You'll be shocked to learn New College of Florida is on the brink of implosion just a couple of years after DeSantis engineered an extreme right-wing takeover

Fun fact: NCF's new overlords spend $134K per student (!!...the average at other FL publics is $10K) www.insidehighered.com/news/governa...

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International Neuroethics Society @neuroethics.bsky.social · 5d

We invite scholars from around the world to submit their neuroethics research for presentation at the Neuroethics 2026 conference next April — with opportunities to present virtually or in-person at locations in the U.S., Italy and South Africa.
neuroethicssociety.org/meeting/neur...

Research Abstracts

Neuroethics 2026April 15-17, 2026 The convening partners of the Neuroethics 2026 conference invite students, researchers, and professionals from around the world to submit abstracts to be considered f...

neuroethicssociety.org

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Philip Ball @philipcball.bsky.social · 5d

Funny thing, in its awful way. I figured about that Tylenol speech, This must be the worst. Then only the day after, it was the UN speech. A week later, the address to the US generals. And amazingly, each is actually worse than the one before.

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Philip Ball @philipcball.bsky.social · 5d

You might imagine that an event celebrating 75 years of the Turing Test would be all "Wasn't he prescient, and look, now we really do have machines that think!" Mercifully, this event yesterday was close to the opposite. /1
royalsociety.org/science-even...

Celebrating the 75th anniversary of the Turing Test | Royal Society

An event celebrating the 75th anniversary of the Turing Test, held at the Royal Society on 2 October 2025.

royalsociety.org

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Stephanie M. Lee @stephaniemlee.bsky.social · 5d

"To the presidents and trustees of those nine universities: This decision will define you. You can be remembered as leaders who defended higher education’s independence against attack, or as those who surrendered it. There is no middle ground. Choose independence." www.chronicle.com/article/the-...

The Trump Administration’s ‘Compact’ Is a Trap

Choose independence. Refuse to sign.

www.chronicle.com

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Hank Greely @hankgreely.bsky.social · 5d

and who could read his Sharpie handwriting anyway?

ACLU @aclu.org · 5d

BREAKING: A federal appeals court upheld a ruling that blocks President Trump's executive order on birthright citizenship.

The president can't rewrite the 14th Amendment with the stroke of a pen.

Hank Greely @hankgreely.bsky.social · 5d

3/ You want to make health care in the US cheaper? Make health care services more efficient—and you'll actually probably increase the quality. (As some of you know, I'm a big Kaiser Permanente fan, at least for Nor Calif. I'd look first at them for ideas.)