Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Helen Walden @hw1o9.bsky.social · 7d

The reply addresses me as Ma’am. I get that there are cultural differences but what’s wrong with just using my title and name?!

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Helen Walden @hw1o9.bsky.social · 7d

Another day, another Dear Sir email *sigh*. This one followed up by a woman apologising for the bloke who called me Sir.

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Helen Walden @hw1o9.bsky.social · 8d

Have had cause today to go through reviews for a paper we published 7 years ago. One of the ‘essential’ experiment requests we’ve still not been able to do, neither has anyone else in field….

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Helen Walden @hw1o9.bsky.social · Sep 8

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Reshuffle it how you like, Starmer’s ‘grownup’ Labour has the Tory whiff of spiteful incompetence | Nesrine Malik

Here we are again: constant rebooting, cruel rhetoric and crackdowns. And hurtling towards a Reform-shaped future, says Guardian columnist Nesrine Malik

www.theguardian.com

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Reposted by Helen Walden

Science News @scinews.bsky.social · Sep 7

Why would anyone want to be a scientist?

"Doing good science requires the utmost exertion of body, mind and spirit, yet is consistently filled with failure and rejection."

journals.biologists.com/jcs/article/...

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Reposted by Helen Walden

Marie Le Conte @youngvulgarian.marieleconte.com · Sep 5

get why she had to go but irksome she lost her job to something quite complex and, let's be honest, reasonably minor in the grand scheme of things, when shadow cabinet members get to merrily hang out with Eddie Swastika without any repercussions

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Reposted by Helen Walden

Jane @localnotail.bsky.social · Sep 5

On the same day in the Telegraph:

The Telegraph

Rayner tax scandal - £40k tax dodge - Statement

Angela Rayner dodges £40,000 stamp duty

Deputy Prime Minister reduces tax bill for Hove flat by declaring it as her main residence

[Photo: Angela Rayner pictured at the weekend in Hove, where she has just bought a flat Credit: Dan Charity/The Sun on Sunday]

Robert Mendick Chief Reporter. Amy Gibbons Political Correspondent

29 August 2025 8:57am BST

The Telegraph

Money > Property > Second homes

How to avoid tax on your second home

From stamp duty to council tax, shield your wealth from Labour's tightening net

[Photo of houses around a bay - Areas such as Cornwall have added a premium to council tax bills for second homes Credit: iStockphoto]

Fran Ivens Senior Money Writer

29 August 2025 1:21pm BST

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Helen Walden @hw1o9.bsky.social · Sep 5

Just pay your taxes. It’s the price for a civilised society. I do not understand why those who wish to govern and therefore make the actual decisions about how to spend the tax take try to find ways not to pay their share (Reform-fanciers take note). So disappointed in Rayner 😞

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Reposted by Helen Walden

Fusion Conferences @fusionconf.bsky.social · Aug 19

Please help promote the meeting by reposting: @loizoulab.bsky.social @hopfnerlab.bsky.social @lapassmore.bsky.social @raychaudhurilab.bsky.social @hw1o9.bsky.social @westlabcrick.bsky.social @gwuite.bsky.social @dijiang319.bsky.social

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Reposted by Helen Walden

Alan McNally @alanmcn1.bsky.social · Aug 4

Feels about right

www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-r...

UKRI award rate halves in seven years as grant applications double - Research Professional News

Trends across research councils prompt warning that system is “overstretched or broken”

www.researchprofessionalnews.com

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Reposted by Helen Walden

Harry Low’s Lab @lowlab.bsky.social · Jul 28

Please RT! Call for Fellows! If you’re a structural biologist and wanting to start your lab by applying for an external Fellowship then we at Imperial may be excited to host you. Synthetic biologists too.. Please submit expression of interest with details below 🙏

www.imperial.ac.uk/media/imperi...

www.imperial.ac.uk

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Helen Walden @hw1o9.bsky.social · Jul 27

Superb #Lionesses

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Reposted by Helen Walden

HappyToast @happytoast.co.uk · Jul 27

It's hard to grasp just how stupid he is, but this helps

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · Jul 27

Trump: "The other thing I say to Europe: We will not allow a windmill to be built in the United States. They are killing us."

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Reposted by Helen Walden

Richard Sever @richardsever.bsky.social · Jul 24

Science finally retracts the Arsenic life paper www.science.org/content/arti...

Fifteen years later, Science retracts ‘arsenic life’ paper despite study authors’ protests

Belated decision on widely disputed 2010 study pleases some critics but puzzles and dismays others

www.science.org

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Reposted by Helen Walden

Dr. Jessie Christiansen @aussiastronomer.bsky.social · Jul 23

Better version of the meme.

The joke is, Nature is the one killing null results, but blaming scientists.

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Reposted by Helen Walden

Vanni Lab at UNIFR, Switzerland @labvanni.bsky.social · Jul 23

Happy to share the latest work from the lab, led by @mudgal17.bsky.social‬, in collaboration with the Weis lab @ethzurich.bsky.social.
How do nuclear membranes fuse during NPC assembly? We answer this question in our latest work, where we identify a new mechanism for membrane fusion… (1/13)

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Helen Walden @hw1o9.bsky.social · Jul 22

Yasss!! #Lionesses

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Reposted by Helen Walden

Tracy Palmer @proftracypalmer.bsky.social · Jul 22

Fab postdoc job opportunity!

Dr Katherine Duncan @kateduncan.bsky.social · Jul 22

*JOB AD*: interested in doing a postdoc in microbial metabolomics? Passionate about natural products mass spec?

Come join the group! Informal enquires welcome!

Closing Date: 19 August 2025

jobs.ncl.ac.uk/job/Newcastl...

Research Associate - Microbial Metabolomic

jobs.ncl.ac.uk

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Reposted by Helen Walden

Kate Bevan @katebevan.com · Jul 19

Petition to have Steve perform this for a couple to dance to on the upcoming series of #Strictly

Steve Rosenberg @bbcstever.bsky.social · Jul 19

To mark the start of BBC Proms 2025, here’s my version of the Postman Pat theme tune in the style of a tango.

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Reposted by Helen Walden

Anshul Kundaje @anshulkundaje.bsky.social · Jul 17

Fabulous post by @randomwalker.bsky.social & Sayash raising the same concern many of us have about whether we're on the right track with how we're using AI for science. Everyone should read it, take a deep breath & think through the implications.

www.aisnakeoil.com/p/could-ai-s...

Could AI slow science?

Confronting the production-progress paradox

www.aisnakeoil.com

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Reposted by Helen Walden

Rob Klose @robklose.bsky.social · Jul 15

My wonderful colleage Colin Kleanthous is raising money for the MND association. Please support Colin in this worthy endeavor! www.justgiving.com/page/colin-k...
(Please repost!)

Colin Kleanthous' fundraiser for Motor Neurone Disease Association

Help Colin Kleanthous raise money to support Motor Neurone Disease Association

www.justgiving.com

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Reposted by Helen Walden

Naomi Alderman @naomialderman.bsky.social · Jul 14

This on IPlayer about a nice naive young man who was essentially held prisoner naked and without food by a reality TV company for 15 months in the 90s is, and I don’t say this lightly, essential viewing.

People who make reality TV are actual sadistic psychos.

www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/epis...

Storyville - The Contestant

A Storyville documentary that tells the true story of Tomoaki Hamatsu, who spent 15 months in a small room, naked, starving and alone, unaware he was being broadcast to millions of people on TV.

www.bbc.co.uk

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Reposted by Helen Walden

Prof. Rivka Isaacson @rli22.bsky.social · Jul 14

I wrote about my 7/7 experience for the 20th (!) anniversary: The art of ‘travelling hopefully’ ft.com/content/ac05... via @ftweekend.com
This, from the comments section, is going on my CV: In a world of pontificating dim wits, a voice that is crystal clear on what it means to carry on fully awake

The art of ‘travelling hopefully’

Twenty years after being caught up in the 7/7 London terror attacks, Rivka Isaacson reflects on the lasting impact of that day

ft.com

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Reposted by Helen Walden

Glen O'Hara @gsoh31.bsky.social · Jul 13

Decades of mechanistic talk about university degrees as if they were bundles of 'skills' and 'prep' are about to be proved completely wrong (obviously). Want to get a real boost? Do History or English.

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Reposted by Helen Walden

Tung Le @tunglejic.bsky.social · Jul 10

Fantastic opportunity to start your independent career at the JIC here. Great startup package. Repost = nice. Thank you!!!

Susan Schlimpert @s-lab.bsky.social · Jul 10

New Independent Fellowship position in Microbiology to launch your lab in our department @johninnescentre.bsky.social (UK). We are conducting a broad search in the area of plant-associated microbial interactions. Message me if you have any questions.

Apply here: www.jic.ac.uk/vacancies/in...

Independent Fellowship in Plant-Associated Microbial Interactions | John Innes Centre

An exciting opportunity for an Independent Fellowship in Plant-Associated Microbial Interactions has arisen at the John Innes Centre. To read the full job description for this role…

www.jic.ac.uk

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