Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Jeffrey Dean @jeffdean-uga.bsky.social · 5h

www.smithsonianmag.com/blogs/smiths...

Leafcutter Ants Have Blind Spots, Just Like Truck Drivers

Scientists at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) in Panama discovered that carrying oversized loads limits the ability to perceive the trail in leafcutter ants, akin to blind spots whi...

www.smithsonianmag.com

Jeffrey Dean @jeffdean-uga.bsky.social · 5h

www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/s...

Studying Clever Creases in Nature May Inspire Foldable Structures for Drones and Robots

Engineers are turning to animal origami, from insects that tuck away wings to a protist with an accordion-like neck, for design help

www.smithsonianmag.com

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Reposted by Jeffrey Dean

Nature Biotechnology @natbiotech.nature.com · 13h

Site-specific and efficient RNA editing is achieved with a CasRx editor go.nature.com/4dFun7P
rdcu.be/eJI3u

A circularly permuted CasRx platform for efficient, site-specific RNA editing - Nature Biotechnology

Site-specific and efficient RNA editing is achieved with a CasRx editor.

go.nature.com

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Reposted by Jeffrey Dean

Todd Woody @toddwoody.bsky.social · 13h

One of today's winners of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry is UC Berkeley professor Omar Yaghi. Last year I wrote about Yaghi and Atoco, the startup he founded to commercialize his scientific breakthrough with a device that extracts water from air using just sunlight.
www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Startups Are Racing to Make Water Out of Thin Air

Materials that are bigger on the inside than the outside provide a futuristic solution to supply water to an increasingly arid planet.

www.bloomberg.com

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Jeffrey Dean @jeffdean-uga.bsky.social · 14h

"I didn't see this coming," says no one paying attention. prospect.org/politics/tru...

Trump Labor Department Says His Immigration Raids Are Causing a Food Crisis

In a filing in the Federal Register, the Labor Department argues there are “immediate dangers to the American food supply” due to a lack of migrant agricultural workers.

prospect.org

Reposted by Jeffrey Dean

Hannah Richter @hannah-richter.bsky.social · 1d

For essentially every supermassive black hole that astronomers have studied, they've spotted powerful winds blowing out from the event horizon to shape the surrounding galaxy. Except for the one in the Milky Way. 🌟 ⚫ 🌬️

The case may now be closed. @science.org tinyurl.com/5y99b7az #space #astronomy

Missing wind from Milky Way’s giant black hole finally found

Astronomers may have glimpsed a long-predicted wind of gas blowing out from Sagittarius A*

tinyurl.com

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Reposted by Jeffrey Dean

Feng Zhou @fengzhou10.bsky.social · 16h

This discovery traces back to the spring of 2018, when I was a postdoc in nikogeldner.bsky.social 's lab. After shifting Arabidopsis seedlings from solid to liquid culture, I observed that the root commensal bacterium CHA0 rapidly colonized Casparian strip–defective mutants.

Science Magazine @science.org · 6d

Using precise spatial and temporal analysis, researchers in Science provide insight into how bacteria around the root interact both with the plant and with each other.

Learn more in this week's issue: https://scim.ag/3WgNajk

A confocal microscopy image shows root-colonizing bacteria clustering around an emerging lateral root, where localized glutamine leakage induces spatially confined reporter activity.

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Reposted by Jeffrey Dean

c0nc0rdance @c0nc0rdance.bsky.social · 16h

This 1771 painting by Joseph Wright of Derby is titled:

"The Alchymist, In Search of the Philosopher’s Stone, Discovers Phosphorus & prays for the successful Conclusion of his operation, as was the custom of the Ancient Chymical Astrologers."

Let's talk about how phosphorus was discovered.

A robed man with a medium length white beard sits on his knees before a round flask that is faintly glowing, with it the only light source to reveal his face and the face of students or assistants behind him.
"The Alchymist, In Search of the Philosopher’s Stone, Discovers Phosphorus & prays for the successful Conclusion of his operation, as was the custom of the Ancient Chymical Astrologers"

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Reposted by Jeffrey Dean

Ainsley S @americanbeetles.bsky.social · 1d

Wow that’s like a plants level of chromosomal absurdity

Bryan White, MS Bio, MPH 🧬 @crvscience.com · 4d

Homie got 229 pairs of chromosomes

www.sciencedaily.com/releases/202...

This tiny butterfly has the most chromosomes of any animal on Earth

Scientists have confirmed that the Atlas blue butterfly carries the most chromosomes of any animal, with 229 pairs. Unlike duplication, its chromosomes split apart, reshaping its genome in surprising ...

www.sciencedaily.com

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Jeffrey Dean @jeffdean-uga.bsky.social · 1d

www.wsj.com/science/soci...

Our Brains Evolved to Socialize—but Max Out at About 150 Friends

The size of our social networks is limited even in the age of social media.

www.wsj.com

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Reposted by Jeffrey Dean

Kresten Lindorff-Larsen @lindorfflarsen.bsky.social · 1d

A good day to remember John Gurdon’s school report from his biology master at Eton

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Reposted by Jeffrey Dean

Andy Craig @andycraig.bsky.social · 1d

If you were determined to devastate places like the Arkansas Delta, where I grew up, you'd be hard pressed to come up with a more destructive set of policies. It's soybeans and rice as far as the eye can see. It's not an incidental fraction of the local economy, it is the entire foundation of it.

Acyn @acyn.bsky.social · 1d

Soybean Farmer: So now I've got a tariff war that's killing my market. I don't have any money from grain we're sending to other countries for USAID. I mean, I've got a compound problem. I don't know how you plan for next year because we don't know where we're at.

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Reposted by Jeffrey Dean

Jeremy Berg @jeremymberg.bsky.social · 1d

I just emailed my "Silence" essay to the Presidents/Chancellors and Provosts of the 9 Compact universities as well as those from the 4 orgs with which I have been formally affiliated.

The essay can be found here:

jeremymberg.github.io/jeremyberg.g...

and here:

www.linkedin.com/posts/jeremy...

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Reposted by Jeffrey Dean

FrontRangeWildflowers @frwildflowers.bsky.social · 1d

The Homeobox gene in bobcats dictates that any 📦 is instantly a home 🏠 👍🤪

Oregon 🕎🎲 @oregonthedm.bsky.social · 1d

Boxes also work on bobcats

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Reposted by Jeffrey Dean

Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 1d

Just as a reminder, Bondi’s origin story in Trump world is that she said she was going to investigate Trump University, Trump sent her a $25K check and the investigation disappeared. She later became Trump’s personal defense lawyer. So yeah, don’t challenge her integrity.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 1d

Bondi to Blumenthal: "You lied. How dare you? I'm a career prosecutor. Don't you ever challenge my integrity. Do not question my ability to be fair and impartial."

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Reposted by Jeffrey Dean

Arif Ashraf @aribidopsis.bsky.social · 7d

🍀🔬

MSL10 is a high-sensitivity mechanosensor in the tactile sense of the Venus flytrap @natcomms.nature.com from Toyota lab.

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

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Jeffrey Dean @jeffdean-uga.bsky.social · 1d

www.washingtonpost.com/food/2025/10...

Wild rice binds this tribe together. It’s under threat from every direction.

Inside the Ojibwe’s fight to preserve a plant and the extraordinary traditions around it in northern Wisconsin.

www.washingtonpost.com

Jeffrey Dean @jeffdean-uga.bsky.social · 1d

youtu.be/E0gi5OcdfDg

Take It on the Run (REO Speedwagon) - ‘60s Girl Group Style Cover ft. Olivia Jones

YouTube video by PostmodernJukebox

youtu.be

Reposted by Jeffrey Dean

Jessica Lussenhop @jlussenhop.bsky.social · 1d

Well, today @deldeib.bsky.social has a very helpful explainer. Here's what an external review is, how it works, and how you can use it to help to get coverage of your own medical care: "Appeal, appeal, appeal, appeal... That’s all you have." www.propublica.org/article/heal...

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Reposted by Jeffrey Dean

Maddy Seale @maddyseale.bsky.social · 1d

Out First Release in @science.org this week:
The development of a directed evolution strategy with proof of concept in plant immune protein engineering.

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Engineered geminivirus replicons enable rapid in planta directed evolution

Directed evolution can rapidly generate genetic variants with new and enhanced properties, yet efficient platforms for performing such evolution directly in plant cells have been lacking. We developed...

www.science.org

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Jeffrey Dean @jeffdean-uga.bsky.social · 1d

Brings back fond memories of laughs from my complete set of Laumer's Retief stories -- unfortunately, long since lost to a garage sale operated by my EX-wife. 😞

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Jeffrey Dean @jeffdean-uga.bsky.social · 1d

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/07/s...

In a Toxic World, Pets Could Be Vital Health Watchdogs

www.nytimes.com

Reposted by Jeffrey Dean

Danielle L. Schmitt 🔬 @schmittwitt.bsky.social · 2d

To kick off Nobel Week, a nice editorial in the LA Times from Julia Greer about the importance of investing in science. www.latimes.com/opinion/stor...

Contributor: Want the next breakthrough? Don’t starve the science that makes it possible

After decades of setting the pace for tech and innovation, the U.S. is at risk of surrendering its lead in the race that will define the future.

www.latimes.com

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Jeffrey Dean @jeffdean-uga.bsky.social · 2d

Building a system to reestablish chestnuts as a commercially viable nut crop.
ambrook.com/offrange/cro...

The Longest View in the Room - Offrange

In building a foundation for the future, tree crop cooperatives are taking a patient approach to agricultural sustainability. It all starts with chestnuts.

ambrook.com

Jeffrey Dean @jeffdean-uga.bsky.social · 2d

ambrook.com/offrange/lab...

Teens in the Tassels: How Youth Farm Labor Still Powers the Midwest - Offrange

Corn detasseling continues to be a beloved Midwestern tradition, as youth labor regulations progress and migrant workers compete with the young workforce.

ambrook.com