Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Jennifer N. Phillips @jphillips.bsky.social · Aug 12

WSU biology is hiring a vertebrate ecologist! wsu.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/WSU_Jo...

Online applications must be received before 11:59pm on: September 14, 2025 If a date is not listed above, review the Applicant Instructions below for more details. Available Title(s): 270-NN_FACULTY -...

wsu.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com

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Reposted by Jennifer N. Phillips

Lora Kolodny @lorak.bsky.social · May 28

If you live in or near the company town of Starbase, TX - let me know what it’s like around launch times? DM’s open here lmk how to get in touch off social or email or ping me on signal. <lora dot kolodny at nbcuni dot com>

Lora Kolodny @lorak.bsky.social · May 28

SpaceX’s Starship / Super Heavy (rocket & booster) both blew up tonight in an un-crewed test flight. After that, Musk promised far more frequent test flights… www.cnbc.com/2025/05/27/s...

SpaceX's Starship explodes for third time in a row, Musk promises more frequent launches

SpaceX's Starship system exploded on Tuesday in a test flight, the third consecutive setback for the rocket company.

www.cnbc.com

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Reposted by Jennifer N. Phillips

Daniel Cardoso Llach @dcardo.bsky.social · May 16

I was today years old when I learned that the Magic Schoolbus was an NSF-funded project.

Image of the TV series The Magic School Bus accompanied by the following text: Airing on PBS in the mid-1990s, this NSF-funded animated TV show follows Ms. Frizzle and her class as they set off on field trips out of this world, including careening across the solar system, traveling through the human body or visiting the late Cretaceous period.

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Tammie Visintainer @proftv.bsky.social · Apr 23

If you, like me, had you NSF granted terminated, here’s what I learned from a hopeful meeting with my VP of research:
1. We have 30 days to act! Meet with your admin asap
2. APPEAL: Everyone can appeal! It must go through your institution, there’s a template, sent registered mail. My VP told me ⬇️

Tammie Visintainer @proftv.bsky.social · Apr 19

I’m so angry & heart broken. My NSF CAREER grant was stolen today; dream project supporting science teachers/students as climate justice action researchers, tackling urban heat. Truly transformative, the culmination of my life’s work, we won’t stop, not in this climate crisis. Gonna fight like hell!

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Reposted by Jennifer N. Phillips

Alex Wild @alexwild.bsky.social · Apr 17

Given that habitat loss is demonstrably the single biggest threat to endangered species, this move effectively ends protection for most species, and a lot of things will go extinct.

Jade Walker @jadewalker.bsky.social · Apr 17

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and NOAA said that a narrower interpretation of harm — to mean intentionally killing or hurting a particular animal rather than degrading a habitat a species needs to find food, breed and thrive — reflects “the single, best meaning” of the Endangered Species Act

Trump officials say destroying endangered species’ habitats isn’t ‘harm’

A proposed rule would narrow the definition of harm under the Endangered Species Act and could open the door to more mining, construction and other activities.

www.washingtonpost.com

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Bob Berwyn @bberwyn.bsky.social · Apr 12

1. We have enough information to act on the climate crisis NOW, even if every single measurement stops.

2. We need to know how bad it's going to get, and if our mitigation efforts are working.

These can be true at the same time.

As NOAA Cuts Continue, Ocean Researchers Worry About Monitoring Programs - Inside Climate News

Political storm clouds darkened the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration again this week as the weather and climate agency fired more than 1,000 workers for the second time within five week...

insideclimatenews.org

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Jennifer N. Phillips @jphillips.bsky.social · Mar 23

Intriguing paper by Brandi Pessman and Eileen Hebits, where urban spiders faced with high noise levels build more soundproofed webs:
www.cell.com/current-biol...

Web transmission properties vary with a spider’s past and current noise exposure

Pessman and Hebets show that the funnel-weaving spider’s past and current exposure to environmental noise shapes web vibration transmission. Under loud noise, rural webs retained energy in longer-rang...

www.cell.com

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American Ornithological Society @amornith.bsky.social · Mar 13

The 2025 U.S. #StateOfTheBirds report was released today. The report finds that birds continue to decline unabated across most habitats—habitats that are also vital to human well-being.
Read the report & take action! www.stateofthebirds.org/2025/
#bringbirdsback

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Jennifer N. Phillips @jphillips.bsky.social · Feb 26

apple.news/ABzuEFuVjS6i...

This animal is on the edge of extinction. Trump just fired the people trying to save it. — Vox

In the open grasslands of South Dakota, not far from the dramatic rock formations of Badlands National Park, lives one of the continent’s cutest, fiercest, and rarest animals: the black-footed ferret.

apple.news

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Jennifer N. Phillips @jphillips.bsky.social · Feb 26

A partial preliminary injunction is granted on parts of anti-DEI executive orders. The judge noted that the lawsuit is likely to succeed, as the EO is "textbook viewpoint-based discrimination;the provision expressly targets...the expression of views supportive of DEI."
www.aaup.org/news/win-aau...

A Win for the AAUP, Higher Ed, and Our Communities

Last night, in a case in which the AAUP was a plaintiff, the US District Court for the District of Maryland granted a preliminary nationwide injunction on key parts of a pair of executive orders issue...

www.aaup.org

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Maura-resister @maurar.bsky.social · Feb 16

As of now, the American worker has no protections

www.cnn.com/2025/02/15/b...

Elon Musk’s dream comes true: The federal board that protects workers does not exist, at least for now | CNN Business

The National Labor Relations Board, the independent agency that is supposed to enforce labor laws for most American workers, has been essentially shut down after President Donald Trump fired one of it...

www.cnn.com

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Reposted by Jennifer N. Phillips

Alt National Park Service @altnps.bsky.social · Feb 5

The U.S. Department of Labor is organizing a protest. Elon Musk’s staff will be present at the Frances Perkins Building in Washington, D.C., today at 4 p.m. It was mentioned that staff should plan to stay late after the 4 p.m. meeting to assist with setting up Elon Musk staffers into their systems.

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Ida Bae Wells @nhannahjones.bsky.social · Jan 25

If you work in the federal government (particularly civil rights at DOJ) or state or local agencies that get federal funding, and have info about new anti-DEI and anti-civil rights mandates, please reach out to me on signal at nhannahjones.67.

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Jacks. Yup! That Guy. 🪶🦬 🐺 🦅 🌎 @palehorse.bsky.social · Nov 19

🪶 Less than a month after those dams have come down in the largest dam removal project in US history, salmon are once more returning to spawn in creeks that have been cut off to them for generations.Video shows that hundreds of salmon have made it to tributaries.

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024...

Salmon are ‘coming home’ to spawn in Klamath River after dams are removed

Years long fight by local tribes has paid off after four dams, which had blocked passage for fish for decades, came down

www.theguardian.com

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Alt National Park Service @altnps.bsky.social · Nov 15

A reminder from the past to ensure history doesn’t repeat itself: the Cuyahoga River caught fire over a dozen times, leading to change in 1969.

Here is an overview of Trump’s reduction in clean water protections during his last term: (1/2)

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Jen Mercieca @jenmercieca.bsky.social · Nov 15

"In this climate, public intellectuals play an essential role as guardians of engaged citizenship and intellectual integrity, equipping students and the public to see that democracy cannot sustain itself passively; it demands an active, vigilant defense." www.counterpunch.org/2024/11/04/u...

Universities in Dark Times: Beyond the Plague of Neoliberal Fascism

In an era marked by unprecedented threats to democracy from rising authoritarian forces, universities—once celebrated citadels of democratic learning and public service—now find themselves caught in a...

www.counterpunch.org

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Jennifer N. Phillips @jphillips.bsky.social · Feb 6

The Phillips lab at WSU is busy this winter with undergrads working on habitat mapping of nest sites in Texas and New Mexico! Today we had this red-tailed hawk join the fun!

Reposted by Jennifer N. Phillips

UTEProadsramp.bsky.social @uteproadsramp.bsky.social · Feb 1

We are now accepting applications for the UTEP ROADS Post-baccalaureate program! Applications are due March 1st, 2024. See our website for more info! utep.edu/science/ramp/
#RaMP #NSF #UTEProads_ramp #STEM

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Reposted by Jennifer N. Phillips

Sara Lipshutz (she/her) @jacanamama.bsky.social · Dec 1

My awesome collaborator Dr. Jennifer Phillips is looking for a postdoc to join our songbird sensory pollution project in New Mexico this spring!
ornithologyexchange.org/jobs/board/p...

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Jennifer N. Phillips @jphillips.bsky.social · Dec 2

Know any recent PHD’s in bioacoustics, animal behavior, or ornithology? I am looking for a postdoc to start this winter to work on our project understanding sensory pollution effects across biological scales! ornithologyexchange.org/jobs/board/p...

Avian Sensory Ecology Postdoctoral Fellow

Avian Sensory Ecology Postdoctoral Fellow Opening at WSU POSITION DESCRIPTION Position Title: Sensory Ecology Postdoctoral Fellow Department: School of the Environment Location: Pullman, WA with possi...

ornithologyexchange.org

Jennifer N. Phillips @jphillips.bsky.social · Sep 20

New paper out! We found resident bird have smaller eyes in the bright urban core of San Antonio compared to urban edge habitat, while migratory species do not. Bonus find-younger, smaller painted buntings are left to set up on sensory polluted territories

www.eurekalert.org/news-release...

Urban light pollution linked to smaller eyes in birds

The bright lights of big cities could be causing an evolutionary adaptation for smaller eyes in some birds, a new study indicates. Researchers found that two common songbirds, the Northern Cardinal an...

www.eurekalert.org

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Jennifer N. Phillips @jphillips.bsky.social · Sep 20

Making the switch!

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