Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Dr. Az Klymiuk

Carl Zimmer @carlzimmer.com · 6h

Today my @nytimes.com colleagues and I are launching a new series called Lost Science. We interview US scientists who can no longer discover something new about our world, thanks to this year‘s cuts. Here is my first interview with a scientist who studied bees and fires. Gift link: nyti.ms/3IWXbiE

nyti.ms

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Virginia Gewin @virginiagewin.bsky.social · 8h

Congrats to @tobykiers.bsky.social on her MacArthur Genius award!

I wrote this @nature.com feature on her novel research a couple of years ago.

Invasive palms and WWII damaged an island paradise. Could fungi help to restore it?

Researchers ventured to the world’s most remote island to study how fungi in soils could help to revive damaged ecosystems.

www.nature.com

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Ketan Joshi @ketanjoshi.co · 7h

Hey lovelies: here's part 2 of my @crikey.com.au series on Meta's massive new effort to wildly worsen their climate damage but mask that by lobbying to change the way emissions are measured.

IT IS EXTREMELY SNEAKY

Inside Meta's fight to change climate reality... all so it can frantically expand a risky AI program

Everyone is ignoring the science on what Meta’s generative AI investment really costs, even though there's no evidence of a single, significant societal benefit.

www.crikey.com.au

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Jess Calarco @jessicacalarco.com · 8h

As an expert on help-seeking, I'm not surprised that AI makes it harder for students to develop strong relationships with teachers. Because AI means they can get help without asking an actual human teacher, but it doesn't address the distrust that makes it hard for many students to ask. 1/

Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 14h

“One of the negative consequences AI is having on students is that it is hurting their ability to develop meaningful relationships with teachers, the report finds. Half of the students agree that using AI in class makes them feel less connected to their teachers.”

Rising Use of AI in Schools Comes With Big Downsides for Students

A report by the Center for Democracy and Technology looks at teachers' and students' experiences with the technology.

www.edweek.org

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Prof. Stefan Rahmstorf @rahmstorf.bsky.social · 8h

Great interview of climate scientist Mike Mann and virologist Peter Hotez on the war on science by special interest groups. My colleague Mann endured vicious attacks after his pioneering (and solidly confirmed) ‘hockey stick’ curve of #globalwarming.

www.pbs.org/newshour/sho...

Authors of 'Science Under Siege' warn of concerted effort to discredit science

From its embrace of dubious research about autism, its skepticism over vaccines and its wholesale rejection of the consensus about climate change, the Trump administration has set off alarm bells with...

www.pbs.org

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Richard McElreath 🐈‍⬛ @rmcelreath.bsky.social · 22h

I guess because software allows it, ppl keep trying to estimate diversification rates on phylogenies. This is not in principle possible, because infinite combinations of diversification and extinction rates can explain almost any tree. Short, clear recent-ish paper: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

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Robert Jago @rjjago.bsky.social · 11h

October 8th is one of my favourite days because this one time on October 8th - I went to Christopher Columbus' birthplace and installed a plaque on his home, claiming the property on behalf of the Indigenous Peoples of the Americas.

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Dr. Az Klymiuk @klymiuk.ca · 8h

This, to all my students past, present, and future.

There is literally no point to us “discussing“ the reading if you haven’t bothered. And yes it will be on the exam.

Chanda Prescod-Weinstein 🌌 @chanda.blacksky.app · 11h

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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Dr. Az Klymiuk @klymiuk.ca · 8h

But not enough to ameliorate the entitlement, it seems.

Dr. Az Klymiuk @klymiuk.ca · 9h

In totally unrelated news, the only thing worse than outright ghosting a prospective PI is sending them an email 14 months after the fact, in which you demand entrance to their research program AND a stipend at rates 62% above what any other graduate student receives.

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Dr. Az Klymiuk @klymiuk.ca · 9h

Advice to aspirant graduate students: If a prospective PI takes the time to a schedule a Zoom call with you, do not ghost them. Do not ghost them before the call, and definitely do not ghost after.

This is not really advice for grad school, it’s more like advice for life in general.

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Antonia Juhasz @antoniajuhasz.bsky.social · 9h

Cancer risks in parts of Louisiana's industrial area between New Orleans and Baton Rouge already known as "Cancer Alley" are up to 11 times higher than estimates by the Environmental Protection Agency, according to a study by scientists at Johns Hopkins University.
www.nola.com/news/environ...

Cancer risk in Louisiana's industrial parishes is underestimated by EPA, study says

All of the census tracts in the study had "unacceptable" levels of cancer risk, Johns Hopkins researchers found.

www.nola.com

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Chanda Prescod-Weinstein 🌌 @chanda.blacksky.app · 12h

Good rundown of the current situation on Bsky (written before Rudy's update that Blacksky is going to make Link available to its users)

plus.flux.community/p/banning-co...

Banning controversy reveals Bluesky’s federation isn’t there yet

Bluesky’s protocol is so complicated that not even the biggest alternative network has figured out how to become independent

plus.flux.community

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APTN News @aptnnews.bsky.social · 1d

LIVE: Leaders of Kebaowek First Nation are in Ottawa ahead of a case in Federal Court over a nuclear disposal site on the Ottawa River.

Kebaowek First Nation holds news conference in Ottawa over Chalk River proposal | APTN News

YouTube video by APTN News

youtube.com

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Chanda Prescod-Weinstein 🌌 @chanda.blacksky.app · 14h

Today seems like a great day to re-up my slides from 2017 about the Nazi takeover of German physics, in part because in my estimation, a lot of American physicists in 2025 are confused about whether "agreeing to work with them" is resistance (it's not) and whether it works (it doesn't) 🧪⚛️

Chanda Prescod-Weinstein 🌌 @chanda.blacksky.app · Jan 31

In light of this deeply illegal activity at NSF and the ongoing attack on American science, I'm posting the slides from my 2017 talk at the American Physical Society about the Nazi take over of German physics/why German is no longer science's lingua franca 🧪

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drive.google.com/file/d/1_MCm...

nazi germany & physics
Chanda Prescod-Weinstein, PhD
Department of Physics,University of Washington, Seattle
APS April Meeting, January 2017
Dismantling the (Nazi) German Nuclear Reactor (Pile) at Haigerloch, 50 km SW of Stuttgart, in April 1945

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Richard Pace @rpace.bsky.social · 15h

Just don't share A.I. slop of any sort. I've seen a wave of Sora shit on various social media platforms.
A.I. is destructive on too many levels to ever encourage anyone to use it, and sharing or liking is encouragement.
Complicity in the destruction of our planet and humanity.

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Keith W. Dickinson @keithwdickinson.bsky.social · 19h

Today is a day when arts degrees are worthless, but the product of those degrees is so valuable it would kill an entire industry if they were made to pay for it.

The Verge @theverge.com · May 26

Nick Clegg says asking artists for use permission would ‘kill’ the AI industry

Paul McCartne, Elton John and others signed an open letter.

buff.ly

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APTN News @aptnnews.bsky.social · 1d

Tonight on APTN National News: First Nations leaders gather in Ottawa to show opposition on a proposed nuclear waste disposal site.

Mi’kmaw land protectors attend AFN conservation gathering to raise awareness about their stewardship of Hunters Mountain.

APTN National News: October 7, 2025 – Nuclear waste disposal site opposition, Mi’kmaw stewardship

YouTube video by APTN News

youtube.com

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Chanda Prescod-Weinstein 🌌 @chanda.blacksky.app · 1d

our planet. our one and only earth. this is what the colonizers choose to do it with it.

Mari-homeless soon. @wordglass.bsky.social · 1d

Supreme Court refuses Apache plea to save Oak Flat from copper mining destruction

* *Gorsuch dissent calls the decision a “grave mistake” as copper mine threatens to create massive crater

By: Shondiin Silversmith- May 27, 2025 12:54 pm UPDATED OCT 6TH 2025

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Dr. Wendsler Nosie Sr. of Apache Stronghold talks to a crowd of people outside the Sandra Day O’Connor Courthouse on May 7, 2025, as Apache Stronghold urged the federal court to save Oak Flat. Photo Courtesy of Becket

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Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 18h

#WarRavagedPortland

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T. Ryan Gregory 🇨🇦 @tryangregory.bsky.social · 1d

🫧

arstechnica.com/ai/2025/10/d...

Deloitte will refund Australian government for AI hallucination-filled report

Consulting firm quietly admitted to GPT-4o use after fake citations were found in August.

arstechnica.com

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The Breakdown AB @thebreakdownab.bsky.social · 1d

When challenged on her pipeline with the reality that First Nations leaders in the area of her proposed pipeline have already categorically rejected it...

Smith responded saying that she's already picked the First Nations groups she wants to listen to.

#abpoli #ableg #cdnpoli

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Native Calgarian 🪶🧡>🇨🇦 @nativecalgarian.bsky.social · 1d

Good morning everyone. A Tribute Ride to Dr. Darren Markland has been set up for this Sunday. All the details can be found here: yegbike.info/events#calen...

Source: x.com/thegrillgeek...

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PBS News @pbsnews.org · 1d

Thirty paintings created by the bushy-haired, soft-spoken Bob Ross will soon be up for auction to defray the costs of programming for small and rural public television stations suffering under cuts in federal funding. https://to.pbs.org/4nEQMrw

Bob Ross paintings to be auctioned to support public TV stations after federal funding cuts

All profits will help public TV stations with licensing fees for popular programs that include "The Best of Joy of Painting" and "America's Test Kitchen."

www.pbs.org

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Sara Hastings-Simon 🇨🇦 @shastingssimon.bsky.social · 1d

My number one tip for researchers that do a significant amount of non peer reviewed paper publication/outreach:

Create an excel table, every time you give an interview, talk, write an oped or white paper, etc. take 5 seconds to immediately note it in the excel.

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