Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

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AAUP chapter @UT Austin @utaustinaaup.bsky.social · 7d

www.wsj.com/us-news/educ... UT Austin is one of the 9 schools offered a deal: accede to White House demands and get funding priority

Exclusive | White House Asks Colleges to Sign Sweeping Agreement to Get Funding Advantage

An initial round of nine schools is being asked to sign a wide-ranging accord.

www.wsj.com

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Merriam-Webster @merriam-webster.com · 7d

We are thrilled to announce that our NEW Large Language Model will be released on 11.18.25.

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Diogo Veríssimo @diogoverissimo.bsky.social · 19d

🚨 New paper in PLOS Biology!

📉 Women publish up to 45% fewer papers than men
📉 Non-native English speakers: –35%
📉 Triple barrier (woman + non-native English + low-income): –70%

🌍 Language & equity matter in science!
👉 doi.org/10.1371/jour...

#EquityInScience #LanguageMatters #OpenScience

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Alfredo Sánchez-Tójar @asanchez-tojar.bsky.social · 21d

📣 Hot off the press at #ProcB!

🔍 Our study checked data/code-sharing policies in 275 eco/evo journals and compliance in Proc B (n=2,340) & Ecology Letters (n=571). Policies exist, but clarity and strictness vary, affecting reproducibility.

🔗 doi.org/10.1098/rspb...

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Dan Hirschman @asociologist.bsky.social · 29d

Texas A&M’s President just removed a dean and department head from their positions after they supported a professor whose lesson on gender was challenged by a student. www.kbtx.com/2025/09/09/a...

A&M Dean removed following student complaints over curriculum

The Department of Justice has also acknowledged the situation and said it would be investigating.

www.kbtx.com

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Megan Barkdull @meganbarkdull.bsky.social · Sep 8

While full solicitation isn’t up, looks like we have 2025 proposal deadlines for the GRFP: www.nsf.gov/funding/oppo...

NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP)

www.nsf.gov

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Jonathan Huie, PhD @jmhuie.bsky.social · Aug 28

Excited to share the first paper from my PhD!

We looked at what traits help Aneides salamanders excel at climbing using museum specimens, CT scans, SEM, and more! No claws or toe pads, so how do they do it? In short, with long limbs, big feet and grippy toes! 🦎🧪

DM for PDF

doi.org/10.1098/rspb...

Phylogeny of Aneides and Plethodon with animal photos

Phylomorphospace showing body shape variation

Morphospace of toe bones and box lots showing estimated gripping force

Representative SEM images of salamander feet

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Dan Garisto @dangaristo.bsky.social · Aug 22

New: Both NIH and NSF have put out their gold-standard science plans.

NIH: www.nih.gov/sites/defaul...

NSF: nsf-gov-resources.nsf.gov/files/NSF-GS...

Our story from May:

Trump’s call for ‘gold-standard science’ has prompted an outcry: here’s why

Thousands have signed an open letter against the US president’s latest order, anxious about political interference in science and more.

www.nature.com

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Bryan Gee @koskinonodon.bsky.social · Aug 22

Possible update/confirmation: www.reddit.com/r/GRFPApps/c...

From the GRFPApps community on Reddit: New info about reviews and 2026 solicitation

Explore this post and more from the GRFPApps community

www.reddit.com

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The Associated Press @apnews.com · Aug 21

BREAKING: The Trump administration says it's reviewing all 55 million people with U.S. visas for potential deportable violations.

Trump administration reviewing all 55M people with US visas for potential deportable violations

The Trump administration says it’s reviewing all the more than 55 million people with U.S. visas for potential deportable violations.

bit.ly

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Phil Lewis @phillewis.bsky.social · Aug 19

Texas State Rep. Nicole Collier spent the night on the House floor after refusing to agree ‘to round-the-clock monitoring by state troopers’ www.keranews.org/texas-news/2...

Texas state Rep. Nicole Collier on the House floor, with a blanket, pillows and a book

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Michael Clemens @mclem.org · Aug 8

The White House is taking new steps to undermine every international student at our universities.

It has approved a new rule restricting student visas to 4 years max. That's not long enough for PhD students, or about half of undergrads, to finish their degree.

Likely to enter force within days.

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Wikipedia @wikipedia.org · Aug 8

Happy International Cat Day 🐈‍⬛

Once described as the "unofficial mascot of the Internet", cats have a longstanding relationship with humans. Today, images and videos of cats make up some of the most viewed content online.

Pounce over for more feline content ➡️ w.wiki/9eT3

Article of the Week: Cats and the Internet. Research suggests that viewing online content about cats is linked to positive emotions, stress relief, and reduced feelings of guilt when procrastinating. Image depicts a white cat next to a laptop showing an older version of the Wikipedia article about dwarf planets.

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Jeremy Berg @jeremymberg.bsky.social · Aug 7

Well, this is a huge Executive Order power grab...

www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...

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Improving Oversight of Federal Grantmaking

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, and to improve the process of Federal

www.whitehouse.gov

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Carl Zimmer @carlzimmer.com · Aug 7

Snapshot of US beliefs about science and flat-earthy stuff. [1000+ people surveyed, +/- 3%] carsey.unh.edu/publication/...

A graph showing agreement with various statements about science as well as conspiracy theories

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Bryan Gee @koskinonodon.bsky.social · Aug 5

All of this is just a reminder to stop doing big data studies on temnospondyls without getting (significant) input from an actual temnospondyl worker (does not need to be me) or resources curated by specialists (the PBDB does not count, the temno data in there are increasingly outdated & erroneous)

a man in a suit and tie with the words stop it above him

Alt: a man in a suit and tie with the words stop it above him

media.tenor.com

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Bryan Gee @koskinonodon.bsky.social · Aug 5

And for included taxa, more than a third (31 of 88) underreported the largest published value by 10% or more. Mehmood et al. sometimes report higher values than TEMNOS - sometimes this is b/c they extrapolated from a reconstruction (I don't do this yet), but some of these values are clearly errors.

Comparative graph showing the maximum skull length recorded in TEMNOS vs. the value reported by Mehmood et al. for all species where the difference is at least 10%. 31 have a higher value in TEMNOS; 7 have a higher value in Mehmood et al.

Graph showing percent difference between TEMNOS and Mehmood et al. for species where the values differ by at least 10%

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Bryan Gee @koskinonodon.bsky.social · Aug 5

Despite claiming to have comprehensively sampled temnospondyls, this study failed to include published data from nearly as many species that met inclusion criteria (graph) as species that were included. Max. skull length of every missed species that was published by 2024 is shown below.

Plot showing maximum recorded midline skull length of every temnospondyl species that met inclusion criteria for Mehmood et al.'s study but that were not included

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Bryan Gee @koskinonodon.bsky.social · Aug 5

The preprint adds a new case study demonstrating the importance of datasets curated specifically by taxonomic specialists based on a recent publication in RSOS on temno trends across the P-T boundary: doi.org/10.1098/rsos...

The ecology and geography of temnospondyl recovery after the Permian–Triassic mass extinction | Royal Society Open Science

One of the mysteries of the Permian–Triassic mass extinction was the subsequent success of temnospondyls. Temnospondyls were key early tetrapods in the Carboniferous and Permian and hardly seem to be ...

doi.org

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Bryan Gee @koskinonodon.bsky.social · Aug 5

v1.1.0 includes:

more than 12,300 specimens published in the literature (⬆️ by 70% from v1.0.0) and has now sampled all clades (previously deficient in fossil-rich clades like metoposaurids)

about 2,000 skull length measurements (⬆️ by ~15% from v1.0.0

a close up of a man 's face with the words more on the bottom right

Alt: a close up of a man 's face with the words more on the bottom right

media.tenor.com

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Bryan Gee @koskinonodon.bsky.social · Aug 5

For #TemnospondylTuesday, I finally got the next version of the TEMNOS database out!

Data: doi.org/10.5281/zeno...
Preprint: osf.io/preprints/os...

v1.1.0 mainly boosts the sample size of all constituent datasets after fully sampling all #temnospondyl clades (previously omitted fossil-rich clades)

TEMNOS (Temnospondyl Evolution, Morphology, Nomenclature, and Other Stuff) v1.1.0

This is the second release of the TEMNOS database, which contains three metadata files, four data files, an overarching README, a README for each data file, and a contributing document. Refer to the l...

doi.org

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Steve Herman @w7voa.journa.host.ap.brid.gy · Aug 3

The US could see a 30-40% decline in new international student enrollment, resulting in nearly $7 billion in lost revenue and more than 60,000 fewer American jobs. https://www.nafsa.org/fall-2025-international-student-enrollment-outlook-and-economic-impact

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Bryan Gee @koskinonodon.bsky.social · Jul 30

After saying they would cap allowable publication costs for APCs but providing no details, #NIH is seeking comment on several proposed options to limit costs:

grants.nih.gov/grants/guide...

NOT-OD-25-138: Request for Information on Maximizing Research Funds by Limiting Allowable Publishing Costs

NIH Funding Opportunities and Notices in the NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts: Request for Information on Maximizing Research Funds by Limiting Allowable Publishing Costs NOT-OD-25-138. NIH

grants.nih.gov

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Nidhi Subbaraman @nidhisubs.bsky.social · Jul 30

Update: A Trump administration effort to block all funding that flows to outside health researchers was scrapped Tuesday evening after senior White House officials intervened www.wsj.com/politics/pol...

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Liz Essley Whyte @lizessleywhyte.bsky.social · Jul 29

NEW
The White House is blocking the NIH from awarding new research grants for the rest of the fiscal year

Chokes off billions in research funding

Gift link www.wsj.com/politics/pol... with @nidhisubs.bsky.social

Trump Administration Puts New Chokehold on Billions in Health-Research Funding

The National Institutes of Health can’t award grants to outside researchers under a new White House restriction.

www.wsj.com

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