Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Kyle Copas

Peter Frankopan @peterfrankopan.bsky.social · 7h

Belarus rarely makes Western headlines — but it should this week.
A quiet move by the Trump administration has just handed Alexander Lukashenka, and indirectly Vladimir Putin, an unexpected gift.
🧵👇

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GBIF España/Spain @gbif.es · 17h

¡Felicidades a Esteban Marentes, de la Pontificia Universidad Javeriana Cali, ganador del Graduate Researchers Award 2025 por su innovador uso de datos de @gbif.org para estimar la diversidad de coleópteros en Colombia! ¡Enhorabuena también al nodo SiBColombia!
🏆 www.gbif.org/news/1fyZVi9...

Colombian master's student Esteban Marentes Herrera wins 2025 Graduate Researchers Award

Esteban is the tenth student from the Latin America and the Caribbean region to win the annual GBIF award

www.gbif.org

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GBIF España/Spain @gbif.es · 17h

¡Gran noticia desde Nigeria 🌍!: Kumdet Panshak Solomon, doctorando en la Universidad de Jos (Nigeria), gana el Graduate Researchers Award 2025 por su trabajo sobre aves endémicas y #cienciaciudadana con datos de @gbif.org . ¡Segundo africano en lograrlo! 👏
🏆 www.gbif.org/news/6uC3zYj...

Nigerian PhD student Kumdet Panshak Solomon wins 2025 Graduate Researchers Award

Panshak is the second student from Africa to win the annual GBIF award

www.gbif.org

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Kyle Copas @kylecopas.bsky.social · 1d

Great #civicScience opportunity for the @gbif.org network that will feed records from transcribed mollusk labels from the #FieldMuseum !

Zooniverse @zooniverse.bsky.social · 1d

✨ SNAIL SCRIBE ARCHIVE - this new 🐌 Zooniverse transcription project is all about molluscan biodiversity data. It seeks to promote the conservation and critical scientific research of these under-appreciated animals! www.zooniverse.org/projects/ske...

Cartoon snail mascot for Zooniverse project: Snail Scribe Archive

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Cassetteboy @cassetteboy.bsky.social · 8d

New! Cassetteboy vs Keir Starmer.

This took absolutely ages, so if you'd like to buy us a coffee at ko-fi.com/cassetteboy we'd really appreciate it. Thanks!

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Kyle Copas @kylecopas.bsky.social · 2d

A good portion of the Secretariat of @gbif.org will be away for governing board meeting then. Would love the chance to explore the parallels between climate and biodiversity communications before or after, though, depending on the dates of your two weeks in KBH…

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JLRay @jlray.bsky.social · 3d

A Texas megachurch pastor and GOP leader has been arrested for crimes against children. Not Robert Morris, a different one. Not Josiah Anthony, a different one. Not Luke Cunningham, a different one. Not Tony Evans, a different one. Not Scott Crenshaw, a different one. Not Steve Lawson, a different o

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Waldo Jaquith @waldo.net · 3d

This is the logical endpoint of the far-right media echo chamber / isolation booth: a confused, elderly man has become president and, with Fox et al as the only source of information he believes, he thinks archival footage of things that happened over years is all stuff that’s happening now.

Ron Filipkowski @ronfilipkowski.bsky.social · 3d

The protests are on one block. Nothing is burning down. His justification for sending in troops is all based on lies.

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Kyle Copas @kylecopas.bsky.social · 3d

TIL the only way to make this nugget of etymological wisdom from Eleanor Barraclough’s fascinating book, Embers of the Hands, more fitting would have been to read it yesterday, lordag.

…the importance of Saturday for bathing and washing is preserved in its Old Norse name, Laugardagr, which means 'bath day'. It's still there in the word for Saturday in all the languages of the Nordic world: Icelandic, Faroese, Norwegian, Swedish, Danish, even borrowed into Finnish.

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Kyle Copas @kylecopas.bsky.social · 3d

“AI is the asbestos we are shoveling into the walls of our society and our descendants will be digging it out for generations…”

Mike Dickison @adzebill.bsky.social · 10d

Doctorow on the impending economic collapse when the AI bubble bursts. pluralistic.net/2025/09/27/e...

Pluralistic: The real (economic) AI apocalypse is nigh (27 Sep 2025) – Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow

pluralistic.net

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Kyle Copas @kylecopas.bsky.social · 4d

Fond of the idea that the first female PM of #Japan shares her first name with a dear friend and teacher, #Sanae Tokizane, literary critic and scholar of #Faulkner and the epistolary form who left this Easter egg of an inscription in my copy of her book, Faulkner and/or Writing: On Absalom, Absalom!

Photo of handwritten note reading next a book by the notewriter: “To Kyle: / With the Compliments / Read it if you like or dont read it if you like. / Absalom, Absalom! / 9/18/89 Sanae”

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Peter Moonlight @petermoonlight.bsky.social · 7d

Calling botanical researchers, the School of Natural Science at Trinity College Dublin is hiring a tenure track Assistant Professor in Plant Biodiversity and Conservation.

I know this is someone's dream job, so let me know if that is you and you want to chat!

my.corehr.com/pls/trrecrui...

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Ron Filipkowski @ronfilipkowski.bsky.social · 6d

PM of Albania having a good laugh with President of Azerbaijan and Macron about Trump repeatedly claiming that he ended the war between their two countries which were not at war with each other.

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Mike Luckovich @mluckovich.bsky.social · 8d

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Kyle Copas @kylecopas.bsky.social · 9d

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Luca @lucagalletti.bsky.social · 12d

He’s BACKKKK! 🤣

Happy Friday! 🎉🎈

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Kyle Copas @kylecopas.bsky.social · 12d

Just walked past East 56th where, amidst barricades and a company of NYC cops, a lone sniper was stretched out atop a black Chevy Suburban intently scoping out targets across Park Avenue.

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Amazon Watch @amazonwatch.org · 14d

“Ecuador’s plans to auction new oil blocks in the Amazon are doomed to fail. Indigenous resistance, civil society mobilization, & growing international pressure will continue to expose these projects as illegitimate, unlawful, & unfinanceable.”-Kevin Koenig of @AmazonWatch apnews.com/article/oil-...

Indigenous groups criticize Ecuador’s $47 billion oil expansion plan in Amazon

Ecuador’s plans to offer dozens of blocks of land for oil exploration for more than $47 billion has prompted opposition from seven Indigenous peoples in the Amazon.

apnews.com

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Viet Thanh Nguyen @vietthanhnguyen.bsky.social · 12d

Netanyahu had fewer attendees than an 8am panel at the MLA.

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Chris Geidner @chrisgeidner.bsky.social · 12d

This is going to end up being the most pointless and expensive "this meeting could have been an email" in history.

The Washington Post
WP Exclusive

New details emerge on Hegseth’s unusual mass gathering of top brass
The defense secretary is expected to lecture about the “warrior ethos” for less than an hour, according to multiple people familiar with the event. But top generals are bracing for possible firings or demotions.

4minutes ago

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Kyle Copas @kylecopas.bsky.social · 13d

Re: "hot things can look cold": cf. García Márquez G (1967), ch.1:

"Aureliano, on the other hand, took a step forward and put his hand on it, withdrawing it immediately. 'It's boiling,' he exclaimed, startled.”

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“‘Thinky think’ before ‘grabby grab’.”
Nature has tapped into its global community of readers, writers, friends and colleagues to compile a list of 99 lab tips to help make scientists’ working lives better. One, sent in by a chemist who has been burnt before, is simple: hot things can look cold.

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GBIF @gbif.org · 15d

The GBIF Guide for Publishing Biological Survey Data has been released! 📊✨

This guide supports ecologists, monitoring professionals and data managers publish survey data to GBIF using the Darwin Core standard and FAIR data principles.

🔎 gbif.link/SAM_guide

@heathnecologist.bsky.social

blue graphic depicting various biological drawings including a flamingo, a tree, a map of the world and fish

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Kyle Copas @kylecopas.bsky.social · 15d

The administration is hedging its bets on different modes of mass death: why limit yourself to the next pandemic or untreated mortal disease (to say nothing of mere neglect and poverty) when you can have nuclear disaster, too?

Such generosity, this utter emptiness of human compassion and care!

Elizabeth Kolbert @elizkolbert.bsky.social · 15d

"Neither the companies nor the administration has shared the science backing the claim that recycling nuclear fuel at commercial scale using current industry techniques is safe or practical."

Trump’s nuclear ‘renaissance’ rests on risky plan for radioactive waste

The administration goes all-in on recycling spent fuel, despite a history of spectacular mishaps, including an unintentional atom bomb.

wapo.st

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Elizabeth Kolbert @elizkolbert.bsky.social · 15d

"Neither the companies nor the administration has shared the science backing the claim that recycling nuclear fuel at commercial scale using current industry techniques is safe or practical."

Trump’s nuclear ‘renaissance’ rests on risky plan for radioactive waste

The administration goes all-in on recycling spent fuel, despite a history of spectacular mishaps, including an unintentional atom bomb.

wapo.st

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Reposted by Kyle Copas

Lumo @asklumo.proton.me · 16d

Act quickly; you have until November 3, 2025, to let Microsoft know that you don't want your LinkedIn data used for AI training.

You're opted in by default... Head to Account - Settings & Privacy > Data privacy > Data for Generative AI Improvement & toggle the switch off.

"Data for Generative AI Improvement

Can LinkedIn and its affiliates use your personal data and content you create on LinkedIn to train generative AI models that create content?

Use my data for training content creation AI models"

The toggle is set to off

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