Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Maryn McKenna @marynmck.bsky.social · 4h

This may still be true but my knowledge is long out of date: “near” used to be a valid addition to UK mailing addresses. Like, if you lived in a tiny hamlet, near a bigger village, “Bassingbourn near Shirley” would get your mail to you.

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Carl Zimmer @carlzimmer.com · 7h

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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Steve Mullis @stevemullis.net · 13h

The documentary "Stripped for Parts: American Journalism on the Brink," about how Hedge fund Alden Global Capital is gobbling up newspapers across America and gutting them, is available to watch on PBS.

Stripped for Parts: American Journalism on the Brink

A handful of journalists rebel against a hedge fund that is gutting newspapers nationwide.

www.pbs.org

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Maryn McKenna @marynmck.bsky.social · 13h

I saw some in a Maine exhibit last year. I weave so I understand a little about interlacement and tension, and it was just so thrilling.

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Maryn McKenna @marynmck.bsky.social · 13h

Among today's Macarthur Fellow honorees! Jeremy Frey, the Maine artist and Passamaquoddy tribe member who is bringing indigenous basketry traditions into the modern art world.

Such a brilliant choice. His work is breathtaking. All Mainers should be pleased.

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John Holmes @jhaue.bsky.social · 1d

The rise of ‘nightmare bacteria’: antimicrobial resistance in six charts
Data reveal how the global challenge to reduce deaths and infections from drug-resistant bacteria is not going according to plan.
www.nature.com/articles/d41...

The rise of ‘nightmare bacteria’: antimicrobial resistance in six charts

Data reveal how the global challenge to reduce deaths and infections from drug-resistant bacteria is not going according to plan.

www.nature.com

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Maryn McKenna @marynmck.bsky.social · 1d

In old hotels you had to leave your key at the desk when you went out so you couldn’t skip without losing your stuff.

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The Onion @theonion.com · 1d

Health Experts Recommend Standing Up At Desk, Leaving Office, Never Coming Back https://theonion.com/health-experts-recommend-standing-up-at-desk-leaving-o-1819577456/

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Maryn McKenna @marynmck.bsky.social · 1d

No, no, I'm with you

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Maryn McKenna @marynmck.bsky.social · 1d

The Grateful Dead, but only before, like, 1975
Phish, but only live

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Maryn McKenna @marynmck.bsky.social · 1d

I mean, I want to agree (no hot wings, mfers, because no chile), but isn't this the colonialist project in miniature? Enjoy the products produced by conquered people; the status of the people themselves is considered irrelevant.

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Maryn McKenna @marynmck.bsky.social · 1d

A Love Supreme
The Koln Concert

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Jason L. Schwartz @jasonlschwartz.bsky.social · 5d

It doesn’t make a lot of sense that FDA is convening VRBPAC next week to make recommendations on the 2026 Southern Hemisphere flu vaccine strains when they didn’t have them meet last spring to consider the flu vaccine composition for the US itself this fall/winter. www.fda.gov/advisory-com...

VRBPAC October 9, 2025 Meeting Announcement

On October 9, 2025, the Committee will meet in open session to discuss and make recommendations on the following separate topics. Topic I: the strain selection for the influenza virus vaccines for the...

www.fda.gov

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Maryn McKenna @marynmck.bsky.social · 5d

Did anyone mention The Cadfael Chronicles? A mystery series centered on a Welsh monastery in the 1100s during the war between King Steven and Empress Matilda, by Ellis Peters/Edith Pargeter. Made into a TV series with Sir Derek Jacobi, was a PBS staple back in the day.

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Physicians for a Healthy Democracy @physiciandemocracy.medsky.social · 6d

www.mississippifreepress.org/mississippi-...

Mississippi Baby Dies of Whooping Cough Amid Rising Cases

A baby in Mississippi has died of whooping cough for the first time since 2012. The baby was less than two months old—too young for vaccination.

www.mississippifreepress.org

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Scott McGrath @smcgrath.phd · 6d

🧪 This network meta-analysis of 56 trials confirms the efficacy of all obesity medications.

Tirzepatide and semaglutide were most potent, showing >10% weight loss and benefits for complications like heart failure and diabetes, urging individualized therapy.
#MedSky

A systematic review and meta-analysis of the efficacy and safety of pharmacological treatments for obesity in adults - Nature Medicine

A systematic review and meta-analysis of clinical trials investigating the efficacy and safety of obesity management medications reported tirzepatide and semaglutide to be the most effective in…

www.nature.com

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Maryn McKenna @marynmck.bsky.social · 6d

Oh look, AMR
warriors, a beer for us.

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Eileen Clancy 🧿 @clancyny.bsky.social · 8d

Researchers estimate that hurricanes and tropical storms* contributed to more deaths (3.6–5.2 million) than all motor vehicle accidents (2.0 million), infectious diseases (1.9 million) or U.S. battle deaths (1.3 million) from 1930 to 2015.**

*(TCs i.e. tropical cyclones)
**(CONUS = lower 48 states)

Seth Edmunds @phealthy.bsky.social · 8d

This is pretty crazy, study models millions of indirect hurricane deaths potentially driving/contributing to the life expectancy disparity in the US:

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

a, Total incidence of TCs on CONUS by month. Bar height is sum of average maximum wind speeds for all state-by-storm events. Colours correspond to decades. b, Stacked overlapping excess mortality responses to each storm for all of CONUS. Each storm response aggregates state-level responses nationally, accounting for state-level population and adaptation. Outline colours correspond to the decade when the TC occurred. The upper envelope is the total estimated mortality burden for CONUS resulting from all TCs occurring during the prior 172 months (see Supplementary Fig. 3). c, Official deaths directly resulting from TCs for each month according to NOAA National Hurricane Center and NOAA National Weather Service6,7. The y-axis scale is the same for b and c.

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JVG 骨 @jasonv.bsky.social · 8d

Absolute all-timer sentence in today's @nytimes.com

"some legal experts have called it a crime to summarily execute civilians" says today's New York Times, continuing their long tradition of whitewashing fascism

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Maryn McKenna @marynmck.bsky.social · 8d

If you haven’t noticed, @edzitron.com is THE sharpest analyst of the underlying economics of AI and its almost-inevitable failure. Go to his site, read everything he’s said.

Ed Zitron @edzitron.com · 9d

So this is a very, very desperate move - a very silly app of generative AI slop that will be incredibly expensive for OpenAI to run, and on top of it, they're requiring rights holders to *opt out* once they see violations. You can't do it in advance. They're washed, and trying everything to survive.

OpenAI's New Sora Video Generator to Require Copyright Holders to Opt Out
Executives at the startup notified talent agencies and studios over the last week

OpenAI doesn't plan to accept a blanket opt-out across all of an artist or studio's work, the people familiar with the new Sora tool said. Instead, it sent some talent agencies a link to report violations that they or their clients discover.
"If there are folks that do not want to be part of this ecosystem, we can work with them," Varun Shetty, VP of media partnerships at OpenAI, said of guardrails the company built into its image generation tool.
OpenAI released the initial version of Sora last December, allowing users to create high-definition video clips from text prompts.

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The Wall Street Journal @wsj.com · 9d

Exclusive: OpenAI is planning to release a new version of its Sora video generator, which creates videos featuring copyrighted material unless copyright holders opt out of having their work appear.

OpenAI’s New Sora Video Generator to Require Copyright Holders to Opt Out

Executives at the startup notified talent agencies and studios over the last week.

on.wsj.com

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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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Matthew @dlthings.bsky.social · 11d

# of paragraphs for news orgs to mention there's no discernable need to deploy troops to Portland, Oregon

The Guardian: 1st paragraph
BBC: 4th paragraph
AP: 5th paragraph
Time: 6th paragraph
Politico: 8th paragraph
NPR: 9th paragraph
CNN: 10th paragraph
NBC: 12th paragraph
Fox News: never mentions

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Johnny Normality (Spooky Mode) @probgobl.in · 11d

Admittedly, he had a lot of books to do it across, but I can't think of anyone who articulated the human condition as well as Pratchett did.

Tony Cross @lokster71.bsky.social · 11d

There's Terry Pratchett quote for everything

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Maryn McKenna @marynmck.bsky.social · 11d

The NYT put several of its science people on the WH Tylenol presser last week and that was a notable shift.

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