Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Mark D. Garfinkel, Ph.D. @mdgarfinkel.bsky.social · 5m

Whoa — they did that in connection with a football game??

Mark D. Garfinkel, Ph.D. @mdgarfinkel.bsky.social · 20m

My guess is that Ludacris didn’t perform for free.

But the claim all those NCAA Division I football & men’s basketball programs make is that they spur alumni loyalty donations & bring in tv revenue — but to the school or to the program? I think they’re diversions from teaching, learning & research.

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Mark D. Garfinkel, Ph.D. @mdgarfinkel.bsky.social · 1h

IMO the mistake is paying _any_ football coach $30 million/year of state taxpayers’ money.

How many science faculty startup packages could that finance? How many minority graduate students could it support now that “DEI funds” have been cancelled from #NIH & #NSF grants? Or research bridge funds?

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Mark D. Garfinkel, Ph.D. @mdgarfinkel.bsky.social · 1h

Fascinating field chosen for this year’s #Nobel in #chemistry

If you’re keeping score, seven of the nine science laureates are Americans, two are Japanese (one trained in the US), and one Australian. Of the Americans three are #immigrants.

Take that, Kapo Miller!

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/08/s...

Nobel Prize in Chemistry Awarded to Architects of Metal-Organic Frameworks

www.nytimes.com

Reposted by Mark D. Garfinkel, Ph.D.

David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · 8h

If we look at 20th-century China and Germany as examples, it actually takes a few decades to recover from the type of self-harm that the US is currently inflicting on itself.

And he called US President Donald Trump's efforts to reshape American science and health policy -- including mass firings to government scientists and steep slashes to research budgets -- an "immensely serious problem."

"This will cripple much of United States science research," he told AFP, adding that he knew people who have taken enormous funding hits.

"It is going to be disastrous if this continues," Clarke said. "Assuming that the present administration finally comes to an end, it may take a decade to get back to where we were, say, half a year ago."

"It's a huge problem" that's "entirely beyond any understanding of anyone who is a scientist," he said.

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Mark D. Garfinkel, Ph.D. @mdgarfinkel.bsky.social · 12h

Having read a bit about many different religions’ views on reproduction and biology (and as a card-carrying geneticist), I can tell you they’re all nuts — each uniquely so.

But the next time someone talks about “ensoulment at fertilization,” ask them to explain what happens with identical twins.

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Mark D. Garfinkel, Ph.D. @mdgarfinkel.bsky.social · 13h

What was his answer? Is Tapper waiting for a White House counsel to edit out all the incriminating bits, as they did with John Bolton’s book?

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Mark D. Garfinkel, Ph.D. @mdgarfinkel.bsky.social · 17h

Back in the early 2000s, when Cell Press was busy spinning off new titles and the 9/11 attacks were fresh, a Fly Meeting friend & I brainstormed new journal titles. “Terrorist Cell” and “Prison Cell” came to mind. Now, 23 years later, we have ICE, the prison-industrial complex & Alligator Alcatraz.

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Mark D. Garfinkel, Ph.D. @mdgarfinkel.bsky.social · 18h

I think Mr. Hall is being too optimistic.

The real US economic story by 2026 will be net _emigration._ US citizens will leave for safer, more-stable countries. There will be both “brain drain” (already being felt in science) & capital flight as affluent people transfer assets offshore.

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Mark D. Garfinkel, Ph.D. @mdgarfinkel.bsky.social · 18h

It may not what you’re implying.

I think it’s because, ultimately, Stephen Miller is expendable. When the time comes he’ll be thrown under a bus (or into a gulag of his own making) and Trump will disavow all knowledge of the man.

Mark D. Garfinkel, Ph.D. @mdgarfinkel.bsky.social · 19h

And, unlike the Holocaust that ended in 1945, there are still LOTS of survivors of the Jim Crow era who are able and willing to tell their stories.

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Mark D. Garfinkel, Ph.D. @mdgarfinkel.bsky.social · 19h

Not that they need any help with the dictator’s wishlist, but…

Delete Article III.

Delete the following amendments: the 1st-10th, the 13th-15th, the 16th, the 19th, the 25th, and — especially — the 22nd.

List of amendments subject to deletion may be amended at any time.

Reposted by Mark D. Garfinkel, Ph.D.

The Bulwark @thebulwark.com · 19h

On the question of "legal orders" in the most technical sense www.thebulwark.com/p/legal-orde...

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Mark D. Garfinkel, Ph.D. @mdgarfinkel.bsky.social · 19h

It takes _years_ for class-action lawsuits to percolate through the courts. The damage done to employees, to the work of federal agencies, to the reputation of government, will be irreversible long before the suits are resolved.

“Everything is proceeding as I have foreseen.” — Emperor Vought

h0pe4dfuture.bsky.social @h0pe4dfuture.bsky.social · 19h

Trump's ignorance of employment law, and especially the regulations applicable to federal hires, will lead him to lose class action lawsuit after lawsuit.

The New Republic @newrepublic.com · 22h

When asked why only some people would receive backpay, Trump simply replied, “You’re gonna have to figure it out.” It’s not clear how the president intends to deal with those he believes do not deserve pay. trib.al/6HrmHY0

Mark D. Garfinkel, Ph.D. @mdgarfinkel.bsky.social · 19h

It takes _years_ for class-action lawsuits to percolate through the courts. The damage done to employees, to the work of federal agencies, to the reputation of government, will be irreversible long before the suits are resolved.

“Everything is proceeding as I have foreseen.” — Emperor Vought

Mark D. Garfinkel, Ph.D. @mdgarfinkel.bsky.social · 19h

If you are a news-media reader or viewer, boycott advertisers in addition to complaining to the owner or broadcaster.

If you are a shareholder in the corporate parent, call or email “Investor Relations” and let them know your opinion — AND that you vote your proxy.

Mark D. Garfinkel, Ph.D. @mdgarfinkel.bsky.social · 21h

In America’s Deep South, this use of “transformative” would be understood as equivalent to “bless your heart.”

(IYKYK.)

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Mark D. Garfinkel, Ph.D. @mdgarfinkel.bsky.social · 22h

“It’s been done before,” he said in his drollest monotone.

Reposted by Mark D. Garfinkel, Ph.D.

The New York Times @nytimes.com · 23h

Breaking News: Saul Zabar, who over seven decades made the Upper West Side food emporium Zabar’s a New York institution, is dead at 97. nyti.ms/42qGl2n

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Reposted by Mark D. Garfinkel, Ph.D.

AAUP @aaup.org · 23h

NO LOYALTY OATHS IN HIGHER ED!

Trump's attacks on our universities are an attempt to consolidate power. This loyalty oath directly undermines our right to academic freedom & goes against every democratic principle our country should uphold.

Please click below, sign, & share.

#DefendHigherEd

University Administrations: Reject Trump's "Loyalty Oath" Compacts

The Trump administration is trying to blackmail schools to let him and his unqualified bureaucrats run our schools. They want to dictate what schools teach, who they admit and hire, what researchers s...

actionnetwork.org

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Mark D. Garfinkel, Ph.D. @mdgarfinkel.bsky.social · 1d

Roger Sperry was also on vacation back in 1981 or 1982, the year he won the Nobel for his “split-brain” studies. He was hunting for ammonite fossils, IIRC.

Sperry wasn’t “off the grid” because in those years we didn’t really _have_ a grid.

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Reposted by Mark D. Garfinkel, Ph.D.

Jeremy Berg @jeremymberg.bsky.social · 1d

My quote of the day

In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

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Reposted by Mark D. Garfinkel, Ph.D.

The Economist @economist.com · 1d

“When attacks against Jews are rationalised, it creates an environment in which society becomes inured to the likelihood of violence,” warns Sir David Omand. The threats extend beyond antisemitism

Rising antisemitism reflects wider social ills, says Britain’s former counter-terrorism co-ordinator

Sir David Omand on why social cohesion in the face of extremism is a security imperative

econ.st

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Mark D. Garfinkel, Ph.D. @mdgarfinkel.bsky.social · 1d

There are two reasons why I gave up on CNN 18 months ago. That guy Jennings’ inane, smug, self-important bloviation was one. The other was when DJT steamrolled Kaitlin Collins during a one-on-one town hall (at which there was a highly biased studio audience). Haven’t really missed their reporting.

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Mark D. Garfinkel, Ph.D. @mdgarfinkel.bsky.social · 2d

If you live in #Birmingham #Alabama, look up your registration and remember to #vote in tomorrow’s municipal runoff elections.

It’s even more important who sits on your local school board or county commission than who is sent to Washington next year. Besides, this_ election _will_ be held tomorrow!