Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Mark Scheuern

Blue Fairylicious Girl🧚 @bluesnowflake.bsky.social · 15d

Take two Tylenol & punch a Nazi in the morning

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Mark Scheuern @mgscheue.bsky.social · 17d

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Mark Scheuern @mgscheue.bsky.social · 17d

Cars and Coffee at Pasteiner’s, Birmingham Michigan.
#pasteiners #carsandcoffee #leicaq2monochrom

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Catherine Rampell @crampell.bsky.social · 19d

...

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Mark Scheuern @mgscheue.bsky.social · 27d

No, they definitely did not find fossils on Mars.

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Phil Plait @philplait.bsky.social · 28d

So what I glean about this Mars announcement is that chemicals were found on Mars that on Earth are due to life, and no one knows any other way to make them on Mars. However, this is very far from knowing they *were* made by life. Reminds me of phosphine on Venus; "we don't know" doesn't mean life.

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Acyn @acyn.bsky.social · 27d

AOC: Whether it is a member of congress, whether it is the President to assume and assert and cast blame when the FBI has failed to even apprehend the assailant, is absolutely an irresponsible action.

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Mark Scheuern @mgscheue.bsky.social · 27d

Though I have to say that it gives me strong motivation to try to learn things.

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Sean Carroll @seanmcarroll.bsky.social · 28d

Intriguing data from the Perseverance rover on Mars, but too soon to attribute it to the existence of life. Science takes time, that's okay.

Jennifer Ouellette @jenlucpiquant.bsky.social · 28d

Has Perseverance found a biosignature on Mars? It's complicated. Interpreting the data is tricky because other non-biological processes could account for the findings. arstechnica.com/science/2025...

Has Perseverance found a biosignature on Mars?

Interpreting the data is tricky because other non-biological processes could account for the findings.

arstechnica.com

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Sean Carroll @seanmcarroll.bsky.social · Aug 19

Reality avoidance is currently ascendant as a cultural strategy, but the opposition does have one lasting advantage: reality itself is always there, pushing back.

Zach Weinersmith @zachweinersmith.bsky.social · Aug 19

Most hopeful use of AI ? www.reddit.com/r/GROKvsMAGA...

GROKvsMAGA

GROK vs MAGA: When you believe the truth has a political agenda, even a chatbot becomes an enemy of the state.

www.reddit.com

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David Shiffman, Ph.D. 🦈 @whysharksmatter.bsky.social · Aug 19

Hey everybody! @drjuliawester.bsky.social and I have a new paper!

We surveyed over 800 scientists, science communicators, and science educators who use social media.

Conclusion: Scientists no longer find Twitter useful or pleasant, and many have switched to Bluesky! 🧪🌎🦑

doi.org/10.1093/icb/...

Scientists no Longer Find Twitter Professionally Useful, and have Switched to Bluesky

Synopsis. Social media has become widely used by the scientific community for a variety of professional uses, including networking and public outreach. For

doi.org

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Brian Tyler Cohen @briantylercohen.bsky.social · Aug 15

@gavinnewsom.bsky.social: "It's the rule of Don, no longer the rule of law. And people need to understand the lines that are being redrawn in Texas are not about party. They're about power. And you've got to meet fire with fire and power needs to be asserted in blue states, not just red states."

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Mark Scheuern @mgscheue.bsky.social · Aug 15

Are you really not able to understand that many people prefer the way 4o responds? It’s that simple. What’s actually good here, is that OpenAI listened.

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Alt National Park Service @altnps.bsky.social · Aug 11

First it was troops in L.A., sent to provoke and assault peaceful protesters under the banner of “immigration enforcement.” Now it’s troops in our capital to disappear the homeless. See the pattern? Sooner or later, the monster comes for us all.

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Mark Scheuern @mgscheue.bsky.social · Aug 6

What could possibly go wrong?

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Jeremy Cohen @jeremyfcohen.bsky.social · Aug 5

My prediction that by November it will no longer be possible to enter the United States to attend an academic conference is looking more plausible by the day.

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Jon Munitz @jonmunitz.bsky.social · Jul 24

Germany gave people €1,200/month no strings attached.

They kept working, slept better, switched to better jobs, and even gave more to others.

Turns out, when people aren’t drowning, they swim further.

#UBI doesn’t kill ambition, it frees it.

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Ron Filipkowski @ronfilipkowski.bsky.social · Jul 16

For Trump to go to these extremes to cover up the Epstein Files, including attacking his supporters and hanging his AG and FBI Director completely out to dry, the evidence against him must be incredibly incriminating. There is no other explanation that makes sense.

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Tim Onion @bencollins.bsky.social · Jul 15

I'd just like to point out how weird it is that places with hundreds or even thousands of reporters — the NYT, WaPo, CBS, NBC, AP, etc. — are all getting pummeled on every major story by the dozen computerboys at Wired. To fumble the bag this consistently is, at some point, cowardice and a choice.

WIRED @wired.com · Jul 15

NEW: Metadata from the “raw” Epstein prison video shows approximately 2 minutes and 53 seconds were removed from one of two stitched-together clips. The cut starts right at the “missing minute.”

The FBI's Jeffrey Epstein Prison Video Had Nearly 3 Minutes Cut Out

Metadata from the “raw” Epstein prison video shows approximately 2 minutes and 53 seconds were removed from one of two stitched-together clips. The cut starts right at the “missing minute.”

www.wired.com

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Radio Free America @radiofreeameri.ca · Jul 15

For MAGA, Ignorance is Strength.

For MAGA, Ignorance is Strength

Research cuts aren’t about shrinking government, they’re about killing science

paulkrugman.substack.com

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Sean Carroll @seanmcarroll.bsky.social · Jul 11

The world has been extraordinarily fortunate that no nuclear weapons have been used against cities since WWII. It’s becoming less and less likely that our fortunate streak will continue.

Scott Horton @robertscotthorton.bsky.social · Jul 9

The single most consistently under appreciated issue of the year. For all the recent focus on Iran, East Asia is where the world’s fastest nuclear-bomb buildups are unfolding. “A dangerous proliferation cascade may be about to break out, right in the shadow of Hiroshima," writes Ross Andersen.

The Nuclear Club Might Soon Double

As American power recedes, South Korea, Japan, and a host of other countries may pursue the bomb.

theatln.tc

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Filipe Campante @filipecampante.bsky.social · Jul 12

In short: the longest-lasting legacy of Trump is the complete and permanent destruction of the US government as a credible partner on anything. This will last long after Trump and MAGA are gone.

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Cara Giovanetti @idontevencara.bsky.social · Jul 11

Awful news: CMB-S4 is cancelled.

This experiment was massively exciting for the cosmology community. It would have told us about the state of the universe some 400,000 years after the big bang, at a level of precision we can now only dream about

⚛️🧪

www.science.org/content/arti...

U.S. abandons hunt for signal of cosmic inflation

Now-canceled CMB-S4 project would have searched the afterglow of the Big Bang for signs of cosmic exponential growth spurt

www.science.org

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Filipe Campante @filipecampante.bsky.social · Jul 5

That’s it. The rapid establishment of ICE as an all-purpose, super well-funded secret police with zero accountability is *the* main story right now.

Josh Marshall @joshtpm.bsky.social · Jul 5

Harvard sociologist/polisci Theda Skocpol explains how the vast expansion of ICE in BBB may be Trump's secret weapon to overcome the barriers of federalism and complete his autocratic takeover of the American state. (History from Germany & Hungary in 20s/30s.) talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/criti...

Critical Read About the BBB, Federalism and the Future of American Democracy

TPM Reader TS (Harvard sociologist/political scientist Theda Skocpol) and I often compared...

talkingpointsmemo.com

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