Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Matt Reece @mreece.bsky.social · 2d

I barely restrained myself from replying "what, they gave you a time turner?" the first time I got such an email, before learning it was Harvard policy to allow it. Also, a number of students have asked me to record lectures, explicitly saying they would never attend my class but would watch video.

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Matt Reece @mreece.bsky.social · 2d

The rules have tightened, but it's true: students would tell me they were taking another class meeting at the same time as mine, or that they would be in Europe for months training for an athletic competition, and when I objected, would tell me it wasn't up to me. Deans let them do it.

Kathleen Bachynski @bachynski.bsky.social · 2d

This sentence was a bit of a record scratch moment for me. “Harvard may be partly to blame for encouraging student absences, with a policy that allows students to enroll in two classes that meet at the same time.”

Harvard Students Skip Class and Still Get High Grades, Faculty Say

www.nytimes.com

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Matt Reece @mreece.bsky.social · 9d

It just keeps going. As if Harvard hadn’t already betrayed its principles over and over to placate them.

Federal government formally recommends barring Harvard from receiving federal funds - The Boston Globe

The university has 20 days to notify the HHS civil rights office of whether it will contest the move.

www.bostonglobe.com

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Matt Reece @mreece.bsky.social · 14d

But skyr is, arguably, made mostly of skyrmions.

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Matt Reece @mreece.bsky.social · 22d

Something I’ve heard that isn’t in the Crimson article: some grants received reinstatement notices after the court decision, but then received new termination notices giving different reasons for termination than the original notices. They are not planning to pay Harvard what they legally owe.

Two Weeks After Court Ruling, Harvard’s Researchers Are Still Waiting for Grants | News | The Harvard Crimson

Nearly two weeks after a federal judge ruled the Trump administration’s freeze on Harvard’s federal funding was unconstitutional, Harvard’s researchers are still waiting to get their money back.

www.thecrimson.com

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Matt Reece @mreece.bsky.social · 26d

The Middleman.

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Reposted by Matt Reece

Steve McPherson @steventurous.bsky.social · 27d

Melissa Hortman practiced politics the right way.

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Matt Reece @mreece.bsky.social · 28d

I wonder if the agencies can issue the money, or if like the earlier NIH grants the money will be stopped by DOGE even if the agency releases it.

Harvard Was Cleared To Get Some Federal Funds. Then DOGE Stepped In. | News | The Harvard Crimson

DOGE officials have used their control of a federal payment system to keep money away from Harvard — even after a judge’s ruling required the National Institutes of Health to let some grants start flo...

www.thecrimson.com

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Reposted by Matt Reece

Michelle Wu 吳弭 @wutrain.bsky.social · Sep 9

Get out and vote TODAY, Boston! 🗳️

Check where you vote at wheredoivotema.com and find more voting info at michelleforboston.com/vote.

Purple and blue graphic with pictures of Mayor Michelle Wu and voters with text: It’s Election Day. Polling locations in Boston are open 7:00 a.m. - 8:00 p.m.
GOTV
Find voting info at michelleforboston.com/vote.

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Matt Reece @mreece.bsky.social · Sep 9

Same coauthors as the psychology paper about the psychological problems of his critics, I think.

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Reposted by Matt Reece

tweety fish @sifu.tweety.fish · Sep 4

accurate depiction of yudkowsky in case anyone is confused

eliezer yudkowsky as modok as the paperclip optimizer ranting about, as you might imagine, paperclips. done in the style of jack kirby by the inestimable john13.bsky.social

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Matt Reece @mreece.bsky.social · Sep 4

Because I see a lot of misunderstandings in replies to the OP, let me add that ML is used widely, and usefully, in science the DOE funds and these days ML is often branded as AI. What the Secretary refers to is absolutely in the DOE’s science mission. But the DOE is not working normally.

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Matt Reece @mreece.bsky.social · Sep 4

I know many people who work every day on understanding dark matter, including early-career researchers whose salaries depend on DOE grants that the DOE is several months late in issuing. I guess the Secretary has decided to do it all himself.

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Matt Reece @mreece.bsky.social · Sep 3

History class, too, what is this “proposition that all people are created canonically isomorphic”?

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Matt Reece @mreece.bsky.social · Sep 2

Back of the envelope, such a PBH would have formed when the temperature of the universe was ~ 60 keV, so a bit after BBN. My gut feeling is that it's hard to get big perturbations appearing at such late times without messing anything up that we already know, but maybe if they're rare enough?

Matt Reece @mreece.bsky.social · Sep 1

There’s something pleasing about anagrammatic replacement.

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Matt Reece @mreece.bsky.social · Aug 27

I want to vote him out, but there doesn’t seem to be a serious candidate running against him.

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Matt Reece @mreece.bsky.social · Aug 20

In the context of [waves hands] all this, maybe someone should have had second thoughts about the optics of this? Do not want.

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Matt Reece @mreece.bsky.social · Aug 18

How can anyone write this without mentioning one of Steve Ditko's most famous creations? This is the article visible in an early scene of a movie to foreshadow the horror that awaits, right?

One Maine scientist can’t sleep at night because he’s thinking about how this creature could unlock human regeneration - The Boston Globe

Could a slimy, cute little specimen change modern medicine?

www.bostonglobe.com

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Matt Reece @mreece.bsky.social · Aug 14

Not the first time in the last ten years or so I’ve felt like we’re living in a Paul Verhoeven movie, but one of the most over the top.

geoffrey, 💀 mode @parsnip.bsky.social · Aug 14

they get snapped in on-the-nose satirical pictures in front of this mural so often you’d think they were posing for them

armed and masked cbp agents in full gear and masks, one dead center in an american flag mask , arrayed along an urban street corner in front of a red white and blue text mural. below is a chyron:
BREAKING NEWS
NEWSOM CALLS FOR SPECIAL ELECTION TO COUNTER TEXAS MAP
MSNBC

the mural, untitled (questions) by barbara kruger. the bold capitalized white text on a red background (except the museum name, which is on blue) reads:
MOCA at the GEFFEN CONTEMPORARY
WHO IS BEYOND THE LAW? WHO IS BOUGHT AND SOLD? WHO IS FREE TO CHOOSE? WHO DOES THE TIME? WHO FOLLOWS ORDERS? WHO SALUTES LONGEST? WHO PRAYS LOUDEST?WHO DIES FIRST? WHO LAUGHS LAST?

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Matt Reece @mreece.bsky.social · Aug 14

Tatte is, after all, a known purveyor of sandwiches.

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Matt Reece @mreece.bsky.social · Aug 7

Looking at my ballot, options for #Boston city councillor are the incumbent who wants to undo vital safety improvements on Tremont St by my home, someone who worked on the Trump campaign, and someone I can find literally no information about online. Leave it blank? Write in Keytar Bear? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

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Matt Reece @mreece.bsky.social · Jul 30

Absolutely appalling. I didn’t think I had a very rosy view of our institutions before, but they are all proving to be much more craven and willing to hurt vulnerable people than I thought possible.

Alexa Gagosz @alexagagosz.bsky.social · Jul 30

Brown also agreed to adopt Trump’s definitions of a male and female, which were laid out in an executive order in January, for women’s sports, programing, facilities, and housing.

www.bostonglobe.com/2025/07/30/m...

Brown University reaches agreement with Trump administration to restore federal research funding - The Boston Globe

The deal settles three open investigations into the university, and does not require the Ivy League institution to admit any wrongdoing or make a payment to the federal government.

www.bostonglobe.com

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Matt Reece @mreece.bsky.social · Jul 25

This is correct, it’s a basic mathematical fact. Assuming the sampling is actually random, N samples give a 1/sqrt(N) uncertainty, so 400 respondents give an answer accurate to 5%. It doesn’t matter if the population is 1000 or a million.

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Matt Reece @mreece.bsky.social · Jul 25

I wanted to object but then I remembered a big conference in Madrid that served a different preparation of gazpacho at lunch every day and I have to admit that was pretty exciting.

Brendel @brendelbored.bsky.social · Jul 24

I have probably a hundred college professors following me and 100% of them look like they work too much for too little money and the biggest excitement they get is having good soup

Tom Pepinsky @tompepinsky.com · Jul 24

What the fuck is this guy talking about?

You get the sense that perhaps deBoer has never been to a college in this U.S. before, or that he doesn't really know what a college is

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