Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Zoe McElligott

The Tennessee Holler @thetnholler.bsky.social · 3h

🏆 How does a comedy show have the best news research team? @thedailyshow.com

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Mark Peifer (He, him) @peiferlabunc.bsky.social · 5h

Deep dive by WRAL into the chaos of UNC's football program and our $30 million coach 1/n
www.wral.com/sports/belic...

Divided locker room, disastrous results: Players, parents blame Belichick culture for UNC problems

Multiple sources with knowledge of the inner workings of Bill Belichick's program say that UNC football's losses are a product of a divided locker room, a disorganized coaching staff and a failure to ...

www.wral.com

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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 5h

The elimination of USAID is a moral atrocity and all involved made a choice to enable, and then lie about, ending the lives of some of the most vulnerable people in the world.

MAE SOT, Thailand (AP) - Mohammed Taher clutched the lifeless body of his 2-year-old son and wept. Ever since his family's food rations stopped arriving at their internment camp in Myanmar in April, the father had watched helplessly as his once-vibrant baby boy weakened, suffering from diarrhea and begging for food.
On May 21, exactly two weeks after Taher's little boy died, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio sat before Congress and declared: "No one has died" because of his government's decision to gut its foreign aid program. Rubio also insisted: "No children are dying on my watch."
That, Taher says, "is a lie."

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Zoe McElligott @nanopharmnc.bsky.social · 5h

October 9th is the deadline for poster submissions for #WCBR2026 please share! www.winterbrain.org

one more day left for poster submissions to Winter Brain 2026

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Jack Jenkins @jackjenkins.me · 20h

Gonna be thinking about this lede for a minute.

(RNS) — Last month, the Rev. David Black stood in front of a Chicago-area U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility and spread his arms wide. Adorned in all black and wearing a clerical collar, the pastor looked up at a group of masked, heavily armed ICE agents on the roof and began to pray.

“I invited them to repentance,” Black, a minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA), said in an interview. “I basically offered an altar call. I invited them to come and receive that salvation, and be part of the kingdom that is coming.”

But when Black began to lower his arms a few seconds later, the agents responded to his spiritual plea by firing pepper balls, or chemical agents that cause eye irritation and respiratory distress, video footage shows. One struck Black in the head, exploding into a puff of white pepper smoke and forcing him to his knees. Fellow demonstrators rushed to his aid, and as the pastor rubbed his face in pain, the agents continued to fire.

“We could hear them laughing,” Black said.

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Zoe McElligott @nanopharmnc.bsky.social · 20h

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Bryan Roth @zenbrainest.bsky.social · 22h

www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Finally out!!

Psychedelic compounds directly excite 5-HT2A layer V medial prefrontal cortex neurons through 5-HT2A Gq activation - Translational Psychiatry

Translational Psychiatry - Psychedelic compounds directly excite 5-HT2A layer V medial prefrontal cortex neurons through 5-HT2A Gq activation

www.nature.com

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Zoe McElligott @nanopharmnc.bsky.social · 1d

Awe you're too kind Jody

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Neuropsychopharmacology @npp-journal.bsky.social · 2d

Big news at @npp-journal.bsky.social HQ 👇

We are thrilled to welcome @briannaegeorge.bsky.social as our new NPP Editorial Intern 🎉

We are looking forward to working with Dr. George and are excited to have such a fantastic addition to our team 🤩

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Harmit Singh Malik @harmitmalik.bsky.social · 3d

1937 Germany would like its propaganda machine back

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Drug Monkey @drugmonkey.bsky.social · 3d

This administration once claimed they were going to make sure grants were only funded on pure merit.

Mallory Harris, PhD @malar0ne.bsky.social · 3d

IMO this hasn't gotten enough attention: a recent memo at NIH announces that peer review will be devalued in determining which grants get funded, granting more power to political appointees to make decisions based on the admin's whims over scientific merit

kffhealthnews.org/news/article...

Changes at NIH Give Political Appointees Greater Power To Fund or Block Research - KFF Health News

The National Institutes of Health’s long-held standard of peer review for grantmaking has been subverted by President Donald Trump and NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya, who gave unprecedented power to po...

kffhealthnews.org

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Zoe McElligott @nanopharmnc.bsky.social · 3d

Had a really nice time at the #PainSocietyOfTheCarolinas annual meeting this weekend. I think I was the only basic scientist in the room but good to get outside of our microcosm every now and again. Great to make some connections with clinicians and a new running friend!

Dr George Washington Carver Park filled with edible treats

A little bit of the Asheville skyline with some trees

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Jess Calarco @jessicacalarco.com · 4d

Weaponized gratitude is a key tool in the abuser's toolkit. The goal is to convince the victim that they owe the abuser so much, they should feel guilty for wanting to complain.

Tweet from the VP:
Joy Reid has had such a good life in this country. It's been
overwhelmingly kind and gracious to her. She is far wealthier than most.
Yet she oozes with contempt.
My honest, non-trolling advice to Joy Reid is that you'd be a much
happier person if you showed a little gratitude

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Mark Peifer (He, him) @peiferlabunc.bsky.social · 4d

After a "suspension" of just a few days, UNC Professor Dwayne Dixon is re-instated, revealing the weakness of the fabricated issues used for the suspension. Here is his response. Stand up to the fascists--when we work together we can triumph.

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Jeff Sharlet @jeffsharlet.bsky.social · 4d

It appears that my employer, Dartmouth, one of the Trump 9, has said no to the compact. All the better given that our president is cited within it. But she’s saying no. Count the small victories when they come.

Office of the President
Dear Dartmouth community,

As many of you know, Dartmouth was one of nine universities asked by the White House to give feedback by Oct. 20 on a draft of its “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education.”

I am deeply committed to Dartmouth’s academic mission and values and will always defend our fierce independence.

You have often heard me say that higher education is not perfect and that we can do better. At the same time, we will never compromise our academic freedom and our ability to govern ourselves.

Best,
Sian Leah Beilock
President

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Monica Maalouf, MD @maaloufmd.bsky.social · 5d

My husband was detained by ICE today

Juan Muñoz, an American citizen, father of 2, and local government official, was peacefully protesting w. other elected officials. He was assaulted and taken away

I have had zero contact or updates since

#SOS
@duckworth.senate.gov @durbin.senate.gov

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Mark Laubach @marklaubach.bsky.social · 5d

I'm recruiting a PhD student to study how enkephalins affect cognitive processing in the rodent frontal cortex. The project uses pharmacology, multi-electrode recordings, and fiber photometry, and is funded by NIDA. Please share with trainees applying this cycle. Thanks!

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Tom Kash @superkash.bsky.social · 5d

1) exploring the role of CRFR1 in the LH in binge-like alcohol consumption. Interesting anatomy finding...anterior vs posterior differences led by post-doc Jobe Ritchie

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Lateral hypothalamus CRFR1 regulation of chronic binge drinking: divergence along anterior-posterior axis

Binge alcohol drinking increases the risk of developing an alcohol use disorder (AUD) and comorbid psychopathology. The lateral hypothalamus (LH) is a brain structure that integrates cognitive and sen...

www.biorxiv.org

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Tom Kash @superkash.bsky.social · 5d

2)A dive in to the impact of adolescent alcohol exposure on the
RSC and trace fear extinction led by post-doc Lisa Taxier

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Adolescent alcohol exposure disrupts extinction learning and retrosplenial cortex physiology in adult males

Adolescent binge drinking can lead to a myriad of issues later in life, including co-occurring diagnoses of Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD) and affective disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder (P...

www.biorxiv.org

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AZ Faust @azfaust.bsky.social · 5d

A couple of related-unrelated thoughts that have swirling in my head:

1. This is a bad time to become a new PI in the US. Probably the worst since WWII. If you're negotiating for a position, know your road is way harder than it was for the people on your TT committee. Negotiate accordingly.

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Chicken Puppet @chickenpuppet.online · 6d

I know these guys are all dumber than a sack of hammers, but it is fascinating to see the military decide “logistics are gay” in real time

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Karl Jacoby @karl-jacoby.bsky.social · 6d

Note that the Trump Administration is already going back to schools with whom it earlier reached "deals" (such as UPenn and Brown) for further concessions. Conceding to a bully has only emboldened them to make new demands.

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Drug Monkey @drugmonkey.bsky.social · 5d

More NIH chaos.

NICHD, NIMHD and NIAID Directors are all dismissed.

Princess Vimentin PhD | Cancer Biologist @princess-vimentin.bsky.social · 5d

Jeanne Marrazzo, director of NIAID, claimed that the Trump Administration’s actions
endangered research subjects, defied court orders & undermined vaccine research.

Earlier, Kennedy fired Susan Monarez of the CDC.

Resisting unethical policies costs you.

🧪🎁🔗
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/02/h...

Kennedy Fires N.I.H. Scientist Who Filed Whistle-Blower Complaint

www.nytimes.com

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David Bier @davidjbier.bsky.social · 5d

Holy hell. DHS just openly stated that its agents use “reasonable suspicion” to make ARRESTS. This is blatantly unconstitutional. The Supreme Court is clear that you need probable cause to arrest someone, as opposed to stop them to ask them a question or two. This is huge b/c…

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Zoe McElligott @nanopharmnc.bsky.social · 6d

congrats Ciaran!

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