Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Naomi Fraga @naomibot.bsky.social · 15d

The more I hike this road the more and more I want to proselytize for chaparral love ❤️

I am pretty sure this California towhee sitting on a San Gabriel scrub oak is feeling it with me.

2 7 160

Naomi Fraga @naomibot.bsky.social · 16d

These are my fall colors 😀

1 13

Naomi Fraga @naomibot.bsky.social · 16d

I overheard someone say the thing they didn’t like about living in CA was the lack of “seasons”. I didn’t want to be rude, but I wanted to say that maybe haven’t been paying close enough attention. Go outside, touch some grass & maybe a buckwheat. I’ll forgive you if you don’t touch the poison oak.🍂

3 4 33

Reposted by Naomi Fraga

Olivia Guest · Ολίβια Γκεστ @olivia.science · Sep 6

Finally! 🤩 Our position piece: Against the Uncritical Adoption of 'AI' Technologies in Academia:
doi.org/10.5281/zeno...

We unpick the tech industry’s marketing, hype, & harm; and we argue for safeguarding higher education, critical
thinking, expertise, academic freedom, & scientific integrity.
1/n

Abstract: Under the banner of progress, products have been uncritically adopted or
even imposed on users — in past centuries with tobacco and combustion engines, and in
the 21st with social media. For these collective blunders, we now regret our involvement or
apathy as scientists, and society struggles to put the genie back in the bottle. Currently, we
are similarly entangled with artificial intelligence (AI) technology. For example, software updates are rolled out seamlessly and non-consensually, Microsoft Office is bundled with chatbots, and we, our students, and our employers have had no say, as it is not
considered a valid position to reject AI technologies in our teaching and research. This
is why in June 2025, we co-authored an Open Letter calling on our employers to reverse
and rethink their stance on uncritically adopting AI technologies. In this position piece,
we expound on why universities must take their role seriously toa) counter the technology
industry’s marketing, hype, and harm; and to b) safeguard higher education, critical
thinking, expertise, academic freedom, and scientific integrity. We include pointers to
relevant work to further inform our colleagues.

Figure 1. A cartoon set theoretic view on various terms (see Table 1) used when discussing the superset AI
(black outline, hatched background): LLMs are in orange; ANNs are in magenta; generative models are
in blue; and finally, chatbots are in green. Where these intersect, the colours reflect that, e.g. generative adversarial network (GAN) and Boltzmann machine (BM) models are in the purple subset because they are
both generative and ANNs. In the case of proprietary closed source models, e.g. OpenAI’s ChatGPT and
Apple’s Siri, we cannot verify their implementation and so academics can only make educated guesses (cf.
Dingemanse 2025). Undefined terms used above: BERT (Devlin et al. 2019); AlexNet (Krizhevsky et al.
2017); A.L.I.C.E. (Wallace 2009); ELIZA (Weizenbaum 1966); Jabberwacky (Twist 2003); linear discriminant analysis (LDA); quadratic discriminant analysis (QDA).

Table 1. Below some of the typical terminological disarray is untangled. Importantly, none of these terms
are orthogonal nor do they exclusively pick out the types of products we may wish to critique or proscribe.

Protecting the Ecosystem of Human Knowledge: Five Principles

96 1.6K 3.1K

Reposted by Naomi Fraga

Patrick Donnelly @bitterwaterblue.bsky.social · Aug 29

I fired up the old newsletter machine for the first time in a while. In it, I take a lay of the land of the Western public lands extraction boom. TLDR: it's chaos.

Read more: sageandsand.substack.com/p/sage-and-s...

4 10

Reposted by Naomi Fraga

Oregon State University Botany and Plant Pathology @osubpp.bsky.social · Aug 6

The Department of Botany and Plant Pathology at Oregon State University is Hiring!

We are searching for a Director of the Oregon State University Herbarium and applications are welcomed at the ranks of assistant, associate, or full professor.

Department of Botany and Plant Pathology at Oregon State University is hiring a Directory of the Herbarium

1 110 83

Reposted by Naomi Fraga

Nick Haddad @nickhaddad.bsky.social · Aug 4

More bad news for butterflies. Our new paper led by Wendy Leuenberger shows common species are declining even more rapidly than rare ones. @ZipkinLab

Three decades of declines restructure butterfly communities in the Midwestern United States | PNAS www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2501340122

Three decades of declines restructure butterfly communities in the Midwestern United States | PNAS

Insects are declining worldwide. These declines have been documented across taxonomic groups and are worrisome given ecosystem services provided by...

www.pnas.org

6 90 160

Naomi Fraga @naomibot.bsky.social · Aug 3

It's striking how "wildflower" is often used as a pejorative; a way to dismiss biodiversity as insignificant. The disconnect between humans & nature is fundamentally linked to our inaction on climate. The magnitude of ignorance is well illustrated in this cartoon, w/ the original by its side.

2 7

Naomi Fraga @naomibot.bsky.social · Aug 3

The piece was shared on X and further illuminates what a dumpster fire platform it is. Comments from seemingly real people overwhelmingly call for the active harm of Tiehm's buckwheat. From "just move it" to "herbicide it" to "its just a wildflower".

1 1 8

Naomi Fraga @naomibot.bsky.social · Aug 3

In a time where a new crisis seems to drop every min due to the current political regime, two crises remain at center of all life on earth: biodiversity & climate. Our inability to plan, prioritize & rein in consumption leads us to a false choice between the existence of a whole species and a mine.

Commentary: A climate-saving lithium mine could doom an endangered desert flower

The dilemma at Nevada's Rhyolite Ridge offers a preview of the hard choices ahead.

www.latimes.com

4 8 32

Naomi Fraga @naomibot.bsky.social · Aug 2

This story is not new but a presentation at #Botany2025 raised awareness on the impact of avocado production on biodiversity. U.S. demand is driving deforestation in rich Mexican cloud forests which also support monarch butterflies. www.nytimes.com/2023/11/28/u...

Americans Love Avocados. It’s Killing Mexico’s Forests. (Published 2023)

www.nytimes.com

3 23 64

Naomi Fraga @naomibot.bsky.social · Aug 1

The story of our fight to save Tiehm’s buckwheat continues. “There’s a real tension there, where we need to avert the worst of the climate crisis. But in doing so, we can cause real harm to ecosystems,”story by @sammyroth.bsky.social @latimes.com

www.latimes.com/environment/...

Commentary: A climate-saving lithium mine could doom an endangered desert flower

The dilemma at Nevada's Rhyolite Ridge offers a preview of the hard choices ahead.

www.latimes.com

1 2 18

Naomi Fraga @naomibot.bsky.social · Jul 30

My talk is today Aug 30 at 3pm in Conservation Biology III in Smoketree C.

Naomi Fraga @naomibot.bsky.social · Jul 28

I'm almost ready to upload my #Botany2025 talk. Mining for the Renewable Energy Transition Threatens Plant Diversity. Its a not so cheery topic, but an urgent one. How can scientists prevent extinction in the face of accelerated mining and does a just energy transition include biodiversity?

my title slide with the presentation title "Mining for the Renewable Energy Transition Threatens Plant Diversity" and a picture of Tiehm's buckwheat

1 6

Reposted by Naomi Fraga

Faith Kearns, Ph.D. @fkearns.bsky.social · Jul 28

The West’s data centers suck (water and power). Lots of great information and visualizations here from @landdesk.bsky.social ‪@highcountrynews.org‬ www.hcn.org/issues/57-8/...

The West's data centers suck (water and power) - High Country News

From simple searches to chatGPT, the big digital buildup threatens the grid and water supplies.

www.hcn.org

1 11 27

Naomi Fraga @naomibot.bsky.social · Jul 28

Above Palm Springs is the NE face of the San Jacinto Mountains, the steepest escarpment in the continental US rising from 800 to 10,834 feet in 7 horizontal mi. A nice way to get your heart rate up in the morning! I am awake and ready for #Botany2025.

1 2 22

Naomi Fraga @naomibot.bsky.social · Jul 28

I'm almost ready to upload my #Botany2025 talk. Mining for the Renewable Energy Transition Threatens Plant Diversity. Its a not so cheery topic, but an urgent one. How can scientists prevent extinction in the face of accelerated mining and does a just energy transition include biodiversity?

6 21

Naomi Fraga @naomibot.bsky.social · Jul 27

Hey #Botany2025! The California Botanic Garden is only a 1 hour drive from the convention center and attendees get free admission when showing their badge at the ticket kiosk. It’s a botanists paradise, the perfect side trip while you are here! Don’t miss the buckwheats in bloom!

13 43

Reposted by Naomi Fraga

Jesús Martínez-Gómez @jesusgm.bsky.social · Jul 25

A little belated but I've started a faculty position at Ecology, Evolution and Marine Biology department at @ucsantabarbara.bsky.social. I'm absolutely stoked! I'll be recruiting at all levels and will be at #Botany2025

Reach out!

www.martinezgomezlab.com

Martinez-Gomez Lab

Plant Evo-Devo

www.martinezgomezlab.com

14 54 180

Naomi Fraga @naomibot.bsky.social · Jul 26

I am excited to welcome #Botany2025 to my big backyard in the California desert. I kicked off the conference with a field trip up the Palm Springs tramway to explore the beautiful flora of the San Jacinto Mountains. I hope everyone enjoys Palm Springs!

1 9 59

Reposted by Naomi Fraga

Dr. Hilary Rose Dawson @hilaryrosed.bsky.social · Jul 20

One week until #Botany2025! Check out the (unofficial) starter pack below to follow along. Let me know in the replies if you're attending and would like to be added.

go.bsky.app/Gu9T4st

11 17 31

Naomi Fraga @naomibot.bsky.social · Jul 4

Each year we trek out the Death Valley region to monitor the Amargosa Niterwort. These rare alkali wetland plants like it hot 🔥 and July is peak season. To accommodate working in extreme temps we start our day at first light to take advantage of the cool morning hours (about 80° F).

3 23

Naomi Fraga @naomibot.bsky.social · Jun 24

In the face of mounting threats, we are in a race to document the rare plants of NV. We’re using remote sensing to identify previously undocumented pops of rare plants in alkali wetlands. Spiranthes infernalis is now known from 3 new locations, unfortunately, all are highly threatened.

6 29

Naomi Fraga @naomibot.bsky.social · Jun 19

Thank you @alanhalaly.bsky.social @reviewjournal.com for covering the potential devastation to a rare plant population in the path of the Greenlink West Transmission Line. My student, Chloe Novak has been collecting data to shed light on this issue. www.reviewjournal.com/business/ene...

A flower could slow construction of NV Energy’s costly transmission line

In rural Nevada, a battle is brewing over whether the state has an obligation to protect the sodaville milkvetch flower.

www.reviewjournal.com

1 3 13

Naomi Fraga @naomibot.bsky.social · Jun 13

I had the opportunity to speak with @sammyroth.bsky.social from the @latimes.com about the lithium dilemma on the Boiling Point Podcast. Listen as we discuss the risks to biodiversity and Nevada, a special place that had been deemed a sacrifice zone. boiling-point.simplecast.com/episodes/the... 🎧

The Lithium Dilemma at Rhyolite Ridge, Part 1 | Boiling Point

Sammy Roth travels to Esmeralda County, Nevada, to meet Naomi Fraga, a botany professor at Claremont Graduate University, and see the endangered Tiehm’s buckwheat up close. The wildflower stands in th...

boiling-point.simplecast.com

2 4

Naomi Fraga @naomibot.bsky.social · Apr 27

Flower filled hikes have always been a respite from the daily grind, but they have take on a greater importance for me in these challenging times. I am so grateful to have access to these beautiful public lands. Castilleja foliosa, Tauschia arguta, Lithophragma affine, Clematis lasiantha.

2 23