Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Pam Mork @pammork.bsky.social · 2d

He's dying and he knows it.

4

Pam Mork @pammork.bsky.social · 7d

Who do you think they will choose to manage??

1

Pam Mork @pammork.bsky.social · 13d

Powerful analysis of the cost of stopping research. Not to mention the absolute stupidity.
#scisky
#research
#academicsky

Matt Shipman (he/him) @shiplives.bsky.social · 13d

How do research funding cuts hurt the US? There are many ways to answer that question. For a dollars and cents perspective, you can read this analysis.

"Cutting federal R&D by 20% would cost the U.S. economy up to almost $1.5 trillion compared with China’s growth pace."
🧪
itif.org/publications...

How Reducing Federal R&D Reduces GDP Growth

Cutting federal investments in R&D may appear to save billions in the budget, but it could cost the economy trillions. In fact, ITIF estimates that cutting federal R&D by 20 percent would cost the U.S...

itif.org

4 7

Pam Mork @pammork.bsky.social · 20d

🤮

1 31

Pam Mork @pammork.bsky.social · 24d

You Radical, you!!!

Reposted by Pam Mork

Dr. Jonathan N. Stea @jonathanstea.bsky.social · 25d

The problem isn’t just getting people to think scientifically.

It’s getting them to want to…

16 20 170

Pam Mork @pammork.bsky.social · 25d

We aren't in a time of history known to act on good science.

Good article
#science
#academicsky
#microplastics

Prof Sam Illingworth @samillingworth.com · 25d

🥤 Hidden risks in bottled water

A review warns nano- and microplastics from single-use bottles can infiltrate the body, raising risks for respiratory, reproductive, neurological, and cancer outcomes. Stronger regulation is urged.

🔗 www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

#SciComm #Plastics 🧪

Unveiling the hidden chronic health risks of nano- and microplastics in single-use plastic water bottles: A review

Single-use plastic products, such as water bottles, have become ubiquitous in modern society, contributing significantly to the growing problem of pla…

www.sciencedirect.com

1 1 5

Pam Mork @pammork.bsky.social · 29d

Very cool science!! I'd never heard of a bottlebrush polymer before......

#medsky
#academicsky
#science
#chemotherapy

MIT Department of Chemistry @mitchemistry.bsky.social · 29d

Researchers in the Johnson Lab have shown that chemotherapy drugs carried by a bottlebrush polymer can be attached to an antibody, which guides the molecule to a tumor. This approach could avoid many of the side effects of systemic chemotherapy delivery.

chemistry.mit.edu/chemistry-ne...

3

Pam Mork @pammork.bsky.social · Sep 8

Of all the nonsense that our unqualified HHS secretary has said, this is near the top.

Well delivered response!!

#science
#autism

www.tiktok.com/t/ZP8SdnCoq/

TikTok video by Dr. Glaucomflecken

www.tiktok.com

1

Pam Mork @pammork.bsky.social · Sep 8

This is the kind of science that we need to focus on for sustainability. And fund!!

#academicsky
#science
#sustainability

Prof Sam Illingworth @samillingworth.com · Sep 7

♻️ From bottles to carbon capture

Scientists turned PET plastic waste into a new material that traps CO2 even from air at high temperatures and can be reused. A dual fix for plastic and emissions.

🔗 doi.org/10.1126/scia...

#SciComm #Climate 🧪

Repurposing polyethylene terephthalate plastic waste to capture carbon dioxide

A scalable chemical upcycling of PET waste into an efficient, durable, and selective CO2 sorbent has been achieved.

doi.org

1 11

Pam Mork @pammork.bsky.social · Sep 8

📌

Pam Mork @pammork.bsky.social · Sep 7

I've been doing this long enough to see this downturn. It always shocks me when someone expresses serious science skepticism.

Rebuilding confidence will be a huge job.

#academicsky
#scicomm
#science

Conrad Hackett @conradhackett.bsky.social · Sep 7

In 2019, 70% of Republicans said science has had a mostly positive effect on society. A few years later, fewer than half of Republicans (47%) said so.
www.pewresearch.org/science/2023... 🧪🌐

‪Conrad Hackett‬
‪@conradhackett.bsky.social‬
· 9mo
We often worry about the wrong things.

People killed annually by
Sharks 10
Elephants 100
Hippos 500
Snails 10,000
Dogs 25,000
Snakes 50,000
People 475,000
Mosquitoes 725,000
🧪
This graphic, created for Bill Gates' website, shows that diseases transmitted by mosquitoes are responsible for vastly more human deaths than other animals. While sharks inspire fear in many, they kill few people.
ALT

378

1.1K

‪Conrad Hackett‬
‪@conradhackett.bsky.social‬
· 9mo
Disease prevalence in US states before & after vaccine introduction

Graphic from Edward Tufte
More graphics.wsj.com/infectious-d... 🧪
Graphic shows dramatic reduction in polio, rubella, mumps, measles, and hepatitis A cases after the introduction of vaccines for each disease.
ALT

132

1.8K

‪Conrad Hackett‬
‪@conradhackett.bsky.social‬
· 1mo
About 1 in 4 U.S. adults worry they or someone close to them could be deported.
www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/...

About 1 in 4 U.S. adults worry they or someone close to them could be deported
About four-in-ten immigrants (43%) say they worry a lot or some, up from 33% in March.
www.pewresearch.org

98

1.1K

‪Conrad Hackett‬
‪@conradhackett.bsky.social‬
· 3d
Disease prevalence in US states before & after vaccine introduction 🧪

From Edward Tufte & graphics.wsj.com/infectious-d...

41

928

‪Conrad Hackett‬
‪@conradhackett.bsky.social‬
· 9mo
Americans killed annually by
All Islamic jihadist terrorists 9
Armed toddlers 21
Lightning 31
Lawnmowers 69
Busses 264
Falling out of bed 737
Being shot by another American 11,737

2017 estimates. The Royal Statistical Society gave this compilation its International Statistic of the Year award.
Chart compiling statistics on the number of Americans killed annually various causes. Includes source notes.
ALT

61

609

‪Conrad Hackett‬
‪@conradhackett.bsk…

2 3 16

Pam Mork @pammork.bsky.social · Sep 4

I know I'm preaching to the choir here.

How do we get across to them that their opinions are NOT more valid than the facts??

#Vaccines
#VaccinesSaveLives
#Vaccinate

Physicians for a Healthy Democracy @physiciandemocracy.medsky.social · Sep 4

In 1900, 31% of all deaths were children under the age of 5. Today it’s 0.7%. Vaccines, medications, and modern science are the reason why. Trust the science, it’s been proven to work safely and efficiently time and time again.

1 2 3

Pam Mork @pammork.bsky.social · Sep 4

39 here this morning!! Brrrrrrrr

Pam Mork @pammork.bsky.social · Sep 2

"An all-female team of scientists devoted to preserving and expanding Brazil’s national meteorite collection...journey to far-flung regions to recover fallen space rocks and educate local communities about their scientific significance."

#academicsky
#womeninSTEM

www.nytimes.com/2025/09/02/s...

The Space Rock Stars of Brazil

www.nytimes.com

1 4 23

Pam Mork @pammork.bsky.social · Aug 27

Braves are hitting tonight!! What a 9th!

#AtlantaBraves
#Braves

2

Pam Mork @pammork.bsky.social · Aug 26

If you don't want to try the robot cat cleaners, switch to a stainless steal pan. What an odor difference!! The pee permeated the plastic. You could clean it forever and it still smelled of urine.

Pam Mork @pammork.bsky.social · Aug 26

Does this man EVER shut up!!!!!

a bald man in a blue suit is talking and saying zippit .

Alt: a bald man in a blue suit is talking and saying zip it .

media.tenor.com

3

Pam Mork @pammork.bsky.social · Aug 24

We are starting our first year chemistry students on Vibe coding this week. Im sharing this with them.

1

Pam Mork @pammork.bsky.social · Aug 24

Very good news indeed.

#scisky
#science
#bees

John Scalzi @scalzi.com · Aug 23

This feels like a spot of good news

www.sciencedaily.com/releases/202...

Scientists found the missing nutrients bees need — Colonies grew 15-fold

Scientists have developed a breakthrough food supplement that could help save honeybees from devastating declines. By engineering yeast to produce six essential sterols found in pollen, researchers pr...

www.sciencedaily.com

4

Pam Mork @pammork.bsky.social · Aug 21

And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.

I've heard it in the chillest land,
And on the strangest sea;
Yet, never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.

Emily Dickinson

1 1 2

Pam Mork @pammork.bsky.social · Aug 21

Holding this poem close today.

Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune without the words,
And never stops at all,

1 1 2

Pam Mork @pammork.bsky.social · Aug 21

How generous!!

Pam Mork @pammork.bsky.social · Aug 19

New level of hell unlocked:

Loaner computer takes 90 sec to load a page.

Now big deal, right? Except classes start in one week!!

Im stuck cleaning my office and eagerly waiting the call that my new computer is ready...

#academicsky

a cartoon of a brown bear cleaning a desk with the word sorry on the bottom right

Alt: a cartoon of a brown bear cleaning a desk

media.tenor.com

4

Pam Mork @pammork.bsky.social · Aug 18

5 straight is shocking, isn't it??

1