Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Peter Flood

@pjflood.bsky.social

420 followers 880 following 42 posts

sites.google.com

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Pinned

Peter Flood @pjflood.bsky.social · May 16

New OA paper out this week!🚨This one is particularly meaningful for me as it is the final part of my dissertation to be published, and it is the project I set out to do when I started my PhD – Did African Jewelfish alter the Everglades aquatic food web? 1/n 🧪🐟🌎🧵

doi.org/10.1002/ecs2...

Trophic disruption by an invasive species linked to altered energy fluxes

The Trophic Disruption Hypothesis (TDH) predicts that invasive species may cause native species to undergo trophic dispersion (change in trophic-niche area) and trophic displacement (diet switching),...

doi.org

2 7 16

Reposted by Peter Flood

Ian Vaughan @ian-vaughan.bsky.social · 13d

Climate change is reshaping the fish communities of rivers across the US - my commentary in @nature.com to accompany the new study led by @rumschsl.bsky.social rdcu.be/eHY6B 🌍🧪

Climate change is reshaping fish communities in the United States | Nature

Rising temperatures and the introduction of non-native fishes have been linked to rapid changes in fish communities across the United States. Rising temperatures and the introduction of non-native fishes have been linked to rapid changes in fish communities across the United States.

rdcu.be

1 8 20

Reposted by Peter Flood

Emily Troyer @fishfetisher.bsky.social · 4d

Happy Anatomically Incorrect Invertebrate season to all who celebrate

A fake snail with a skull for a shell and bony body

5 34 140

Reposted by Peter Flood

Rolling Stone @rollingstone.com · 7d

"I had to work 10 times harder than the average man just to get the same level of recognition," Jane Goodall told us in 2020. "But once I had made a name for myself, I let the data speak for me."

Jane Goodall on Fighting Sexism and What Chimpanzees Taught Her

Jane Goodall discusses what keeps her motivated six decades into her career and how she combated sexism.

www.rollingstone.com

18 480 1.6K

Reposted by Peter Flood

Bill McKibben @billmckibben.bsky.social · 7d

Jane Goodall was not only a pioneering primatologist, she also campaigned more relentlessly and selflessly for the natural world than anyone I know.

A great soul if ever there was one
www.theguardian.com/science/2025...

Jane Goodall, world-renowned primatologist, dies aged 91

Jane Goodall Institute says ‘tireless advocate’ for natural world died in California during US speaking tour

www.theguardian.com

17 240 920

Reposted by Peter Flood

Sarah McAnulty, Ph.D. @sarahmackattack.bsky.social · 7d

91 years is a good long run for most but too short for someone like Jane Goodall. Damn.

53 280 3.1K

Reposted by Peter Flood

Anthony Ricciardi @ecoinvasions.bsky.social · 12d

"We’ve looked at the Ganges and the Caspian Sea, but this could have been about Lake Victoria, or about drying rivers in Europe, or the disappearance of Bolivia’s second largest lake.

It’s not just water that disappears: it’s entire ecosystems and ways of life." theconversation.com/vanishing-wa...

Vanishing waters in a warming world

Bad news for the rivers and the lakes that we’re used to.

theconversation.com

3 7

Reposted by Peter Flood

Nicolas Mouquet @nmouquet.bsky.social · 14d

Very proud of this paper in BioScience :

« Too cute to be wild: what teddy bears reveal about our disconnection from nature »

🧸 are more than toys, they shape among our first emotional connections to nature. But their design may also distort how we see wildlife !

👉 doi.org/10.1093/bios...

🧪🦤

6 25 69

Reposted by Peter Flood

Kathleen Bachynski @bachynski.bsky.social · 14d

This is huge: “A drug that provides near-perfect protection against H.I.V. with shots just twice a year will be made available at $40 per patient annually in low- and middle-income countries, offering new hope… making lenacapavir a realistic choice in countries with constrained resources.”

Philanthropies Strike a Promising Deal to Turn Back H.I.V.

www.nytimes.com

4 1.3K 4.2K

Reposted by Peter Flood

David Shiffman, Ph.D. 🦈 @whysharksmatter.bsky.social · 17d

Stunning rare images of polar bear scavenging on a sperm whale captured in the Arctic | National Geographic

Stunning rare images of polar bear scavenging on a sperm whale captured in the Arctic

Photographer Roie Galitz is no stranger to photographing wildlife. Here’s why he says this scene is unusual.

www.nationalgeographic.com

13 62

Reposted by Peter Flood

NPR @npr.org · 17d

Wilson, a 6-foot-4 center for the Las Vegas Aces, has dominated this year. In her eighth season, she finished in the top five in points, rebounds, blocks and steals.

A'ja Wilson snags a record fourth WNBA MVP

Wilson, a 6-foot-4 center for the Las Vegas Aces, has dominated this year. In her eighth season, she finished in the top five in points, rebounds, blocks and steals.

n.pr

1 20 230

Reposted by Peter Flood

SICB journals @sicbjournals.bsky.social · 21d

*An extra plug for #WorldMantaDay
#Mobula, #bioinspiration, filter feeding, form and function - free
J B Teeple et al
doi.org/10.1093/icb/...
Mobulas (manta and devil rays) are large-scale ram filter feeders that separate planktonic food particles from large volumes of water with minimal clogging.

1 5 14

Reposted by Peter Flood

Surprised Eel Historian, PhD @greenleejw.bsky.social · 23d

It's Monday, & you're wondering: "Why should I care about eels?"

Well...in addition to being great fodder for memes, eels are super-important to stream ecologies! Historically, eels have made up as much as 50% of the total fish biomass in lower reaches of US & European rivers.
🗃️🧪

Meme. Picture of an eel underwater. The picture is taken from the side, so you can only see one of the eel's blue-tinged eyes, fixed on you like the red-rimmed Eye of Sauron (if Sauron were a happy fish). The eel (we'll call him Kryztaphix) seems like he is peeking out from a hole in the rocks. There are stones in the water behind him, one of which seems like a lovely speckled granite. Kryztaphix is a dark grey on top, and a shiny silver below. He is likely stopping to say hi on his way to sea.

Kryztaphix has a kindly smile on his face, and you feel comfortable in his presence. It's the sort of look that makes you want to spill out your whole life story, including that one time in middle school. You know the one. Kryztaphix won't judge you. He seen worse. Hell...he's done worse. And he will take your secrets to his Sargasso grave. You really couldn't ask for more.

Meme text reads:
"Half your streams
are belong to us."

5 38 200

Reposted by Peter Flood

Erin Spencer, PhD @etspencer.bsky.social · 23d

What a cool graduate opportunity!! Dietary benefits of sexual cannibalism in spiders at Oklahoma State University. 🧪👩‍🔬🌍

sevenseasmedia.org/job/ms-or-ph...

MS or PhD Opportunity: Nutritional Ecology of Sexual Cannibalism in Spiders

2. Land, Freshwater & Biodiversity Stillwater, Oklahoma, United States Posted 1 hour ago Oklahoma State University Position Overview Application Deadline: October 15, 2025Hours per Week: at least 20Sa...

sevenseasmedia.org

2 1

Peter Flood @pjflood.bsky.social · 28d

Came here to say DCC with the aforementioned caveat that there's definitely societal commentary. The audiobook narrator is exceptional

Reposted by Peter Flood

Brooke Fitzwater, PhD (she/her) 🐟🪱🏳️‍🌈♾️ @oceanfilly.bsky.social · 29d

Putting this out there again as many people are still looking for positions and/or looking to recruit early career scientists! Please share widely and I would be happy to add you to any of these, just tell me which one.

Brooke Fitzwater, PhD (she/her) 🐟🪱🏳️‍🌈♾️ @oceanfilly.bsky.social · Jul 19

Thread of Starter Packs to network for PhD and postdoc positions in Biology (or adjacent fields)! 🧵

First up: Starter Pack for students looking for PhD positions! go.bsky.app/EFj87fi

9 14

Peter Flood @pjflood.bsky.social · Sep 8

Peaking out into a Monday morning like...

(Meet our pet turtle, Bowser)

🐢 #Turtle #Mondays

Peter Flood @pjflood.bsky.social · Sep 4

Like many in my generation, I was heavily influenced by Steve Irwin. I attribute much of my love for wildlife and wild places to Steve. When my daughter is older, you can bet we'll be binging Crocodile Diaries together.

"If we save our wild places, we will ultimately save ourselves".

RIP 🐊 🧪 🌎 🌐

1 3

Reposted by Peter Flood

Emily Troyer @fishfetisher.bsky.social · Sep 1

Excited to announce that the 1st paper from my postdoc is now out in @currentbiology.bsky.social ! Using a large dataset of 3D preserved fossils, we explore the diversification of jaws in early bony fishes. 1/15
www.cell.com/current-biol...

Macroevolutionary role reversals in the earliest radiation of bony fishes

Troyer et al. examine lower jaw evolution in Silurian-Devonian bony fishes and find substantial differences in patterns of morphological disparity, rates of shape evolution, and functional diversity b...

www.cell.com

8 67 180

Reposted by Peter Flood

Jonathan Tonkin @jdtonkin.bsky.social · Aug 28

Happy to have this new preprint up: Disturbance provides limited respite for native fish against invaders

We assess the potential for coexistence between threatened native galaxiid fishes & invasive trout, & find native fish prevail only at high disturbance regimes. Even then, it's dicy.

Disturbance provides limited respite for native fish against invaders

Understanding how flow-related disturbance regimes influence species interactions is critical for conserving threatened species in freshwater ecosystems, where both the alteration of these regimes and...

www.biorxiv.org

1 4 3

Reposted by Peter Flood

Colton the fish squeezer🐟🪴📚🏕️🐝 @fishsqueezer.bsky.social · Aug 28

It's crazy to me that we don't really know how many sculpin species exist. They are basically dragons and should be dieties in somebody's religion. Incredible fish. 🐟

A sculpin sits on my hand with its fins raised and its mouth open. It looks like if it was big enough, it would eat me. Its dorsal fin looks like a tiny mohawk with bright yellow tips. The pectoral fins look like spiny elephant ears.

6 7 56

Peter Flood @pjflood.bsky.social · Aug 26

I've really been looking forward to Katabasis by R. F. Kuang. I really enjoyed The Poppy War, Yellowface, and Babel. As someone in academia, the dark academia elements in Babel were really cathartic to read. Looking forward to more of that here.

#BookSky 📚 📖

NPR @npr.org · Aug 26

A number of seasoned veterans with a taste for big swings and clever premises have new novels out this week, including stories of gothic horror and dark academia from the likes of R.F. Kuang, Leah Stein and Helen Oyeyemi.

This week sees a number of new books from seasoned heavy hitters

n.pr

Reposted by Peter Flood

Dr Charlie Gardner @charliejgardner.bsky.social · Aug 25

Are scientists still supposed to be just neutral and value free providers of data when the principles and institutions of science itself are under attack?

Timmons Roberts @timmonsroberts.bsky.social · Aug 25

My lab's been attacked by an anti-wind group and their lawyers. They threatened the science funding of my whole university, to shut me and my undergraduate research assistants up.

NYT just covered it. 1/n

www.nytimes.com/2025/08/25/c...

Law Firm Pressures Brown University to Erase Research on Anti-Wind Groups

www.nytimes.com

3 9 29

Reposted by Peter Flood

Jeremy Berg @jeremymberg.bsky.social · Aug 24

New York Times story with profiles of researchers whose grants were terminated.

[Gift Link]

www.nytimes.com/2025/08/24/o...

Opinion | America First? Not When It Comes to Your Health.

www.nytimes.com

6 320 480

Reposted by Peter Flood

Colette Delawalla @cdelawalla.bsky.social · Aug 23

As one can imagine, I have some thoughts. Here’s a thread no one asked for:

1. SCIENCE IN THE US IS POLITICAL. No matter how much you want to ignore that fact, it is supported by taxpayer dollars and is therefore, political by nature.

2. BUT it has had bipartisan support for decades, which…

The Atlantic @theatlantic.com · Aug 23

For some scientists fighting partisan attacks, the goal is to defend their work from political interference. But in retaliating, @katherinejwu.com reports, they also run the risk of advancing the narrative that they want to fight.

Scientists Are Caught in a Political Trap

Fighting back against the Trump administration means they start to look more like activists.

bit.ly

17 250 600

Reposted by Peter Flood

Rhys Allen @rhysallensysbio.bsky.social · Aug 23

"In the past, I was content to leave the broader political debate and activism to others... The luxury of disengagement is no longer an option." -- Terrence Tao

newsletter.ofthebrave.org/p/im-an-awar...

I’m an award-winning mathematician. Trump just cut my funding.

The “Mozart of Math” tried to stay out of politics. Then it came for his research.

newsletter.ofthebrave.org

1 5