Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Rhiannon Silva

@rhiannonsilva.bsky.social

3.2K followers 940 following 1.1K posts

Astrophysicist. Currently working on my second PhD on gravitational waves from black holes, at the Gravity Exploration Institute, Cardiff University. They/any 🏳️‍🌈

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Pinned

Rhiannon Silva @rhiannonsilva.bsky.social · Nov 12

Resharing this gravitational waves starter pack because I've added more people now. If there's anyone still missing from it, please let me know.

go.bsky.app/HrAJX35

7 10 40

Rhiannon Silva @rhiannonsilva.bsky.social · 1d

"If we portray breakthroughs as purely human triumphs, we reinforce an outdated view in which machines are just tools."

🤔

Prof Anna Watts @profannawatts.bsky.social · 1d

Lol the Nobels can't even acknowledge women's contribution to discovery. But sure let's acknowledge The Machines.

Headline from an article in Nature this week that states "Prizes must recognize machine contributions to discovery. The future of science will be written by humans and machines together. Awards should reflect that reality."

1 16

Reposted by Rhiannon Silva

Prof Anna Watts @profannawatts.bsky.social · 1d

Lol the Nobels can't even acknowledge women's contribution to discovery. But sure let's acknowledge The Machines.

85 770 3.4K

Reposted by Rhiannon Silva

KOJAMF🤘🖤🤘 @kojamf.bsky.social · 6d

Dr. Jane Goodall filmed an interview with Netflix in March 2025 that she understood would only be released after her death.

810 17K 38K

Reposted by Rhiannon Silva

Eugene Lim @tukohbin.bsky.social · 9d

This is, as they say, weak sauce.

The Royal Society @royalsociety.org · 9d

"I am increasingly concerned over threats to the values that allow science to flourish." Read the full statement from the President of the Royal Society Sir Adrian Smith: royalsociety.org/news/2025/10...

A statement from the President of the Royal Society | Royal Society

A statement from the President of the Royal Society regarding threats to the values that allow science to flourish.

royalsociety.org

1 7

Reposted by Rhiannon Silva

The Guardian @theguardian.com · 9d

Jane Goodall, world-renowned primatologist, dies aged 91

Jane Goodall Institute says ‘tireless advocate’ for natural world died in California during US speaking tour The world-renowned primatologist Jane Goodall has died at the age of 91, her institute has said. The Jane Goodall Institute announced that she had passed away of natural causes while in California as part of a US speaking tour. Continue reading...

www.theguardian.com

32 260 670

Reposted by Rhiannon Silva

SpaceAustralia.com @spaceaustralia.com · 10d

"Millisecond pulsars, whilst remarkably stable, may not be the perfect timekeepers we once thought they were"

New research by @cosmicrami.com outlines how a pulsar throwing a tantrum could impact precision timing experiments.

www.spaceaustralia.com/feature/puls...

#SpaceAustralia

📸 NASA SVS

🔭🧪

3 8 37

Rhiannon Silva @rhiannonsilva.bsky.social · 10d

Helen will always be an inspiration to me.

Digressionsimpressions @nescio13.bsky.social · 10d

"Helen de Cruz (1978–2025): an academic and personal tribute" *Religious Studies* Published online 2025:1-4.
doi.org/10.1017/S003...
@helendecruz.net

Helen de Cruz (1978–2025): an academic and personal tribute | Religious Studies | Cambridge Core

Helen de Cruz (1978–2025): an academic and personal tribute

doi.org

Reposted by Rhiannon Silva

Daniel Pomarède @pomarede.bsky.social · 12d

Berkeley Lab: Honoring the Legacy of George Smoot

elements.lbl.gov/news/honorin... 🧪 #Cosmology

A portrait of Nobel Prize cosmologist George Smoot.

1 16 54

Rhiannon Silva @rhiannonsilva.bsky.social · 17d

Sadly, my main exposure to Welsh these days is listening to Radio Cymru in the car.

1 1

Reposted by Rhiannon Silva

Colleen Morgan @clmorgan.bsky.social · 18d

How embarrassing to have someone from an institution with an extremely well respected medieval studies department sign this utter utter garbage.

Dr. Katja Thieme (she/they) @katjathieme.bsky.social · 18d

What it sounds like when philosophers who are also anti-trans activists submit an amicus brief to a US court where they argue for banning trans girls and women from women's sports.

30
the option of interpreting the Idaho and West Virginia
statutes as motivated by the justified aim of excluding
all males from female sports, it is quite invidious to
interpret them as instead motivated by the unjustified
aim of excluding males who identify as female in par-
ticular.
Consider a simple analogy. Imagine that we are
back in Medieval Europe. Gold is the currency of the
land. Consequently, many merchants prefer to accept
gold and only gold as payment. However, a new move-
ment is afoot, whose members are known as the alche-
mists. The alchemists purport to have found a way of
turning iron pyrite (fool’s gold) into gold. Some people
are convinced by the claims of the alchemists, though
many others are not. This difference in attitudes
starts to lead to time-wasting interactions in which an
alchemist or fellow traveler tries to purchase a good
using iron pyrite from a merchant who, unmoved by
well-publicized insistence on the part of the alche-
mists that only irrational prejudice could lie behind
lingering doubts about the possibility of converting
iron pyrite into gold, continues to insist on only ac-
cepting gold as payment. One such merchant, whose
unofficial working policy has hitherto been to accept
only gold as payment, decides to make his policy offi-
cial by putting up a sign on his store saying, “Only
gold accepted (no iron pyrite!).”

1 1 16

Rhiannon Silva @rhiannonsilva.bsky.social · 17d

"Imagine that we are back in Medieval Europe." No thanks.

Dr. Katja Thieme (she/they) @katjathieme.bsky.social · 18d

What it sounds like when philosophers who are also anti-trans activists submit an amicus brief to a US court where they argue for banning trans girls and women from women's sports.

1 8

Reposted by Rhiannon Silva

Christopher Owen @oysta.au · 20d

Yeah man we should really fight back by staying on X

270 4.2K 17K

Reposted by Rhiannon Silva

Filipe Campante @filipecampante.bsky.social · 20d

The H1-B visa thing is, like everything else in the Trump administration, set up to carve up exceptions for friends and punish enemies. It’s the authoritarian thru-line that stitches everything together.

48 560 1.5K

Reposted by Rhiannon Silva

Ars Technica @arstechnica.com · 21d

Amid budget uncertainty, NASA gets some good news: Use House funding levels

The House budget still cuts science at NASA, but not as deeply as the White House sought.

arstechnica.com

15 59

Reposted by Rhiannon Silva

Gareth Watkins @garethwatkins.bsky.social · 22d

Dam been writing a book about this and she just TikToked it in 90 seconds.

270 8.2K 20K

Rhiannon Silva @rhiannonsilva.bsky.social · 21d

I didn't want to read this book and now I don't have to, thanks to @nateo.bsky.social . See his thread below to find out more about just how stupid this book is.

Nate O @nateo.bsky.social · 25d

Months of waiting but my review copy of The War on Science has arrived.

I read Krauss’ introduction. What the fuck happened to this man? He comes off as incapable of basic research, argument, basic scholarship.

He sounds stupid.

I look into strange claims he makes and they’re demonstrably false

Rhiannon Silva @rhiannonsilva.bsky.social · 21d

Did he even google the word "biophobia" to see if it had already been used and already had a meaning before he decided to give it a new meaning?

Rhiannon Silva @rhiannonsilva.bsky.social · 21d

Amazing.

Rhiannon Silva @rhiannonsilva.bsky.social · 21d

LOL

Reposted by Rhiannon Silva

Erin Macdonald is on a social media break @drerinmac.bsky.social · 27d

This is a wonderful mini (< 10 min) documentary about @ligo.org and the first gravitational wave detection 10 (!) years ago, made by my former colleagues at @uofgravity.bsky.social.
I love the inclusion of all the broader scientific applications of the technology.

youtu.be/SqhFtkQ4f2c?...

University of Glasgow celebrates 10th anniversary of first gravitational wave detection

YouTube video by University of Glasgow

youtu.be

11 45

Rhiannon Silva @rhiannonsilva.bsky.social · 22d

She might even be worse. I saw a video of them talking about marriage and Charlie couldn't get a word in. She was talking about how wives should be submissive to their husbands but it looked like she was the boss in that relationship.

1 1 6

Reposted by Rhiannon Silva

👻 Prof. Ghosty Neilsen 👻 @joeyneilsen.bsky.social · 23d

Super cool new results from NASA/JAXA/ESA's X-ray telescope XRISM on a surprisingly strong recurring wind from the neutron star GX 13+1. This was a year of hard work from paper leads Chris Done, Ryota Tomaru, Misaki Mizumoto (and someone else 😇). Open access paper is linked in the comments. ⚛️🧪🔭

XRISM uncovers a mystery in the cosmic winds of change

The X-Ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission (XRISM) has revealed an unexpected difference between the powerful winds launching from a disc around a neutron star and those from material circling superma...

www.esa.int

2 8 36

Reposted by Rhiannon Silva

NightMar on Hicks Street, Part 4: The Rabbit’s Revenge @histoftech.bsky.social · 23d

This number one tip on this advisory is to set public online profiles to private when facing harassment, which bsky does not allow, and which really should’ve been a feature implemented on day 1.

Top Five Tips for Engaging with Social Media
1. Set your personal social media accounts to private mode. setting to make all previous posts private. (From AAUP)

4 67 150

Reposted by Rhiannon Silva

LIGO Scientific Collaboration @ligo.org · 27d

A new mini-documentary by our colleagues at @uofgravity.bsky.social celebrating the 10th anniversary of our first detection and the progress in #GravitationalWave astronomy

youtu.be/SqhFtkQ4f2c

#GW10Years 🔭🧪⚛️🎢

University of Glasgow celebrates 10th anniversary of first gravitational wave detection

YouTube video by University of Glasgow

youtu.be

2 17 44

Reposted by Rhiannon Silva

Gravity Exploration Institute @gravitycardiff.bsky.social · 26d

Today we celebrate the 10th anniversary of the first detection of gravitational waves by @ligo.org 🎉 Research by members of the Gravity Exploration Institute in Cardiff helped lay the foundation for that detection, which opened an exciting new window to the universe. Read more about it here:

A decade of discovery: Academics celebrate 10 years since the first detection of gravitational waves amid announcement of exciting new breakthrough

Scientists celebrate anniversary and tests of Stephen Hawking's black hole area theorem

www.cardiff.ac.uk

1 3 9