Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Rhys Allen @rhysallensysbio.bsky.social · Sep 2

Also this: it's like having that more experienced programmer sit at your shoulder and tell you exactly what you need to know, whenever you need to know it. No AI needed.

www.shellcheck.net

ShellCheck – shell script analysis tool

ShellCheck finds bugs in your shell scripts

www.shellcheck.net

Rhys Allen @rhysallensysbio.bsky.social · Sep 1

4/n @50501movement.bsky.social
A grassroots national org since Feb of this year, with ongoing actions including #LaborDay #workersoverbillionaires

Subscribe to their newsletter to stay up to date and get involved in upcoming events! www.fiftyfifty.one

50501 — 50 protests, 50 states, 1 movement

Join the movement to uphold the Constitution and end executive overreach. 50 protests, 50 states, 1 day: #50501.

www.fiftyfifty.one

Rhys Allen @rhysallensysbio.bsky.social · Sep 1

3/n @standupforscience.bsky.social

www.standupforscience.net/31-days-of-a...

Info and opps! Global and local scope! Check out the 31 Days of Action, running up to the September Budget Battle in Congress. 💪

Join our 31 Days of Action for science now! — STAND UP FOR SCIENCE

Help add to the pressure on Congress to ensure ZERO CUTS TO SCIENCE in the 2026 Budget Battle this fall.

www.standupforscience.net

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Rhys Allen @rhysallensysbio.bsky.social · Sep 1

2/n

@5calls.org

It helps ppl stay organized and up-to-date about who / how to call our reps, and scripts to use for urgent issues. 5calls.org

They are currently fundraising to expand from national to statewide for all 50 states! A hopefully impactful donation opp.

5 Calls

Spend 5 minutes. Make 5 calls. Make your voice heard.

5calls.org

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Rhys Allen @rhysallensysbio.bsky.social · Sep 1

@firedbutfighting.bsky.social
is a coalition and mutual aid society of the many thousands of federal HHS workers that have been RIF'd (fired) since January.

They are organized, and are helping themselves and others. Subscribe to their newsletter, and check out ways to join! 👀 firedbutfighting.org

Fired But Fighting

Fired But Fighting is a network of former CDC professionals, including scientists, communicators, policy analysts, public health experts, who are standing together to demand transparency, accountabili...

firedbutfighting.org

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Rhys Allen @rhysallensysbio.bsky.social · Sep 1

Happy #LaborDay! Here are some orgs that are fighting to protect our #democracy, today and every day.

1/n

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Reposted by Rhys Allen

Prof. Stefan Rahmstorf @rahmstorf.bsky.social · Oct 20

44 experts from 15 countries issued a stark warning about the dangers of crossing an ocean circulation tipping point. I had the honor to present it to the Icelandic 🇮🇸 climate minister Guðlaugur Þór Þórðarson yesterday. #AMOC
Full letter with signatories: en.vedur.is/media/ads_in...

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Reposted by Rhys Allen

Alt CDC (they/them) @altcdc.altgov.info · Jul 12

Wondering why #altgovs are changing their banners to show support for EPA?
EPA civil servants drafted a public Declaration of Dissent to their Administrator, Lee Zeldin, imploring he recommits to protecting Americans people and environment. Read here: www.standupforscience.net/epa-declarat...

Green banner saying, "we stand with EPA workers"

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Reposted by Rhys Allen

Colin Carlson @colincarlson.bsky.social · Aug 29

Yesterday, I DM'd people an embarrassing secret about myself if they called Congress about RFK. (It quickly got overwhelming.) Today, I ask you to do the same, but I'm going to make this way wilder: for every 25 call screenshots, I'll post one embarrassing fact on main 5calls.org/issue/center...

Stop the Anti-Vaccine Takeover of the CDC ⭑ 5 Calls

The Trump administration is continuing to undermine public health and scientific integrity by firing Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) …

5calls.org

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Rhys Allen @rhysallensysbio.bsky.social · Aug 29

I just got added to the neighborhood email listserv and it's full of so many excellent events bringing people together. I'm inspired and excited! #LaborDay #Protest

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Rhys Allen @rhysallensysbio.bsky.social · Aug 29

"The arc of moral history is long and it bends towards justice, right? But it doesn't bend by itself. It's not fucking gravity. People have to bend it. You have to bend it. And there's gonna be other people trying to bend it the other fucking way. And we're not gonna let that happen!" -Jon Stewart, host of the Daily Show and advocate for protections for nine eleven first responders

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Rhys Allen @rhysallensysbio.bsky.social · Aug 29

If you're not sure what events are happening, try walking/biking around the neighborhood to look for posters, stop in the local coffeeshop or tacoshop. The public library or independent bookstore are also good places to find events. 🌱

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Rhys Allen @rhysallensysbio.bsky.social · Aug 29

Monday is Labor Day -- ask your friends what events are happening in support of #Democracy 💪🇺🇸 #unions #labormovement #workingclass

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Rhys Allen @rhysallensysbio.bsky.social · Aug 28

This looks like a super useful framework. 👀

Sasha Gusev @sashagusevposts.bsky.social · Aug 27

I wrote about gene-gene interactions (epistasis) and the implications for heritability, trait definitions, natural selection, and therapeutic interventions. Biology is clearly full of causal interactions, so why don't we see them in the data? A 🧵:

Beneath the surface of the sum

When genetic interactions matter and when they don't

open.substack.com

Reposted by Rhys Allen

STAT @statnews.com · Aug 18

“Kennedy would be less hazardous if he decided to do cardiac surgery. Then he would kill people only one at a time,” writes former CDC Director William Foege.
www.statnews.com/2025/08/18/r...

Former CDC Director William Foege: How public health can fight back in a time of dangerous nonsense

“Kennedy would be less hazardous if he decided to do cardiac surgery. Then he would kill people only one at a time,” writes former CDC Director William Foege.

www.statnews.com

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Reposted by Rhys Allen

Meade Krosby @meadekrosby.bsky.social · Aug 27

If you need another reason to check:

Ars Technica @arstechnica.com · Aug 27

AI advocates have warned that if every author in the class action filed a claim, it would "financially ruin" the entire industry.

Authors celebrate “historic” settlement coming soon in Anthropic class action

Advocates fear such settlements will “financially ruin” the AI industry.

arstechnica.com

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Reposted by Rhys Allen

Isabel @isabelott.bsky.social · Aug 27

Important to keep in mind that these are *voluntary* resignations made by people who have been fighting tooth and nail to protect public health from HHS leadership & have ultimately found that impossible. Not a purge – the last choice left to dedicated, incredibly capable public servants.

🎃 public HELLth guy 🎃 @publichealthguy1.bsky.social · Aug 27

the folks resigning are dedicated public servants who would not do this unless they felt that a) they could no longer do their jobs and b) they had no other choice. many of them worked at CDC for decades + helped build the modern agency that trump, musk, & rfk. jr have wrecked in a matter of months.

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Rhys Allen @rhysallensysbio.bsky.social · Aug 26

This is so good: visualizing computer algorithms.

staying.fun/en

#compsci

Staying Code Visualization Platform

Real-time visualization platform for Python, JS, and C++. Features include: Execution flow animation, Variable tracing, Memory allocation monitoring, and Code optimization suggestions.

staying.fun

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Reposted by Rhys Allen

Christian Kost @kostchristian.bsky.social · Aug 22

#MicroSky #mevoSky

Christian Kost @kostchristian.bsky.social · Aug 22

Are you a theoretical biologist that is intererested in the ecology and evolution of metabolic interactions among microorganisms?

Do you like to cooperate with experimentalists?

Do you have a PhD and experience in modelling and statistics?

Then this position might be for you👇:

shorturl.at/iiiOv

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Rhys Allen @rhysallensysbio.bsky.social · Aug 26

It's like you can see the interaction between ecology and evolution happening right in front of you. 💚🦠🧬
#mevosky #bluesci

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Structure-informed microbial population genetics elucidate selective pressures that shape protein evolution

An integrated analysis framework shows a strong association between within-population genetic variation and protein structure.

www.science.org

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Rhys Allen @rhysallensysbio.bsky.social · Aug 24

Thank you Brooke! I would like to be added too if possible.
🦠🧬🧪

Reposted by Rhys Allen

Dr. Rabbithole @drrabbithole.bsky.social · Aug 22

Yesterday, SCOTUS sided with Trump to re-terminate hundreds of NIH grants.

SCOTUS
chose partisan politics over rule of law.
It's clear they will roll over for Trump every time.

It is up to Congress
to protect
democracy. Tell them to
write protections
against terminations
into the 2026 budget.

Photo of the supreme court and the text: The current administration illegally terminated thousands of NIH projects. A Reagan appointed judge reversed the terminations, calling them “breathtakingly arbitrary and capricious.”

Yet in a 5-4 shadow docket decision, the Supreme Court sided with Trump and ruled to re-terminate these projects

A scientist at a microscope with the text: This is impactful research & re-terminations will harm all of us.

Careers may be lost. Cures may be lost. Knowledge
will be lost.

Lives will
be lost.

A quote from Ketanji Brown Jackson saying: This is Calvinball jurisprudence with a twist. Calvinball has only one rule: There are no fixed rules. We seem to have two: that one, and this Administration always wins.

Image of the US Capitol with the text: It is up to
Congress
to protect
democracy.

Tell them to
write protections
against terminations
into the 2026 budget.

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Reposted by Rhys Allen

Drug Monkey @drugmonkey.bsky.social · Aug 22

16% loss at NIH
22% loss at NIDA;
22% loss at NIMH, 18% NIA, 17% NIAID.
17% loss at NIAAA, finally answering the question about unusually huge losses of POs causing their funding slowness in the negative.

Jeremy Berg @jeremymberg.bsky.social · Aug 21

Extensive story from ProPublica about HHS staffing cuts.

Outstanding reporting and a lot to digest.

projects.propublica.org/federal-heal...

Gutted: How Deeply Trump Has Cut Federal Health Agencies

More than 20,500 workers have left or been pushed out of federal health agencies, a ProPublica analysis found. Staffers say the cuts will leave their agencies less equipped to conduct studies, perform...

projects.propublica.org

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Reposted by Rhys Allen

Physghoul 👻 @physgal.bsky.social · Aug 24

🧪

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.

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Reposted by Rhys Allen

David M. Perry @lollardfish.bsky.social · Aug 22

“Someday, I hope, we’re going to have a reckoning over the horrors of this moment, but I don’t think we can do it without a clearer understanding of how this fits into U.S. history. There’s a tendency to say, “This isn’t who we are,” and I get the impulse, but history is never that simple.”

Opinion | Concentration camps are not just part of our past, but our present and future

From David M. Perry: From Minnesota’s Fort Snelling to Japanese internment camps to Florida's Alligator Alcatraz, these camps have become an American tradition.

www.startribune.com

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