Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

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Prachee Avasthi @pracheeac.bsky.social · 1d

Some scientists aren’t waiting for journals to catch up. They’re showing us what’s next.

The Beyond the Journal awards honor those breaking the mold in how science is shared.

More details: pracheeac.substack.com/p/off-roadin...

Nominate or self-nominate here: www.experiment.foundation/beyond

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Rich Abdill @richabdill.com · 2d

"When exposed to 13 dietary ingredients and food additives prevalent in industrialized diets, the U.S. microbiome responded differently from its Thai counterpart... the U.S. microbiome showed a predisposition toward weight gain under industrialized dietary conditions."

Shared environments can facilitate microbial transmission and alter metabolic outcomes

While dietary changes are often implicated in the adaptation of traditional microbiomes to highly industrialized society, it only partially explains the observed microbial shifts post-immigration. ...

www.tandfonline.com

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James Stout @jamesstout.bsky.social · 2d

I’m glad people are aware of this, but it isn’t new. People in immigration detention were consistently moved away from their attorneys in the Biden admin. We reported on it then, but very few people cared about migrants when they weren’t a partisan tool.

David Dayen @ddayen.bsky.social · 2d

ICE abducts people and then immediately moves them around to prevent access to lawyers and habeas corpus petitions. @emmarjanssen.bsky.social has the story on this consistent game being played to frustrate due process.
prospect.org/justice/2025...

How ICE Hides Detainees From Their Lawyers

‘It seems like cruelty is the point,’ one attorney said.

prospect.org

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The BMJ @bmj.com · 7d

New BMJ Research finds the implementation of work requirements with Medicaid expansion in Georgia did not increase health insurance coverage or employment.

These findings have important implications after recently enacted legislation
www.bmj.com/content/390/...

Trends in health insurance coverage and employment in Georgia and Medicaid non-expansion states

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Richard Sever @richardsever.bsky.social · 7d

Another record month for bioRxiv - and further evidence the pandemic spike+dip was just that and growth continues. Thanks to all involved and that includes 🫵

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Radley Balko @radleybalko.bsky.social · 9d

This passage nearly broke me.

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Rich Abdill @richabdill.com · 9d

Be sure to sign up the right way or the feds will try to put you in prison for a few decades and then never explain why en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_...

Warwick History Post-Doc Club @post-doc-club.bsky.social · 9d

Great news!
JSTOR now have a free account with an Independent Researcher category. You can access 100 documents per month

www.jstor.org/action/showL...

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Chip Mitchell @chipmitchell1.bsky.social · 10d

Today I spoke with Greg Bovino, a top U.S. Border Patrol chief, as he led dozens of feds in military gear through downtown Chicago.

He said they were arresting folks based on “how they look.”

“How do they look compared to, say, you?” he said, referring to me.

chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/...

Feds march into downtown Chicago; top border agent says people are arrested based on ‘how they look’

Immigration agents wearing tactical gear and carrying long guns made arrests in downtown Chicago and the River North neighborhood Sunday. “This is not making anybody safer — it’s a show of intimidatio...

chicago.suntimes.com

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Rich Abdill @richabdill.com · 14d

Having only seen Wisconsin from Brewers TV broadcasts, I was shocked at how many different ways Wisconsin finds to be beautiful. The Driftless Area is amazing.

Chicago Tafia Welsh Society @chicagotafia.bsky.social · 15d

I’m spending a week on the road, taking in the truly beautiful landscapes of Wisconsin. From rolling farmland to pine-covered forests and scenic lakeshores, the state offers an incredible variety of natural beauty.

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Daniel Laurison @daniellaurison.bsky.social · 20d

Pretty clear illustration of "you may as well stand up for what you believe in, they're coming for you anyway."

Taniel @taniel.bsky.social · 20d

So, a university president fired a professor because they taught a course that discussed there being more than two genders, and now the university president is being fired for not having fired the professor quickly enough, is where we're at. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/18/u...

Texas A&M President to Step Down After Controversy Over ‘Gender Ideology’

www.nytimes.com

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Kat Abughazaleh @katmabu.bsky.social · 19d

They just tear-gassed us. They tried to run us over in a van holding a peaceful protester. They shot us with pepper balls. They dragged another protester into the facility.

shawn @mulchy.bsky.social · 20d

moments ago, ice agents again came out of the broadview detention/“professing” facility to escort a silver suv out of the lot.

one of the agents picked up and threw congressional candidate kat abughazaleh to the ground.

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Joseph Cox @josephcox.bsky.social · 23d

New from 404 Media: airlines are selling *5 billion* ticketing records to the government for warrantless searching, per new docs we obtained. ARC is a data broker owned by United, American, Delta, etc. Then sells peoples' travel info to ICE, Secret Service, FBI etc www.404media.co/airlines-sel...

Airlines Sell 5 Billion Plane Ticket Records to the Government For Warrantless Searching

New documents obtained by 404 Media show how a data broker owned by American Airlines, United, Delta, and many other airlines is selling masses of passenger data to the U.S. government.

www.404media.co

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Lindsey Cormack @dcinbox.bsky.social · 23d

Use of the word "evil" in official congressional e-newsletters, over time, by party

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Alejandra Caraballo @esqueer.net · 25d

I can't stress enough that this is how is exactly how genocides are incited. They always use language to couch it in self defense to justify violence against their targets.

Alt text: Screenshot of a Wikipedia entry for “Accusation in a mirror,” a hate speech incitement technique. The text explains that accusation in a mirror (AiM) is a method where one falsely attributes their own motives or intentions to adversaries. It is described as a form of psychological projection, often linked with dehumanization and cited as a cloaked form of incitement to genocide. The technique has been associated with genocides such as the Holocaust, the Rwandan genocide, and the Armenian genocide. By framing actions as collective self-defense, it is used to justify genocide, in a way similar to invoking the right of self-defense in individual homicide cases.

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qntm @qntm.org · Sep 7

ME, IN TEARS: you can't just say every single part of a computer system is a file

UNIX, POINTING AT THE MOUSE: file

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Clare Fieseler, PhD @fieseler.bsky.social · Sep 5

Trump talks about ending offshore wind farms cause he cares about the endangered whales there. He says the wind turbines drive the whales "crazy."

But federal cuts just defunded the plane that counts the endangered right whales' numbers every year.

So....yeah. 🐳

Right whale plane surveys in Gulf of Maine suspended with $200K budget cut

An element of the Center for Coastal Studies’ right whale research is paused after federal funding changes. But main, vital work is unaffected.

www.capecodtimes.com

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Ákos T Kovács @evolvedbiofilm.bsky.social · Sep 5

Assistant Professor position in the Microbiome Engineering group (Prof Sahar El Aidy) at University of Amsterdam

Assistant Professor in Microbiome Imaging and Functional Analysis
werkenbij.uva.nl/en/vacancies...

Vacancy — Assistant Professor in Microbiome Imaging and Functional Analysis

Are you pioneering molecular tools and applying advanced imaging strategies to uncover how microbial communities are organized and interact in space and time? If so, we invite you to join The Swammerd...

werkenbij.uva.nl

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Rich Abdill @richabdill.com · Sep 4

Springsteen sold his catalog and now we get singles from the mythical lost Nebraska tapes? I hate to say it but I award the points to capitalism

Born in the U.S.A. - Electric Nebraska

open.spotify.com

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ASM @asm.org · Sep 3

As national medical, scientific, public health and patient organizations, we call for the resignation of HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to ensure the health of the American people. Read our statement: asm.org/press-releas...

Joint Statement Calling for Secretary Kennedy Resignation

The American Society for Microbiology released a joint statement calling for the resignation of HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

asm.org

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Rich Abdill @richabdill.com · Sep 3

Maybe this is a more common approach than I'm aware of, but this seems amazing

PLOS Biology @plosbiology.org · Sep 3

What causes viral transmission bottlenecks? This study uses barcoded virions to show that in the case of #influenza A #virus, early within-host replication dynamics (rather than a reduced inoculum population) drive loss of diversity during transmission @plosbiology.org 🧪 plos.io/4ngicDK

Population diversity declines between inoculated and exposed guinea pigs. Viral titers in nasal lavage samples are indicated by the overall height of the bar. Red lines show LOD (50 PFU/mL). Colors within the bars represent unique barcodes, and the height of each color indicates barcode frequency within the sample. Plots for individual animals are paired with those of their cage mate. Representative pairs for direct contact (top half) and aerosol (bottom half) exposure are shown from three experimental replicates. Guinea pig ID numbers are shown in the upper right corner of each plot.

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Dave Levitan @davelevitan.bsky.social · Sep 2

I know, I know, but: The president of the US saying, literally, "we're going in" in reference to sending the military to an American city for no reason beyond terrorizing the local population should be the most immediately impeachable shit imaginable

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Seth Bordenstein @symbionticism.bsky.social · Sep 2

We published a new lane of research today on human gut fungi. Shout out to 1st author @emilyvansyoc.bsky.social sky.social & @erdavenport.bsky.social For 20 years, bacteria received the lion's share of interest in the human gut. Yet we know little about the gut mycobiome. doi.org/10.1371/jour...

Gut fungi are associated with human genetic variation and disease risk

In contrast to decades of research on gut bacteria, human genetic determinants of the gut fungal community (mycobiome) remain understudied. This investigation presents the first GWAS on the number and...

doi.org

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Jason Garcia @jasongarcia.bsky.social · Aug 30

The Free State of Florida is now trying to ban *sidewalk chalking*

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Seth Cotlar @sethcotlar.bsky.social · Sep 2

The indictment was handed down 2 days after career prosecutor Richard Barker, the acting US atty for eastern Washington state, resigned. In a social post, Barker wrote “I am grateful that I never had to sign an indictment or file a brief that I didn’t believe in.” www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Alarm after FBI arrests US army veteran for ‘conspiracy’ over protest against Ice

Legal experts say the charges against Afghanistan war veteran Bajun Mavalwalla II mark an escalation in the Trump administration’s crackdown on first amendment rights

www.theguardian.com

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