Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Rowan Hooper @rowhoop.bsky.social · 46m

Last call! Please do vote for THE WORLD, THE UNIVERSE AND US.

Rowan Hooper @rowhoop.bsky.social · 9h

Vote for us! We are up for BEST SCIENCE PODCAST at the Signal Listener's Choice awards, please vote for THE WORLD, THE UNIVERSE AND US here: vote.signalaward.com/PublicVoting...

Rowan Hooper @rowhoop.bsky.social · 4h

Also I'd like some veganer Wurstaufschnitt bitte

1 2

Rowan Hooper @rowhoop.bsky.social · 4h

I mistakenly assumed German politicians weren't as vapid as ours

2 1

Rowan Hooper @rowhoop.bsky.social · 5h

UGH lobbyists. The transition to plant-based foods is just as important as that to renewable energy.

Mark Lynas @marklynas.bsky.social · 5h

WOW! The European Parliament just voted to BAN the words 'burger' and 'sausage' when used in sustainable plant-based alternatives. HUGE win for the meat and dairy lobby in the EU, and lots more confusion for consumers if this goes through. Insane!
www.euroveg.eu/european-par...

European Parliament votes to ban use of ‘veggie burger’ and ‘plant-based sausage’ - European Vegetarian Union

Brussels, 8 October 2025 European Parliament votes to ban use of ‘veggie burger’ and ‘plant-based sausage’: coalition calls decision misguided and counterproductive This Wednesday the Members of the E...

www.euroveg.eu

5 6 18

Rowan Hooper @rowhoop.bsky.social · 6h

We touched on this last night - work on embryo development in space (because of the possibility of a pregnancy during a future trip to Mars)
www.newscientist.com/article/2399...

Mouse embryos have been grown in space for the first time

An experiment on the International Space Station suggests early embryo development isn't affected by the low-gravity, high-radiation conditions

www.newscientist.com

1

Rowan Hooper @rowhoop.bsky.social · 7h

it was a lot of fun! we should do a palaeo one!

Rowan Hooper @rowhoop.bsky.social · 7h

Here she is on her way to space

1

Rowan Hooper @rowhoop.bsky.social · 8h

I felt like @holland-tom.bsky.social last night - people queuing up to see our live podcast, filling the Royal Society's biggest hall! (ahem it MIGHT have helped that the brilliant Helen Sharman was on the bill...)

Rowan Hooper @rowhoop.bsky.social · 22h

What a panel! ❤️

2 6

Rowan Hooper @rowhoop.bsky.social · 8h

John Gurdon has died aged 91. He shared a Nobel in 2012 for pioneering work on cloning in 1962 (!), showing that you could create a new embryo by taking the nucleus of an adult cell and putting it into an egg. The work led to the creation of Dolly the Sheep

1 2

Reposted by Rowan Hooper

Janet Hill @saskajanet.bsky.social · 12d

UPDATE: I saw it happen! At the Birds Canada research station at the tip of Long Point I watched an expert ever-so-gently and carefully put one of these tiny tags on a monarch. Let me walk you through the steps (1/4)

Janet Hill @saskajanet.bsky.social · 17d

So cool to visit the Motus workshop at Birds Canada headquarters. The Motus community is studying the movement of birds, bats and insects. This tiny radio telemetry device will fit on a Monarch butterfly 😲 #invertebrates #birds 🌿 www.birdscanada.org/bird-science...

Brown wood-sided building with a wi Dow and a door. Sign above the door says, “Motus Workshop and Research Laboratory”.

Tiny antenna with a rectangular box on the end. The whole thing is on an open hand and is about 5cm long.

Orange and black butterfly on purple flowers.

16 63 340

Rowan Hooper @rowhoop.bsky.social · 8h

No (we run adverts)

1

Rowan Hooper @rowhoop.bsky.social · 9h

Vote for us! We are up for BEST SCIENCE PODCAST at the Signal Listener's Choice awards, please vote for THE WORLD, THE UNIVERSE AND US here: vote.signalaward.com/PublicVoting...

1 5 5

Rowan Hooper @rowhoop.bsky.social · 22h

What a panel! ❤️

1 1

Rowan Hooper @rowhoop.bsky.social · 1d

Off to the @royalsociety.org for a special live recording of our podcast, THE WORLD, THE UNIVERSE AND US - with Helen Sharman, Irene di Giulio, Katie King and co-host @abbybeall.bsky.social

2 2 9

Rowan Hooper @rowhoop.bsky.social · 2d

Powerful piece by Dan - whose dad, uncle and grandma have/had Alzheimer's

New Scientist @newscientist.com · 2d

Can you escape your genetic inheritance, and do lifestyle changes actually make a difference? Daniel Cossins set out to understand what the evidence on Alzheimer’s really means for him.

What’s my Alzheimer’s risk, and can I really do anything to change it?

Can you escape your genetic inheritance, and do lifestyle changes actually make a difference? Daniel Cossins set out to understand what the evidence on Alzheimer’s really means for him

www.newscientist.com

4

Rowan Hooper @rowhoop.bsky.social · 2d

As the flames rose, to her Roman nose…

Harry Turtledove @hntdove.bsky.social · 2d

Hell of a thing to put next to a statue of Joan of Arc. (h/t David Pilling)

Fire extinguisher next to a statue of Joan of Arc

6

Rowan Hooper @rowhoop.bsky.social · 2d

Beauties!

1

Rowan Hooper @rowhoop.bsky.social · 3d

Red alert in Antarctica
m.youtube.com/watch?v=Lwn3...

Emergency in Antarctica as fears grow that we passed a tipping point

YouTube video by New Scientist

m.youtube.com

5 6

Rowan Hooper @rowhoop.bsky.social · 3d

I say, with confidence: no.

1 1

Rowan Hooper @rowhoop.bsky.social · 4d

Spent the afternoon oil painting. Enjoyed myself. Love the smell of oils. Produced an absolute dog’s dinner! 😂

1 3

Rowan Hooper @rowhoop.bsky.social · 4d

Sheesh… (We reported on “brainoware” aka “DishBrain” computers in 2023 @mjflepage.bsky.social)

www.newscientist.com/article/2363...

1 3

Rowan Hooper @rowhoop.bsky.social · 4d

bsky.app/profile/bill...

Bill McKibben @billmckibben.bsky.social · 4d

As Russia is discovering, a drone can wreck an oil refinery
Not so much a solar farm, since silicon doesn't explode
billmckibben.substack.com/p/its-hard-t...

It's hard to drone a solar panel

The war in Ukraine may be adding resilience to the list of clean energy's virtues

billmckibben.substack.com

1

Rowan Hooper @rowhoop.bsky.social · 4d

Distributed power is empowering bsky.app/profile/rowh...

Rowan Hooper @rowhoop.bsky.social · 12d

Super intriguing: cyanobacteria leak electricity in sunlight. Put cyanobacteria on an electrode, and you can harvest the current to power electronic devices. You can make LIVING SOLAR PANELS
www.newscientist.com/article/mg26...

What made solar power the most desirable energy source on the planet?

In this latest instalment of Future Chronicles, an imagined history of future inventions, Rowan Hooper explains how the creation of living solar panels transformed their impact on the world

www.newscientist.com

1 1 4

Reposted by Rowan Hooper

RobJFH @robjfh.bsky.social · 4d

I voted for @newscientist.com podcast 'The world, the universe and us' in the Signal Awards Listener’s Choice.

VOTE: vote.signalaward.com/PublicVoting...

@rowhoop.bsky.social @pennysarchet.bsky.social #SignalAwards

The Signal Listener's Choice Award needs YOU

I just voted for this finalist to win a Signal Listener's Choice Award. You should too.

vote.signalaward.com

1 1 1

Rowan Hooper @rowhoop.bsky.social · 4d

Thank you!

1