Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Amanda Heidt @scattercushion.bsky.social · 5d

Hey, I’m the writer of this piece, and I can’t help but feel you’re passing this off without appropriate credit.

Amanda Heidt @scattercushion.bsky.social · 6d

🧪New from me for @nature.com: Nearly every model organism used in research has it's own database, called a MOD. These resources underpin decades of discovery, but they're collectively struggling amid funding cuts.

www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Model organism databases face budget cuts and closures

Beyond the crucial data they contain, these digital archives have provided an important space for academic communities to exchange ideas and resources.

www.nature.com

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Reposted by Amanda Heidt

Virginia Schutte @vgwschutte.bsky.social · 8d

UHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH has anyone been on a .gov website yet today?

How many of them are like this??

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Amanda Heidt @scattercushion.bsky.social · 23d

🧪Hearing about Myasthenia Gravis for the first time? I was too, but turns out there's lots to learn about this surprisingly common rare disease. So read on, in my latest for BioSpace.

www.biospace.com/drug-develop...

Rush of Targeted Myasthenia Gravis Therapies Hit Once Sparse Market

After decades without much movement, a handful of new treatments for this rare autoimmune disease are now approved, and several companies, including argenx and Regeneron, have recently released promis...

www.biospace.com

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Reposted by Amanda Heidt

Nsikan Akpan @monscience.bsky.social · 23d

The CDC has released the agenda for this week’s vaccine advisory meeting. The first item of business: MMR vaccines. 👀👀👀

www.cdc.gov/acip/meeting...

Draft agenda for the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) meeting, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, scheduled for Thursday, September 18, 2025. The meeting begins at 10:00 AM with welcome and roll call by Dr. Martin Kulldorff (ACIP Chair) and Dr. Mina Zadeh (CDC). At 10:30 AM, Dr. Kulldorff provides work group updates. At 11:00 AM, the committee discusses measles, mumps, rubella, and varicella (MMRV) vaccines, with presentations by Dr. Arjun Srinivasan and Dr. John Su, followed by proposed recommendations. Lunch is at 1:00 PM. At 1:30 PM, Hepatitis B vaccine discussions begin, including presentations by Dr. Adam Langer and Dr. John Su. After a 4:00 PM break, agency updates from CDC, CMS, FDA, HRSA, IHS, and NIH start at 4:15 PM, followed by public comment at 4:30 PM. At 5:00 PM, votes are held on MMRV and Hepatitis B vaccines and Vaccines for Children (VFC) program, with Dr. Jeanne Santoli joining Dr. Kulldorff. The meeting adjourns at 5:30 PM.

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Reposted by Amanda Heidt

Dr. Peter Neff @icy-pete.bsky.social · 27d

NSF: The vessel [US Antarctic research vessel NB Palmer] is planned to be returned to the operator after a final cruise in October 2025.  
www.nsf.gov/geo/opp/upda... @carlosmoffat.com

Update on Nathaniel B. Palmer

www.nsf.gov

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Reposted by Amanda Heidt

Hanaa’ Tameez @hanaatameez.bsky.social · 27d

This story — which asks what happened to all of those newsroom DEI jobs, committees, and promises from 2020 — is the hardest one I've ever worked on. I hope you'll spend some time with it today.

www.niemanlab.org/2025/09/from...

From reckoning to retreat: Journalism’s DEI efforts are in decline

www.niemanlab.org

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Amanda Heidt @scattercushion.bsky.social · 28d

Max always gets the best assignments. 😅

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Amanda Heidt @scattercushion.bsky.social · 28d

@maxkozlov.bsky.social coming in clutch with the worst thing I've ever heard.

www.nature.com/articles/d41...

‘Almost unimaginable’: these ants are different species but share a mother

Ant queens of one species clone ants of another to create hybrid workers that do their bidding.

www.nature.com

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Amanda Heidt @scattercushion.bsky.social · 28d

I'm sorry, they do what now!? This is reaffirming my longstanding belief that myrmecologist are unhinged.

Alex Wild @alexwild.bsky.social · 28d

The new XKCD has to be a reference to the ant paper where ants just casually lay eggs of a different species, yes? Maybe? There are so many weird bugs its hard to know.

Line drawing of a two story institutional building with a sign in front, "Welcome to the BIOLOGY DEPARTMENT. It has been 3 days since we discovered something existentially horrifying about abugs that make you question your whole reality."

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Amanda Heidt @scattercushion.bsky.social · 28d

🧪We are so back! I have three deadlines this week, and here's the first to make it to pub. A new study in @cellpress.bsky.social identified the "key hub" that controls consumption. It's even got a link to semaglutide, the active ingredient in Wegovy/Ozempic.

www.nature.com/articles/d41...

‘Brain dial’ turns food consumption on or off in mice

Master-control area integrates information about hunger, a food’s tastiness and more — and can even drive intake of plastic pellets.

www.nature.com

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Amanda Heidt @scattercushion.bsky.social · Sep 4

Still plugging away at this, but the farther we can share it, the better!

Amanda Heidt @scattercushion.bsky.social · Aug 27

🧪 #source request: Are you a PhD student from Singapore, Japan, Korea, Australia, South Africa, Germany, or China who *recently graduated or will soon graduate?* If so, I'd like to hear about your next steps for a story in @nature.com. Send me a DM, email me, or find me on Signal (aheidt.16).

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Reposted by Amanda Heidt

Reuters @reuters.com · Sep 3

Florida plans to end all state vaccine mandates, including for children to attend schools. Vaccination rates for several diseases, including measles, diphtheria and polio, decreased among US kindergartners in the 2024-25 school year from the year before, according to federal data reut.rs/4p6OUsC

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Reposted by Amanda Heidt

elizabethcooney.bsky.social @elizabethcooney.bsky.social · Aug 28

This is telling: People I spoke to are talking about CDC in the past tense.

www.statnews.com/2025/08/28/c...

Crisis within CDC is spilling into real world, experts say

"I’ve never heard as many colleagues saying things like 'CDC is dead’ as I have today," an agency employee told STAT.

www.statnews.com

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Amanda Heidt @scattercushion.bsky.social · Aug 29

Yes hello I will be moving here.

Newfound Planets @i-find-planets.bsky.social · Aug 29

They have discovered a planet. It is something of a mystery. The wind is playful and has the smell of garlic. It's an excellent sphere.

Amanda Heidt @scattercushion.bsky.social · Aug 28

🧪Hey #CanSky #OncoSky, who's doing cool work in the nanobots space? Drug delivery, tumor detection and diagnosis, targeted therapy, minimally invasive surgery, etc. etc.

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Amanda Heidt @scattercushion.bsky.social · Aug 28

📌

Reposted by Amanda Heidt

National Association of Science Writers (NASW) @sciencewriters.org · Aug 27

DUE TOMORROW: Need a little financial aid to make the trip to Chicago Nov 7-9 or to participate in the virtual portion of #SciWri25? Apply for a Community Support Grant NASW membership not required to apply

Learn more and apply: sciencewriters2025.o...

Deadline to apply: Aug 28

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Amanda Heidt @scattercushion.bsky.social · Aug 27

🧪 #source request: Are you a PhD student from Singapore, Japan, Korea, Australia, South Africa, Germany, or China who *recently graduated or will soon graduate?* If so, I'd like to hear about your next steps for a story in @nature.com. Send me a DM, email me, or find me on Signal (aheidt.16).

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Amanda Heidt @scattercushion.bsky.social · Aug 23

I'll be keeping my head down and working hard for the rest of 2025 to make up for all this (much needed) time away, so editors, my world is your oyster!

Amanda Heidt @scattercushion.bsky.social · Aug 23

And lastly, for Nature Custom Media, I wrote about Natera's Renasight panel---a genetic screen of almost 400 genes associated with chronic kidney disease---and RenasightIQ, one of the largest commercial collections of kidney-specific genomic data in the world.

www.nature.com/articles/d42...

How clinicogenomic data are reshaping kidney disease trials and drug discovery

New genetic screening tools are advancing diagnoses and drug development for kidney disease, bringing nephrology in line with fields such as oncology and cardiology.

www.nature.com

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Amanda Heidt @scattercushion.bsky.social · Aug 23

For the @simonsfoundation.org, I reported this multimedia-focused feature on a program called GeoClaw, that for decades now has helped us model tsunamis, landslides and asteroid impacts. I've spent a lot of time in the PNW recently, where GeoClaw has been used in emergency management planning.

Tsunamis, Landslides and Asteroid Impacts: GeoClaw Models Deadly Flows

Tsunamis, Landslides and Asteroid Impacts: GeoClaw Models Deadly Flows on Simons Foundation

www.simonsfoundation.org

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Amanda Heidt @scattercushion.bsky.social · Aug 23

For @nature.com, I spoke to five early-career researchers who began their PhDs during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic and are now planning their next steps. I won't lie, it's a bit of a downer at times, but there's also optimism and humor throughout.

www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Class of 2025: five PhD students reveal realigned priorities in wake of COVID and cuts

Scientists who began their doctoral studies in 2020 found their feet during a global pandemic and are graduating into an uncertain and chaotic future.

www.nature.com

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Amanda Heidt @scattercushion.bsky.social · Aug 23

The day before I left, I published a piece for @scinews.bsky.social showcasing how powerful new imaging tools are allowing us to see how quickly and completely herpesvirus modifies our cells, beginning just hours after infection.

www.sciencenews.org/article/herp...

See how the herpesvirus reshapes our cells’ DNA in just eight hours

New imaging tools reveal how within an hour of infection, the virus begins to alter our chromosomes to kick-start its own replication.

www.sciencenews.org

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Amanda Heidt @scattercushion.bsky.social · Aug 23

After two glorious months away backpacking in Colorado and climbing in Canada, I'm finally sitting back down at my desk. More on that eventually, but in the meantime, a few belated shares of stories that ran while I was away:

This image depicts a hiking trail along a mountain ridgeline. There are yellow and white flowers dotted across the landscape, and a few snowdrifts in the background. In the foreground, a golden lab with a backpack is standing with his tongue sticking out.

A woman's hand--sleeved in a red puffy jacket--holds up an almond scone against a backdrop of snowy, rocky peaks. This image was taken on the summit of Huron Peak in Colorado.

This image depicts a woman rock climber, taken from above her and looking down. She is several hundred feet up a wall of pale granite, smiling as she climbs up towards the photographer. Below her is a dense, green forest.

A woman rock climber balances on a slab of dark granite, slowly traversing her way across. Behind her is a dense forest and the ocean.

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