Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Chris Clark

Andrew Mountcastle @mounty.bsky.social · 7d

RIP to the incomparable Jane Goodall, who embodied the best of humanity.

Her rich legacy included becoming friends with Gary Larson after he drew this cartoon. (She was delighted by it, even though many at the time thought it was terribly offensive to her.)

A classic Far Side cartoon featuring two gorillas sitting next to each other on a limb. One gorilla is pulling a hair out of the fur of the other, and saying "Well, well - another blond hair....Conducting a little more "research" with the Jane Goodall tramp?"

2 10

Chris Clark @selasphorus1.bsky.social · 7d

I always wonder how much the experimental exposure to noise benefits the owl by masking the prey's hearing.

1

Chris Clark @selasphorus1.bsky.social · 11d

false

1

Reposted by Chris Clark

Barack Obama @barackobama.bsky.social · 20d

After years of complaining about cancel culture, the current administration has taken it to a new and dangerous level by routinely threatening regulatory action against media companies unless they muzzle or fire reporters and commentators it doesn’t like.

Let’s be clear about what happened to Jimmy Kimmel

Trump’s most brazen attack on free speech yet.

www.yahoo.com

2K 20K 62K

Reposted by Chris Clark

Peter Stronach @macstronach.bsky.social · Sep 8

Spent hours being spellbound by Convolvulus Hawk Moths last night as they nectared on Nicotiana plants in my highland garden!. Up to 3 feeding at a time, their entire abdomens glowing red hot in the thermal from flight muscle use!! #teammoth @migrantmothuk.bsky.social @savebutterflies.bsky.social

8 63 280

Chris Clark @selasphorus1.bsky.social · 29d

What's next: "these facts don't match my preconceived ideas, this professor needs to be fired!"

Chris Clark @selasphorus1.bsky.social · Sep 5

Postdoc advertisement!

Hi all, I'm looking to hire a Postdoc in BIOACOUSTICS for work on Owls. Your job would be to collect & analyze bioacoustics data, and write papers. 🦉🦉🦅🐦🦜🦉🦉

3 56 80

Reposted by Chris Clark

Richard Bomphrey @richardbomphrey.bsky.social · Sep 2

🚨 Hiring! We are looking for a postdoctoral researcher with expertise in computational fluid dynamics and structural simulations to investigate biomechanics and mechanosensory feedback in insect flight.

Extreme agility ✔️
Morphological computing ✔️
Meshes! ✔️

jobs.rvc.ac.uk/vacancy.aspx...

a close up of a fly 's head with a blurred background .

ALT: a close up of a fly 's head with a blurred background .

media.tenor.com

15 14

Chris Clark @selasphorus1.bsky.social · Aug 17

In other words: the algo *knows* you, maybe better than you know yourself!

1 1

Chris Clark @selasphorus1.bsky.social · Aug 15

www.reddit.com/r/Awwducatio...

From the Awwducational community on Reddit: Onagadori is a historic Japanese breed of chicken, characterised by an exceptionally long tail, which consists of about 16–18 feathers, which under the righ...

Explore this post and more from the Awwducational community

www.reddit.com

Chris Clark @selasphorus1.bsky.social · Aug 15

Per the #AOS quiz bowl last night: the bird with the longest tail is the Onagadori, a chicken breed from Japan

1 1

Reposted by Chris Clark

Jarome Ali 🇹🇹 🏳️‍🌈 @jarome.bsky.social · Aug 13

Pick an idiom: "more than meets the eye", "beauty more than skin [feather] deep" etc.

In work led by Rosalyn Price-Waldman, we describe a hidden (and ignored!) black or white layer found below the visible surface of bird feathers which helps make bird colours so striking!

🧪 🪶 #colsci

Songbirds play optical tricks to make their feather colors ‘pop’

Concealed black or white bands on feathers boost the vibrancy of bird plumage

www.science.org

2 30 99

Chris Clark @selasphorus1.bsky.social · Aug 7

How long can a log remain preserved in a lake? Could any have been there for 1000's of years? any chance of a dendochronology study similar to what they did with bristlecone pines?

1

Reposted by Chris Clark

Dennis O’Rear @djorear.bsky.social · Aug 7

The NIH says that mRNA shows promise as a vaccine against multiple cancers. Is this part of the $500M research that RFK Jr canceled?

🧪

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39798545/

Clinical advances of mRNA vaccines for cancer immunotherapy - PubMed

The development of mRNA vaccines represents a significant advancement in cancer treatment, with more than 120 clinical trials to date demonstrating their potential across various malignancies, includi...

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

4 19 22

Chris Clark @selasphorus1.bsky.social · Aug 1

What did we breathe before then?!

1 2

Chris Clark @selasphorus1.bsky.social · Jul 21

They are, but only about 1.5x the work of one. Sometimes they’re both asleep and sometimes they’re both screaming, the moments when 2 = 1

Chris Clark @selasphorus1.bsky.social · Jul 11

(And if you're asking whether her job at the pizza chain displaced a normal-bodied worker on a 1:1 basis, I don't think so but am not completely sure). I don't know how much useful work they got out of her, surely some. With the cognition of a 6 YO, she's always had a guardian

1

Chris Clark @selasphorus1.bsky.social · Jul 11

A person with the cognition of a 6YO does not live independently nor have normal expenses, so I don't know what "living wage" means here. Social security (and her inheritance) support her.

1

Chris Clark @selasphorus1.bsky.social · Jul 11

I mean, for money, she's been on social security her whole life...

1 2

Chris Clark @selasphorus1.bsky.social · Jul 11

My developmentally disabled aunt (cognition of a 6YO) participated in that program for decades. It kept her busy and provided community/structure. It wouldn't have worked had they been forced to pay her minimum wage. Those trying to force a wage increase are misguided

1 9

Chris Clark @selasphorus1.bsky.social · Jul 10

looks like it has a misshapen beak. Could it feed ok?

1

Chris Clark @selasphorus1.bsky.social · Jul 10

Doubtful, but I will knowingly F-- it up rather than doing so accidentally

1

Chris Clark @selasphorus1.bsky.social · Jul 10

Great idea

1

Chris Clark @selasphorus1.bsky.social · Jul 10

Strategy needs to be 100% tailored to this specific student, which is why gentle teasing might be better. "ChatGPT, please generate 30 fake citations on [topic] written by [student]", print them out & paste around the lab?

1

Chris Clark @selasphorus1.bsky.social · Jul 9

*Sigh*. Caught a grad student using AI to generate fake citations today. Need to figure out the best strategy to make this a teachable moment. Maybe "gentle teasing"? "Strict warning"? Unclear which will work best in this case.

2 2