Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Sharif Islam🐧🎸

Prof Nisreen Alwan @nisreenalwan.bsky.social · 6d

My heartbreak and horror at the killing and starvation of Gazans does not negate my total support and solidarity with my fellow jewish citizens across the UK against terror. The conflation on display by some politicians and media outlets over the last 24 hours is sickening.

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Zohran Kwame Mamdani @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social · 7d

Like Scandinavian...but brown.

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Pensoft @pensoft.net · 22d

🗨️ "The UN Pact for the Future should include #biodiversity as a core pillar: not only of #environmental #sustainability, but of #equity, security, and inter-generational justice."

Our team also demonstrates how our #research #infrastructures collectively contribute to the the #Kunming-Montreal GBF.

Scientists call for a global alliance to place biodiversity at the heart of the UN Pact for the Future

A new white paper delivers a clear message: protecting biodiversity is not just an environmental issue. It is essential for food security, public health, climate stability, and the global economy.

blog.pensoft.net

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Magdalena Skipper @magdalenaskipper.bsky.social · 22d

A great review of a must read timely publication of “Science under Siege: How to Fight the Five Most Powerful Forces that Threaten Our World” by

@peterhotezmdphd.bsky.social and @michaelemann.bsky.social

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

How did assaults on science become the norm — and what can we do?

An insightful book explores attacks on science from a historical and a personal perspective.

www.nature.com

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Sharif Islam🐧🎸 @sharifx.bsky.social · 22d

trying to explain Biodiversity Data Space for Biodiversity Meets Data project 😱 @bmd-project.eu #dataspace #BMDexplained

Biodiversity Meets Data @bmd-project.eu · 23d

🎥 This week in #BMDexplained: In this video, Sharif Islam explains the challenges of integrating biodiversity data.
🔗 Watch to learn more about BMD's Biodiversity Data Space: www.youtube.com/watch?v=d3EE...
@sharifx.bsky.social | @naturalis.bsky.social

How will BMD improve accessibility to biodiversity data?

YouTube video by Biodiversity Meets Data

www.youtube.com

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Sharif Islam🐧🎸 @sharifx.bsky.social · 23d

@bmd-project.eu The BMD project is looking for a project manager. BMD scales up on high-throughput biodiversity monitoring with camera traps, audio devices and e-DNA sampling across Europe, and develops together with its stakeholder communities (#Natura2000)👇 www.naturalis.nl/en/about-us/...

Senior Project Leader BMD

You know how to keep complex international projects running smoothly.

www.naturalis.nl

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Sharif Islam🐧🎸 @sharifx.bsky.social · 23d

@dissco.bsky.social demo is back. check out the latest one: dissco.tech/2025/09/16/d...

DiSSCo Demo VI 10-09-2025

DiSSCo demos are back! It has been a while, and the team has gone through some changes, but that didn’t mean that development has halted. In fact, DiSSCo has hit an impressive milestone of ov…

dissco.tech

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Michael E. Mann @michaelemann.bsky.social · 23d

"Scientists strive to be apolitical, but they can’t keep politics out of their labs" | The review by Michael Hiltzik of my new book with @peterhotezmdphd.bsky.social, #ScienceUnderSiege, as it appears in print version of the @latimes.com:

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Open Future @openfuture.bsky.social · Sep 9

📣 Join us at #GLAMWiki2025 in Lisbon (Oct 30-Nov 1)

Explore resilience in cultural heritage with workshops and expert sessions, including @culturedoug.bsky.social presenting the CommonsDB registry for Wikimedians and cultural institutions.

Register by Sep 30: w.wiki/D5Xq

#GlamWiki2025 Conference presentation, October 30 to November 1 in Lisbon.

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Rishika Pardikar @rishpardikar.bsky.social · Aug 27

Cautionary tale on benefit-sharing mechanisms under the biodiversity convention. Tribal elder who introduced the world to a herb significant for rejuvenating properties died in poverty while companies worldwide sold it without sharing returns with the community www.downtoearth.org.in/wildlife-bio...

Remembering Kuttimathan Kani, the forest elder who gave a wonder herb to the world but died in poverty

Kuttimathan Kani, a tribal elder from Kerala, passed away in poverty despite his pivotal role in discovering arogyapacha, a plant that inspired the world's first biodiversity benefit-sharing model. Hi...

www.downtoearth.org.in

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McSweeney's @mcsweeneys.net · Aug 7

"Reducing our dependence on whales as an energy source will send us sliding down the slippery, spermaceti-lubricated slope to socialism. If we give up whaling, what will those lackwits come for next? Will I have to surrender my peg leg for a titanium prosthetic?"

I’m Captain Ahab and I Say We Must Never Transition Away from a Whale-Based Energy Industry

When I heard that the globalist oligarchs and fat cats in the Washington marshland were conspiring to invest in alternative, non-whale-based energy...

buff.ly

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Sharif Islam🐧🎸 @sharifx.bsky.social · Aug 3

www.linkedin.com/pulse/google...
Google has released AlphaEarth Foundations — a model that transforms multi-sensor Earth Observation data into compact embeddings. What does this mean for biodiversity research and monitoring?I wrote a short commentary on this.

Google DeepMind's AlphaEarth Foundations: What It Means for Biodiversity

Google DeepMind recently has launched AlphaEarth Foundations, a model that turns diverse Earth Observation (EO) data into 64‑dimensional embeddings for "any place and time" (see Nature coverage). What...

www.linkedin.com

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WIRED @wired.com · Jul 30

Part of Google Earth Engine, AlphaEarth Foundations is a chip off Google’s DeepMind AI block—and it's here to help save the world.

Google’s Newest AI Model Acts like a Satellite to Track Climate Change

Part of Google Earth Engine, AlphaEarth Foundations is a chip off Google’s DeepMind AI block—and it's here to help save the world.

wrd.cm

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Paris Marx @parismarx.com · Jul 31

after nearly two years of horrendous slaughter in gaza, it finally feels like the western political consensus in support of israel regardless of its actions may be breaking. it’s far too late for so many palestinians, but i deeply hope it’s finally happening.

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Zoe Broughton @camerazoe.bsky.social · Jul 26

Hundreds gather in Oxford banging empty pans to highlight the starvation and genocide taking place in Gaza.
@georgemonbiot.bsky.social
@doubledown.news

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Peter Gleick @petergleick.bsky.social · Jul 24

Article 54 of the 1977 Geneva Convention Protocol I.

1. Starvation of civilians as a method of warfare is prohibited.

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Sharif Islam🐧🎸 @sharifx.bsky.social · Jul 24

What’s the reason for the online key to be offline? Do you know? Can the key be submitted in a global repo like @gbif.org or @embl.org ??

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davidobura.bsky.social @davidobura.bsky.social · Jul 24

Such an important ruling by the Int. Court of Justice. Simply put, states are responsible for the #pollution they allow, to the #climate as much to the #environment news.un.org/en/story/202...

This is real #human and #planetary #justice, allowing for #TransformativeChange in how things are done

World Court says countries are legally obligated to curb emissions, protect climate

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague, Netherlands, issued its advisory opinion on the obligations of States in respect of climate change, read out by the President of the Court, Judge...

news.un.org

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Jack Ashby @jackdashby.bsky.social · Jul 22

HELLO AUSTRALIA! 🇦🇺 #NaturesMemory: Behind the Scenes at the World's Natural History #Museums is published in Oz today! There are loads of Australian stories in the book (particularly in the sections on the colonial legacies of natural history collecting), and here's a rundown of the whole book! 👇

Jack Ashby @jackdashby.bsky.social · Apr 24

Big day... My book #NaturesMemory: Behind the Scenes at the World's Natural History #Museums is published TODAY.🤩
Over the last 20+ years of working in these incredible institutions, I've noticed some surprising things about them, and this book shares some of these "secrets", as an insider's guide.🧵

The cover of Nature’s Memory – a green snail shell on a black background

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iBOL Europe @iboleurope.bsky.social · Jul 21

Our next Community Meeting will take place on Monday, 28 July, at 15:30.
We will talk about the @biogeneurope.bsky.social curation tool, the Dutch Gap List developed by Arise, and we'll get updates from the Working Groups.
Learn more and join us:
iboleurope.org/community-me...

Community Meeting July 2025

Our next Community Meeting will take place on Monday, 28 July, from 15:30 to 16:40 CEST on Zoom, with an edition slightly shorter than usual. This time, we will be joined by Ben Price (NHMUK) and Ste...

iboleurope.org

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Sharif Islam🐧🎸 @sharifx.bsky.social · Jul 21

UN's 2025 SDG Report shows mixed progress with 5 years left. Major wins: expanded education, better health, renewable energy growth. But millions still face poverty, hunger & inequality. Climate chaos & conflicts slow progress. #SDG2030 🌏🧪
unstats.un.org/sdgs/report/...

— SDG Indicators

- Sustainable Development Goal Indicators

unstats.un.org

Sharif Islam🐧🎸 @sharifx.bsky.social · Jul 21

dissco.tech/2025/07/18/g... @dissco.bsky.social Find out more how "Digital Specimen DOIs" in biodiversity and environmental sciences can help with trusted, persistent, and citable data. #citethespecimen #FAIR #Biodiversity

Getting Started with Digital Specimen DOIs: Unlocking the Power of Persistent, Citable Data

In biodiversity and environmental sciences, access to trusted, persistent, and citable data is key to accelerating research and discovery. That’s where Digital Specimen DOIs come in—a foundational …

dissco.tech

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London Review of Books @lrb.co.uk · Jul 19

‘The inability of Western powers to condemn Israel’s conduct – much less bring it to an end – has made a mockery of the rules-based order that they claim to uphold.’

Adam Shatz on the world since 7 October: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

Adam Shatz · The World since 7 October

The war with Iran is far more than an attempt to prevent nuclear weapons from getting in the hands of mullahs (if it...

www.lrb.co.uk

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Sabine von Mering @svmering.bsky.social · Jul 14

Have a look at this blog post about our new article "Wikidata for botanists: Benefits of collaborating and sharing Linked Open Data" with @siobhanleachman.bsky.social, @joaquimsantos1978.bsky.social and Heidi Meudt: blog.tepapa.govt.nz/2025/07/14/t... #Wikidata #LOD #botany

The power and potential of Wikidata for botany | Te Papa’s Blog

A new paper entitled Wikidata for Botanists: Benefits of collaborating and sharing Linked Open Data has been published in the Annals of Botany. This publication is the result of a collaboration of …

blog.tepapa.govt.nz

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