Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Stephen J. Gotts

Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 20h

#WarRavagedPortland

Reposted by Stephen J. Gotts

Josh Marshall @joshtpm.bsky.social · 1d

Picture here is from 1992. LA riots. Ive seen this called bad news judgment. In any real journalism outfit this is more like a firing offense. I basically say such things. Beyond belief.

CNN @cnn.com · 2d

"President Donald Trump and his top aides are using the word 'insurrection' more frequently to describe anti-ICE protests in places like Portland," writes Zachary B. Wolf. https://cnn.it/4pWYmzr

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Elizabeth Lopatto @lopatto.bsky.social · 1d

please read my memo www.theverge.com/business/793...

Memo to Bari Weiss Re: CBS News: You’re doomed

Bari Weiss has sold her company, The Free Press, to manage the decline of broadcast news at CBS. How many ways can it go wrong?

www.theverge.com

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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 1d

SEAN DUFFY: Burbank -- zero controllers came to work. I don't support that. They should come to work. They're supposed to come to work. But ...

KILMEADE: They didn't even miss a paycheck yet. So why aren't they coming to work?

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PessoaBrain @pessoabrain.bsky.social · 2d

Michael X Cohen on why he left academia/neuroscience.
mikexcohen.substack.com/p/why-i-left...

Why I left academia and neuroscience

Don't worry, this isn't yet another story of rage-quitting.

mikexcohen.substack.com

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Brandon Friedman @brandonfriedman.bsky.social · 3d

Judge Diane Goodstein crossed the Trump administration last month. Yesterday, her home burned, her husband was injured and it's being investigated for arson.

www.postandcourier.com/news/crime/s...

Judge blocks South Carolina from giving DOJ millions of voters' data
Sep. 3, 2025

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Jonathan Howard @joho.bsky.social · 5d

The sequel to We Want Them Infected is done!

COVID killed 1.2 million Americans while vaccines saved millions.

Yet, disinformation superspreaders were empowered, where they are taking a wrecking ball to science & medicine.

How did that happen?🧵

sciencebasedmedicine.org/everyone-els...

Everyone Else is Lying to You: My Book is Done!

The pandemic’s biggest disinformation superspreaders are now in charge. How did this happen?

sciencebasedmedicine.org

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Reposted by Stephen J. Gotts

Mark Histed @markhisted.org · 4d

True. And much of that was due to government contracts— not just Bell system funding.
Fundamental / basic science is a public good that markets do not support well. Only the public, through government, has the time horizon needed to make that investment rational.

Kevin J. CREATURE @kevinjkircher.com · 4d

Sometimes I think about how from 1935-1975ish, Bell Labs produced an insane amount of revolutionary science and technology, including 11 Nobel Prizes, the transistor, UNIX, C, the laser, the solar cell, information theory, etc. The secret? Provide scientists with ample, steady, no-strings funding.

sites.stat.columbia.edu

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Reposted by Stephen J. Gotts

Stonekettle @stonekettle.bsky.social · 4d

Nationalize all Golf Courses

That way, when government shuts down, so does golf. You'll never see another shutdown again.

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Matthias Nau @matthiasnau.bsky.social · 6d

Nice demo by Mark Lescroart @neuromdl.bsky.social on EPI imaging of a single #fMRI slice. Great for teaching! :)
vimeo.com/143701608?fl...

fMRI_EPI_KspaceAcquisition_short

This is a demonstration of how a single slice of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data is collected. Before this makes any sense, you will need to understand…

vimeo.com

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Reposted by Stephen J. Gotts

Armin Raznahan @bogglerapture.bsky.social · 6d

Some news …! 🤗

So excited to get started next year, and very grateful for the opportunity.

Looking forward to connecting with friends and colleagues - old and new.

Watch this space for posting on fully funded positions as the new lab starts up !

Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford @oxfordpsychiatry.bsky.social · 6d

🔊We are delighted to announce the appointment of Armin Raznahan as the new WA Handley Professor of Psychiatry.

Professor Raznahan is a child & adolescent psychiatrist, joining us from the US National Institute of Mental Health Intramural Research Program.

More: www.psych.ox.ac.uk/news/armin-r...

An image of Professor Armin Raznahan, Incoming WA Handley Professor of Psychiatry, with a quote from him saying: "Returning to the UK to work and learn with the remarkable community at Oxford is a real privilege. There is such a unique landscape of opportunity across the university and local NHS Trusts to both advance our understanding of the developing human brain and make a difference in the way we care for youth experiencing mental health difficulties."

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Drug Monkey @drugmonkey.bsky.social · 6d

More NIH chaos.

NICHD, NIMHD and NIAID Directors are all dismissed.

Princess Vimentin PhD | Cancer Biologist @princess-vimentin.bsky.social · 6d

Jeanne Marrazzo, director of NIAID, claimed that the Trump Administration’s actions
endangered research subjects, defied court orders & undermined vaccine research.

Earlier, Kennedy fired Susan Monarez of the CDC.

Resisting unethical policies costs you.

🧪🎁🔗
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/02/h...

Kennedy Fires N.I.H. Scientist Who Filed Whistle-Blower Complaint

www.nytimes.com

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Reposted by Stephen J. Gotts

Mark Histed @markhisted.org · 6d

I was supposed to travel next week to Purdue to give a talk about our work on recurrent brain networks.

Seminar visits are important for science: they allow the exchange of ideas to mutually advance each other's work.

The shutdown means I can't travel, and that hurts Indiana as well as NIH.

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Reposted by Stephen J. Gotts

Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · 6d

NEW—US Department of Education sent out standard Out of Office language to employees on Wednesday in light of shutdown. Later yesterday, workers tell me they found someone had updated their auto-responses without consent to a new one blaming Democrats.

Version of original on left, updated on right:

Thank you for your email. There is a temporary shutdown of the U.S. government due to a lapse in appropriations. I will respond to your message as soon as possible after the temporary shutdown ends. Please visit ED.gov for the latest information on the
Department's operational status.
Thank you.

Thank you for contacting me. On September 19, 2025, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 5371, a clean continuing resolution. Unfortunately, Democrat Senators are blocking passage of H.R. 5371 in the Senate which has led to a lapse in appropriations. Due to the lapse in appropriations I am currently in furlough status. I will respond to emails once government functions resume.

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Reposted by Stephen J. Gotts

Neil Shubin @neilshubin.bsky.social · Nov 24

Your reminder that many of the muscles, nerves and bones you use to hear and talk with correspond to gill structures in fish. 🧪 #evolution #paleontology

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Andrew Dessler @andrewdessler.com · 6d

I can confirm this: there are enough chargers that you can basically drive anywhere in the U.S.

See How E.V. Road Trips Went From Impossible to Easy www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

See How E.V. Road Trips Went From Impossible to Easy

There are a lot more fast chargers than there used to be. Look up what that could mean for a route near you.

www.nytimes.com

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Jenna Norton @jenna-m-norton.bsky.social · 7d

“American science, the gold-standard and world-leading science and innovation enterprise, is being destroyed….Congress has a rare moment of leverage to check Trump’s executive overreach and it must stand up and do so.”

- @markhisted.org, NIH neuroscientist

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

This US government shutdown is different: what it means for science

President Trump’s budget office lays out guidelines for mass lay-offs across the federal government.

www.nature.com

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Tara Goddard, PhD @drtaragoddard.com · 8d

My thoughts go out to all my friends and colleagues in the federal workforce, who once again are pinned between a rock and a hard place with a looming government shutdown.

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Reposted by Stephen J. Gotts

Norm Eisen @normeisen.bsky.social · 8d

BREAKING: We are going to court to stop the Trump administration’s abuse of the coming shutdown to illegally RIF employees

So proud to be part of this lawsuit w/
AFGE @afscme.bsky.social @democracyforward.org & Altshuler Berzon

Here’s the complaint
democracydefendersfund.org/prs/9.30.25-pr

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rahaeli @rahaeli.bsky.social · 8d

Hey remember when the CDC dropped 6 of the 8 foodborne illnesses from the nationwide monitoring system in July and one of them was listeria? Mentioning for no particular reason www.nbcnews.com/health/healt...

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Philip Bump @pbump.com · 9d

I’m opening a movie theater in which I show recently released films that I ripped from the internet but the studios are welcome to opt out if they wish.

The Wall Street Journal @wsj.com · 9d

Exclusive: OpenAI is planning to release a new version of its Sora video generator, which creates videos featuring copyrighted material unless copyright holders opt out of having their work appear.

OpenAI’s New Sora Video Generator to Require Copyright Holders to Opt Out

Executives at the startup notified talent agencies and studios over the last week.

on.wsj.com

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Cube Enthusiast @killhamster.bsky.social · 11d

Nature is healing

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megan peters 🧠 @meganakpeters.bsky.social · 12d

This is arbitrary and seems intentionally cruel to announce this late in the cycle, especially without grandfathering in last year's cohort.

Maybe they will change it back?

In the meantime, spread the word.

Erica D. Pratt @pratted.bsky.social · 12d

Announcing such a major change to NSF GRFP this late in the cycle is incredibly cruel. 2nd yr students (mine included) have been working so hard on their proposals despite ongoing uncertainty. They are driven and passionate about being outstanding scientists and helping those coming up behind them.

This means individuals in the following statuses at the time of application are eligible:

Undergraduate in the final (senior) year of a bachelor’s degree program
Bachelor’s degree-holder with NO enrollment in a graduate degree program (non-degree graduate coursework allowed)
Individual enrolled in a joint bachelor’s-master’s degree program with at least three undergraduate years completed
First-year graduate student in their first graduate degree program with less than one academic year completed in the degree program (according to institution’s academic calendar)
Individuals enrolled in joint bachelor’s-master’s degree programs are considered graduate students. For GRFP, joint bachelor’s-master’s degrees are defined as degrees concurrently pursued and awarded.
Not be a current NSF employee.

Applications that do not meet eligibility requirements will be returned without review as being ineligible for a fellowship.

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Jingnan Du @jingnandu.bsky.social · 12d

Our new paper is out now in Neuron! 🎉 With @vaibhavtripathi.bsky.social @maxwellelliott.bsky.social Joanna Ladopoulou, Wendy Sun, Mark Eldaief, and Randy Buckner

Paper link: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

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Jason Williams @jasonwilliamsny.bsky.social · 13d

Please share with anyone who cares about NSF support for graduate students and take 30 seconds to sign and leave a comment.

The deadline for the 2025 Graduate Research Fellowship Program is about one month away and literally no one can apply. #NSFGRFP

jasonjwilliamsny.github.io/grfp2025/

An Open Letter to U.S. STEM Leadership on the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program

jasonjwilliamsny.github.io

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