Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Katherine Drotos

Bengi Kendrick @fungiwithbengi.bsky.social · 1h

Do I know any mustelid experts that I could run an outlandish idea across?
I would like someone to convince me that I'm not looking at a photo of an extinct species.

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Reposted by Katherine Drotos

Kashana @kashana.blacksky.app · 23h

Well, I, for one, am proud of us for doing the sensible thing and basing our entire economy on computers that tell kids to kill themselves

Techmeme @techmeme.com · 1d

JPMorgan Chase reports that $1.2T of debt is now tied to AI-related companies, making it the largest segment in the investment-grade market (Caleb Mutua/Bloomberg)

Main Link | Techmeme Permalink

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Reposted by Katherine Drotos

Nathan Lujan @potamophile.bsky.social · 1d

The @romtoronto.bsky.social Sharks exhibition is opening this weekend! The perfect family-friendly destination for the Thanksgiving long weekend!

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Reposted by Katherine Drotos

Kelly @broadwaybabyto.bsky.social · 6d

You can subscribe to PBS for a few dollars a month.

Cancel Disney, Paramount and Amazon.

Vote with your dollar and give to the people and organizations who are still fighting back.

Who are trying to make a difference.

Who aren’t owned by billionaires.

Eric Deggans @edeggans.bsky.social · 6d

Today marks the first day in the 55-year history of PBS and 54-year history of NPR that public media has broadcast to its audiences without federal funding. But even though lots of local outlets are at risk, PBS and NPR are still here, providing fair, accurate news coverage and will not be silenced.

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Reposted by Katherine Drotos

David Shiffman, Ph.D. 🦈 @whysharksmatter.bsky.social · 5d

Jane Goodall’s legacy: three ways she changed science

The primatologist challenged what it meant to be a scientist.

www.nature.com

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Katherine Drotos @spiritofcavalia.bsky.social · 6d

Ed is spot on, as usual.

Science Vs @sciencevs.bsky.social · 7d

This moment from our latest episode with science writer @edyong209.bsky.social is 🔥

We asked Ed — how do we talk up the benefits of science in the face of government cuts? He told us that's the wrong approach. 🧪

Listen wherever, or watch on Spotify 👇

open.spotify.com/episode/7Evh...

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Reposted by Katherine Drotos

Dr. Lucky Tran @luckytran.com · 7d

"You cannot get through a single day without having an impact on the world around you.

What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.”

Rest in power, Dr. Jane Goodall

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Katherine Drotos @spiritofcavalia.bsky.social · 7d

How are you reachable by a poll, but have not heard of him? Like never mind the politics, I want the logistics of this.

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Reposted by Katherine Drotos

The Walrus @thewalrus.ca · 8d

Justin Trudeau promised a “total renewal of the relationship between Canada and Indigenous peoples.” Ten years later, Mark Carney’s Building Canada Act has Indigenous leaders protesting and filing legal challenges. What future is left for reconciliation? thewalrus.ca/trc-introduction/

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Reposted by Katherine Drotos

The Narwhal @thenarwhal.ca · 9d

The last federally run residential school closed in 1997, but traces of the system are everywhere on the land. How to commemorate the dark, painful history of these places? Across Canada, survivors are taking the lead: thenarwhal.ca/truth-reconc...

What should happen to residential school sites? | The Narwhal

Across Canada, Indigenous communities are deciding how to commemorate these residential school histories on the land

thenarwhal.ca

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Reposted by Katherine Drotos

Mychal Threets @mychal3ts.bsky.social · 9d

🎶 Take a look, it's in a book 🎶

🥹 After nearly 20 years... Reading Rainbow is returning to motivate, help, and encourage kids to become avid readers with new episodes, new friends, new projects, and of course... new books! Make sure to follow the rainbow 📚🌈

#FollowTheRainbow

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Reposted by Katherine Drotos

Skype a Scientist @skypeascientist.bsky.social · 8d

Alrght everybody, get your Tin Can Telephones out. We need your help!

We reach new people by word of mouth. Send all your educator friends this pic! Teachers, librarians, scout troop leaders, etc! We offer our program for free, so we need help getting the word out without advertising $$.

A purple and red octopus talk to each other on the tin can telephone. Purple octopus says “want to connect your students with real
Scientists?” Then red octopus says “Skype a scientist matches groups with scientists for virtual q&as. It’s free!” And then an orange flapjack octopus says “get a match at skypeascientist.com”

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Reposted by Katherine Drotos

Krista Langlois @cestmoilanglois.bsky.social · 14d

Do you work in conservation science, particularly outside the U.S.? Did you lose your job or funding for your job because of cuts to U.S. federal agencies? Do you want to talk about it? DM me please. (This is for a @biographic.bsky.social story)

[Iceland photo for attention only]

Grassy dunes, the ocean, and jagged mountains in Iceland

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Reposted by Katherine Drotos

Sarah Barrett @documentalope.bsky.social · 8d

"AI-made material is a waste product: flimsy, shoddy, disposable, a single-use plastic of the mind." 🔥🔥🔥

Chanda Prescod-Weinstein 🌌 @chanda.blacksky.app · 8d

YES! THIS on GenAI!

Please read this absolutely splendid piece of writing that had me cheering, a little bit weepy, and writing in the margins:

"An extraordinary amount of money is spent by the AI industry to ensure that acquiescence is the only plausible response. But marketing is not destiny."

Large Language Muddle | The Editors

The AI upheaval is unique in its ability to metabolize any number of dread-inducing transformations. The university is becoming more corporate, more politically oppressive, and all but hostile to the ...

www.nplusonemag.com

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Reposted by Katherine Drotos

Dare Obasanjo @carnage4life.bsky.social · Jul 1

A new paper in The Lancet, one of the world’s foremost peer reviewed medical journals, estimates that USAID prevented 91 million deaths across 133 countries over 20 years.

The paper estimates that Elon Musk’s DOGE funding cuts to USAID will lead to 14 million deaths by 2030 (4.5 million children).

Evaluating the impact of two decades of USAID interventions and projecting the effects of defunding on mortality up to 2030: a retrospective impact evaluation and forecasting analysis

USAID funding has significantly contributed to the reduction in adult and child mortality across low-income and middle-income countries over the past two decades. Our estimates show that, unless the a...

www.thelancet.com

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Reposted by Katherine Drotos

Kayce Bell @kaycebell.bsky.social · 9d

Some of you reached out after seeing this post and it has led to some promising leads! A re-up for this week in case someone with louse samples hasn't seen it yet! Many thanks and I'm happy to answer questions!
🧪

Kayce Bell @kaycebell.bsky.social · 15d

Hi! We need lice for our diversity and adaptation project. Specifically, we need lice from zebras, camelids (camels, llamas, alpacas, vicuñas, guanacos) & aardvarks. If you or someone you know might have lice, I'm happy to discuss our inclusive collaboration plans!
sites.google.com/nhm.org/anop...

Mammals & Lice

We are interested in understanding what drives host-parasite relationships. We are using the Anoplura (sucking lice) parasite and mammalian host system to generate a comprehensive sucking louse phylog...

sites.google.com

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Reposted by Katherine Drotos

Jacquelyn Gill @jacquelyngill.bsky.social · 9d

Yet another way that tech billionaires are stealing from us while getting richer off of planetary destruction (in addition to data centers being unbearably loud, noxious, water hogs that are driving up local utility prices):

First Responders Are Being Overwhelmed by Data Center Fires

First responders in a small Ohio town have answered 84 emergencies between two Amazon data centers, all on the taxpayer's dime.

futurism.com

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Katherine Drotos @spiritofcavalia.bsky.social · 9d

Me: This recent paper will be useful for this.
Them: Recent??
Me: Yeah it's from 2016.
Them: That's ... 9 years ago.
Me:

Surprised Pikachu GIF

Alt: A gif of Pikachu (yellow mouse Pokemon) looking absolutely shocked.

media.tenor.com

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Reposted by Katherine Drotos

Dr. Genevieve Eastabrook, MD FRCSC (she/her) @placentadoc.bsky.social · 10d

AI medical tools found to downplay symptoms of women, ethnic minorities

Bias-reflecting LLMs lead to inferior medical advice for female, Black, and Asian patients.

None of this should be surprising, considering the terribly flawed data that these tools are based upon. Garbage in, garbage out.

AI medical tools found to downplay symptoms of women, ethnic minorities

Bias-reflecting LLMs lead to inferior medical advice for female, Black, and Asian patients.

arstechnica.com

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Reposted by Katherine Drotos

Aurelien Mondon @aurelmondon.bsky.social · 11d

Let that sink in

"Despite its extreme population density, Gaza was mostly self-sufficient in vegetables and poultry, and met much of the population’s demand for olives, fruit and milk. But last month the UN reported that just 1.5% of its agricultural land now remains both accessible and undamaged."

George Monbiot @georgemonbiot.bsky.social · 11d

When you consider the *ecocide* alongside the genocide being perpetrated in Gaza, you begin to grasp the totality of the Israeli state’s attempt to eliminate both the Palestinians and their homeland.
My column today.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Israel’s ecocide in Gaza sends this message: even if we stopped dropping bombs, you couldn’t live here | George Monbiot

Consider the annihilation of agricultural land alongside the genocide – and grasp the chilling totality of this attempt to eliminate all life, says Guardian columnist George Monbiot

www.theguardian.com

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Katherine Drotos @spiritofcavalia.bsky.social · 11d

I'm not sure I buy it. Is this really him feeding his own ego? Or some kind of orchestrated distraction? Both, where is the useful idiot for someone else? Basically ... who benefits from having all these military leaders briefly pulled and distracted?

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Katherine Drotos @spiritofcavalia.bsky.social · 12d

*stares in slightly horrified Canadian*

Do you ... do you folks not read full books in high school??? I'm a millennial and we read multiple full books a year. I'm pretty sure it's still part of the curriculum here too.

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Reposted by Katherine Drotos

BK. Titanji @boghuma.bsky.social · 13d

Ever since I learned about this study enrolling I have been eagerly awaiting the results. Researchers in Uganda took a centuries-old cultural practice mothers carrying babies on their backs in cloth wraps and turned it into a public health tool. You got to love it!
www.nejm.org/doi/full/10....

Permethrin-Treated Baby Wraps for the Prevention of Malaria | NEJM

Malaria remains a major cause of childhood death in sub-Saharan Africa. We leveraged the traditional practice of mothers carrying children on their backs in cloth wraps to assess whether treating t...

www.nejm.org

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Reposted by Katherine Drotos

Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg @theradr.bsky.social · 12d

This is EXCELLENT.

1) this is spot-on analysis of the problem & a great immediate 1st thing a city can do to improve outcome.

2) as a 2 min clip? He's giving history, hope & change. Speaking to women, to Jewish & Black NYers, saying "abortion." & also naming eugenics in feminism. 100/10 no notes.

Hex Anderson @dexanderson.com · 12d

Cuomo could never.

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