Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Travis Longcore @travislongcore.bsky.social · 9d

Big thanks to @uclasustainablela.bsky.social at for funding the Heat Resilient LA project and @countyofla.bsky.social for their collaboration. end/

2

Travis Longcore @travislongcore.bsky.social · 9d

Put these papers together and when it comes to _outdoor_ exposure to extreme heat, you need to bring shade to the people where they are -- bus stops, parking lots, dropoff/pickup locations -- and similarly provide cooling locations close to where they are (minimize walking to get there). 7/

1 2

Travis Longcore @travislongcore.bsky.social · 9d

And: Space-time dynamics in hazard exposure analysis: smartphone locations show pedestrian routes are inflexible to extreme heat events. www.nature.com/articles/s44... 6/

Space-time dynamics in hazard exposure analysis: smartphone locations show pedestrian routes are inflexible to extreme heat events - npj Natural Hazards

npj Natural Hazards - Space-time dynamics in hazard exposure analysis: smartphone locations show pedestrian routes are inflexible to extreme heat events

www.nature.com

1 1

Travis Longcore @travislongcore.bsky.social · 9d

This is part of our series of papers using 📱 smartphone data to understand extreme heat impacts in Los Angeles. See: Smartphone locations reveal patterns of cooling center use as a heat mitigation strategy 🧊 www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... 5/

Smartphone locations reveal patterns of cooling center use as a heat mitigation strategy

The increasing frequency and duration of extreme heat events prompts questions regarding mitigation proposals and evaluation of current strategies suc…

www.sciencedirect.com

1 1

Travis Longcore @travislongcore.bsky.social · 9d

Planners should focus shade for cooling in areas of greater convenience (i.e. along daily routes) during extreme heat. Invest in cooling centers, streetscapes, workplaces, and residential comfort. 🌳🌳🌳🌳🌳🌳🌳 4/

1 1

Travis Longcore @travislongcore.bsky.social · 9d

People from socially vulnerable areas are more likely to visit parks in less vulnerable areas than vice versa. The higher quality parks in more wealthy areas are visited by people curating their environments through mobility. 🚋 🚗🚲 4/

1 1

Travis Longcore @travislongcore.bsky.social · 9d

Time of day and day of week are more important to park use than weather. But people do stay later in the evening at parks when it is super hot. 3/

1 1

Travis Longcore @travislongcore.bsky.social · 9d

Parks are used slightly less during extreme heat days than paired control days. Parks are good to reduce temperatures, but to alleviate heat in events but are used less when it is hot. Except the beach. People go to the beach in LA when it is very hot. 🏖️☀️🏄‍♀️ 2/

1 1

Travis Longcore @travislongcore.bsky.social · 9d

🔥 New Paper Alert 🔥 -- from the incomparable @ioes.ucla.edu Senior Practicum in Environmental Science with the paper led by new alums Sammy Fruman and Bethany Woo --> anonymized smartphone data show park use in extreme heat 1/ #heat #hazards #mobility #cities www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Smartphone location data show park use patterns in extreme heat (Los Angeles, California, USA)

Climate change, combined with the Urban Heat Island effect, will generate more frequent, intense extreme heat events. These events can induce heat str…

www.sciencedirect.com

1 3 4

Travis Longcore @travislongcore.bsky.social · 12d

Remembering a #lightpollution researcher gone too soon.

Clare Boyes @pickeletto.bsky.social · 12d

Four years ago today since Douglas died. We miss him every moment of every day. Loved so much by his family and many friends; a respected scientist and moth-er; a wearer of great shirts; and a Bellowhead superfan.

1 3

Reposted by Travis Longcore

Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · Sep 8

Justice Sotomayor, not mincing words, also says that today's decision will lead to the "creation of [] a second-class citizenship status" for Latinos, who now will have the burden to "carry enough documentation to prove that they deserve to walk freely."

The concurrence relegates the interests of U. S. citizens
and individuals with legal status to a single sentence, positing that the Government will free these individuals as
soon as they show they are legally in the United States.
Ante, at 8 (opinion of KAVANAUGH, J.). That blinks reality.
Two plaintiffs in this very case tried to explain that they
are U. S. citizens; one was then pushed against a fence with
his arms twisted behind his back, and the other was taken away from his job to a warehouse for further questioning. More fundamentally, it is the Government’s burden to prove that it has reasonable suspicion to stop someone. The concurrence improperly shifts the burden onto an entire class of citizens to carry enough documentation to prove that they deserve to walk freely. The Constitution does not permit the creation of such a second-class citizenship status.

74 890 2.5K

Travis Longcore @travislongcore.bsky.social · Sep 3

Have a look at what Marko and his team are putting together, taking submissions on: - Biological Effects of Light Pollution - Impacts on Human Health - Urbanization and Light Pollution - Effects on Astronomy and Night Sky Obs - Dark Sky Protection and Policy - Methods for Measuring and Monitoring

Marko Prokic @proksima.bsky.social · Aug 23

I would like to invite you to attend the international ENLIGHT Conference, Novi Sad, Serbia, November 28-30, 2025.
The conference is dedicated to the different aspects of #lightpollution and #alan.
All details are available on the website:
👉 www.enlightproject.rs/enlight-conf...

ENLIGHT - ENLIGHT Conference

Welcome to the ENLIGHT Conference!

www.enlightproject.rs

1 1 4

Travis Longcore @travislongcore.bsky.social · Sep 3

So much interesting new ecological #lightpollution research being published, and I have to highlight this new paper in particular. Shielded lights and lower CCT (warmer colors) reduce flight call disruption of migratory birds in a pretty massive study in NM www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Artificial light at night (ALAN) is a pervasive threat to nocturnal migrants.

Avian migrant behavior near specific ALAN sources is not well understood.

We recorded nocturnal flight calls at sites with and without ALAN.

Contrary to our predictions, call rates were higher at dark than light sites.

Shielding and longer wavelength lights reduced the impacts of ALAN.

2 7 12

Reposted by Travis Longcore

ESA Journals @esajournals.bsky.social · Aug 14

A story of moonlight, eyesight, and life history strategies in electric fish—from our journal "Ecology" (with accompanying photos in our "Bulletin")⬇️

Travis Longcore @travislongcore.bsky.social · Aug 3

Reminder that fascinating studies about moonlight influences on species behavior are also de facto studies about #lightpollution and especially #skyglow See photos at esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.... an article in Ecology at doi.org/10.1002/ecy....

2 3

Reposted by Travis Longcore

Joshua Sokol @joshuasokol.bsky.social · Aug 8

News: Trump’s FCC wants to widen the (already huge) loophole that companies like SpaceX use when they want to launch tens of thousands of satellites while dodging environmental review studies. I’m busy with book revisions, but would happily chat with interested journalist friends. Thoughts below.

1 12 23

Travis Longcore @travislongcore.bsky.social · Aug 5

Dislike

1

Reposted by Travis Longcore

News Eye @newseye.bsky.social · Aug 3

NEW: Extraordinary footage has emerged of the huge tsunami that hit Russia’s remote Kamchatka peninsula after the 8.8 magnitude earthquake on July 30th.

(🎥 Doni Nikz)

52 370 1K

Travis Longcore @travislongcore.bsky.social · Aug 3

Reminder that fascinating studies about moonlight influences on species behavior are also de facto studies about #lightpollution and especially #skyglow See photos at esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.... an article in Ecology at doi.org/10.1002/ecy....

2 8

Reposted by Travis Longcore

Prof Sam Illingworth @samillingworth.com · Jun 20

🌆🌱 City lights stretch the seasons

New research shows that artificial light at night (ALAN) has a stronger impact than temperature on extending plant growing seasons in cities – especially by delaying the end of the season.

🔗 www.nature.com/articles/s44...

#SciComm 🧪 #LightPollution

Artificial light at night outweighs temperature in lengthening urban growing seasons - Nature Cities

Cities are becoming hotter and brighter. Using satellite data on 428 Northern Hemisphere cities, this study found that artifical night lights outweighed hotter temperatures in lengthening urban growin...

www.nature.com

1 10 23

Reposted by Travis Longcore

Nature Portfolio @natureportfolio.nature.com · Jun 17

Artificial light, together with urban heat, may be lengthening the growing season in urban environments by as much as three weeks compared to rural areas, according to an analysis published in Nature Cities. go.nature.com/4e7pQwO #urbanag 🧪

This is figure 1, which shows the ALAN and UHI effects on vegetation phenology.

7 23

Travis Longcore @travislongcore.bsky.social · Jun 16

Important new research on the effects of #lightpollution on #urbanecology

Science X / Phys.org @sciencex.bsky.social · Jun 16

Satellite data indicate that artificial light in urban areas can extend plant growing seasons by up to three weeks compared to rural regions, with the effect most pronounced at the end of the season. doi.org/g9qgz9

Artificial light in big cities is extending the growing season of urban plants, satellite observations show

Artificial light may be lengthening the growing season in urban environments by as much as 3 weeks compared to rural areas, according to an analysis of satellite data from 428 urban centers in the Northern Hemisphere over 7 years, published in Nature Cities.

phys.org

2 5

Reposted by Travis Longcore

Megan Eaves-Egenes @meganeaves.com · Jun 8

Today is World Oceans Day 🌊Our new Nightscape cover story explores how light at night affects our seas & the creatures who live in them. I interviewed the scientists from Plymouth Marine Lab studying and mapping light pollution in our oceans. darksky.org/news/into-th... @darkskyintl.bsky.social

Understanding marine light pollution

Artificial light at night (ALAN) has long been studied for its impacts on humans and wildlife on land…

darksky.org

3 8

Reposted by Travis Longcore

Carl T. Bergstrom @carlbergstrom.com · May 24

tl;dr — this EO co-opts the language of open science to implement a system of political control wherein presidential appointees are given broad latitude to designate any number of reasonable scientific activities and inferences as scientific misconduct, and to penalize those involved accordingly.

Restoring Gold Standard Science

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including section 7301 of title 5, United

www.whitehouse.gov

100 1.1K 2.5K

Travis Longcore @travislongcore.bsky.social · May 12

Tack för detta.

1

Reposted by Travis Longcore

Prof Sam Illingworth @samillingworth.com · May 6

🌊🌈 Sea ice loss changes the colours of life underwater

A new study shows that melting sea ice narrows the range of underwater light, shifting it toward blue. This reshapes the 'light niches' for marine algae – favouring different species and pigments.

🔗 doi.org/10.1038/s414...

🧪 #SciComm

Loss of sea ice alters light spectra for aquatic photosynthesis - Nature Communications

This study deduces from first principles how sea ice and seawater shape light spectra in fundamentally different ways. The loss of sea ice may thus trigger changes in both the pigment and species comp...

doi.org

1 9 24