Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Casey terHorst @ecoevolab.bsky.social · 14h

Gahhh, this 👇

Roxane Gay @roxanegay.bsky.social · 15h

I would love for there to be a place where we could talk about student issues and it would be good faith engagement and people would safely assume you're not making fun of students or anything, just generally seeking guidance.

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Drug Monkey @drugmonkey.bsky.social · 17h

Wow. A rare sign of courage from the national press. Good job lil campers! Next take up your reflexive bothsidesism.

Steve Herman @newsguy.bsky.social · 17h

WaPo joins NYT, CNN, The Atlantic, Guardian and others, according to @ScottNover, in announcing it won't sign the Pentagon's controversial new press policy.

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Ryan Quinn @ryanequinn.bsky.social · 19h

Hey, I'm an @insidehighered.com reporter writing today about how the ongoing shutdown may be affecting, or about to affect, university research. If you have a story to share, please DM me or email [email protected] today. Thank you.

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Casey terHorst @ecoevolab.bsky.social · 3d

I'm so anti-AI in general, but I'm letting students use ChatGPT for my Biostats class in R

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ProPublica @propublica.org · 4d

Kristi Noem, while governor of South Dakota, supplemented her roughly $130,000 salary by secretly accepting $80,000 donated to a political nonprofit she was affiliated with, records show.

She never disclosed this income on federal ethics forms.

(Published June)

Kristi Noem Secretly Took a Cut of Political Donations

A dark money group paid $80,000 to Noem’s personal company when she was governor of South Dakota. She did not include this income on her federal disclosure forms, a likely violation of ethics requirem...

www.propublica.org

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Carl Zimmer @carlzimmer.com · 5d

Today my @nytimes.com colleagues and I are launching a new series called Lost Science. We interview US scientists who can no longer discover something new about our world, thanks to this year‘s cuts. Here is my first interview with a scientist who studied bees and fires. Gift link: nyti.ms/3IWXbiE

nyti.ms

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Casey terHorst @ecoevolab.bsky.social · 4d

A million dollars a month...in a budget crisis

Inside Cal State's big $17 million bet on ChatGPT for all

Critics say the cash-strapped system misspent millions of dollars getting upgraded accounts for all students. CSU leaders insist they're needed to meet a changing economy.

laist.com

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Casey terHorst @ecoevolab.bsky.social · 5d

Florida Man started the Palisades Fire?

www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2025...

Man arrested, accused of starting deadly Palisades Fire in California

Jonathan Rinderknecht allegedly set a New Year’s Day fire that reemerged six days later to become the devastating blaze that killed 12 and burned nearly 8,000 homes.

www.washingtonpost.com

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Casey terHorst @ecoevolab.bsky.social · 5d

If you are interested in joining the Diversity Committee of the American Society of Naturalists, please nominate yourself! Or please pass along to others who may be interested
www.amnat.org/announcement...

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Melanie D’Arrigo @darrigomelanie.bsky.social · 6d

I feel like this photo of masked, armed men pepper spraying a pastor protecting his community is going to be a defining picture of this moment in America for a long, long time.

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Casey terHorst @ecoevolab.bsky.social · 7d

The schedule for #WSN2025 is now up on the website!
www.wsn-online.org

Western Society of Naturalists

www.wsn-online.org

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Michael E. Mann @michaelemann.bsky.social · 7d

“The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.”

― George Orwell, 1984

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 7d

Mike Johnson: "Let me look right into the camera and tell you very clearly: Republicans are the ones concerned about healthcare. Republicans are the party working around the clock everyday to fix healthcare. This is not talking points for us: we've done it."

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Casey terHorst @ecoevolab.bsky.social · 10d

Weekend at Bernies 2

Micah @rincewind.run · 10d

there's been too much fighting on here - let's rerun Trump Is Secretly Dead this weekend, that was fun last time

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 10d

Trump has not been seen in public since Tuesday and has no public events on his calendar today

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Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · 10d

ICYMI

Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · 11d

SCOOP — Pennsylvania prosecutors were alerted to possible voting irregularities by one of MAGA's leading voices against voter fraud. A long paper trail shows Jack Posobiec has been living in Maryland but voting using his parents' PA address for years.

From @jsweetli.bsky.social, @slate.com + me:

MAGA’s “Voter Fraud” Watchdog Votes in a Swing State. He Doesn’t Live There.

A long paper trail shows that Jack Posobiec casts a ballot in one state and lives in another.

slate.com

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Corrie Moreau @corriemoreau.bsky.social · 24d

UPDATE: The 2025-2026 list of faculty and postdoc positions in ecology and evolutionary biology is out! Be sure to check out this active and helpful community run resources! docs.google.com/spreadsheets...

ecoevojobs.net 2025-26

docs.google.com

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Angus Johnston @angus.bsky.social · 11d

I’m no Newsom fanboy, but figuring out how to change the incentives of institutions considering capitulation is one of the big tasks of our moment.

Brian Tyler Cohen @briantylercohen.bsky.social · 11d

Gavin Newsom announces that any California university that caves to Trump and signs his “loyalty pledge” will be immediately defunded.

“CALIFORNIA WILL NOT BANKROLL SCHOOLS THAT SELL OUT THEIR STUDENTS.”

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AAUP @aaup.org · 13d

BREAKING: WE WON!!!
💥 💥 💥

Federal Judge William G. Young ruled today in our lawsuit against the Trump administration that the policy of arresting, detaining, & deporting noncitizen students & faculty members for their pro-Palestinian advocacy violates the 1st Amendment.

Full ruling here:

Findings of Fact & Conclusions of Law – #261 in American Association of University Professors v. Rubio (D. Mass., 1:25-cv-10685) – CourtListener.com

Judge William G. Young: ORDER entered. FINDINGS OF FACT AND RULINGS OF LAW, PURSUANT TO FED. R. CIV. P. 52(A)(Sonnenberg, Elizabeth) (Additional attachment(s) added on 9/30/2025: # 1 Main Document) (J...

www.courtlistener.com

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Merriam-Webster @merriam-webster.com · 12d

We are thrilled to announce that our NEW Large Language Model will be released on 11.18.25.

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Casey terHorst @ecoevolab.bsky.social · 12d

You try to make one reference to How Stella Got Her Groove Back and students don't understand...

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Radley Balko @radleybalko.bsky.social · 13d

In a sane country with competent leadership, the 50 highest-ranking Democrats would call a press conference to denounce what just happened as a threat to the republic and demand Trump's immediate impeachment and removal from office.

I don't know he could make his intentions more clear.

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AZ Faust @azfaust.bsky.social · 13d

I did a little digging on the NSF side. Their search is not quite the same so I looked for active awards with original award dates during specific fiscal years. Here is what we have:
2023 - 8960
2024 - 9888
2025 - 9169
That kind of blew my mind...

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Jeremy BOO! Yoder 🎃💀🕷️ @jbyoder.org · 13d

And that's the paper in a social thread, though I hope you'll read the whole thing!

The full final article is indebted to discussions with @colincarlson.bsky.social, @ecoevolab.bsky.social, Judie Bronstein, and of course that critical email exchange with Daniel Janzen

doi.org/10.1093/evol...

Don’t ask “when is it coevolution?” — ask “how?”

Abstract. Coevolution has come to be widely understood as specific, simultaneous, reciprocal adaptation by pairs of interacting species. This strict-sense

doi.org

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Jeremy BOO! Yoder 🎃💀🕷️ @jbyoder.org · 14d

We've already got hundreds of students and mentors here, sharing how the sudden policy change has derailed plans. We're looking at formally "delivering" results to NSF leadership tomorrow, please do keep sharing and spreading the word: laurenkuehne.github.io/grfpChanges/

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Casey terHorst @ecoevolab.bsky.social · 14d

and the school cake appears to be just a basic frosted yellow cake?

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JB_AU @jbau.bsky.social · 15d

This whole section really.

Finally: AI cannot do your job, but an AI salesman can 100% convince your boss to fire you and replace you with an AI that can't do your job, and when the bubble bursts, the money-hemorrhaging "foundation models" will be shut off and we'll lose the AI that can't do your job, and you will be long gone, retrained or retired or "discouraged" and out of the labor market, and no one will do your job.
AI is the asbestos we are shoveling into the walls of our society and our descendants will be digging it out for generations:

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