Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Rebecca Brione

Jack Aldane @jackaldane.bsky.social · 2d

More power to @profangiehobbs.bsky.social – I hope this revival of The Great Philosophers brings about the rebirth of deep learning through television.

Archived programming on YT from the 70s and 80s has been a gift for two whole decades, but it’s time to put philosophy back on the mainstream menu.

7 7

Reposted by Rebecca Brione

Open Justice Court of Protection Project @openjusticecop.bsky.social · 2d

New blog post

An urgent caesarean application in a disturbing case
By @doccmartin.bsky.social

openjusticecourtofprotection.org/2025/10/14/a...

An urgent caesarean application in a disturbing case

She went to Somalia to be with her grandmother, and she returned to the UK in July 2025. When she arrived at hospital the following month, having had a fall, clinicians realised she was eight mont…

openjusticecourtofprotection.org

1

Rebecca Brione @rebeccabrione.bsky.social · 3d

First of a series of blog posts about my new edited book: Narratives of Consent and Reproductive Subjects: Tales of Invisibility is up now! Includes exclusive discount code for anyone wanting to start their Christmas shopping early!
www.durham.ac.uk/research/ins...

Narratives of consent and reproductive subjects: Tales of invisibility - Durham University

www.durham.ac.uk

1

Reposted by Rebecca Brione

Celia Kitzinger @kitzingercelia.bsky.social · 7d

On October 2025, the UK Supreme Court will be asked to re-consider its judgment in a case commonly referred to as "Cheshire West".

In this blog, @clarkdaniel.bsky.social explains the background to the case.

openjusticecourtofprotection.org/2025/10/07/r...

Reconsidering Cheshire West in the Supreme Court: Is a gilded cage still a cage?

Even when P says they’re happy with their residence, and that they do not want to leave, and welcome the fact that the doors are kept locked, this still amounts to a deprivation of liberty. I…

openjusticecourtofprotection.org

2 2

Reposted by Rebecca Brione

IHPST | University of Toronto @ihpst-uoft.bsky.social · 13d

🧠 Prof. Marga Vicedo warns: "At the end of the day, saying it's a mother's fault is a very strong and powerful way of keeping mothers as the main caretakers." www.npr.org/2025/09/26/n...
Must-read piece from @npr.org
#Autism #Tylenol

'Long history of blaming mothers': Trump's Tylenol warning echoes past misconceptions

Medical scholars say that efforts to find a singular cause for autism have historically led to scrutinizing parents and fueling stigma about autism

www.npr.org

1 5 8

Reposted by Rebecca Brione

Martin Palmer @martinpalmer.bsky.social · 13d

Her husband gets a mention before we learn her name…

11 21 220

Reposted by Rebecca Brione

Katie Martin @katie0martin.ft.com · 13d

Please join me in congratulating Woman on her appointment

Sky News @news.sky.com · 13d

Woman named as new Archbishop of Canterbury in historic first

Bishop of London Dame Sarah Mullally, a former nurse, has been named as the next Archbishop of Canterbury - the first time a woman has been appointed to the role in the Church of England's history.

news.sky.com

410 2.6K 17K

Reposted by Rebecca Brione

Jolyon Maugham KC @goodlawproject.org · 13d

"For the next 15 years, give us a subsidy from public money, and remove the disincentive for us to stop dumping raw sewage, so our creditors are rescued from the consequences of their own greed" is not, I have to say, the world's most appealing pitch. www.theguardian.com/business/202...

Thames Water creditors ask for up to 15 years’ leniency from river pollution rules

Lenders say a ‘full return to legal, regulatory and environmental compliance’ under new rescue plan would not be completed until at least 2035-2040

www.theguardian.com

24 200 520

Reposted by Rebecca Brione

Vagina Museum @vaginamuseum.bsky.social · 14d

Big congratulations to Chunk for taking the crown as this year's #FatBearWeek winner! Today feels like as good a day as any to tell you all about a little trick that bears have to ensure pregnancy takes place during OPTIMAL FATNESS.

A very fat bear standing in a river. He is brown and furry, with a broken jaw which makes his tongue stick out.

1 57 280

Reposted by Rebecca Brione

Wildlife @worldwildlife.bsky.social · 14d

"What you do makes a difference.."
Jane Goodall 💚

#jane #goodall #janegoodall #nature #wildlife #environment #earth

7 110 320

Reposted by Rebecca Brione

Tom Gauld @tomgauld.bsky.social · 14d

I have ten of these PHYSICS FOR CATS pins to give away! Share the post below👇 for a chance to win one. (UK only: you can share from anywhere but I can't send you a pin).

A pin badge depicting a black cat floating in a black void orbited by colourful particles.

12 130 250

Rebecca Brione @rebeccabrione.bsky.social · 21d

✨ Services that offer childcare, flexible appointments, and outreach that meets mothers where they are.
✨ Perinatal mental health care that is equitable, culturally competent, and trauma-informed.
✨ Professionals who listen first, build trust, and communicate with respect.

2

Rebecca Brione @rebeccabrione.bsky.social · 21d

The Motherhood Group on what Inclusion, Access and Communication should look like:
✨ Valuing lived experience and creating spaces where Black mothers are heard and respected.
✨ Compassionate, holistic care that integrates physical, emotional, and social wellbeing.

#BlackMaternalMentalHealthWeek2025

1 1

Rebecca Brione @rebeccabrione.bsky.social · 23d

themotherhoodgroup.org/wp-content/u...

themotherhoodgroup.org

Rebecca Brione @rebeccabrione.bsky.social · 23d

Today in #BlackMaternalMentalHealthWeek, The Motherhood Group launch their rich and detailed UK Black Maternal Mental Health Report. Loads of information from the many projects they've run over the last 9 years: see the community action toolkit with recommendations across community & public services

1 1

Reposted by Rebecca Brione

Dr Anna Nelson @annanelson95.bsky.social · 24d

People often express concerns that birth doulas are entirely unregulated, but the reality is a little more nuanced - as @bevclough.bsky.social & I unpack here: birthdoulas.mmu.ac.uk/2025/09/22/b...

Birth Doulas and Regulation: A Socio-Legal Approach - Birth doulas

One of the claims which is often made by those expressing their concerns about birth doulas is that doulas are ‘unregulated’. The purpose of this post is not to provide […]

birthdoulas.mmu.ac.uk

3 5

Reposted by Rebecca Brione

Olivia Guest · Ολίβια Γκεστ @olivia.science · Sep 6

Finally! 🤩 Our position piece: Against the Uncritical Adoption of 'AI' Technologies in Academia:
doi.org/10.5281/zeno...

We unpick the tech industry’s marketing, hype, & harm; and we argue for safeguarding higher education, critical
thinking, expertise, academic freedom, & scientific integrity.
1/n

Abstract: Under the banner of progress, products have been uncritically adopted or
even imposed on users — in past centuries with tobacco and combustion engines, and in
the 21st with social media. For these collective blunders, we now regret our involvement or
apathy as scientists, and society struggles to put the genie back in the bottle. Currently, we
are similarly entangled with artificial intelligence (AI) technology. For example, software updates are rolled out seamlessly and non-consensually, Microsoft Office is bundled with chatbots, and we, our students, and our employers have had no say, as it is not
considered a valid position to reject AI technologies in our teaching and research. This
is why in June 2025, we co-authored an Open Letter calling on our employers to reverse
and rethink their stance on uncritically adopting AI technologies. In this position piece,
we expound on why universities must take their role seriously toa) counter the technology
industry’s marketing, hype, and harm; and to b) safeguard higher education, critical
thinking, expertise, academic freedom, and scientific integrity. We include pointers to
relevant work to further inform our colleagues.

Figure 1. A cartoon set theoretic view on various terms (see Table 1) used when discussing the superset AI
(black outline, hatched background): LLMs are in orange; ANNs are in magenta; generative models are
in blue; and finally, chatbots are in green. Where these intersect, the colours reflect that, e.g. generative adversarial network (GAN) and Boltzmann machine (BM) models are in the purple subset because they are
both generative and ANNs. In the case of proprietary closed source models, e.g. OpenAI’s ChatGPT and
Apple’s Siri, we cannot verify their implementation and so academics can only make educated guesses (cf.
Dingemanse 2025). Undefined terms used above: BERT (Devlin et al. 2019); AlexNet (Krizhevsky et al.
2017); A.L.I.C.E. (Wallace 2009); ELIZA (Weizenbaum 1966); Jabberwacky (Twist 2003); linear discriminant analysis (LDA); quadratic discriminant analysis (QDA).

Table 1. Below some of the typical terminological disarray is untangled. Importantly, none of these terms
are orthogonal nor do they exclusively pick out the types of products we may wish to critique or proscribe.

Protecting the Ecosystem of Human Knowledge: Five Principles

98 1.6K 3.1K

Reposted by Rebecca Brione

Mireia Garcés de Marcilla @mggarces.bsky.social · Sep 1

Following from our MLR workshop last year, @zainamahmoud.bsky.social and I are organising a workshop on embodiment & colonialism in November! We are grateful to the @slsauk.bsky.social for supporting this event and look forward to what we hope will be a great discussion.

1 5 8

Rebecca Brione @rebeccabrione.bsky.social · 24d

On the theme of countering invisibility, I'm glad to support Black Maternal Mental Health Week UK 2025, led by The Motherhood Group (@TheMotherhoodGroup on Instagram/LinkedIn/TikTok). It’s time to #MakeBlackMothersVisible. #BlackMaternalMentalHealthWeek #BMMHW25 More: themotherhoodgroup.org/bmmhw25/

The Motherhood Group flyer for Black Maternal Mental Health Week UK 2025: Make Black Mothers Visible

2 2

Reposted by Rebecca Brione

Camilla @camillapickles.bsky.social · 28d

The Obstetric Violence Reading Group has been busy!
We’ve explored publications by leading scholars that challenge and enrich how we think about #ObstetricViolence.
Read our reflections in our blog series on the Obstetric Violence Blog www.durham.ac.uk/research/ins...

1 4 4

Reposted by Rebecca Brione

Medical Justice @medicaljustice.org.uk · Jul 30

New Medical Justice report finds that failures in clinical safeguards put vulnerable people at unacceptable levels of risk and caused harm and suffering to people in immigration detention during 2024

medicaljustice.org.uk/annual-revie...

Medical Justice Annual Review - The state of healthcare and harm in UK immigration detention in 2024

5 4

Reposted by Rebecca Brione

Medical Justice @medicaljustice.org.uk · Sep 16

The vast majority of our clients detained under "one in, one out" scheme are survivors of torture and trafficking. Our independent clinicians have visited clients in immigration removal centres and found concerning levels of PTSD and suicidal thoughts

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

‘We can’t eat. We can’t sleep. It’s a disaster’: the small boat detainees waiting to be sent back to France

This week the first migrants could be flown out of Britain under the ‘one in, one out’ deportation scheme. They talk about their fears and incomprehension

www.theguardian.com

6 6

Reposted by Rebecca Brione

Philippa East (Author) @philippaeast.bsky.social · Sep 16

Fantastic work here by @transsolidarity.bsky.social, highlighting the ridiculous burden the EHRC’s new Code of Practice would place on UK business, forcing them into trans-exclusionary practices that are “incompatible with modern business values”.

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/poli...

Hundreds of firms warn new draft guidance on single sex spaces is ‘unworkable’

Exclusive: More than 650 organisations have urged Bridget Phillipson to ‘take immediate action to prevent these proposals from moving forward’

www.independent.co.uk

7 93 260

Reposted by Rebecca Brione

Sardonicus @sardonicus.eu · Sep 16

man rolling rock up hill
how it started how its going

50 2.2K 8.1K

Reposted by Rebecca Brione

Shane Darcy @shanedarcy.bsky.social · Sep 16

The United Nations Independent Commission of Inquiry concludes that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.

The most significant finding of a UN body to date on genocide against the Palestinians.

Full text of the report is here: www.ohchr.org/sites/defaul...

1 17 11