Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Paul McAuley

Dr Rebecca Wragg Sykes @lemoustier.bsky.social · 12m

🧪🏺🦣 Hugely exciting area for faunal & hominin ID using tiny fragments of bone within sediment sample blocks, allowing attribution to micro-layers: crucial to advance knowledge in Palaeolithc sites, especially those already excavated.
Sites tested: Bacho Kiro Cave, La Ferrassie, and Quinçay

Vera Aldeias @veraaldeias.bsky.social · 1h

📄 New paper 📣 of @matrixerc.bsky.social & @welkergroup.bsky.social! We show that microstratigraphic-scale #paleoproteomics works in intact sediments - opening new ways to explore ancient ecosystems & hominin behaviour 🌍🦴
@erc.europa.eu @icarehb.bsky.social 🔗 academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/ar...

New methods on the block: Taxonomic identification of archaeological bones in resin-embedded sediments through paleoproteomics

Abstract. The integration of biomolecular studies of past organisms with geoarchaeological studies can significantly improve our understanding of the relat

academic.oup.com

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Paul McAuley @unlikelyworlds.bsky.social · 3h

Feeling somewhat banjaxed after yesterday’s flu jab, so will spend most of the day reading, drinking tea and listening to music like this:

Cantus Orbis (Mixtape), by Cantus Orbis

2 track album

iamplinth.bandcamp.com

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Reposted by Paul McAuley

Nick Harkaway @nickharkaway.com · 17h

Well this is a profoundly depressing list.

YouGov @yougov.co.uk · 19h

On the centenary of her birth, Margaret Thatcher is Britons' top choice for best PM of the last 50 years

Margaret Thatcher: 29%
Tony Blair: 12%
Harold Wilson: 6%
Boris Johnson: 4%
Gordon Brown: 3%
David Cameron: 3%
John Major: 2%

yougov.co.uk/topics/polit...

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Paul McAuley @unlikelyworlds.bsky.social · 17h

Gee, I wonder if those wacky Monty Python guys read Pynchon’s list of English confectionary that never existed and decided to improve on it.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dy6u...

Monty Python - Crunchy Frog

YouTube video by Caio Badner

www.youtube.com

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Reposted by Paul McAuley

jeffreyford8 @jeffreyford8.bsky.social · 18h

Was just over at the Lethe Press site and saw this is going to drop in February 2026 -- The Pandemonium Waltz -- 17 stories. Cover by Derek. More info as the days proceed.

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Reposted by Paul McAuley

phoenixmcarthur @mmcarthur.bsky.social · 1d

Jar with octopus motif, 1450–1400 BCE,
Knossos, Crete

74.5cm tall
Ashmolean Museum, Oxford

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Reposted by Paul McAuley

Salt Books @saltpublishing.com · 1d

Celebration day for editor, Nicholas Royle and all the contributors of Best British Short Stories 2025! 🥳🎉🎈🥂

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Paul McAuley @unlikelyworlds.bsky.social · 1d

It’s ham and eggs. In a pie. Thought you guys loved ham and eggs. And pies.

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Paul McAuley @unlikelyworlds.bsky.social · 2d

Hampstead Heath, 07:23

A pair of rose briars bearing bright red hips arch against a misty sky.

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Jason Major @jpmajor.bsky.social · 2d

Dione in front of Saturn, captured by Cassini 20 years ago today on October 11, 2005 🌖🪐

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Rob Tyers @thexclaim6.bsky.social · 2d

Debenhams is selling idols of Pazuzu, in case you were wondering what stage of late capitalism we’re in…

Pazuzu idol pendant for sale at Debenhams

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Reposted by Paul McAuley

Philip Gourevitch @pgourevitch.bsky.social · 2d

RIP Diane Keaton — the news of her death sent me looking for this excellent piece about her and her serious interest in photography by her friend Larry McMurty

www.nybooks.com/articles/200...

Diane Keaton on Photography | Larry McMurtry

1. My friendship with Diane Keaton began about twenty-eight years ago, when I found her, one morning, sitting in the flower bed outside the Madison Hotel,

www.nybooks.com

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Reposted by Paul McAuley

Guy Gavriel Kay @guygavrielkay.bsky.social · 2d

Endorsed happily. See the film, it is a delight. It *brings* delight.

Marie Phillips @mariephillips.bsky.social · 2d

I wasn’t sure about I Know Where I’m Going the first time I watched it. Now I am. It is perfect. boxd.it/bkJTol

A ★★★★★ review of I Know Where I'm Going! (1945)

I remember watching this the first time and being a bit baffled by it. It seemed weirdly theatrical, the Scotland unconvincing and clichéd, and I didn’t pick up on any chemistry between Wendy Hillier ...

boxd.it

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Paul McAuley @unlikelyworlds.bsky.social · 2d

The driver of catastrophic global heating in the Quiet War.

David Wallace-Wells @dwallacewells.bsky.social · 2d

“Planet-heating methane is escaping from cracks in the Antarctic seabed as the region warms, with new seeps being discovered at an ‘astonishing rate,’ scientists have found.” www.cnn.com/2025/10/10/c...

Scientists discovered something alarming seeping out from beneath the ocean around Antarctica | CNN

Planet-heating methane is escaping from cracks in the Antarctic seabed, with new seeps being discovered at an “astonishing rate,” raising fears that future global warming predictions may have been und...

www.cnn.com

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Paul McAuley @unlikelyworlds.bsky.social · 2d

Spent the morning sandpapering cracked paint from old window frames and now my iPad doesn’t recognise my fingerprint.

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Neil Hegarty @neilhegarty.bsky.social · 3d

'In Fermanagh, the almost total disappearance of greys and re-emergence of red squirrels is being largely put down to pine martens.' This is a great story.

www.bbc.com/news/article...

Pine martens on the move in Northern Ireland

One of Northern Ireland's rarest native mammals have been turning up in some unusual places.

www.bbc.com

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Reposted by Paul McAuley

Live Tapes @livetapes.heads.social.ap.brid.gy · 3d

Television - 1975-01-17 - CBGB, New York City, NY https://archive.org/details/television1975-01-17.unk

Television - 1975-01-17 - CBGB, New York City, NY : Television : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

TelevisionCBGB - 1975-01-17With Richard Hell63:011. Venus2. What I Heard3. Fire Engine4. Friction5. Hard On Love (fast version)6. Blank Generation7. Psychotic...

archive.org

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Reposted by Paul McAuley

Juno Rylee Schultz @junoryleejournalism.com · 5d

David Simon, creator of ‘The Wire’, being interviewed by Ari Shapiro (NPR)

SHAPIRO: OK, so you've spent your career creating television without Al, and I could imagine today you thinking, boy, I wish I had had that tool to solve those thorny problems...
SIMON: What?
SHAPIRO: ...Or saying...
SIMON: You imagine that?
SHAPIRO: ...Boy, if that had existed, it would have screwed me over.
SIMON: I don't think Al can remotely challenge what writers do at a fundamentally creative level.
SHAPIRO: But if you're trying to transition from scene five to scene six, and you're stuck with that transition, you could imagine plugging that portion of the script into an Al and say, give me 10 ideas for how to transition this.
SIMON: I'd rather put a gun in my mouth.

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Paul McAuley @unlikelyworlds.bsky.social · 4d

70 - 75s have to pay for it too (unless immunocompromised or living in a care home).

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Reposted by Paul McAuley

Matthew Cobb @matthewcobb.bsky.social · 4d

Getting my jab today, but thanks to Wes Streeting, I have to pay for it (£90)… Many other 65-69s and immunocompromised ppl will not be able to afford it.

@DrJoePajak CSci CChem FRSC @drjoepajak.bsky.social · 4d

Latest England COVID-19 hospital bed occupancy up.
COVID-19 positive tests up.
COVID-19 deaths up.
COVID-19 cases up.
Data source @ukhsa.bsky.social
Why?
Limited vaccine eligibility, waning immunity, lower priority by leaders, mixing in poorly ventilated, cramped spaces. Scant use of face coverings.

Latest England COVID-19 hospital bed occupancy up.
COVID-19 deaths up.
COVID-19 positive tests up.
COVID-19 cases up.
Data source @ukhsa.bsky.social
Why?
Limited vaccine eligibility, waning immunity, lower priority by leaders, mixing in poorly ventilated, cramped spaces. Scant use of face coverings.

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Reposted by Paul McAuley

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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Paul McAuley @unlikelyworlds.bsky.social · 4d

The season when vast underground empires extend fruiting bodies into the upper world.

A shaggy parasol mushroom growing amongst nettles.

A trio of Coprinus species of mushroom growing in leaf litter.

Unidentified mushroom growing in leaf litter.

Mushroom, possibly Agaricus vaporarius, amongst grass and leaf litter.

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Paul McAuley @unlikelyworlds.bsky.social · 4d

So I went for a walk today

View across slopes of trees taking on autumn colours towards the brow of Beacon Hill, Buckinghamshire.

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Reposted by Paul McAuley

Corey S. Powell @coreyspowell.bsky.social · 4d

China's Tianwen-2 is on its way to Kamoʻoalewa, an asteroid that currently doubles as a "quasi-moon" of Earth. The spacecraft will collect samples & bring them back home.

On its outward trajectory, Tianwen-2 looked back and got this lovely view of our planet. 🧪🔭

english.news.cn/20251001/ef3...

This image released by the China National Space Administration (CNSA) on Oct. 1, 2025 shows a view of the Tianwen-2 probe alongside Earth, captured by the probe during its deep-space journey. The newly released image, acquired by a monitoring camera mounted on the probe's robotic arm, showcases China's five-starred red flag and the white return capsule against the backdrop of a distant, blue Earth. (Some slight image processing by me.)

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Reposted by Paul McAuley

Anne Charnock @annecharnock.bsky.social · 5d

This is the novel everyone will be talking about. It’s wonderful. And a beautiful blogpost from @catamaroon.bsky.social to mark its release today. 📚💚📚

E. J. Swift @catamaroon.bsky.social · 5d

When There Are Wolves Again is out in the UK today! I wrote something about the book, and keeping going, and some personal stuff I dithered over but, well, it's been A Year.

I'm so glad the book is out there and thank you so much to everyone who has supported it 🐺🤍

ejswift.co.uk/2025/10/09/w...

Hardback edition of When There Are Wolves Again by E. J. Swift, with cover featuring a wolf and branch/leaf/flower design, photographed in the garden with the author's cat in the background being dramatic

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