Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Dr. Caitlin Ahrens

Chris Lintott @chrislintott.bsky.social · 20h

Cosmologists! We have a faculty job going here in Oxford - happy to answer questions. Brief version is that this remains a great & collaborative place to do science and the students are superb. 🔭 www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DOP628/a...

Associate Professor of Cosmology at University of Oxford

Recruiting now: Associate Professor of Cosmology on jobs.ac.uk. Click for details and explore more academic job opportunities on the top job board

www.jobs.ac.uk

5 53 84

Reposted by Dr. Caitlin Ahrens

Dustin Mulvaney @dustinmulvaney.bsky.social · 1d

Meet the Vaquita. This is how I close lecture. By presenting an animal with only 20 or so individuals left in the Gulf of California. Facing extinction. What should the commercial interests be doing? What should the governments be doing? Are they doing enough?

Extremely handsome dolphin/porpoise https://earth.org/vaquitas-facts/

2 20 63

Reposted by Dr. Caitlin Ahrens

ProPublica @propublica.org · 1d

NEW: Following public outcry, the Department of Education has reversed its decision to cut funding for students who have both hearing and vision loss, opting instead to reroute grants to an organization that will provide funding to these students.

Education Dept. Reverses Decision to Halt Funds for Deafblind Student Programs

Following public outcry, the Department of Education has reversed its decision to cut funding for students who have both hearing and vision loss, opting instead to reroute grants to an organization that will provide funding to these students.

www.propublica.org

27 200 490

Reposted by Dr. Caitlin Ahrens

Tim Lichtenberg @timlichtenberg.bsky.social · 1d

w/ Oli Shorttle, @johannateske.bsky.social & Eliza Kempton we reviewed our current understanding and prospects for peaking on the inside of small #exoplanets in "Constraining exoplanet interiors using observations of their atmospheres": www.science.org/stoken/autho... & arxiv.org/abs/2510.08844 🔭🧪⚒️☄️

Illustration of predicted interior structures of sub-Neptune exoplanets. Observed density and atmospheric constraints are interpreted in three scenarios, each with a gaseous envelope. Water worlds have a small metal core, rocky mantle, high-pressure ice layer, and possible liquid water ocean. Gas dwarfs have a larger metal core and a magma ocean. Global supercritical regimes have no clear boundaries between layers. Image credit: Mark A. Garlick.

10 31

Reposted by Dr. Caitlin Ahrens

Hourly Cosmos @hourlycosmos.bsky.social · 5d

Mars - Cloudy Arsia Mons - CNSA Tianwen-1 - From Andrea Luck (andrealuck.bsky.social) - https://flic.kr/p/2qLGDnY

Credit
Image Processing: Andrea Luck
Raw Image Copyright: CNSA/CLEP/PEC/MoRIC

Image created using data processed from moon.bao.ac.cn/

Mission: CNSA Tianwen 1
Time: 2022-02-07T20:41:19.967000Z
Longitude:-117.848291
Latitude:-10.298203
Altitude: 688 km
File name: HX1-Or_GRAS_MoRIC-F-0001_SCI_N_20220207204119_20220207204119_00866.2C

Credit
Image Processing: Andrea Luck
Raw Image Copyright: CNSA/CLEP/PEC/MoRIC

1 15 62

Reposted by Dr. Caitlin Ahrens

Dr. Ryan French @ryanjfrench.bsky.social · 2d

In 2024, the Sun reached the peak of its 11-year solar cycle. Over the year, the Sun produced hundreds of notable solar flares and coronal mass ejections! ☀️

I have uploaded a 13-minute YouTube video presenting the highlights of those events! Enjoy. youtu.be/WJxuxAA82uI?...

1 10 29

Reposted by Dr. Caitlin Ahrens

NPR @npr.org · 2d

Craig Clark, 79, calls himself the "Tech Fairy." Clark spends his time refurbishing old laptops and giving them away for free to people who need them.

Need a laptop? This retiree refurbishes laptops, gives them away to those in need

Craig Clark, 79, calls himself the "Tech Fairy." Clark spends his time refurbishing old laptops and giving them away for free to people who need them.

n.pr

20 230 1.5K

Reposted by Dr. Caitlin Ahrens

Alan Boyle @b0yle.bsky.social · 3d

I see what you did there… and I love it 😻

Jeremy Littau @jeremylittau.com · 4d

Pope Leo DESTROYS clickbaiters with this one weird trick.

You won’t believe what degrading practice the pope just condemned

Communication must be freed from clickbait and misguided thinking, head of Catholic church tells journalists

www.theguardian.com

1 1

Reposted by Dr. Caitlin Ahrens

Greg Dubos @astroptere.bsky.social · 3d

Solar conjunction for our Europa spacecraft is now over! While we did not uplink commands for about 10 days, we were getting some telemetry confirming yhr health of the vehicle. The team is now back in the driver seat! To check out the current location of Clipper:

eyes.nasa.gov/apps/solar-s...

Eyes on the Solar System - NASA/JPL

Explore the 3D world of the Solar System. Learn about past and future missions.

eyes.nasa.gov

1 6 14

Reposted by Dr. Caitlin Ahrens

Dr. SkySkull @drskyskull.bsky.social · 3d

Time for a quick #OldSchoolDungeonsAndDragons! Let's look at Classic Warfare (1975), by Gary Gygax.

Cover of ring-bound Classic Warfare, "Rules for ancient warfare from the pharaohs to Charlemagne," by Gary Gygax. Shows an Egyptian chariot rider as an illustration

6 14 62

Dr. Caitlin Ahrens @ahrensscience.bsky.social · 3d

Wearing my rainbow donut Saturn socks for my presentation today! 🤩

7

Reposted by Dr. Caitlin Ahrens

Melina Thévenot🏳️‍⚧️ @melina-iras07572.bsky.social · 5d

Planet #Uranus 🪐 and inner moons with #JWST NIRCam 🔭 #planetsci Observation from this Monday (lol moon🌕day).

Filters: F150W2; F162M
Date: 2025-10-06 between 02:15:43 UT and 04:46:47 UT

Program: www.stsci.edu/jwst-program...

Uranus with rings and small elongated dots (tracks) around it.

1 22 88

Dr. Caitlin Ahrens @ahrensscience.bsky.social · 4d

Tea mug with inscription: Pink is more than just a pretty color. With pink ribbon for Breast Cancer Awareness Month (October)

1

Reposted by Dr. Caitlin Ahrens

Hourly Cosmos @hourlycosmos.bsky.social · 4d

Titan as seen through three different filters: August 20, 2013 - From Val Klavans (valklavans.bsky.social) - https://flic.kr/p/fAMQzR

On August 20, 2013, Cassini's camera system, the Imaging Science Subsystem (ISS), looked for clouds across Titan's sub-Saturn hemisphere from 1.33 million kilometers (0.82 million miles) away. The ISS took a number of images of Titan in different filters. Three of which were used for this composite image. This RGB false color composite of Titan is in 3 different filters: continuum filter (where methane is more transparent), methane band (where methane is strongly absorbing), and ultraviolet.

These images were taken on August 20, 2013 and received on Earth August 22, 2013. The images were taken using the CL1, CB3, UV3 and MT3 filters.

Credit: NASA / JPL / SSI / composite by Val Klavans

1 16 130

Reposted by Dr. Caitlin Ahrens

Steve Elardo @steve-elardo.com · 4d

I'm incredibly honored to be a part of this team and proud of this award!!! But I'm just a very small part of this program. Anita Marshall @bakingsodavolc.bsky.social deserves all the credit for the idea, the passion, the grunt work, and for its success!!! ⚒️🧪🔭

UF Geology @ufgeology.bsky.social · 4d

🎉🏆🥳UF Geology's GeoSPACE field program has been honored with the Award for Advancing Inclusive Excellence in STEM from @agu.org!!! Led by Prof. Anita Marshall @bakingsodavolc.bsky.social, it's the first designed to be accessible to students with disabilities and other complicating life factors ⚒️🧪🔭

GeoSPACE field program honored with national award for advancing inclusive STEM education

GeoSPACE is the first geoscience field camp designed specifically to be accessible and inclusive for students and faculty with disabilities.

news.clas.ufl.edu

1 7 18

Reposted by Dr. Caitlin Ahrens

Kevin St. Alder @kevinstalder.bsky.social · 4d

Statement from the Nobel Peace Prize Committee 👏 🙏

21 280 750

Reposted by Dr. Caitlin Ahrens

Corey S. Powell @coreyspowell.bsky.social · 5d

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.)

2 23 79

Reposted by Dr. Caitlin Ahrens

Westport Observatory @westportastro.bsky.social · 5d

🌏 A powerful M7.4 earthquake struck off the southeastern coast of the Philippines near Mindanao, about 79 miles from Davao. Tsunami warnings were issued. The USGS seismometer at the Westport Observatory detected the quake 8,850 miles away! 🌎 #Earthquake #Philippines #Seismology

Three seismograph charts from Westport, CT, showing blue, red, and green waveform data recorded on October 10, 2025, with time stamps and network status details.
HHZ = vertical
HH1 = North/South
HH2 = East/West

1 2

Reposted by Dr. Caitlin Ahrens

NBC News @nbcnews.com · 5d

A former Wyoming library director who was fired amid an uproar over books with sexual content and LGBTQ+ themes that some people complained were inappropriate for young people and who sought their removal from youth shelves will be paid $700,000 after settling a lawsuit.

Wyoming library director fired amid book dispute reaches $700,000 settlement

"It's been a rough road, but I will never regret standing up for the First Amendment," Terri Lesley said.

nbcnews.to

5 30 110

Reposted by Dr. Caitlin Ahrens

Elle @elleisanisland.bsky.social · Mar 23

this cat looks like one of the Old Master painters who's just slept with three servants, argued viciously with his annoying patron about the inferior ham he receives, and then painted his masterpiece out of spite

Collection of paints, brushes and pots on an old table. In the corner a large very fluffy cat sprawls in decadence

28 580 2.2K

Reposted by Dr. Caitlin Ahrens

Science Magazine @science.org · 5d

In an analysis of 1.2 million news stories about scholarly research, men-led papers were found to receive more attention overall and were heavily overrepresented in the top 5% of most covered studies. https://scim.ag/4o7l5a5

When women researchers publish, media attention doesn’t always follow

Men-led papers receive more media coverage than women’s, new study finds

scim.ag

4 33 55

Reposted by Dr. Caitlin Ahrens

Artologica aka Michele Banks @artologica.net · 5d

Shanthi Chandrasekar, Cosmic Web, pen and ink on paper #sciart

Geometric art with blue background and connected red and yellow dots

1 28 130

Reposted by Dr. Caitlin Ahrens

Princeton University Press @princetonupress.bsky.social · 5d

Now available in #paperback, Volcanoes in Human History by Jelle Zeilinga de Boer & Donald Theodore Sanders is the classic account of how volcanism has shaped human culture & science, from the Bronze Age eruption that destroyed Minoan Crete to Mount St. Helens.

press.princeton.edu/books/paperb...

Volcanoes in Human History: The Far-Reaching Effects of Major Eruptions by Jelle Zeilinga de Boer and Donald Theodore Sanders. The classic account of how volcanism has shaped human culture and science, from the Bronze Age eruption that destroyed Minoan Crete to Mount St. Helens.

1 6

Reposted by Dr. Caitlin Ahrens

PEN America @penamerica.bsky.social · 6d

1 18 60

Reposted by Dr. Caitlin Ahrens

Dr. Lucky Tran @luckytran.com · 6d

🎵 They did the Monster Slash 😭 @ellecordova.bsky.social

12 400 870