Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Hossam Aly @astrohoss.bsky.social · 5d

Your yearly reminder that university rankings are less than useless

Reposted by Hossam Aly

Hossam Aly @astrohoss.bsky.social · 6d

It might've been missed in the coverage today, but one of the recipients of today's Nobel prize, Omar Yaghi, is the first Palestinian to win the chemistry award.

Omar's family comes from a village which, like 100s of Palestinian villages, stopped existing after 1948

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Hossam Aly @astrohoss.bsky.social · 6d

It might've been missed in the coverage today, but one of the recipients of today's Nobel prize, Omar Yaghi, is the first Palestinian to win the chemistry award.

Omar's family comes from a village which, like 100s of Palestinian villages, stopped existing after 1948

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Hossam Aly @astrohoss.bsky.social · 7d

"Show me a brief example of acoustic oscillations going catastrophically wrong"

Hossam Aly @astrohoss.bsky.social · 13d

Very nice 🛢 As a kid we learned that Egyptian cotton is a thing. But I would've never thought that this is a direct consequence of the American civil war!

Also relevant to note that British occupation of Egypt started about 20 years after that point

Sarah Taber @sarahtaber.bsky.social · 14d

US farmers are saying they "just need temporary help, until things get better."

Here's the thing. US farm exports- which are mostly soy- CANNOT get better.

Other countries expanded their soy industries to fill China's demand.

We've walled ourselves out of the global market, folks. This is it.

Reposted by Hossam Aly

Elise Cutts @elisecutts.bsky.social · 21d

Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin ✨ figured out what stars are made of ✨ when she was just 25. 🔭🧪

Her PhD thesis basically established the Harvard astro department — at a time when Harvard didn't officially allow woman students.

I wrote this little profile to mark the 100th anniversary of her thesis:

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Hossam Aly @astrohoss.bsky.social · 21d

"Instead, Trump went for the cheap shot: telling women, without good evidence, to simply put up with the pain."

Financial Times @financialtimes.com · 21d

Autism has no easy answers on.ft.com/4nfmDyJ | opinion

Autism has no easy answers

Donald Trump’s promotion of an unproven link between Tylenol and neurological disorders does not help pregnant women

on.ft.com

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Hossam Aly @astrohoss.bsky.social · 21d

Anyone who missed Qaddafi's performance at the UN would rejoice

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 21d

Trump's brain is now incoherently flitting from topic to topic as the UN sits listening him to complete silence

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Hossam Aly @astrohoss.bsky.social · 24d

Better (75 years) late than never!

Israel always retaliates by punishing Palestinians, this time it might be by annexing the West Bank
www.bbc.com/news/live/cp...

UK, Canada and Australia announce formal recognition of Palestinian state - live updates

Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu previously said the move

www.bbc.com

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Hossam Aly @astrohoss.bsky.social · Sep 11

This is a strong letter that does not mince words! As a member of the Dutch scientific community I support this statement

Sera Markoff @profsera.bsky.social · Sep 11

As a member of the Netherlands Royal Academy of Arts & Sciences (KNAW) I support our statement on the war in Gaza.

www.knaw.nl/en/news/stat...

Statement by the KNAW Board on the situation in Gaza - KNAW

The KNAW Board calls on the Dutch Minister of Education, Culture and Science to actively press for suspension of Israel’s participation in the EU’s Horizon Europe programme for scientific and scholarl...

www.knaw.nl

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Hossam Aly @astrohoss.bsky.social · Sep 9

This is rather chilling account.

These people are going to go back to their countries after their 'adventure' ends, and likely face no prosecution for their crimes. As their home countries continue to enable, and deny, the genocide of Palestinians in Gaza

www.theguardian.com/world/2025/s...

The Gaza family torn apart by IDF snipers from Chicago and Munich

Five-month investigation reveals how four members of one family were shot and killed in a single day and highlights a pattern in which Israeli troops target unarmed civilians

www.theguardian.com

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Hossam Aly @astrohoss.bsky.social · Sep 9

Qatar just suspended all mediation efforts. I suspect Turkey and Egypt may follow, as they both recently hosted Hamas negotiators for mediation talks. There's simply no reason to think Israel respects anyone's sovereignty, or adhere to any international norms

Hossam Aly @astrohoss.bsky.social · Sep 9

It's important to stress that Qatar is a major US ally, hosting the largest US military base in ME. It's also hosting Hamas leadership *at the request* of the US for ceasefire negotiations.

Hard to overstate how much this changes things in ME

www.npr.org/2025/09/09/n...

Israel says it carried out a strike on Hamas' main political office in Qatar

The Israeli military says it has carried out an airstrike on Hamas political headquarters in Qatar. Television footage from Doha showed a huge cloud of gray smoke rising over the area of Doha where th...

www.npr.org

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Hossam Aly @astrohoss.bsky.social · Sep 9

It's important to stress that Qatar is a major US ally, hosting the largest US military base in ME. It's also hosting Hamas leadership *at the request* of the US for ceasefire negotiations.

Hard to overstate how much this changes things in ME

www.npr.org/2025/09/09/n...

Israel says it carried out a strike on Hamas' main political office in Qatar

The Israeli military says it has carried out an airstrike on Hamas political headquarters in Qatar. Television footage from Doha showed a huge cloud of gray smoke rising over the area of Doha where th...

www.npr.org

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Reposted by Hossam Aly

Mai El-Sadany @maitelsadany.bsky.social · Aug 29

In 1988, UNGA convened in Geneva instead of New York to hear PLO leader Yasser Arafat after the US refused to grant him a visa.

If the US refuses to change course, UNGA should consider doing the same once more-- not out of love for the PA or PLO, but out of respect for international law.

Middle East Eye (Unofficial) @middleeasteye-rss.bsky.social · Aug 29

US to revoke visas for PLO and PA members ahead of UN General Assembly 2025 - https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/us-says-it-will-deny-plo-and-pa-members-visas-un-general-assembly

US to revoke visas for PLO and PA members ahead of UN General Assembly 2025

Several countries are expected to recognise the state of Palestine at United Nations General Assembly in September in New York City

www.middleeasteye.net

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Hossam Aly @astrohoss.bsky.social · Aug 29

Risking the very idea behind the UN charter, and sacrificing your responsibility as a host, just to prevent any chance of Palestinian statehood, in the middle of a Palestinian genocide!

This devotion to settler colonialism at the expense of international law is really beyond bizarre

The New York Times @nytimes.com · Aug 29

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Friday that he would not issue visas to Palestinian officials to prevent them from attending the annual UN General Assembly in New York next month.

Trump Administration Bars Palestinian Officials From U.N. Meeting in New York

The United States generally allows foreign officials to attend the United Nations General Assembly. The administration’s move comes amid a new push for Palestinian statehood.

nyti.ms

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Hossam Aly @astrohoss.bsky.social · Aug 29

I've honestly been pondering this question for a long time

Yair Wallach @yairwallach.bsky.social · Aug 29

What is the red line for European governments, in terms of Israeli policy in Gaza - the red line after which they would stop treating Israel as misbehaving ally, "a democratic country exercising self defence"?
If mass starvation and annihilation of entire cities don't cut it, I'm really not sure.

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Reposted by Hossam Aly

Rima I Anabtawi @rimaanabtawi.bsky.social · Aug 29

In just three days, the IDG destroyed 10,000 olive trees in Al Mughayyir village, in the occupied West Bank.

Some of the trees were over 500 years-old.

Art by Silman Mansour

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Hossam Aly @astrohoss.bsky.social · Aug 25

Like, I've not attended any conference outside of the Schengen area for the last 8 years for that specific reason. This included having to turn down invited talks

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Hossam Aly @astrohoss.bsky.social · Aug 25

The main obstacle is less so where the conference is but rather visa processing times for underprivileged passports. If participation confirmation is less than 3 months before the conference, this excludes all of us with a passport not from the global north, regardless of where we're actually based.

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Reposted by Hossam Aly

Dr Joby Hollis @jobium.bsky.social · Aug 15

Jupiter and Saturn being in front of the moon would kill everyone, tbf

Nosferatu RBMK 🦇 @comraderobot.bsky.social · Aug 15

repost to instantly kill an astronomer

Crescent moon with Jupiter and Venus but the planets are IN the moon there is sky where the dark part of the moon should be

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Hossam Aly @astrohoss.bsky.social · Aug 13

Slightly diminish a band: Consider Dragons

Roger Freedman @rogerfreedman.bsky.social · Aug 13

Slightly diminish a band: Legally Blind Melon.

Kevin Gannon (now a Moo Deng fan account) @thetattooedprof.bsky.social · Aug 13

Slightly diminish a band: Aluminum Maiden

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Hossam Aly @astrohoss.bsky.social · Aug 8

Happy international cat day! Bailey is the neighbour's cat (few houses down the road). He visits a few times a week. Here he's pretending to be a rabbit

Orange cat cutely laying on his back with closed eyes and filled paws

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Reposted by Hossam Aly

Yair Wallach @yairwallach.bsky.social · Aug 8

Israel's endgame is clear: the ethnic cleansing of the Gaza Strip and the expulsion of its population. It is not an immediate goal, and Israel uses different levels of violence depending on the situation. And yet the physical destruction of the Strip leaves no other outcome.

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Reposted by Hossam Aly

Saul Staniforth @saulstaniforth.bsky.social · Aug 5

Part of a report by Emma Murphy.

It's genocide.

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Hossam Aly @astrohoss.bsky.social · Aug 4

Today is Hamilton's day (the maths one, who reformulated physics, not the politician)

Cheers to Hamilton!

Robert “The Bobby Yaga” McNees @mcnees.bsky.social · Aug 4

William Rowan Hamilton was born #OTD in 1805.

His reformulation of classical Newtonian mechanics via the principle of stationary action is one of the most beautiful ideas in all of physics, and is at the heart of nearly every modern theory in physics. 🧪 ⚛️

The title graphic from the musical Hamilton. Instead of a silhouette of Alexander Hamilton forming the tip of the large black star at the center of the image, there is a black and white image of a balding, sideburned William Hamilton.

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