Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted

Michael Grunwald @mikegrunwald.bsky.social · 1d

Sri Lanka tried banning all synthetic pesticides and fertilizers - yields crashed, they had brutal food shortages and food riots, the government fell and the president had to flee…hmm actually maybe we should give that terrible idea a shot.

COwriter @hlacey.bsky.social · 2d

Ban them all.

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Rothamsted Research @rothamsted.bsky.social · 1d

Family of genes that rule growth, grain development in wheat identified www.agriland.ie/farming-news...

Family of genes that rule growth, grain development in wheat identified

Rothamsted scientists have uncovered how a family of genes in wheat fine-tunes the plant’s growth and grain development.

www.agriland.ie

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Rachel Maddow @maddow.msnbc.com · 1d

“With your patient and rigorous work, you can act as a barrier against those who, through the ancient art of lying, seek to create divisions in order to rule by dividing,” he said. “You can be a bulwark of civility against the quicksand of approximation and post-truth...”

apnews.com/article/pope...

Pope urges news agencies to stand as bulwark against lies, manipulation and post-truths

Pope Leo XIV has encouraged international news agencies to stand firm as a bulwark against the “ancient art of lying” and manipulation.

apnews.com

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Climate Tracker @climate.skyfleet.blue · 1d

New Zealand accused of ‘full-blown climate denial’ over cuts to methane reduction targets #Climate

New Zealand accused of ‘full-blown climate denial’ over cuts to methane reduction targets

Farmers praised the move, but scientists and opposition parties criticised it as ‘weak’ and ‘unambitious’

www.theguardian.com

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Sight Magazine @sightmagazine.bsky.social · May 14

Brazilian researcher who helped country’s grain boom wins World Food Prize @sightmagazine.bsky.social #Brazil #WorldFoodPrize #MariangelaHungria #NormanEBorlaug #agriculture

sightmagazine.com.au/news/brazili...

Brazilian researcher who helped country's grain boom wins World Food Prize - Sight Magazine

Brazilian microbiologist Mariangela Hungria has been named the 2025 World Food Prize Laureate, the foundation organising the prize said.

sightmagazine.com.au

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CGIAR @cgiar.org · 1d

🌍 Soil is the foundation of our future. CGIAR is excited to join the 2025 @WorldFoodPrize Borlaug Dialogue, Oct 21–23, under the theme SOILutions for Security. #FoodPrize25

Register here:
https://on.cgiar.org/3IAU00d

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Prof Christina Pagel @chrischirp.bsky.social · 3d

After a long pause, I've just done another England Covid & NHS update as we head into the autumn/winter season.

TLDR: we're in a significant Covid wave now, the NHS is stretched, get boosted if you're eligible.

christinapagel.substack.com/p/england-is...

England is now experiencing a significant Covid wave, after 10 months of relative quiet

The latest Covid situation in England and a look at where NHS services are as we head into winter

christinapagel.substack.com

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Cannonball Adderall @manchegoblue.bsky.social · 3d

If you’re frustrated with governments not reeling in social media, read this.

Michael E. Mann @michaelemann.bsky.social · 3d

Must-read piece in @theguardian.com (h/t @dpcarrington.bsky.social). In #ScienceUnderSiege, we describe how petrostates Saudi Arabia & Russia leveraged Musk's buyout of twitter so they could weaponize it for climate denial propaganda & attacks on renewables.
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

Money talks: the deep ties between Twitter and Saudi Arabia

The long read: Saudi Arabia’s investment in Twitter increased its influence in Silicon Valley while being used at home to shut down critics of the regime

www.theguardian.com

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Michael Grunwald @mikegrunwald.bsky.social · 3d

Twinkies aren’t unhealthy because they have GMOs in them. They’re unhealthy because they’re Twinkies! GMO crops are safe, and gene-edited crops can help make more food with less land. There’s no need to freak out about them.

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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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Retraction Watch @retractionwatch.com · 3d

A soil scientist who resigned from several journals in 2017 after being linked to manipulated citations has been appointed to the editorial board of a journal copublished by Elsevier and China Science Publishing & Media.

Soil scientist previously named in citation scandal appointed to editor role at Elsevier journal

Artemi Cerdà A soil scientist who resigned from several journals in 2017 after being linked to manipulated citations has been appointed to the editorial board of a journal copublished by Elsevier a…

retractionwatch.com

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Michael E. Mann @michaelemann.bsky.social · 4d

Update: www.eenews.net/articles/cli...
#RogerPielkeJr #ScienceUnderSiege

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intfertsociety.bsky.social @intfertsociety.bsky.social · 5d

Tick, tock.....
One day left to enter the Brian Chambers Award for early career scientists. We have some great entries, add yours and see if you can be standing here this December.
Details here: buff.ly/55AdXwT

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Soil Use and Management @sumjournal.bsky.social · 5d

***NEW*** #openaccess
How a Decade of Different Tillage Intensity Influences Yield Response to Seasonal Weather Variations.
Cannon & Rial-Lovera
#soil #soilscience
doi.org/10.1111/sum....

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Ed Hawkins @edhawkins.org · 4d

UK air temperatures and soil temperatures are warming at the same rate

climatelabbook.substack.com/p/monitoring...

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Charles Kenny @charlesjkenny.bsky.social · 5d

Blog with CGD colleagues: Cholera in Africa: Rising Deaths, Shrinking US Aid.

Africa seeing rising cholera deaths, but US foreign assistance not responding...

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Niels Batjes @niels-batjes.bsky.social · 6d

ISRIC, the 🌍 World Data Centre for Soils 🌏, has a new website, explore at isric.org

ISRIC - World Soil Information

ISRIC–World Soil Information is an independent science-based foundation with a mission to serve the international community as a custodian of global soil information. We support the development and us...

isric.org

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James Dinneen @jamesdinneen.bsky.social · 6d

Over the past two years, the land carbon sink appears to have weakened dramatically, driving the largest one year jump in atmospheric CO2 on record in 2024. Is this the end of the land carbon sink? I asked around for @newscientist.com.

One of Earth’s most vital carbon sinks is faltering. Can we save it?

For decades, forest, grasslands and other land ecosystems have collectively absorbed up to a third of the carbon dioxide we emit each year - but this climate buffer may be collapsing far sooner than a...

www.newscientist.com

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George Monbiot @georgemonbiot.bsky.social · 6d

Another benefit of Brexit ... the UK has returned to its traditional role as the dirty man of Europe.
www.theguardian.com/environment/...

UK plastic waste exports to developing countries rose 84% in a year, data shows

Campaigners say increase in exports mostly to Malaysia and Indonesia is ‘unethical and irresponsible waste imperialism’

www.theguardian.com

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davidpowlson.bsky.social @davidpowlson.bsky.social · 7d

Tempting say to governments, inc UK, and industry and academic enthusiasts for these technologies "told you so". But perhaps just let facts speak for themselves.

Dr. Jonathan Foley @globalecoguy.bsky.social · 8d

The jig is up for CCS and DAC.

oilprice.com/Energy/Energ...

The Collapse of Confidence in Carbon Capture | OilPrice.com

Carbon Capture and Storage, once seen as a lifeline for the oil and gas industry, is facing mounting doubts as delays, high costs, and poor performance cast serious doubts on its future viability.

oilprice.com

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Prof Bill McGuire @profbillmcguire.bsky.social · 8d

"The Ministry of Defence spends around £1m a year sending children to private schools in north Wales because 'state schools teach some or all lessons in the Welsh language' "

What complete and utter stupidity - and an insult to us Welsh

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Defence ministry spends millions on private schools to avoid Welsh

Military personnel receive a private education allowance to avoid lessons in Welsh in state schools.

www.bbc.co.uk

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Rothamsted Research @rothamsted.bsky.social · 8d

Fungicide alternative: Would your crops benefit from a genetically engineered vaccine? geneticliteracyproject.org/2025/10/06/f...

Fungicide alternative: Would your crops benefit from a genetically engineered vaccine?

Disease control within crop production systems has been very much centred on the development of complex organic chemicals such as fungicides. But all of

geneticliteracyproject.org

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Aarne Granlund @aarnegranlund.bsky.social · 12d

"The richest 20% of nations, with 15% of the global population, contribute more than 40% of annual ecological overshoot, whereas the poorest 40% of countries, with 42% of the global population, experience more than 60% of the social shortfall.

#Overshoot

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Doughnut of social and planetary boundaries monitors a world out of balance - Nature

A revised ‘Doughnut’ providing a visual assessment of trends in social deprivation and planetary degradation over the past two decades shows more than doubling of global GDP accompanied by accelerating ecological overshoot but only a modest reduction in human deprivation.

www.nature.com

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Ed Hawkins @edhawkins.org · 8d

The @metoffice.gov.uk use weather station observations to reconstruct changes in UK average temperature since 1884.

@copernicusecmwf.bsky.social produce the ERA5 reanalysis which reconstructs global weather every hour back to 1950 using a weather forecast model.

Their estimates agree. Just sayin'.

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davidpowlson.bsky.social @davidpowlson.bsky.social · 8d

This looks horribly like facism, or at least a result of autocracy. Even if the autocrat himself, or close associates, are not directly responsible for violence against rivals some followers are emboldened to do crazy and dreadful acts. Trump is only one step away fro Putins tactics.

Susan M. Gaines @susanmgaines.bsky.social · 8d

It's a dangerous time to be a public servant upholding the rule of law in America

time.com/7323442/sout...

House of South Carolina Judge Criticized by Trump Administration Set Ablaze

Authorities are investigating a fire at the home of a South Carolina judge who had reportedly received death threats in what could be the latest incident of political violence across the country.

time.com

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