Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Dr Ross Barnett @deepfrieddna.bsky.social · 2h

However you think this sketch is going to end, you're wrong. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Enb1...

Experienced Lawyers - SNL

YouTube video by Saturday Night Live

www.youtube.com

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Reposted by Dr Ross Barnett

Patrick K Mills @pkernaghan.bsky.social · 7h

That theil thing has got me thinking about how the last 25ish years or so have so thoroughly exposed so many of the powerful as utterly deranged weirdos with the intellect of a 14 year old boy

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Reposted by Dr Ross Barnett

Ruth Carden 🦴 🐾 🐚🦪 @ruthfcarden.bsky.social · 1d

While listening … am washing cave bones from our July excavation… holding a partial ulna (front leg) bone in my hands of an Ice Age Spotted Hyena (the larger ancestor to modern spotted hyena in Africa). Yes, Ireland has these top predators/scavengers some 40,000 years ago! #PALAEOIreland 🏺

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Dr Ross Barnett @deepfrieddna.bsky.social · 1d

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

And then there were none: Australia’s only shrew declared extinct

The tally of Australian mammals extinct since 1788 is now 39 species – far more than for any other country

www.theguardian.com

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Reposted by Dr Ross Barnett

David Craven @davidjcraven.bsky.social · 1d

What’s funny about people like Thiel is that this is actually such an old schtick. Use big, intellectual sounding words, but actually talk complete nonsense. He’s a buffoon. He’s not the messiah, he’s a very stupid boy.
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Inside tech billionaire Peter Thiel’s off-the-record lectures about the antichrist

The political svengali and investor has been giving lectures on ‘an evil king or tyrant … who appears in the end times’

www.theguardian.com

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Dr Ross Barnett @deepfrieddna.bsky.social · 1d

www.youtube.com/shorts/8i587...

Donald Trump finds out he lost the Nobel Peace Prize...

YouTube video by Spitting Image

www.youtube.com

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Dr Ross Barnett @deepfrieddna.bsky.social · 1d

🐼 Animal #803 🦖
I figured it out in 4 guesses!
🟨🟩🟩🟩
🔥 21 | Avg. Guesses: 6.2

metazooa.com
#metazooa

Metazooa

Become an evolutionary detective to find the Mystery Animal!

metazooa.com

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Reposted by Dr Ross Barnett

Colchester Museums @colmuseums.bsky.social · 1d

Essex fossils have a way of starting rumours. Megalodon teeth on the coast. Mammoth bones in the gravel. No surprise our villages are full of dragon stories.

Video courtesy of Bethnal Archives - more here: youtube.com/@BethnalArchives

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Reposted by Dr Ross Barnett

Micro SF/F by O. Westin @microsff.com · 2d

An alien fleet appeared in Earth's orbit, and broadcast a message:

"Having studied you furtively, we now seek formal contact, and want to meet your greatest thinkers..."

A long list followed.

"How do we tell them?" world leaders wondered.

Topping the list were the names Calvin and Calvin's Dad.

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Reposted by Dr Ross Barnett

Rob McDowall AMRSPH MIHSCM FRSA @mcdowall.me · 2d

The parallels with history are writ large.

Sophie Sherry @sophiesherry.bsky.social · 2d

During a military-style raid on a building in Chicago’s South Shore, one resident heard a knock on his door.   It wasn’t the feds — it was a mom and her 7-year-old daughter, pleading for help.

He let them hide in his unit for the next 3 days.

chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/...

Neighbor shielded 7-year-old during South Shore federal raid: ‘I didn’t want them to take her’

During the Sept. 30 raid one tenant protected a terrified girl and her mom. Remnants at the complex, including a detailed map of all the units, offer clues to what authorities may have known before th...

chicago.suntimes.com

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Reposted by Dr Ross Barnett

Karen James @kejames.bsky.social · 2d

Good! Now all the rest.

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Reposted by Dr Ross Barnett

Maggie Tokuda-Hall @maggietokudahall.bsky.social · 2d

Today my daughter's preschool is holding a farewell assembly for one of her classmates whose mother has no choice but to self deport. The school is hoping it will be joyful in tone, so we might make this less upsetting for this 3 year old.

There's just no words for the uselessness of this cruelty.

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Reposted by Dr Ross Barnett

Darren Naish @tetzoo.bsky.social · 2d

Sea Monsters at Dorset Museum & Art Gallery. Friday 21st November 2025, I’m talking Sea Monsters Past and Present at Dorset Museum, Dorchester. This will be followed by a book signing. Info and tickets at... www.dorsetmuseum.org/whats-on/sea...

Sea Monsters Past and Present | Dr Darren Naish – Dorset Museum & Art Gallery

Join esteemed author and palaeozoologist Dr Darren Naish as he explores our developing ideas about sea monsters past and present, a subject that combines developments in palaeontology with studies of ...

www.dorsetmuseum.org

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Reposted by Dr Ross Barnett

Dr Alex Bond @thelabandfield.bsky.social · 2d

Well, it's official. After our paper last year (onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....), the Slender-billed Curlew is officially declared Extinct today.

Scientists dream of describing new species, not writing their obituary and epitaph, knowing that they are gone forever #ornithology

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Dr Ross Barnett @deepfrieddna.bsky.social · 2d

www.theguardian.com/world/live/2...

Nobel peace prize 2025 live: María Corina Machado wins for work promoting democratic rights in Venezuela

US president had been conducting campaign to influence prize committee

www.theguardian.com

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Dr Ross Barnett @deepfrieddna.bsky.social · 2d

Sheer brilliance www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9Ka...

The Greatest Episode of All Time?! | The Best of Brian Blessed

YouTube video by Hat Trick Comedy

www.youtube.com

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Dr Ross Barnett @deepfrieddna.bsky.social · 2d

www.bbc.co.uk/news/videos/...

Jaguar rescued from river in Brazil after being shot

The wounded animal was rescued in Rio Negro, Brazil, after being spotted crossing the river.

www.bbc.co.uk

Reposted by Dr Ross Barnett

The Tennessee Holler @thetnholler.bsky.social · 3d

🤷🏼

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Reposted by Dr Ross Barnett

Raptor Persecution UK @raptorpersuk.bsky.social · 3d

📣You really couldn't make this up!

On the day Scottish Govt announces it is delaying, for a second time, the implementation of muirburn licensing, this happens...

raptorpersecutionuk.org/2025/10/09/b...

Breaking news….’out of control muirburn’ on grouse moor in Cairngorms National Park

You couldn’t make this up if you tried… Breaking News….on the day the Scottish Government announced it was delaying, for a second time, the implementation of muirburn licensing af…

raptorpersecutionuk.org

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Reposted by Dr Ross Barnett

Gabriele Russo @gabrieleru1.bsky.social · 3d

Turns out #hippos 🦛 lived in Europe much more recently than we thought!
Fossil & genetic evidence from Germany shows they roamed 50,000–31,000 years ago, right in the middle of the last #iceage 🥶🌨️
Same species as today’s African hippos, thriving during warmer periods.
🦣🧪🧬

Ancient DNA and dating evidence for the dispersal of hippos into central Europe during the last glacial

Arnold et al. present evidence that Late Pleistocene hippos from the Upper Rhine Graben show close genetic ties to modern African hippos. Although hippos have been thought to have gone extinct around ...

www.cell.com

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Reposted by Dr Ross Barnett

Prof Anna Watts @profannawatts.bsky.social · 3d

Lol the Nobels can't even acknowledge women's contribution to discovery. But sure let's acknowledge The Machines.

Headline from an article in Nature this week that states "Prizes must recognize machine contributions to discovery. The future of science will be written by humans and machines together. Awards should reflect that reality."

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Dr Ross Barnett @deepfrieddna.bsky.social · 3d

One of my earliest TV memories is The Tripods, read all the books as a teen. www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALSI...

When The Tripods Came Back (Short Documentary)

YouTube video by SciFiAssassin

www.youtube.com

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Dr Ross Barnett @deepfrieddna.bsky.social · 3d

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3bX...

Urban Scotland: Inverness (1975)

YouTube video by STV Footage Sales

www.youtube.com

Reposted by Dr Ross Barnett

The Anatomical Record @anatrecord.bsky.social · 4d

We're excited to share a new Special Issue on sabretooth taxa, broadly defined. From defining what makes a sabertooth/tusk to exploring fossil taxa and saber function.
anatomypubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/toc/19328494...
Volume edited by Hartstone-Rose, Werdelin & Pollock

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Reposted by Dr Ross Barnett

fesshole 🧻 @fesshole.bsky.social · 3d

I appeared on University Challenge years ago. I didn't actually attend the university in question. I used to take short cuts through the campus and saw the notice for the try outs. Went along for a laugh and made the team. No one ever checked if I was actually a student there.

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