Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Nur Shahir, PhD

Michael E. Mann @michaelemann.bsky.social · 16h

They're not even trying to hide their glee

The Associated Press @apnews.com · 16h

Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson predicts the federal government shutdown may become the longest in history.

Government shutdown could be the longest ever, Speaker Johnson warns

Republican Speaker Mike Johnson predicts the federal government shutdown may become the longest in history.

bit.ly

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Tressie McMillan Cottom @tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 16h

When they keep emailing you that the VIP tickets for a band you’ve never heard of are going fast

Robert Kelchen @robertkelchen.com · 17h

After getting zero firm commitments to this point from the first nine invitees, the Trump administration is extending its proposed compact to all colleges. Expect some red-state publics to say yes.

Trump Offers All Colleges Preferential Funding Plan Rejected by MIT

The Trump administration is inviting all US colleges to participate in a compact — initially rejected by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology — that would grant preferential federal funding in re...

www.bloomberg.com

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Brian Tyler Cohen @briantylercohen.bsky.social · 16h

Multiple airports are now announcing they will refuse to play Kristi Noem’s government-funded video blaming “Democrats” for the government shutdown.

“We believe the Hatch Act clearly prohibits use of public assets for political purposes and messaging,” one airport said.

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Greg Pak @gregpak.net · 17h

Abolish ICE.

If you work for ICE, quit right now.

Ruth Delgado @heylookitsruth.bsky.social · 19h

A mom in Houston reported her 15-year-old son with autism missing. She spent 6 days terrified, searching for him. The whole time, Houston police knew exactly where he was since they helped ICE place him in a refugee facility.

This is beyond cruel.
www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston...

Missing teen with autism transferred to refugee facility by HPD

He is currently being held at an Office for Refugee Resettlement facility.

www.houstonchronicle.com

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Ketan Joshi @ketanjoshi.co · 21h

God this is going to sound obnoxious but I'm doing it anyway: one of the most radical and genuinely bolshy things you can do right now is just fucking check stuff. Take a moment, find some sources, talk to some humans, corroborate stuff using independent pathways.

It is going out of fashion fast

Olivia Messer @oliviamesser.bsky.social · 1d

In which John Oliver methodically unpacks how thin it is to claim you’re all about “the truth” when you’re only running essays don’t get properly fact-checked — and don’t hold up to even basic reporting scrutiny www.youtube.com/watch?v=gieT...

Bari Weiss: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)

YouTube video by LastWeekTonight

www.youtube.com

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Jake Grumbach @jakemgrumbach.bsky.social · 23h

The siren call of electoral strategy and analysis partially crowded out work on things like law, organizational resistance, and protest. I blame myself, too

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adelaide tovar @adel-aide.bsky.social · Jul 29

A key point here is the disconnect in awareness between researchers and everyone else (of course this is a feature, not a bug, for the government)

“[T]he effects from increases or decreases in funding can take upwards of seven years.”

Carl Zimmer @carlzimmer.com · Jul 28

Proposed NIH cuts predicted to cause a drop in the US scientific workforce, to reduce support for public health, and to create gaps in scientific knowledge. Story by @aniloza.bsky.social
industryhttps://www.statnews.com/2025/07/28/nih-cuts-new-study-says-long-term-they-will-cost-more-than-saved/

New analysis predicts sprawling effects of proposed NIH budget cuts

Initial analyses of the Trump administration’s proposed NIH cuts neglect key aspects of their long-term economic and health impact, study says.

www.statnews.com

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Nur Shahir, PhD @gigiomics.bsky.social · 20h

I think this is a different study solely because the reads are PacBio and the paper used the NovaSeq platform 🧐 but you have a good point about hitting the comments section!

Reposted by Nur Shahir, PhD

bleary @bleary.off-the-records.com · 21h

If anyone needs me I will be in the museum, lying down next to the bog bodies.

Did people really memorize phone numbers before cell phones, or is that just a movie thing?
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I was watching some old shows from the 90s and noticed people would just dial numbers from memory - like they'd call their friends or family without looking anything up.
Made me wonder if that was actually normal back then? Did people genuinely have all their important numbers memorized, or did most folks keep a little address book or written list nearby?

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Nur Shahir, PhD @gigiomics.bsky.social · 1d

ngl my first thought was "uhhh wouldn't AoT be more your vibe" but I Did Not Wish To Expose My Weeb Origins 😅

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Kim Crawley (she/her) 😷🍉 @stopgenai.com · 8d

The latest interview in our Anti Gen AI Heroes series is out!
@olivia.science
Anti Gen AI Heroes: Dr. Olivia Guest’s Dire Warning to Academia
stopgenai.com/anti-gen-ai-...

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Mark Ungrin @mark-ungrin.bsky.social · 1d

Episodes like this illustrate why criminal charges are appropriate for the public health and infection control leaders suppressing information about prevention of COVID and long COVID - the "gaps in public messaging" called out by Canada's Chief Science Advisor.

They are killing people.

Mark Ungrin @mark-ungrin.bsky.social · Dec 19

It's so bad that Canada's Chief Science Advisor had to call out our public health leaders for their failure to do their job and educate the public ("gaps" in messaging)!

But it's hard to get that story out because public health can throw around huge PR slush funds.
science.gc.ca/site/science...

Prevention: There are gaps in public messaging about the importance of PCC prevention. PCC preventive actions include avoiding SARS-CoV-2 infection and reinfection through protective behavior, such as isolating when sick to avoid spreading disease and effective masking in crowded spaces, and making it easy to adopt protective measures through steps that government, institutions and employers can take. Equally important is indoor air quality and ventilation to reduce transmission of infectious diseases that transmit through the air, including SARS-CoV-2, influenza and other common respiratory virusesFootnote46 Footnote47. Adequate ventilation and air filtration is often a key gap in buildings where people gather, including schools.

Another key action along with other measures to prevent PCC is vaccination. There are gaps in messaging about reducing the risk for PCC through vaccination across all ages. COVID-19 vaccination and messaging targeted to priority populations to protect against acute COVID-19 illness may have an unintended consequence of conveying that keeping COVID-19 vaccination up to date for acute and chronic effects is not really necessary for all age groups.

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Andrew D Thaler @drandrewthaler.bsky.social · 1d

You don't have to judge Columbus by the standards of today. His tenure as governor of Hispaniola was so horrific that he was dragged back to Spain in chains to answer for his many crimes.

Plus he never set foot on any land that would ever be a part of the United States of America.

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🌈Dr. Franken Frizzle 🎃 @swilua.bsky.social · 1d

He was considered horrific BY THE PEOPLE WHO STARTED THE SPANISH INQUISITION

Andrew D Thaler @drandrewthaler.bsky.social · 1d

You don't have to judge Columbus by the standards of today. His tenure as governor of Hispaniola was so horrific that he was dragged back to Spain in chains to answer for his many crimes.

Plus he never set foot on any land that would ever be a part of the United States of America.

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VivienM @vivienm.bsky.social · 1d

ASHG 2025 @genetics-gsa.bsky.social is about to start. Do please feel free to ping me about talks I need to take in or posters I need to see. And yes, my hoverboard and I will ride through the exhibition hall to hunt for candy, chocolate and cool news. 🧪 🧵