Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Karen Masters @karenlmasters.bsky.social · 23h

Jess Wade is amazing, and it's my absolute honour to be one of the more than 2000 women in STEM whose wikipedia page she started: mymodernmet.com/jessica-wade... 🧪🔭👩‍🔬

Meet the Physicist Who Wrote Over 2,000 Wikipedia Biographies for Women in STEM

After noticing a lack of entries on Wikipedia for incredible women throughout history, this incredible woman decided to take matters into her own hands.

mymodernmet.com

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Reposted by Karen Masters

Tom Gauld @tomgauld.bsky.social · 3d

It's PHYSICS FOR CATS publication day!! Luna has her copy: do you? www.tomgauld.com/comic-books-v2

A black cat sits on a wicker basket reading the book PHYSICS FOR CATS by Tom Gauld... Ok, so she's not really reading it. She's not even quite looking at it to be completely honest. But it is possible to imagine that she is reading and thoroughly enjoying it.

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Helen Day @lbflyawayhome.bsky.social · 1d

An observation test for you - for your inner 8 year-old

“The artist has hidden 12 things in this picture. How many can you find?”

Treasure magazine, 1964
Official answers coming soon

(Even if you don’t reply, could you please ‘like’ or share this one? 🙏)

Black-and-white picture of two children playing in woodland. Also in the picture, there are 12 hidden animals including an owl, a bat and a squirrel.

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Reposted by Karen Masters

Deborah Blum @deborahb.bsky.social · 2d

Matthew Facciani @matthewfacciani.bsky.social · 3d

“A new study shows that receiving an updated COVID vaccine reduced people’s risk of severe disease and death in all age groups, regardless of immunity from prior infection or vaccination”
www.scientificamerican.com/article/new-...

Annual COVID Vaccines Save Lives, New Study Shows

A new study shows that receiving an updated COVID vaccine reduced people’s risk of severe disease and death in all age groups, regardless of immunity from prior infection or vaccination

www.scientificamerican.com

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Reposted by Karen Masters

Pauline Barmby @pbarmby.bsky.social · 2d

Also includes some Canadian universities, where the process is somewhat different (students are accepted by individual supervisors, not as members of a class) - I’m happy to answer questions about grad school in Canada.

Sarah Tuttle @niais.bsky.social · 2d

Are you someone who is interested in astronomy graduate school? This is a list of many/most departments and their expectations for admissions this year. Please feel free to spread it far and wide. If you are doing admissions and you'd like to update your entry, reach out as per the form!

US Astronomy Graduate Admissions, AY 2025-2026

docs.google.com

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Reposted by Karen Masters

Madhu Pai, MD, PhD @madhupai.bsky.social · 2d

Immigrant scientists make a massive contribution wherever they go

More than 30% of this century’s science Nobel prizewinners immigrated

www.nature.com/articles/d41...

More than 30% of this century’s science Nobel prizewinners immigrated: see their journeys

The most common destination for eventual Nobel laureates in physics, chemistry and medicine since 2000 is the United States, Nature has found.

www.nature.com

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Reposted by Karen Masters

Sarah Tuttle @niais.bsky.social · 2d

Are you someone who is interested in astronomy graduate school? This is a list of many/most departments and their expectations for admissions this year. Please feel free to spread it far and wide. If you are doing admissions and you'd like to update your entry, reach out as per the form!

US Astronomy Graduate Admissions, AY 2025-2026

docs.google.com

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Karen Masters @karenlmasters.bsky.social · 5d

There is still some hopeful news out there! Of course we need coal to go down... not just stay flat (but flat is better than rising...).

Dave Jones @cleanpowerdave.bsky.social · 6d

NEW: GLOBAL RENEWABLES OVERTAKES COAL

How the heck did that happen so quickly?!...🧵

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Get To Know Nature @gettoknownature.bsky.social · 6d

Ok, it turns out #ShroomScrolling already existed before I thought of it this morning. Which means if you click on it you’ll get a delightful stream of excellent mushrooms. Definitely recommend #FungiFriends 🌿

Get To Know Nature @gettoknownature.bsky.social · 6d

Is #ShroomScrolling a thing? Like BloomScrolling but with cute little guys like this

#FungiFriends 🌿

An orange, spotted mushroom with a thick cream color stalk and a tiny orange one at the base. They’re growing in a horizontal log with grooved bark.

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Reposted by Karen Masters

Dr Adam McMaster @adammc.space · 7d

This black hole has one bright jet and one that’s too faint to see. The reason is relativity and the weird things that happen near the speed of light 🧪🔭 three-alpha.space/p/a-black-ho...

A black hole with just one bright jet

Thanks to relativity we can't see the other one.

three-alpha.space

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Reposted by Karen Masters

XingWu🐉ChineseFolklore @xingwu.bsky.social · 8d

In Chinese #folklore, a cat or dog that enters your home uninvited and is kept, ushers in fortune. A fat cat? Even better.
The Yilin tells of Hu Hong, a famed diviner from Ningbo. When a wealthy family puzzled over their sudden luck, Hu Hong revealed the cause: “A cat came to you 1/2
#caturday

《異林》：寧波胡宏，精卜筮術。有一人家暴富，心疑之，宏為設卦曰：「家有狸奴走入室，筮其祥也。」曰：「然。」曰：「狸奴形必大，可稱之，得幾斤？」曰：「七斤許。」曰：「富及七載，狸奴當去。」及期，狸果去，家貧如初。

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Karen Masters @karenlmasters.bsky.social · 8d

I have a picture just like that of my eldest! She’s now 18! Like @astroroyalscot.bsky.social I had two babies during postdoc. I didn’t want to wait for something that might not happen (aka tenure) and regret it later.

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Kieran (But Spookier) @toadally.bsky.social · 8d

Hey, we all like fireflies, right? Of course we do! So please: LEAVE YOUR LEAVES! Firefly larvae need the protection that fallen leaves provide to complete their life cycle. Even just allowing part of your yard to be covered with leaves can help the arthropods/invertebrates/microfauna living there.

a firefly is glowing brightly in the dark

ALT: a firefly is glowing brightly in the dark

media.tenor.com

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Karen Masters @karenlmasters.bsky.social · 8d

What’s the story behind the “wow!” signal ending up in Ohio? 📡🔭

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Prof. Abel Méndez @profabelmendez.bsky.social · 8d

The #AreciboWow team headed to Ohio to check out the legendary Wow! Signal printout in person and dig up more data! 😃 #RadioAstronomy #Astrophysics #Astronomy #SETI #WowSignal #PHL #UPRArecibo

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Reposted by Karen Masters

All the Galaxies! @allthegalaxies.galaxyzoo.org · 8d

A barred spiral galaxy, observed with the Apache Point 2.5m Telescope in the SDSS survey.

It is at redshift 0.059 (lookback time 819.8 million years) with coordinates (171.09563, 23.32707).

36 volunteers classified this galaxy in Galaxy Zoo 2.

A barred spiral galaxy from the Galaxy Zoo 2 project, classified by 36 volunteers.

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Karen Masters @karenlmasters.bsky.social · 9d

Almost everywhere I have lived in the UK is in that circle (just excluding parents’ current town in West Wales where I spent almost all holidays).

Brilliant Maps @brilliantmaps.bsky.social · 9d

50% of The UK's Population Live Inside This Circle

Explanation: brilliantmaps.com/half-half...

Reposted by Karen Masters

derek guy @dieworkwear.bsky.social · 10d

Matthew 15:29-31: And great crowds came to him, bringing with them the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute, and many others, and they put them at his feet, and he healed them after verifying their citizenship status.

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Durham University @durham.ac.uk · 9d

Looking for some weekend listening? 🎧

Prof Andrew Pontzen, in our Department of Physics, looks at the search for element 120 on the periodic table - and what motivates scientists to pursue something possibly only produced in the violent explosions of stars 💥

👉 www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

New Elements - BBC Sounds

What does it take to make something which has never existed on Earth before?

www.bbc.co.uk

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Karen Masters @karenlmasters.bsky.social · 10d

Listening to people view Saturn through a telescope for the first time is one of my absolute favourite things. 🔭👩‍🔬🪐

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Karen Masters @karenlmasters.bsky.social · 12d

Safe travels.

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NE Ohio Regional Sewer District @neorsd.org · 12d

I’m a sewage system. I also have a great personality.

Elizabeth Jacobs, PhD
@elizabethjacobs.bsky.social
I'm an epidemiologist. Sewage systems are sexy.

Dosco Jones @doscojones.bsky.social
I'm an engineer. Sewage systems are sexy.

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Jeff VanderMeer @jeffvandermeer.bsky.social · 14d

your moment of calm: a mossy waterfall deep in the heart of a Mount Hood trail.

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Karen Masters @karenlmasters.bsky.social · 15d

Not made of dark matter but powered by dark matter annihilation. This is an idea from Cosmin Illie (Colgate) and collaborators. Manolya spent the summer at Colgate.

Karen Masters @karenlmasters.bsky.social · 15d

Last talk by Manolya Yatman BMC’26 (Haverford astrophysics) talking about if JWST observations might be revealing stars made of dark matter. 👩‍🔬🔭🎢

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