Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Kim Bellard @kimbbellard.bsky.social · 1h

Browns fans are great, loyal throughout the years despite all the adversity. Owners and head office, not so much. 😒

1

Kim Bellard @kimbbellard.bsky.social · 2h

Oh, you lost me at the "Go Browns!" Steeler fan here. 😉

1

Kim Bellard @kimbbellard.bsky.social · 2h

😑

Alt CDC (they/them) @altcdc.altgov.info · 2h

More CDC Cuts :: NCHS Edition 📊🔫

At least 1/3 of the staff at the National Center for Health Statistics has been cut (and remain cut). This is catastrophic for our nation’s health data.

Say goodbye to national health statistics that you can trust, healthcare surveys, NHANES and data systems.

Kim Bellard @kimbbellard.bsky.social · 6h

🤔

Dr Rasu Shrestha @rasushrestha.bsky.social · 8h

Bloomberg just broke down how the AI bubble is being built. 👇🏽

1

Kim Bellard @kimbbellard.bsky.social · 6h

😟

Bill Kristol @billkristolbulwark.bsky.social · 7h

Pope Leo quotes Hannah Arendt:

“The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the convinced Communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction and the distinction between true and false no longer exist."

www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news...

Pope Leo calls for news agencies to stand as bulwark against "post-truths," lies and manipulation

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

www.cbsnews.com

Kim Bellard @kimbbellard.bsky.social · 6h

😮

www.washingtonpost.com/world/intera...

www.washingtonpost.com

Kim Bellard @kimbbellard.bsky.social · 20h

Thank goodness.

Carl Zimmer @carlzimmer.com · 20h

Update from @apoorvanyt.bsky.social Trump Administration Will Rehire Scores of Experts Fired in Error. Gift link: nyti.ms/48JjSSf

Trump Administration Will Rehire Scores of Experts Fired in Error

Friday’s layoffs swept up scientists involved in responding to the measles outbreak and running an influential journal. An official acknowledged the mistakes on Saturday.

nyti.ms

Kim Bellard @kimbbellard.bsky.social · 23h

😞

Carl Zimmer @carlzimmer.com · 1d

“The White House’s mass firing of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention staff on Friday has decimated offices related to injury prevention, respiratory disease surveillance, and chronic disease.” www.statnews.com/2025/10/11/c...

‘It’s a massacre’: CDC battered by government shutdown firings

The White House’s mass firing of CDC staff on Friday has decimated offices related to injury prevention, respiratory disease surveillance, and chronic disease, according to four people familiar with t...

www.statnews.com

Kim Bellard @kimbbellard.bsky.social · 23h

😞

STAT @statnews.com · 1d

Almost the entire staff of Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, known as the “voice of the CDC,” has been laid off, former publication editor-in-chief Charlotte Kent told STAT Saturday.
www.statnews.com/2025/10/11/c...

Deep cuts made to CDC's flagship MMWR publication, a cornerstone of public health

CDC staff behind the agency’s flagship publication have been fired amid drastic cuts to the HHS promised by the White House due to the government shutdown, according to five people familiar with the s...

www.statnews.com

Kim Bellard @kimbbellard.bsky.social · 1d

😟

Kathleen Bachynski @bachynski.bsky.social · 1d

“Roughly 70 Epidemic Intelligence Service officers — the so-called “disease detectives” who respond to outbreaks around the globe — received layoff notices, according to a person familiar with them. The service was spared during an earlier round of layoffs in February.”

Trump Administration Lays Off Dozens of C.D.C. Officials

www.nytimes.com

Kim Bellard @kimbbellard.bsky.social · 2d

Fascinating.

Why China Built 162 Square Miles of Solar Panels on the World’s Highest Plateau www.nytimes.com/2025/10/10/b...

Why China Built 162 Square Miles of Solar Panels on the World’s Highest Plateau

www.nytimes.com

1

Kim Bellard @kimbbellard.bsky.social · 3d

Sigh.

Carl Zimmer @carlzimmer.com · 3d

Today my @nytimes.com colleagues and I are launching a new series called Lost Science. We interview US scientists who can no longer discover something new about our world, thanks to this year‘s cuts. Here is my first interview with a scientist who studied bees and fires. Gift link: nyti.ms/3IWXbiE

nyti.ms

1

Kim Bellard @kimbbellard.bsky.social · 3d

The good news: #AI isn't killing @wikipedia.org yet. 👏

The bad news: the anti-woke mob is doing its best to do just that. 😒

kimbellard.medium.com/the-vultures...

The Vultures Are Circling Wikipedia

I must admit, for several years now I’ve worried that my beloved Wikipedia could not survive in an AI era. Honestly, it’s hard to imagine…

kimbellard.medium.com

Kim Bellard @kimbbellard.bsky.social · 4d

😑

Charles Ornstein @charlesornstein.bsky.social · 4d

ProPublica analyzed dozens of hours of audio and video footage of speaking events for Linda McMahon’s appointees, as well as their writings, and found that a recurring theme is the desire to enable more families to leave public schools. @megomatz.bsky.social @jsmithrichards.bsky.social

These Activists Want to Dismantle Public Schools. Now They Run the Education Department.

Under Trump, the Department of Education has been bringing in activists hostile to public schools. It could mean a new era of private and religious schools boosted by tax dollars — and the end of publ...

www.propublica.org

Kim Bellard @kimbbellard.bsky.social · 4d

More evidence that the Administration's war on science is a war on our long-term future.

@standupforscience.bsky.social @cdelawalla.bsky.social

Laura Helmuth @laurahelmuth.bsky.social · 4d

Six of the nine Nobel Prize winners this year work in the U.S.
Three of the six were born outside the U.S., which is the pattern most years. No country has benefited more from welcoming immigrants from around the world.
www.nobelprize.org

The official website of the Nobel Prize - NobelPrize.org

The Nobel Prize rewards science, humanism and peace efforts. This is one of the central concepts in the will of Alfred Nobel, and it also permeates the outreach activities that have been developed for...

www.nobelprize.org

2

Kim Bellard @kimbbellard.bsky.social · 4d

He's just now realizing this? 🙄

Kim Bellard @kimbbellard.bsky.social · 4d

You might be interested in this:
medium.com/@kimbellard/...

The Vultures Are Circling Wikipedia

I must admit, for several years now I’ve worried that my beloved Wikipedia could not survive in an AI era. Honestly, it’s hard to imagine…

medium.com

Kim Bellard @kimbbellard.bsky.social · 4d

You might be interested in this:

medium.com/@kimbellard/...

The Vultures Are Circling Wikipedia

I must admit, for several years now I’ve worried that my beloved Wikipedia could not survive in an AI era. Honestly, it’s hard to imagine…

medium.com

Kim Bellard @kimbbellard.bsky.social · 4d

👏

1

Kim Bellard @kimbbellard.bsky.social · 5d

I could accept if #Wikipedia is superseded by #AI (although that doesn't seem to be happening yet), but not if it were to go under for being too "woke." 🙄

medium.com/@kimbellard/...

The Vultures Are Circling Wikipedia

I must admit, for several years now I’ve worried that my beloved Wikipedia could not survive in an AI era. Honestly, it’s hard to imagine…

medium.com

Kim Bellard @kimbbellard.bsky.social · 5d

I thought the biggest threat to @wikipedia.org was going to come from #AI. It turns out that a more immediate threat may be it being perceived as too "woke."

H/T @esimperl.bsky.social @kingscollegelondon.bsky.social

kimbellard.medium.com/the-vultures...

The Vultures Are Circling Wikipedia

I must admit, for several years now I’ve worried that my beloved Wikipedia could not survive in an AI era. Honestly, it’s hard to imagine…

kimbellard.medium.com

1

Kim Bellard @kimbbellard.bsky.social · 6d

Cool!

IEEE Spectrum @spectrum.ieee.org · 10d

Whole Genome Sequencing Will Transform Our Understanding of Life. The Earth BioGenome Project is using cutting-edge tech like long-read sequencing to map the DNA of 1.8 million organisms. Researchers anticipate major discoveries in evolution and medicine.

Mass-Scale Genome Sequencing Will Change Our Understanding of Life

The Earth BioGenome Project aims to sequence 1.8 million species. It's one of the most ambitious science projects ever, and it will revolutionize biology

spectrum.ieee.org

1

Kim Bellard @kimbbellard.bsky.social · 6d

Huh. 😲

IEEE Spectrum @spectrum.ieee.org · 6d

“I want to be clear that we have not broken the Heisenberg uncertainty principle. But in certain cases, we can get around it.”

Quantum Sensors Sidestep Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle

Can quantum sensors really measure both position and momentum with precision? Find out how scientists are sidestepping Heisenberg's limits.

spectrum.ieee.org

Kim Bellard @kimbbellard.bsky.social · 6d

It is shocking, shameful, but not at all surprising that our criminal "justice" system has been turned into a revenue extraction enterprise, primarily from low income families, especially people of color. 😞

H/T @joesoss.bsky.social @joshuapage.bsky.social

share.google/UmJgJMgcTr34...

Legal Plunder

A searing, historically rich account of how US policing and punishment have been retrofitted over the last four decades to extract public and private revenues from America’s poorest and most vulnerabl...

share.google

Kim Bellard @kimbbellard.bsky.social · 9d

😁

I'm sure it dates me, but Velveeta was an integral part of my childhood. 🙄

Richard Kadrey @richardkadrey.bsky.social · 9d

It delights me that AMC's FearFest horror film series is sponsored by Velveeta