Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Mike Murphy

Jon Gambrell @jongambrell.bsky.social · 4m

APNewsAlert: ANTANANARIVO, Madagascar (AP) — An attempted coup is underway in the Indian Ocean island of Madagascar, the country's president says.

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Reposted by Mike Murphy

Shooti @bambooshooti.bsky.social · 11h

#ResistanceRoots
#NationalHispanicHeritageMonth

Do you enjoy New Mexico chiles? I know I do. And for that, we can thank Mexican American horticulturist Fabian García, who has been described as the “father of the New Mexican food industry” because of his pioneering work. /1

An array of chiles grown in New Mexico. Photo credit: NewMexico.org.

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Mike Murphy @mjamurphy.bsky.social · 26m

Susan Crawford on California's burgeoning home insurance crisis:

"As of June 2025, the FAIR Plan is exposed to $650 billion in claims—a nearly threefold increase since 2021, the last time a rate change went into effect. It appears to have about $1.5 billion in cash on hand."

California's insurer of last resort seeks 36% rate hike

As authorities solve one mystery—who set the fire that devastated Pacific Palisades—another deepens: how to make the math work for home insurance in California

open.substack.com

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Reposted by Mike Murphy

Josiah Mortimer @josiah.writes.news · 11d

Some good news.

London is meeting legal limits for toxic NO2 pollution for the first time – almost 200 years earlier than predicted – following the Mayor’s "world leading air pollution policies," City Hall announces.

The Ultra Low Emissions Zone - and similar policies - really do work.

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Mike Murphy @mjamurphy.bsky.social · 47m

Ongoing measles outbreaks among children in Minnesota & South Carolina:

"Communities are having to bear the price of quarantining so many children,” said Michael Osterholm, an infectious disease expert [...] “Expect more of the same. This is going to happen more and more frequently.”"

Hundreds of U.S. students quarantined amid measles outbreaks

At least 270 unvaccinated kids are staying home from school as measles continues to spread nationwide. "Expect more," one expert said.

www.nbcnews.com

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Mike Murphy @mjamurphy.bsky.social · 13h

Sometimes you just have to listen to a straight-up masterpiece of American music

Charles Mingus ‎– The Black Saint And The Sinner Lady (Impulse! STEREO 1963) [FULL ALBUM]

YouTube video by Netsh

www.youtube.com

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Reposted by Mike Murphy

Riley Acton @riacton.bsky.social · 15h

"An ED staffer told USA TODAY the agency laid off just about every employee who works to administer funding for the IDEA, the primary federal law supporting students with disabilities. He was unsure how those programs will exist moving forward."

An absolute disaster for this nation's children.

Honesty for Ohio Education @honesty4ohioed.bsky.social · 15h

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Education fired nearly everyone in the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services in a wave of new layoffs that began Friday, according to the union representing the agency's employees.
www.usatoday.com/story/news/e...

Education Department wipes out special ed office in shutdown layoffs, union says

The Education Department laid off nearly everyone at the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services.

www.usatoday.com

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Reposted by Mike Murphy

Sheryl Gay Stolberg @sherylnyt.bsky.social · 1d

BREAKING: Friday night massacre underway at CDC. Doznes of "disease detectives," high-level scientists, entire Washington staff and editors of the MMWR (Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report) have all been RIFed and received the following notice:

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Dr. Jonathan Foley @globalecoguy.bsky.social · 1d

Changing our diets is one of the best things we can do for ourselves … and for the planet.

Here is our assessment of how modest changes in diet could have big impacts on climate change.

drawdown.org/explorer/imp...

Improve Diets

The Improve Diets solution is coming soon.

drawdown.org

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Mike Murphy @mjamurphy.bsky.social · 1d

Probably best to start with the "In Kathryn Bigelow's new film..."

NPR @npr.org · 1d

A single nuclear warhead, of unknown origin, is heading toward the U.S. mainland in Kathryn Bigelow's new Netflix film. It's an unnerving scenario — but it's also thrilling to watch. n.pr/48przga

Every moment pops in the nuclear thriller 'A House of Dynamite'

A single nuclear warhead, of unknown origin, is heading toward the U.S. mainland in Kathryn Bigelow's new Netflix film. It's an unnerving scenario — but it's also thrilling to watch.

n.pr

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Reposted by Mike Murphy

Michael Clemens @mclem.org · 2d

“In September, scientists at Stanford reported they had used A.I. to design a virus for the first time.”

Opinion | The A.I. Prompt That Could End the World

www.nytimes.com

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Mike Murphy @mjamurphy.bsky.social · 1d

sapotistas

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Mike Murphy @mjamurphy.bsky.social · 1d

chess 🤝 econ

don't trade

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Mike Murphy @mjamurphy.bsky.social · 1d

China adds additional "rare earths" to export control list

China tightens export rules for crucial rare earths

Beijing's monopoly over rare earths is a key bargaining chip in its trade negotiations with the US.

www.bbc.com

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Reposted by Mike Murphy

Albert Pinto @70sbachchan.bsky.social · 2d

Active Materials is the newsletter of the Net Zero Industrial Policy Lab at Johns Hopkins University
Our first edition is out! Sign up here
mailchi.mp/6c06fd17cc4b...

Active Materials by NZIPL at JHU

mailchi.mp

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Mike Murphy @mjamurphy.bsky.social · 2d

(we're going to win the world cup)

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Mike Murphy @mjamurphy.bsky.social · 2d

That'll do Scotland, that'll do.

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Mike Murphy @mjamurphy.bsky.social · 2d

The council tax design is amazingly convoluted. It may have been created by a grad student trying to generate as many RD options as possible.

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Mike Murphy @mjamurphy.bsky.social · 2d

a man sits in a chair with his feet up in front of a sign that says bolla on it

Alt: black and white gif of fellini sitting in a dark suit wearing sunglasses, with his feet up on a table clapping

media.tenor.com

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Mike Murphy @mjamurphy.bsky.social · 2d

Lancet study estimates that as of early August, 54,600 children in Gaza were affected by severe wasting.

This is defined by a mid-upper arm circumference >=3 standard deviations below the median for children their age.

Malnutrition greatly increases mortality risk from infectious disease.

Assessment of malnutrition in preschool-aged children by mid-upper arm circumference in the Gaza Strip (January, 2024–August, 2025): a longitudinal, cross-sectional, surveillance study

After nearly 2 years of war and severe restrictions in humanitarian aid, tens of thousands of preschool-aged children in the Gaza Strip are suffering from preventable acute malnutrition and facing an ...

www.thelancet.com

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Mike Murphy @mjamurphy.bsky.social · 2d

new temperature phase just dropped

National Weather Service @nws.noaa.gov · 2d

A La Niña Advisory has been issued, meaning that La Niña conditions have been observed in the tropical Pacific Ocean.
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A graphic announcing the issuance of a La Niña Advisory on October 9, 2025. The text reads: "La Niña conditions have been observed in the tropical Pacific Ocean and are expected to continue through the December 2025 to February 2026 timeframe."

A graphic showing a map of the Pacific Ocean with sea surface temperatures. A rectangular box labeled "key monitoring region" highlights a band of cooler-than-average water along the equator, indicating La Niña conditions.

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Reposted by Mike Murphy

Charles Kenny @charlesjkenny.bsky.social · 3d

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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Reposted by Mike Murphy

Mike Murphy @mjamurphy.bsky.social · 3d

I still have to update my website & whatnot to do a fancy post, but in the meantime...

I'm going to be on the econ job market this year so if you know of cool openings in applied micro / development / environmental econ, please send them my way!

#EconSky

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Reposted by Mike Murphy

Akshat Rathi @akshatrathi.bsky.social · 3d

Fast and cheap way to cut the warming impact of flying, but few are working on it. Main reason @hannahritchie.bsky.social thinks is lack of awareness of contrail's effects. You can change that by reading and sharing this: www.sustainabilitybynumbers.com/p/eliminatin...

Eliminating contrails from flying could be incredibly cheap

Could we halve aviation's climate impact at a fraction of the cost of sustainable aviation fuels?

www.sustainabilitybynumbers.com

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Mike Murphy @mjamurphy.bsky.social · 3d

You can make this code more efficient by not caring about model fit #economics

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