Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Nora Newcombe @noranewcombe.bsky.social · 9h

Thanks to the responsible journalists of college newspapers!

Dan Hirschman @asociologist.bsky.social · 11h

Students from Cheyfitz’s course speak out against his suspension and explain what happened in the classroom leading up to it. www.cornellsun.com/article/2025...

We Took Cheyfitz’s Class on Gaza. His Suspension Violates Academic Freedom.

Nine students who took the course on "Gaza, Indigeneity, Resistance" contextualize the dispute that led to the suspension of Professor Eric Cheyfitz. They argue that his treatment by the University am...

www.cornellsun.com

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Nora Newcombe @noranewcombe.bsky.social · 10h

Thanks to @inquirer.com for continuing to do real local journalism. Here they show the human face of the despicable actions of ICE.
www.inquirer.com/news/ice-rai...

He was caring for his 5-year-old son with brain cancer. Then he was detained by ICE.

A court has temporarily blocked Johny Merida Aguilar's deportation to Bolivia.

www.inquirer.com

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Nora Newcombe @noranewcombe.bsky.social · 11h

Sunday morning, another hopeful story
open.substack.com/pub/sammatey...

The Weekly Anthropocene, October 8 2025

109% of global electricity demand growth, ghost net removal, Noor Chad, Bali mynas, the Brenner Base Tunnel, electric trucks, goji agrivoltaics, CropVoice, the Sea Otter Fund, Houston toads, and more!

open.substack.com

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Reposted by Nora Newcombe

Stand Up for Science! @standupforscience.bsky.social · 1d

We're calling it out for what it is: a Fool's Gold Standard, and a danger to science and democracy. Sign our Open Letter in support of Science!
www.standupforscience.net/op...

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Nora Newcombe @noranewcombe.bsky.social · 1d

"The obvious point is to keep university presidents totally dependent on the day-to-day whim of the federal overseers."

Walter Olson @walterolson.bsky.social · 1d

New from me at Cato: I go through the numerous and massive First Amendment and academic-freedom violations of Trump's proffered "compact" with universities and then talk about the mechanism by which it would be enforced, by way of what I describe as a "retroactive push-button guillotine."

Universities Must Defend Their Independence by Rejecting Trump's "Compact"

The Trump administration has proffered a “compact” to universities that would require them to surrender their independence and academic freedom. How many First Amendment violations can we identify in ...

www.cato.org

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Reposted by Nora Newcombe

Jameel Jaffer @jameeljaffer.bsky.social · 1d

This is a perilous moment for democracy in the United States, but I couldn’t be prouder of the Knight Institute’s work right now, and I don’t take for granted that we have the freedom and resources to do it. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

This free speech group at Columbia is taking on Trump when the university won’t – and winning

The Knight Institute is defending free speech at a school now synonymous with compromising on it

www.theguardian.com

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Nora Newcombe @noranewcombe.bsky.social · 1d

An inspiring story to brighten a dark morning--
www.inquirer.com/health/demon...

‘Demon Copperhead’ author lays foundation for women in Appalachia to beat addiction

Author Barbara Kingsolver opened the facility in January with royalties from her Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, “Demon Copperhead,” whose plot revolves around Appalachia’s opioid crisis.

www.inquirer.com

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Reposted by Nora Newcombe

Itai Sher @itaisher.bsky.social · 1d

An excellent response by MIT’s President Sally Kornbluf rejecting the Trump compact.

Other universities should do the same.

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Reposted by Nora Newcombe

Globe New Hampshire @globenh.bsky.social · 2d

More than 500 Dartmouth faculty members signed a petition urging the college to reject a compact proposed by the Trump administration that would give preferential treatment for federal funding to colleges that agree to uphold President Trump’s priorities.

More than 500 Dartmouth faculty urge college to reject Trump’s compact - The Boston Globe

Professors delivered a petition to the university’s president on Thursday, calling the compact an “unprecedented attack on higher education."

trib.al

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Reposted by Nora Newcombe

Gregg Gonsalves @gregggonsalves.bsky.social · 2d

Thank you @nytopinion.nytimes.com for publishing this rot. Marc Rowan has run hundreds of companies into the dust to extract profits from their failure and bankruptcies. Now he wants to do the same to American higher education. Do not believe a word this man says. 1/ www.nytimes.com/2025/10/10/o...

Opinion | Trump’s ‘Compact’ With Universities Is Badly Needed

www.nytimes.com

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Reposted by Nora Newcombe

Chaz Firestone @chazfirestone.bsky.social · 3d

This is a big one! A 4-year writing project over many timezones, arguing for a reimagining of the influential "core knowledge" thesis.

Led by @daweibai.bsky.social, we argue that much of our innate knowledge of the world is not "conceptual" in nature, but rather wired into perceptual processing. 👇

Screenshot of a paper abstract:

“Core knowledge” refers to a set of cognitive systems that underwrite early representations of the physical and social world, appear universally across cultures, and likely result from our genetic endowment. Although this framework is canonically considered as a hypothesis about early emerging conception — how we think and reason about the world — here we present an alternative view: that many such representations are inherently perceptual in nature. This “core perception” view explains an intriguing (and otherwise mysterious) aspect of core-knowledge processes and representations: that they also operate in adults, where they display key empirical signatures of perceptual processing. We first illustrate this overlap using recent work on “core physics”, the domain of core knowledge concerned with physical objects, representing properties such as persistence through time, cohesion, solidity, and causal interactions. We review evidence that adult vision incorporates exactly these representations of core physics, while also displaying empirical signatures of genuinely perceptual mechanisms, such as rapid and automatic operation on the basis of specific sensory inputs, informational encapsulation, and interaction with other perceptual processes. We further argue that the same pattern holds for other areas of core knowledge, including geometrical, numerical, and social domains. In light of this evidence, we conclude that many infant results appealing to precocious reasoning abilities are better explained by sophisticated perceptual mechanisms shared by infants and adults. Our core-perception view elevates the status of perception in accounting for the origins of conceptual knowledge, and generates a range of ready-to-test hypotheses in developmental psychology, vision science, and more.

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Reposted by Nora Newcombe

David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · 3d

Hey US scientists, the NY Times wants to hear from you if you've had your funding cut. 🌊🧪

Has Your Scientific Work Been Cut? We Want to Hear.

www.nytimes.com

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Reposted by Nora Newcombe

European Research Council (ERC) @erc.europa.eu · 4d

For researchers in Canada and the USA 👇

Online info session about ERC research grants, on Wednesday, October 15th, 2025 at 12:00 noon ET (9:00 AM PT, 6:00 PM CEST).

The meeting is free but advance registration is required.

euraxess.ec.europa.eu/worldwide/no...

ERC Grants: Q&A and testimonials

EURAXESS North America will host an online meeting with officials from the European Research Council Executive Agency, which administers ERC grants, as well as current ERC grantees, who will share the...

euraxess.ec.europa.eu

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Nora Newcombe @noranewcombe.bsky.social · 3d

Awe-inspiring work.
www.npr.org/2025/10/08/n...

Scientist on front lines of overdose crisis receives MacArthur 'genius' award

Nabarun Dasgupta was recognized with a MacArthur "genius" award for work studying the deadly overdose crisis. He's also a front-line organizer, helping people survive.

www.npr.org

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Nora Newcombe @noranewcombe.bsky.social · 3d

Courts stand ground.
digitaledition.chicagotribune.com/shortcode/CH...

Thu, 10/09/25

Court stands ground

digitaledition.chicagotribune.com

Reposted by Nora Newcombe

Dr Jen Ryan @drjenryan.bsky.social · 4d

Memory problems will change how you see the world...literally 👀

Across two new papers, we examined the eye movement patterns of younger adults, older adults, individuals with mild cognitive impairment, and amnesic cases.

1/5

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Reposted by Nora Newcombe

Sherman Dorn @shermandorn.com · 5d

U Ariz faculty senate approves resolution asking university NOT to sign compact. Paywalled,...

www.azcentral.com/story/news/l...

UA Faculty Senate votes against proposed compact

In its Oct. 6 faculty senate meeting, faculty voted in favor of a resolution calling upon UA President Suresh Garimella and the Arizona Board of Regents to reject the proposed contract and any similar proposals "compromising the mission, values and independence of the University."

The vote passed 40-8, with one abstention. Faculty members raised several questions about how the university can find a path forward, whether leaders choose to sign the compact or not.

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Reposted by Nora Newcombe

redrum scare(d) corncob (no one said it made sense) @inquiline.myatproto.social · 4d

Faculty show support for USC to reject the federal government’s "Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education"... the USC @aaup.org chapter sent a petition rallying for USC to reject the compact

www.uscannenbergmedia.com/2025/10/06/r...

‘Reject the Compact’ petition urges USC not to sign Trump’s contract

Faculty show support for USC to reject the federal government’s Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education.

www.uscannenbergmedia.com

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Reposted by Nora Newcombe

Koraly @drkoraly.bsky.social · 4d

The HBCD-START (Scientific Training in Addiction Research Techniques) program is now recruiting its 1st cohort of scholars!

This 1-year course is open to 4 graduate students, 4 postdoctoral fellows, & 4 junior faculty.

For more information: uclahs.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_...

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Reposted by Nora Newcombe

Stand Up for Science! @standupforscience.bsky.social · 5d

Learn to tell your story with urgency and hope at our PUBLIC NARRATIVE TRAINING on 10/14!

We're preparing to share why we're standing up for science & democracy at No Kings Day Rally, and you can too!

Sign up, tell your story, and bring it to your No Kings Rally on 10/18! zurl.co/LM0QK

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Nora Newcombe @noranewcombe.bsky.social · 5d

Thrilled to see this paper out! It's the culmination of a project begun in the depths of the pandemic with Sabrina Karjack and @zoengo.bsky.social . We continue our exploration of how children generalize when their episodic memory is not yet mature.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

The dependence of children’s generalization on episodic memory varies with age and level of abstraction - Nature Communications

Children’s ability to generalize from episodic memories varies by both age and the level of abstraction. Here, the authors show that lower level generalization increasingly depends on episodic memory with age, whereas higher level generalization shows no such relationship.

www.nature.com

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Nora Newcombe @noranewcombe.bsky.social · 5d

Dense longitudinal neuroimaging reveals individual brain change trajectories: Trends in Cognitive Sciences www.cell.com/trends/cogni...

Dense longitudinal neuroimaging reveals individual brain change trajectories

Longitudinal measurements of brain structure and function are critical for understanding how humans change over time. Traditional longitudinal approaches sample sparsely across large windows of time t...

www.cell.com

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Nora Newcombe @noranewcombe.bsky.social · 5d

“It is far from a point of pride to have been included,” Bok said.
www.inquirer.com/education/up...

Wharton advisory board chair Marc Rowan had a hand in crafting ideas used in Trump’s university compact, report says

Marc Rowan and his allies were instrumental in developing ideas for the compact that President Donald Trump’s administration asked nine colleges including Penn to sign, according to the New York Times

www.inquirer.com

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Nora Newcombe @noranewcombe.bsky.social · 5d

Excellent article in @inquirer.com When the press is free to do its job, it does well.
www.inquirer.com/health/cance...

Medicaid cuts could be dangerous for cancer survivors

Cancer care and preventive screenings could be at risk when Medicaid cuts take effect in the coming years under a new federal law, worrying patients and those who advocate for healthcare access.

www.inquirer.com

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Reposted by Nora Newcombe

Joannes Laveyne @jolaveyne.bsky.social · 5d

It may have escaped your attention, but the Belgian energy system has quietly passed an important test. During the weekend of 4-5 October 2025, our consumption was almost entirely covered by renewable energy. And yet the system ticked like a Swiss watch. /

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