Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Pauline Grierson

Rohan Fisher @rohanfisher.bsky.social · 6h

2025 fire year-to-date. NOW is peak fire season for this continent. Some big fires over the last couple of weeks! View and download these animations here: animation.landscapeknowledge.net

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Environmental Justice Australia @envirojustice.bsky.social · 6h

EJA lawyers have just filed a Federal Court challenge to Woodside’s North West Shelf Extension on behalf of the Australian Conservation Foundation.

Read more 👇
envirojustice.org.au/legal-work/c...

The North West Shelf extension case

Taking the Environment Minister to court over his approval of Australia’s largest, longest operating and most polluting gas project.

envirojustice.org.au

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KSircombe @ksircombe.bsky.social · 5h

It's ⚒️🧪 #EarthScienceWeek2025 !

Here's a new product from the awesome Geoscience Australia Education and Outreach team: a Year 8-10 classroom activity exploring critical minerals in Australia and their value through the lens of topographic data and the geology of Australia.

buff.ly/Y8v46nt

Map of Australia showing critical mineral deposits across the country. The map uses a satellite-style background with state boundaries labeled, including Western Australia, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, New South Wales, and Victoria. Numerous colored squares and circles are scattered across the map, representing different types of critical minerals. High concentrations of markers appear in Western Australia, Queensland, and along the eastern and southern coasts near major cities such as Perth, Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, and Adelaide. The title above the map reads: “Analysing Australian geology, topography, and critical minerals using online datasets – Classroom inquiry activities.” A caption below states: “Map of Australia marking out critical mineral deposits (Geoscience Australia data portal).”

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Professor Euan Ritchie @euanritchie.bsky.social · 9h

"One consultant totalled $85,000...almost $3,000 a day".

"Last year, a NTEU report estimated universities across Australia spent $734 million a year on consultants, a practice across the sector which the union has strongly criticised."

Here's an idea, hire more staff instead of consultants on $$$!

Professor Euan Ritchie @euanritchie.bsky.social · 10h

This nonsense must end, one would have hoped we'd learnt from the damage done to the Australian public service and government decision-making, but clearly not www.abc.net.au/news/2025-10...

Uni staff outraged as high-paid consultants work on redundancies

As Western Sydney University prepares to shed hundreds of staff due to its dire finances, leaked documents reveal it is paying consultants as much as $2,850 a day.

www.abc.net.au

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John Kennedy @john-in-geraldton.bsky.social · 5h

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The Conversation AUNZ @aunz.theconversation.com · 5h

Have you heard of McGraths Flat in NSW? Hidden beneath farmland lies one of Australia’s most extraordinary fossil sites that dates back between 11 million and 16 million years; a time when many of today’s familiar plants and animals evolved.

Unusual red rocks in Australia are rewriting the rules on exceptional fossil sites

theconversation.com

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Deborah Lee-Talbot @colourfulhistories.bsky.social · 6h

Fabulous thread that demonstrates, so clearly, how limited and erroneous, Tony Abbott's history is.

Dr Ingrid M @ingridm.bsky.social · 11h

poor old Tony Abbott is on the public broadcaster dismissing the oldest and longest continuous oral histories in the history of humanity as “hearsay” how’s your morning going.

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Pauline Grierson @pfgblue.bsky.social · 4h

read the whole thread - @ingridm.bsky.social systematically and scientifically eviscerates Abbott's nonsense.

Dr Ingrid M @ingridm.bsky.social · 11h

poor old Tony Abbott is on the public broadcaster dismissing the oldest and longest continuous oral histories in the history of humanity as “hearsay” how’s your morning going.

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Dr Ingrid M @ingridm.bsky.social · 10h

“remarkable” convergence between Aboriginal and western knowledge of ancient volcanic eruptions.

bsky.app/profile/shau...

Shaun C @shaunyc.bsky.social · 10h

Oral history as geology. www.abc.net.au/news/2017-08...

When the bullin shrieked: Aboriginal memories of volcanic eruptions

Aboriginal stories can coarsely bracket ancient volcanic eruptions in Australia and provide detail about what happened before, during and after they occurred.

www.abc.net.au

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Dr Ingrid M @ingridm.bsky.social · 10h

evidence of 50,000 years continuous and discrete Aboriginal connection to country:

www.nature.com/articles/nat...

Aboriginal mitogenomes reveal 50,000 years of regionalism in Australia - Nature

Analysis of Aboriginal Australian mitochondrial genomes shows geographic patterns and deep splits across the major haplogroups that indicate a single, rapid migration along the coasts around 49–45 ka, followed by longstanding persistence in discrete geographic areas.

www.nature.com

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Dr Ingrid M @ingridm.bsky.social · 10h

Aboriginal cultural botanical knowledge of desert date palms passed down for between 7,000 and 30,000 years, confirms white science.

www.abc.net.au/news/2015-04...

Research findings back up Aboriginal legend on origin of palm trees

Ecologist amazed an Aboriginal legend about the origin of the palm tree in Central Australia backs up his research.

www.abc.net.au

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Dr Ingrid M @ingridm.bsky.social · 11h

Palawa oral tradition shown to accurately preserve and pass down astronomy knowledge for more than 470 generations.

www.usc.edu.au/about/unisc-...

Tasmanian Aboriginal oral traditions among the oldest recorded narratives in the world

New research suggests Palawa Aboriginal stories from Tasmania recall geological and astronomical events that occurred 12,000 years ago, placing them among the oldest recorded stories in the world.

www.usc.edu.au

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Dr Ingrid M @ingridm.bsky.social · 11h

peer reviewed research on Aboriginal Peoples passing down oral histories of post-glacial sea level rises from more than 7,000 years ago.

www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Aboriginal Memories of Inundation of the Australian Coast Dating from More than 7000 Years Ago

Stories belonging to Australian Aboriginal groups tell of a time when the former coastline of mainland Australia was inundated by rising sea level. Stories are presented from 21 locations from ever...

www.tandfonline.com

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Dr Ingrid M @ingridm.bsky.social · 11h

geologist Patrick Nunn and linguist Nick Reid on Aboriginal oral histories verified by white science.

www.usc.edu.au/about/unisc-...

Evidence the oral stories of Australia’s First Nations might be 10,000 years old

Stories from Australia's First Nations tell of a time when the islands and reefs that dot the coastline were connected to the mainland. By analysing ancient sea levels, Professor Patrick Nunn believes...

www.usc.edu.au

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Elizabeth Sinclair 🇦🇺🇺🇦🌻 @seagrassliz.bsky.social · 4h

A new paper out: Fragmentation of #seagrass meadows in the years following the 2010/2011 #marineheatwave compound the ecological impacts of mortality and prolong recovery #Amphibolis #Posidonia: zslpublications.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

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Pauline Grierson @pfgblue.bsky.social · 4h

Connections
Puzzle #855
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🟩🟩🟩🟩
🟪🟪🟪🟪

Pauline Grierson @pfgblue.bsky.social · 4h

Wordle 1,577 2/6

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Louise Milligan @milliganreports.bsky.social · 10h

Watch reporter John Lyons’ story Chasing Trump’s Billions, on #4Corners ABC TV tonight 8.30 AEST & support public interest #journalism. Via YouTube for international viewers. This story famously led Donald #Trump to threaten John’s questions were “hurting Australia”.
www.abc.net.au/news/2025-10...

As Trump's wealth skyrockets, accusations of conflicts of interest mount

Donald Trump's wealth has skyrocketed since his return to the White House nine months ago, leading to accusations that he is profiting from the presidency.

www.abc.net.au

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Anathema Device (Brisbane) @iamanathemadevice.bsky.social · 10h

❤️

ABC News (Unofficial) @abc-news.bsky.social · 11h

Wildlife returns after Tasmanian sheep paddock restored as wetland: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-10-13/tasmania-saltmarsh-wetland-restoration-former-sheep-farm/105883488

Wildlife returns after Tasmanian sheep paddock restored as wetland

A sheep farmer has welcomed the restoration of an internationally significant wetland on his property outside of Hobart. The collaboration of a non-profit organisation with landowners, scientists, the Aboriginal community and governments has allowed the return of a vital ecosystem.

www.abc.net.au

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Jorge A. Giraldo @jagiral1.bsky.social · 13h

New undergraduate research explores the anatomy of three native tree species from Colombia’s Chocó biogeographic region.
revistas.humboldt.org.co/index.php/bi...

Macroscopic features: A) Cassipourea guianensis (aceitillo); B) Qualea lineata(pomo); C) Goupia glabra (chaquiro). Arrows indicate tree rings.

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womensartbluesky.bsky.social @womensartbluesky.bsky.social · 15h

Australian printmaker Rachel Newling is inspired by the floral and fauna of her homeland.
'Grey Headed Flying Fox', hand coloured linocut #ReframjngWomenPrintmakers

Print featuring three bats hanging upside-down in branches of a tree with green leaves and orange blossoms

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Plant Editors @planteditors.bsky.social · 18h

And their special issue from August, "Grapevine Research: Expanding Knowledge to Secure a Sustainable Future" academic.oup.com/jxb/issue/76...

Volume 76 Issue 11 | Journal of Experimental Botany | Oxford Academic

The official journal of the Society of Experimental Botany. Publishes papers that describe novel and rigorous research addressing broad principles in plant science.

academic.oup.com

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Milan Chytrý @milanchytry.bsky.social · 2d

Our new online application EVA-MAP provides interactive maps of vegetation plots from the European Vegetation Archive and ReSurveyEurope databases. It enables filtering the plots by various criteria. More details can be found in this new article in the IAVS Bulletin:
www.sci.muni.cz/botany/chytr...

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Maranoa Girl @maranoagirl.bsky.social · 2d

www.abc.net.au/listen/progr...

‘Without trees we are all lost’: the ancient stories of Australia’s iconic Eucalyptus - ABC listen

In his new book, Professor Stephen Hopper delves into the ancient history, biology, and cultural significance of the Australian eucalyptus tree. In addition to his approach as a botanist, Hopper honou...

www.abc.net.au

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Louis Schipper @louisschipper.bsky.social · 1d

"Chief people officer Keri-Anne Tane said reduced funding and the sector going through reforms meant they had to pause taking on new graduates."
www.rnz.co.nz/news/top/575...

Shrinking job market forces scientists to pursue careers offshore

After 13 years studying for a biology degree, Ian has had to apply - unsuccessfully - for labouring jobs.

www.rnz.co.nz

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