Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Colin Sweeney, Ph.D. @sciencecolin.bsky.social · 6d

A+ bird!!

1

Colin Sweeney, Ph.D. @sciencecolin.bsky.social · 6d

Adorable!

1

Colin Sweeney, Ph.D. @sciencecolin.bsky.social · 17d

Dr. Jane Goodall is the main reason I became an ecologist. She has inspired me ever since I first learned about her in sixth grade. I had the privilege of seeing her speak for the first time only a few weeks ago. We’re going to miss her voice in the world, but her legacy will last for generations 💚

The dedication to my PhD dissertation:

Quote by Dr. Jane Goodall: “you cannot get through a single day without having an impact on the world around you. What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.”

Dedicated to the teachers who shaped me. May you never doubt the impact that you have on the world around you.

1

Reposted by Colin Sweeney, Ph.D.

Jacquelyn Gill @jacquelyngill.bsky.social · 18d

I am filled with so much love and gratitude that I cannot grieve. Dr. Goodall worked tirelessly in her gentle, hopeful way for a better world for all life on Earth. She has laid down her field notebook for the last time; now it is for us to fill with wonder, joy, and connection, into infinity.

Rebecca Solnit @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social · 18d

Jane Goodall's work insisting, with evidence from her brilliant and tenacious fieldwork, that we were not so separate from animals, and they were much more like us than the Eurocentric theorists asserted, was so important.

4 56 330

Reposted by Colin Sweeney, Ph.D.

Dr. Lucky Tran @luckytran.com · 18d

"You cannot get through a single day without having an impact on the world around you.

What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.”

Rest in power, Dr. Jane Goodall

10 210 660

Reposted by Colin Sweeney, Ph.D.

🎃 public HELLth guy 🎃 @publichealthguy1.bsky.social · Aug 28

🚨 EMERGENCY CATURDAY IS DECLARED 🚨

if you call your reps & show me a screenshot of your call history with the call, i will reply with one (1) never-before-seen picture of my cats!

capitol switchboard ☎️: 202-224-3121

HELLody SchreiBOO @melodyschreiber.com · Aug 28

Kennedy “has to go,” said @colincarlson.bsky.social. “Seeing Patty Murray and APHA come to the same conclusion – that RFK has to go – gives me a lot of hope. Let’s fight. I think we can win.”
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

RFK Jr faces calls to quit as CDC chief fired and senior staff resign: ‘an embarrassment’

Susan Monarez’s ousting and four top resignations follow vaccine confusion, leaving US health agencies in turmoil

www.theguardian.com

14 56 180

Reposted by Colin Sweeney, Ph.D.

Dr. Lucky Tran @luckytran.com · Aug 24

"This could be the difference whether your child gets cancer. Are you willing for them to die because the therapy for them is delayed?"

Powerful video with voices from top US scientists on the very real and devastating impacts of the funding cuts.

9 400 860

Reposted by Colin Sweeney, Ph.D.

Emily Johnston @enjohnston.bsky.social · Aug 20

Good people, don't outsource anything you're not willing to lose....

For oncologists who incorporated AI into their practice, their ability to spot tumors fell by around 20% within just a few months of adopting it--Bloomberg

2 13 19

Reposted by Colin Sweeney, Ph.D.

Dr. Lucky Tran @luckytran.com · Aug 19

From @ylepidemiologist.bsky.social: “If you’re under 65 and not high risk, the window to get a Covid-19 vaccine is right now—before the FDA label changes (possibly this Friday). Once it happens, access will be limited immediately.”

45 470 870

Colin Sweeney, Ph.D. @sciencecolin.bsky.social · Aug 19

For those of you looking for science jobs, I've been collecting links to job boards and fellowships as I've come across them and figured others might find them useful. Feel free to reach out if you know of something that would be good to add to the list!

docs.google.com/spreadsheets...

Post Grad Job Search

docs.google.com

2 4

Reposted by Colin Sweeney, Ph.D.

spencer roberts 🦈 @unpopularscience.bsky.social · Aug 19

All things considered, seafood is the most environmentally damaging food type.

a great interactive interpretation of Halpern et al. 2022 by Washington Post:

www.washingtonpost.com/climate-envi...

5. Overall environmental impact

Greater impact per calorie -
A total environmental footprint calculated by weighing all four of these types of ecological impacts confirms that plant-based foods cause less harms to the planet, on a per-calorie basis, than fish and meat production.

1 4 19

Reposted by Colin Sweeney, Ph.D.

Phil Lewis @phillewis.bsky.social · Aug 19

Texas State Rep. Nicole Collier spent the night on the House floor after refusing to agree ‘to round-the-clock monitoring by state troopers’ www.keranews.org/texas-news/2...

Texas state Rep. Nicole Collier on the House floor, with a blanket, pillows and a book

980 4.7K 15K

Reposted by Colin Sweeney, Ph.D.

José Cerca @naturalselection.bsky.social · Aug 19

The 2025-26 Eco-Evo job list is out. Good luck to those applying!

docs.google.com/spreadsheets...

ecoevojobs.net 2025-26

docs.google.com

5 220 210

Reposted by Colin Sweeney, Ph.D.

Colin Carlson @colincarlson.bsky.social · Aug 15

NEW 🚨 The violence is the point. Elected Dems must call for widespread resignations (RFK, Bhattacharya, Prasad) in response to the CDC shooting. Public health must demand this of them, and the public must demand that of us. With @publichealthguy1.bsky.social in STAT: www.statnews.com/2025/08/15/c...

The CDC shooting was public health’s Jan. 6

“In RFK Jr.’s America, it will never be safe to practice public health or medicine," write an epidemiologist and a former CDC staffer.

www.statnews.com

23 470 1.2K

Colin Sweeney, Ph.D. @sciencecolin.bsky.social · Aug 13

My history minor makes me a far better scientist.

My hot take is that not only should all scientists learn humanities but that science is actually part of the humanities in its own right

2

Reposted by Colin Sweeney, Ph.D.

Phil Plait @philplait.bsky.social · Aug 13

Dooooo eeeeet

Colette Delawalla @cdelawalla.bsky.social · Aug 13

🚨ACTION OF THE DAY🚨
@standupforscience.bsky.social

Day 13! WRITE UP WEDNESDAY!
Our team on the hill learned that "Contact Me" forms on congress people's websites are very underutilized. WE WANT TO CHANGE THAT…

🔗 Instructions and scripts here:

docs.google.com/document/d/1...

#31Days

SUFS Aug 12 Action Steps

Demand our Representatives Support Science Funding First, Find Your Representative: Go to your representative's "contact me" page on their website [list linked here] and fill out the message form. It...

docs.google.com

13 30

Reposted by Colin Sweeney, Ph.D.

Aerin Jacob, PhD @aerinj.bsky.social · Aug 12

Seeking a PhD in landscape ecology & applied conservation?

Funded PhD project at @forestry.ubc.ca w/ Dr. Matthew Mitchell:

* Stipend $32k/yr + benefits x 4 yrs
* Start Jan or May 2026
* Collaborate w NCC & Metro Vancouver
* Open until filled

mgemitchell.weebly.com/opportunitie...

Opportunities

Graduate Student and Postdoctoral Researcher Positions There are currently two open graduate student position in the lab, please see details below! PhD Position : We are currently seeking a...

mgemitchell.weebly.com

1 15 10

Reposted by Colin Sweeney, Ph.D.

Martin Stervander 🏳️‍🌈🇸🇪🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏛️🦉🦤🪶 @stervander.com · Aug 12

Join us as Assistant #Curator of Vertebrates @ 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿NMS! Large collections of #birds & #mammals + very active specimen prep = cool place! The ad doesn't say, but I say there's a good chance of prolongation beyond 1y. Hurry up and apply/spread the word: careers.nms.ac.uk/job/748553!

🪶🧪 #museumjobs #job

Yours truly and our mounted Great Auk (Pinguinus impennis) specimen

The bird collection store, busy with visiting researchers, mounts, and in the background our volunteers who capture data from the specimen labels. It's not always this packed, but we do have a fair number of volunteers and visitors.

Blue Tits (Cyanistes caeruleus) in trays in the cabinets. The collections spaces are pretty new, fresh, and functional, which is not always the case for museum collections...

A tray of African raptor eggs to illustrate the breadth of the bird collection, which holds som 70K skin specimens, 60K egg clutches, and 10K skeletons.

1 57 88

Reposted by Colin Sweeney, Ph.D.

Colin Carlson @colincarlson.bsky.social · Aug 11

I’m at #ESA2025 through tomorrow and we may be hiring soon! If you have experience or interest in climate change attribution and eco-epi and are looking for a postdoc, come find me - look for the blue @viralemergence.org hat, or reach out on email!

7 16

Reposted by Colin Sweeney, Ph.D.

Steph Henson @stephhenson.bsky.social · Aug 8

🌊 I’m hiring! Research Scientist in Marine Ecology & Machine Learning at the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton (UK). Got experience with machine learning techniques applied to marine ecology, biogeochemistry or climate change? Apply by 5 September! careers.noc.ac.uk/vacancy/rese...

Careers | National Oceanography Centre

careers.noc.ac.uk

25 15

Reposted by Colin Sweeney, Ph.D.

Sarah McAnulty, Ph.D. @sarahmackattack.bsky.social · Aug 7

Scientists!

@skypeascientist.bsky.social matches scientists with classrooms, libraries, & more for virtual Q&As! It's easy and fun!

We are looking for 750 more volunteers by 8/15

If you're down to chat with 1-5 classrooms this semester, sign up here
www.skypeascientist.com/sign-up.html

10 250 280

Reposted by Colin Sweeney, Ph.D.

Colin Carlson @colincarlson.bsky.social · Aug 6

This will also be accomplished by making universities pay for the same services, which @jbyoder.org gave us an amazing template for how to fight back against bsky.app/profile/jbyo...

Jeremy BOO! Yoder 🎃💀🕷️ @jbyoder.org · May 15

Last week the Calstate Northridge Faculty Senate passed a resolution I led, objecting to the CSU's adoption of ChatGPT Edu as undermining our educational goals and misusing scarce funds, calling for the CSU to drop the $16.9 million subscription

live-csu-northridge.pantheonsite.io/sites/defaul...

live-csu-northridge.pantheonsite.io

1 2 19

Reposted by Colin Sweeney, Ph.D.

Colette Delawalla @cdelawalla.bsky.social · Aug 6

🚨ACTION OF THE DAY🚨
@standupforscience.bsky.social

Day 6! Leave a public comment opposing the repeal of the EPA Endangerment Finding.

✍️ Comment here: www.regulations.gov/commenton/EP...

🧠 Learn more here: www.cnn.com/2025/08/03/p...

🌿 Here is a script (copy and paste alt text for ease!)
#31days

Use and adapt our drafted comment below or write your own!

I strongly oppose the proposed repeal of the Endangerment Finding. The science is clear: greenhouse gases unequivocally harm our health and our environment. Weakening or repealing the Endangerment Finding will make it harder, and costlier to protect our communities from pollution and from the effects of climate change.

Optional: I care about this issue because [insert your personal reasoning here -e.g. "my father has COPD," "I recently lost my home to a devastating hurricane"]

I urge you to keep the Endangerment Finding in place and to apply science to protect our health and our environment for generations to come.

****Remember, if you want to cite research to upload the paper as a file.****

37 160 190

Reposted by Colin Sweeney, Ph.D.

Dr. Lucky Tran @luckytran.com · Aug 6

mRNA vaccines are one of the most important tools we have for preventing future catastrophic pandemics because we can update them more quickly than any other vaccine technology in response to new emerging viruses & variants.

RFK Jr cancelling millions in mRNA research makes the world far less safe.

72 840 2.7K

Reposted by Colin Sweeney, Ph.D.

Ian James @ianjames.bsky.social · Aug 5

The Trump administration has asked NASA to draw up plans to end at least two major satellite missions — the only two that were designed and built specifically to monitor planet-heating greenhouse gases. @npr.org @coveringclimatenow.org
www.npr.org/2025/08/04/n...

Why a NASA satellite that scientists and farmers rely on may be destroyed on purpose

The Trump administration has asked NASA staffers to draw up plans to end at least two satellite missions that measure carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, according to current and former NASA employees.

www.npr.org

2 20 27