Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Orion🌈&sm9eb

Eric Feigl-Ding @drericding.bsky.social · 17h

Welp—CDC’s entire data team for its legendary national health and nutrition survey (NHANES)—our health census—has been laid off. Now we are flying blind to nutrition and chronic disease status in the U.S.—is this supposed to help us be MAHA? www.statnews.com/2025/10/14/c...

CDC team running top survey on health and nutrition is laid off

NHANES has collected data on eating patterns, diabetes, and other common diseases for decades. The CDC team that runs it has been fired.

www.statnews.com

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Orion🌈&sm9eb @sm9eb.bsky.social · 17h

AUROCHS!! #Zooarchaeology #HalafTwitter

Hannah O’Regan @palaeohan.bsky.social · 1d

I know I’m not team bovid, but it would take a heart of stone not to admire this 10,600 year old Aurochs from Vig in Denmark. #archaeology 🏺

Photo of a huge cattle skeleton - it’s easily 6ft at the shoulder and is stained dark brown after being buried in sediment. It’s standing on a low black shiny plinth and has large forward-curving horncores.

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Shannon Stirone @shannonstirone.bsky.social · 22h

Today JPL lost so many incredible people. My heart hurts for every single one of them. This administration is gutting American science institutions and throwing away hyper specific experts who cannot be replaced. This is an extremely detrimental loss.

CNBC @cnbc.com · 2d

NASA unit JPL to lay off about 550 workers, citing restructure

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory is a research and development lab funded by NASA — the federal space agency — and managed by the Caltech.

cnb.cx

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Orion🌈&sm9eb @sm9eb.bsky.social · 20h

Yum! Oh that's right, your pomegranates should be ripening! Hmm I think I saw some at UVA too.

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Patrick Jackson @pehjackson.bsky.social · 1d

Poster: Unite Against the Compact! Rally on Friday Oct 17 noon at the Rotunda.

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Paul Byrne @theplanetaryguy.bsky.social · 1d

Layoff notices at JPL are going out today.

About 11% of the Lab, or 550 people, are being let go.

I'm thinking of my friends and colleagues there, some of whom will still be employed after today and some of whom won't.

I'm sorry you're having to deal with this.

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Orion🌈&sm9eb @sm9eb.bsky.social · 21h

Yes, please! Yum!

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Dr. Michelle @lipsticklitterati.bsky.social · 22h

Calling all #AfricanAmericanStudies scholars, please share this #RiceUniversity postdoc opportunity with your grad students. #Rice is a great place and committed to the work: emdz.fa.us2.oraclecloud.com/hcmUI/Candid...

Postdoctoral Associate - Center for African American Studies

The Center for African and African American Studies invites applications for a one-year (renewable for a second year) Dr. Anthony B. Pinn Postdoctoral Associate in African and African American Studies...

emdz.fa.us2.oraclecloud.com

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Orion🌈&sm9eb @sm9eb.bsky.social · 21h

Those two weeks in September when my phone didn't work were...eye opening.

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Orion🌈&sm9eb @sm9eb.bsky.social · 21h

My dad--a runner!--also died unexpectedly at 51 while I was in high school, with no life insurance, bc who needs it then? I think about that constantly now. And my ex-boyfriend died suddenly at 42. I keep urging my male friends to *go to the doctor* & take life insurance seriously.

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Orion🌈&sm9eb @sm9eb.bsky.social · 21h

More bleak Alaska typhoon news.

Anthony Edwards @edwardsanthonyb.bsky.social · 22h

“How big of a difference the missing balloon data made, though, may never be known. The best way to determine that would be to run computer models with weather balloon data fed into them and without it, in what is known as a data denial experiment — impossible to do without the data itself.”

Lack of weather data due to Trump’s budget cuts impacted forecast for deadly Alaska storm | CNN

The forecast for the powerful and deadly storm that battered small communities in western Alaska over the weekend was likely made worse by a lack of weather data triggered by the Trump administration’...

www.cnn.com

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Orion🌈&sm9eb @sm9eb.bsky.social · 21h

Hummingbird science!! Do it for my little hummingbird friend Tiktok, who just started her migration!!

Jessie Williamson @jlwilliamson.bsky.social · 1d

My lab is hiring a 2-yr hummingbird evolution and genomics postdoc and a 1-yr salaried research and lab tech. Both with full U. Wyoming benefits. Please spread the word! Info below. Best consideration date Nov 1, start dates early Spring 2026.

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Orion🌈&sm9eb @sm9eb.bsky.social · 21h

This is unbelievably grim, especially when you account for all that coral reefs actually do, & the other species they house.
Fight power-sucking data centers.
Fight tooth and nail to get this administration out of power.
Fight corporations that care about short-term profits more than the planet.

🏰⚡ℌ𝔞𝔲𝔫𝔱𝔢𝔡 𝔄𝔟𝔟𝔢𝔶🦇👻 @abbeyarletto.bsky.social · 1d

The latest Global Tipping Points Report, released ahead of this year’s Cop30 climate summit, says that coral ecosystems – on which about a billion people depend for food and livelihood – are now tipping into an irreversible decline. This means the Earth has entered a “new reality”.

The world has reached its first climate tipping point

Milestone signals stark new reality for the planet – and raises the alarm about impending catastrophes

www.independent.co.uk

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Sarah McAnulty, Ph.D. @sarahmackattack.bsky.social · 1d

We’re BACK BABY.

At Bad Art for Good, we’re gonna get together and make some art to make things better.

How can art make things better? Creating makes us feel good! Art moves people! And we need a LOT of people to move right now!

RSVP luma.com/w8v2xk5i

A possum in a beret with a paintbrush screams in front of a canvas with a possum in a pile of leaves. The words say bad art for good an art + community event and the possum is saying “make the world better with art!” And free beer snacks and art supplies, and Indy hall November 10th 6:30

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Politico @politico.com · 1d

EXCLUSIVE: Thousands of leaked messages show leaders of Young Republican groups joking about gas chambers, slavery and rape in a private Telegram chat.

Inside rising GOP leaders’ racist chats — obtained by POLITICO and spanning more than 7 months👇

‘I love Hitler’: Leaked messages expose Young Republicans’ racist chat

Thousands of private messages reveal young GOP leaders joking about gas chambers, slavery and rape.

www.politico.com

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Dimitrij Mlekuz Vrhovnik @dimitrij.bsky.social · 1d

🚨 New paper out today in PNAS!
We report the discovery of prehistoric hunting megastructures on the Karst Plateau (Slovenia/Italy) – several-kilometre-long dry-stone systems used to trap wild herds
doi.org/10.1073/pnas....

Prehistoric hunting megastructures in the Adriatic hinterland | PNAS

Airborne laser scanning survey of the Karst Plateau in the Adriatic hinterland has revealed four monumental dry-stone structures, characterized by ...

doi.org

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Orion🌈&sm9eb @sm9eb.bsky.social · 1d

How did I not know that they even have one?! I grew up an hour away and worked with them for Umm el-Marra--!!! Jeesh. Thanks for the tip!!

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Howard Eissenstat @heissenstat.bsky.social · 1d

Israel killed five today in Gaza.

Hamas executing presumed collaborators.

A cease fire, maybe, but no sign that either leopard is interested in changing its spots.

Matthew Bell @matthewjbell.bsky.social · 1d

Hamas fighters tighten grip in Gaza, executing people in the street - www.reuters.com/world/middle...

Hamas fighters tighten grip in Gaza, clouding future of ceasefire

Hamas fighters carried out public executions, defying Israel's assertion that war cannot end under President Donald Trump's plan until the militants are disarmed.

www.reuters.com

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Amanda Finley Digs All the Spooky Things @rubyslippahs.bsky.social · 1d

My power was turned off yesterday. Still waiting to hear from LiHEAP for assistance. I have about $200 left to cover to have my power turned back on. Thanks for any help!

Venmo/Cash app: AmandaKFinley
Zelle
PayPal: [email protected]

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Orion🌈&sm9eb @sm9eb.bsky.social · 1d

Ooooh right. I knew there was carcinization somewhere!!

(This isn't the right species of crab in the gif but I like that he's named Ivan.)

a crab with the name ivan written above it

ALT: a crab with the name ivan written above it

media.tenor.com

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Orion🌈&sm9eb @sm9eb.bsky.social · 1d

The home of World Central Kitchen essentially getting aid.

Phil Lewis @phillewis.bsky.social · 2d

Government workers 👇🏾

Lunch is on the house:

Being in the heart of downtown DC, we love that so many of our Federal employees stop by during lunch for a Donburi at China Chilcano or a Fútbol Club at Jaleo. And just because the government is shut down doesn't mean you have to miss out on your favorite lunch spot- because this time, its on us!
Join us for lunch from 11:30 AM to 3:00 PM at any of our participating restaurants and enjoy a free lunch item when you present your government ID-you heard that right! Dine in with us Monday through Friday and choose your favorite: a sandwich at Jaleo, a donburi at China Chilcano, a wrap or pita at Zaytinya, or a torta at Oyamel.
We've always believed in serving our community with open arms and good food-no shutdown can stop that.

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Immunoprof (she/they) @immunoprof.bsky.social · 1d

This is the point of the National Guard. May everyone be safe as they help rescue folks in need.

Alt US Coast Guard @altcoast.altgov.info · 2d

There are no press releases during the shutdown, making it difficult to find this kind of news.
But the AK Air/Army National Guards, and the USCG, are conducting SAR operations. The flooding is in remote areas, and affecting primarily small villages, it appears.

taskandpurpose.com/news/alaska-...

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Jeanne Timmons @mostlymammoths.bsky.social · 1d

"In Aotearoa New Zealand, hapori Māori (tribal groups) are the kaitiaki (guardians) of many threatened taonga (treasured) species. There is growing international interest in the resurrection of some of New Zealand’s extinct birds...despite Māori concerns."

theconversation.com/return-of-th...

Return of the huia? Why Māori worldviews must be part of the ‘de-extinction’ debate

There is nothing to stop de-extinction companies using specimens from museum collections, despite little Māori support for reviving lost native species.

theconversation.com

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Orion🌈&sm9eb @sm9eb.bsky.social · 1d

More torrential flooding

Prof. Harley Earthling Quinn @profharleyquinn.bsky.social · 1d

1.) #Weltweit_Katastrophen_Threa #cr41w
12. Oktober 2025 Die Provinz #Tarragona #sSpanien befand sich im #Epizentrum #schwererRegenfälle und #Überschwemmungen, die durch den #MittelmeersturmAlice verursacht wurden. Es wurde eine rote Wetterwarnung herausgegeben. ⤵️

Orion🌈&sm9eb @sm9eb.bsky.social · 1d

It's such a freaking horror show.

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