Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

The British Academy @britishacademy.bsky.social · 2h

The beloved BBC Radio 4 programme In Our Time has been awarded the 2025 British Academy President’s Medal!

Professor Susan J Smith, President of the British Academy, praised the programme for bringing rigorous yet accessible discussion of complex ideas to millions of listeners: buff.ly/1bn63FD

1 10 42

Amanda Rees @amandarees.bsky.social · 3d

SCIENCE RELIGION AND THE HUMAN FUTURE (Oxford UP) available Jan 16! So grateful to fabulous co-authors Charlotte Sleigh & David Wilkinson who stepped up after the dreadful loss of Tom McLeish (plus new jobs for other authors): book would not be here without them! @eclasproject.bsky.social

2 8 17

Iwan Rhys Morus @irmorus.bsky.social · 7d

Still going cheap. You can't afford NOT to buy at this price!

Iwan Rhys Morus @irmorus.bsky.social · Sep 16

UK readers: if you want to buy a hardback HTVTUTTM at a paperback price, Amazon currently have it at a whopping 68% off. Worth it for the amazing dust-jacket alone:

How the Victorians Took Us to the Moon: The Story of the Nineteenth-Century Innovators Who Forged the Future

Buy How the Victorians Took Us to the Moon: The Story of the Nineteenth-Century Innovators Who Forged the Future by Rhys Morus, Iwan (ISBN: 9781785789281) from Amazon's Book Store. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders.

www.amazon.co.uk

1 2

Iwan Rhys Morus @irmorus.bsky.social · 8d

Bloody hell Thony, don’t do that again!

1

Adam Mosley @adamjmosley.bsky.social · 14d

I'm pleased to share the news that I have recently begun a term as co-editor of the British Journal for the History of Science (BJHS), working together with the now editor-in-chief, the brilliant Amanda Rees @amandarees.bsky.social.

2 7 29

Iwan Rhys Morus @irmorus.bsky.social · 23d

Still going cheap. Hurry - it can’t last!

Iwan Rhys Morus @irmorus.bsky.social · Sep 16

UK readers: if you want to buy a hardback HTVTUTTM at a paperback price, Amazon currently have it at a whopping 68% off. Worth it for the amazing dust-jacket alone:

How the Victorians Took Us to the Moon: The Story of the Nineteenth-Century Innovators Who Forged the Future

Buy How the Victorians Took Us to the Moon: The Story of the Nineteenth-Century Innovators Who Forged the Future by Rhys Morus, Iwan (ISBN: 9781785789281) from Amazon's Book Store. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders.

www.amazon.co.uk

1 1 2

Iwan Rhys Morus @irmorus.bsky.social · 26d

Ha! I think I wrote a couple of things for you. Forty years! Sheesh.

Iwan Rhys Morus @irmorus.bsky.social · 26d

It's suddenly struck me. Were you features editor of Stop Press around 1984/85?

1

Iwan Rhys Morus @irmorus.bsky.social · 29d

And if you happened to leave some nice reviews, I wouldn't mind at all!

Iwan Rhys Morus @irmorus.bsky.social · Sep 16

UK readers: if you want to buy a hardback HTVTUTTM at a paperback price, Amazon currently have it at a whopping 68% off. Worth it for the amazing dust-jacket alone:

How the Victorians Took Us to the Moon: The Story of the Nineteenth-Century Innovators Who Forged the Future

Buy How the Victorians Took Us to the Moon: The Story of the Nineteenth-Century Innovators Who Forged the Future by Rhys Morus, Iwan (ISBN: 9781785789281) from Amazon's Book Store. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders.

www.amazon.co.uk

1 2

Iwan Rhys Morus @irmorus.bsky.social · 29d

Oh, and there's a bridge in Brooklyn we'd like to sell you, too.

Nvidia and Microsoft bosses hail huge UK AI investment

Microsoft, Google and Nvidia have announced investments as part of a £31bn UK-US

www.bbc.co.uk

4

Iwan Rhys Morus @irmorus.bsky.social · Sep 17

Entirely agree.

How AI is undermining learning and teaching in universities | Letter

Letter: Prof Leo McCann and Prof Simon Sweeney say student misuse of generative artificial intelligence is widespread and we must be sceptical of its usefulness

www.theguardian.com

1 10 23

Iwan Rhys Morus @irmorus.bsky.social · Sep 16

UK readers: if you want to buy a hardback HTVTUTTM at a paperback price, Amazon currently have it at a whopping 68% off. Worth it for the amazing dust-jacket alone:

How the Victorians Took Us to the Moon: The Story of the Nineteenth-Century Innovators Who Forged the Future

Buy How the Victorians Took Us to the Moon: The Story of the Nineteenth-Century Innovators Who Forged the Future by Rhys Morus, Iwan (ISBN: 9781785789281) from Amazon's Book Store. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders.

www.amazon.co.uk

1 8 16

Iwan Rhys Morus @irmorus.bsky.social · Sep 15

Drooling.

1

Iwan Rhys Morus @irmorus.bsky.social · Sep 15

Because it's all we can do.

2

Iwan Rhys Morus @irmorus.bsky.social · Sep 15

I just missed out on the first printing - sold out by the time I ordered a copy. Still got mine on the 15th though, it seems!

1 3

Iwan Rhys Morus @irmorus.bsky.social · Sep 14

O, mae nhw ar eu ffordd….

1

Iwan Rhys Morus @irmorus.bsky.social · Sep 9

Funnily enough, I can remember Don Pacifico from my History O Levels. Not diplomatic history's greatest episode I'd have thought ....

Iwan Rhys Morus @irmorus.bsky.social · Sep 8

Is that really you, Wil?

1

Iwan Rhys Morus @irmorus.bsky.social · Sep 8

Oh, don’t get me wrong. Lots of us are likely to lose our jobs (I’m at a highly expendable age) but not because of AI. It will be because the HE model in both the UK and the US is fucked.

1 3

Iwan Rhys Morus @irmorus.bsky.social · Sep 8

Yes.

1 2

Iwan Rhys Morus @irmorus.bsky.social · Sep 8

Fascinating Aberystwyth connection to this story:

The Welshman who broadcast Nazi propaganda to soldiers

After becoming a prisoner of war, he became a useful tool in the Nazi propaganda machine.

www.bbc.co.uk

1 1 5

Iwan Rhys Morus @irmorus.bsky.social · Sep 7

Rage, horror, despair, anguish, and ghastly smiles, united their hideous expressions in the murderer's face, surpassing far the wildest representations of a Fuseli or a Kean.

That's Matthew Clydesdale's corpse being electrified by Andrew Ure in 1818!

Greg Jenner @gregjenner.bsky.social · Sep 7

I recently had the enormous pleasure of telling @ceaubin.bsky.social why the genius Shakespearean actor Edmund Kean was my fave problematic douchebag from history.
Our podcast chat is a deep dive on a true fame monster — give it a listen here! @thisguysucked.com

podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/e...

Edmund Kean with Greg Jenner

Podcast Episode · This Guy Sucked · 04/09/2025 · 1h 41m

podcasts.apple.com

1 1 8

Greg Jenner @gregjenner.bsky.social · Sep 7

I recently had the enormous pleasure of telling @ceaubin.bsky.social why the genius Shakespearean actor Edmund Kean was my fave problematic douchebag from history.
Our podcast chat is a deep dive on a true fame monster — give it a listen here! @thisguysucked.com

podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/e...

Edmund Kean with Greg Jenner

Podcast Episode · This Guy Sucked · 04/09/2025 · 1h 41m

podcasts.apple.com

2 2 51

Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · Sep 6

'Nigel Farage has hit out at universities for “poisoning the minds” of students with what he said was a “twisted interpretation of history” in his speech on the opening day of the Reform UK conference.' 1/3

Universities ‘poisoning student minds’, says Farage

Populist leader takes aim at higher education in speech on first day of the Reform UK conference in Birmingham

www.timeshighereducation.com

61 27 73

Jennifer Ouellette @jenlucpiquant.bsky.social · Sep 5

This is a massive fail. "We made errors here" does not begin to cover it. www.techdirt.com/2025/09/02/w...

Wired, Business Insider Editors Duped By Completely Bogus ‘AI’ Using ‘Journalist’ Who Made Up Towns, People That Don’t Exist

The rushed integration of half-cooked automation into the already broken U.S. journalism industry simply isn’t going very well. There have been just countless examples where affluent media owners r…

www.techdirt.com

5 20

Iwan Rhys Morus @irmorus.bsky.social · Sep 5

Old but still relevant - possibly even more so now. I should update this.

The I at the Heart of the AI Storm

Speaking at the New Economy Summit in Singapore last November, Jeff Katzenberg, former chair of Disney and founder of Dreamworks Animation…

medium.com

1

Iwan Rhys Morus @irmorus.bsky.social · Sep 4

Isn’t that pretty much the opposite direction?!

Iwan Rhys Morus @irmorus.bsky.social · Sep 4

Well I've voted calcite. I don't think David Brewster's ghost would forgive me if I didn't.

Kristin Mai @kristinmaiart.bsky.social · Sep 4

I'm once again imploring everyone to vote for Iceland Spar, the Viking compass! A type of calcite used by the Vikings to navigate on cloudy days.

#TeamCalcite #MinCup25

$A small, clear square of optical calcite/ Iceland spar refracting hues of blue, purple and yellow. There is a crackle quartz next to it also catching some of the light/ color.$

2

Kristin Mai @kristinmaiart.bsky.social · Sep 4

I'm once again imploring everyone to vote for Iceland Spar, the Viking compass! A type of calcite used by the Vikings to navigate on cloudy days.

#TeamCalcite #MinCup25

$A small, clear square of optical calcite/ Iceland spar refracting hues of blue, purple and yellow. There is a crackle quartz next to it also catching some of the light/ color.$

1 10 50