Siobhan Harkin
LightNews LightNews
banner
seani1.bsky.social
Siobhan Harkin
@seani1.bsky.social
330 followers 1.3K following 89 posts
Biochemistry/toxicology background. Access to education for all is my life long passion. Outdoors except when there's snooker on.
Posts Replies Media Videos
Reposted by Siobhan Harkin
gregfolkers.bsky.social
Science: U.S. government has lost more than 10,000 STEM Ph.D.s since Trump took office

By Jeffrey Mervis, Monica Hersher @science.org @policyhound.bsky.social @mghersher.bsky.social

bit.ly/3M8yf9B
U.S. government has lost more than 10,000 STEM Ph.D.s since Trump took office
A Science analysis reveals how many were fired, retired, or quit across 14 agencies
bit.ly
January 26, 2026 at 11:03 PM
Reposted by Siobhan Harkin
scottsantens.com
The correct answer to this is "Yes, and everyone else too."
Should artists get a basic income like they do in Ireland?
Could the government pay salaries to musicians and artists - no strings attached like they do in Ireland?
www.bbc.com
January 26, 2026 at 2:49 PM
Reposted by Siobhan Harkin
neilturkewitz.bsky.social
“The age of Gen AI is ‘the age of no consent.’ Unsurprisingly, women are less keen on GenAI than men, & a lot of that has to do with how it is used to harm them. Funny how women tried to warn us about this years ago….” 🙏🏼

Indeed, Silicon Valley runs on lack of consent!

medium.com/@nturkewitz_...
If you will forgive me this general observation, the internet and present societal norms and expectations concerning internet conduct are built on a very male model in which consent is assumed. It is the default of the internet, and objections to it are exceedingly hard to enforce. Securing permission creates friction. It’s messy and non-linear. Inefficient and non-binary. If achieving maximum efficiency is an engineer’s objective, he will see permission as an obstacle to be circumvented. If you don’t want to be rejected, you don’t ask the question. If you are male, white and straight, gains in efficiency will likely override any concerns about the role of consent. But someone who is a part of a community in which consent has historically been undermined, undervalued or eliminated might employ a different balancing test. In short, women and people of color have a unique relationship to the exercise of free will as manifested through the ability to determine consent. And the “maleness” of the internet once again marginalizes them and exposes them to extreme risk. So this World IP Day, let’s celebrate the women that are fighting back. Fighting to safeguard privacy. Fighting to address revenge porn and sex trafficking. Fighting to ensure that a creator has the ability to determine how her original work is going to be used. These are all reflections of the same underlying challenge — how do we ensure the role of consent in a technological environment that celebrates “breaking things” in pursuit of “permission-less innovation?”
January 22, 2026 at 1:10 PM
Reposted by Siobhan Harkin
duncanrobinson.bsky.social
Affluenza: Britain is rich enough to kid itself that it can do things like Brexit, but too poor to do it without making itself miserable www.economist.com/britain/2026...
January 22, 2026 at 1:58 PM
Reposted by Siobhan Harkin
davidho.bsky.social
This is the most astonishing graph of what the Trump regime has done to US science. They have destroyed the federal science workforce across the board. The negative impacts on Americans will be felt for generations, and the US might never be the same again.

www.nature.com/immersive/d4...
This line graph illustrates the percentage change in agency staff levels from the previous year for nine major U.S. federal scientific and health organizations between the fiscal years 2016 and 2025. The agencies tracked include the CDC, Department of Energy, EPA, FDA, NASA, NIH, NIST, NOAA, and NSF. For the majority of the timeline between 2016 and 2023, the agencies show relatively stable fluctuations, generally staying within a range of +5% to -5% change per year. However, there is a dramatic and uniform plummet starting in the 2024–25 period. Every agency depicted shows a sharp downward trajectory, with staffing losses ranging from approximately -15% to over -25%. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) shows the most significant decline, dropping to roughly -26%, while the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) shows the least severe but still substantial drop at approximately -15%.
January 20, 2026 at 10:53 PM
Reposted by Siobhan Harkin
joncooper-us.bsky.social
Terribly uncanny how relevant this is to today.
January 16, 2026 at 5:35 PM
Reposted by Siobhan Harkin
youranoncentral.bsky.social
The Prime Minister of Greenland Jens-Frederik Nielsen to the United States:

“Enough is enough.”
We have been a close and loyal friend of the United States for generations. We have stood shoulder to shoulder in difficult times. We have taken responsibility for security in the North Atlantic - and not least for North America. That is what true friends do. Precisely for that reason, the current and repeated rhetoric coming from the United States is entirely unacceptable. When the President of the United States speaks of "needing Greenland" and links us to Venezuela and military intervention, it is not only wrong. It is disrespectful. Our country is not an object in great-power rhetoric. We are a people. A country. A democracy. That must be respected — especially by close and loyal friends. We are part of NATO, and we are fully aware of our country's strategic location. We also understand that our security depends on good friends and strong alliances. In that context, a respectful and loyal relationship with the United States is very important. That has been the case for decades. But alliances are built on trust. And trust requires respect. Threats, pressure, and talk of annexation have no place between friends. That is not how one speaks to a people who have repeatedly demonstrated responsibility, stability, and loyalty. Enough is enough. No more pressure. No more insinuations. No more fantasies of annexation. We are open to dialogue. We are open to conversations. But they must take place through the proper channels and in full respect of international law. And the proper channels are not random and disrespectful posts on social media. Greenland is our home and our territory. And it will remain so.
January 4, 2026 at 10:36 PM
Reposted by Siobhan Harkin
nisslbody.blacksky.app
In order to really understand racism, it's necessary to understand the origins of racism. The trope that "racism is universal and natural" is pseudoscience PROPAGANDA. Blood quantum, the act of measuring racial ancestry in percentiles, is also propaganda. thereader.mitpress.mit.edu/a-prehistory...
A Prehistory of Scientific Racism
The author of “Whiteness” traces the evolution of race as a social and political instrument, from its beginnings in ancient hierarchies through European colonial expansion and into contemporary times.
thereader.mitpress.mit.edu
December 28, 2025 at 4:39 AM
Reposted by Siobhan Harkin
dankaszeta.bsky.social
I’ve been saying this for years. A successful multicultural multiethnic London is an offensive idea to some right wing world views so they make up bollocks to try to knock London down
stephenkb.bsky.social Stephen Bush @stephenkb.bsky.social · Dec 26
Good interview in the paper, this. I think Sadiq is right: London 'needs' to be less successful than it is for a bunch of political arguments here in the UK to work, hence the fictions being invented about it:
Populists attack London because it is ‘progressive and successful’, says Sadiq Khan
Rightwing attacks on one of the world’s most visited cities at odds with reality, says mayor
www.ft.com
December 27, 2025 at 2:05 PM
Reposted by Siobhan Harkin
saskajanet.bsky.social
Wind-ruffled Northern Yellow-shafted Flicker #birds
Woodpecker with black moustache, bib and black polkadot belly is perched on a wooden deck railing with snow in the background. He has a bit of snow on his beak.
December 24, 2025 at 1:25 PM
Reposted by Siobhan Harkin
13sarahmurphy.bsky.social
“We have sacrificed our national success because of our fear of immigration. And now, if Farage has his way, we'll do it all over again”

Superb, important analysis of the profound harm Farage does to our country in his rabidly racist and egotistical bid for power
liveapp.inews.co.uk/category/407...
iPaper headline: Photo of Farage speaking with small boat photo superimposed WHO BROKE BRITAIN? Farage's great project is to destroy the country he claims to love Extract: THE EFFECT ON BRITAIN Farage has taken the demon in Powell's 1968 speech and used it to undermine Britain in 2025. He has the same currency as his hero and trades in the same goods. He is defined by hatred toward minorities. It could be that person on the train speaking a foreign language, or that bloke next door who might be Romanian, or the Polish plumber who came to fix the sink, or the desperate young man who made it over on a boat. He will make those people's lives a misery. He will make them afraid. He will make them feel unwelcome. He will turn this country's instinct towards decency around so that it is replaced by antipathy. Every time we follow him down this path, we become poorer and more miserable, tarnishing our own wellbeing through our devotion to his political goal. Minorities suffer because of Farage. But Britain suffers most of all.
December 22, 2025 at 7:18 AM
Reposted by Siobhan Harkin
carlzimmer.com
Trump officials were warned repeatedly that cutting off food aid to refugees in Kenya would lead to violence and death. They did so anyway, and thousands starved. @propublica.org www.propublica.org/article/keny...
After Trump Officials Cut Food Aid to Kenya, Children Starved to Death
“Brutal and traumatizing”: Interviews and a trove of internal documents show government officials and aid workers desperately tried to warn Trump advisers about impending disaster and death.
www.propublica.org
December 17, 2025 at 3:52 PM
Reposted by Siobhan Harkin
rbreich.bsky.social
The world's richest 0.001% now control 3x as much wealth as the entire bottom half of humanity combined.

56,000 wealthy individuals have more than roughly 4 billion people.

Read that back.
Just 0.001% hold three times the wealth of poorest half of humanity, report finds
Data from World Inequality Report also showed top 10% of income-earners earn more than the other 90%
www.theguardian.com
December 12, 2025 at 7:15 PM
Reposted by Siobhan Harkin
stevemur67.bsky.social
Be Anti vaccination at your peril.
We don’t see stuff like this anymore because we let our reason overcome our superstition. Don’t let them push us backwards to darkness and pain. #SurgeonsHallMuseum #Edinburgh
December 7, 2025 at 3:37 PM
Reposted by Siobhan Harkin
lauraphillips.bsky.social
“Farage has suggested that it is inconceivable that anyone could recall such events of more than four decades ago. I would simply ask: can a victim of such abuse ever forget? I know I haven’t forgotten. I recognise his walk every time I see it on TV as that same walk that used to approach me.”
I’ll never forget the look of hatred Nigel Farage had for me at school, simply for existing
The Reform UK leader doubts people can recall their abuse from years ago. I’ve never forgotten his – it felt malicious
www.theguardian.com
December 6, 2025 at 12:28 PM
Reposted by Siobhan Harkin
bladeofthes.bsky.social
Listen to this American still working 40 hours a week when he's 88 because his wife got sick and he had to sell his house.

This is what they want to do in the UK.
December 2, 2025 at 8:37 PM
Reposted by Siobhan Harkin
chadbourn.bsky.social
Australia just recorded zero cervical cancer cases in women under 25 for the first time since records began in 1982. The amazing result of HPV vaccination.
November 28, 2025 at 8:44 PM
Reposted by Siobhan Harkin
felicityhannah.bsky.social
If you want some good news this morning, I showed my three boys the PM doing the six/seven thing and now they have all stopped doing it.
November 27, 2025 at 7:03 AM
Reposted by Siobhan Harkin
politicanimal.bsky.social
Heads up that there’s a generous Interrail sale for the next 21 days - 25% off all passes, making it an even bigger bargain than usual. Passes can be activated at any point up to 11 months after purchase. From all your usual retailers. www.interrail.eu/en
Interrail.eu | 1 rail pass, 33 countries
Travel across Europe and discover 33 countries by train with Interrail. Enjoy the best rail travel experience in Europe with our Interrail Pass!
www.interrail.eu
November 25, 2025 at 9:34 AM
Reposted by Siobhan Harkin
chrisbaraniuk.com
"Tehran now faces 'catastrophe' as land in parts of the capital sinks by up to 30 centimeters a year and water supplies shrink."

www.iranintl.com/en/202511209...
Iran president says capital move now a necessity as water crisis deepens
Iran’s capital must be moved because the country “no longer has a choice,” President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Thursday in remarks carried by state media, warning that severe ecological strain has mad...
www.iranintl.com
November 21, 2025 at 8:15 PM
Reposted by Siobhan Harkin
apoorvanyt.bsky.social
Gonorrhea, a sexually transmitted infection, is becoming increasingly resistant to antibiotics

www.who.int/news/item/19...
More countries report rising levels of drug-resistant gonorrhoea, warns WHO
The World Health Organization (WHO) warns that gonorrhoea, a sexually transmitted infection, is becoming increasingly resistant to antibiotics, according to new data from its Enhanced Gonococcal Antim...
www.who.int
November 20, 2025 at 4:44 PM
Reposted by Siobhan Harkin
ryanmarino.bsky.social
Brevetoxins are potent neurotoxins produced by certain algae and cause significant health problems (“red tide” is one form). Even if you don’t care about marine life, you can get sick and even die just from breathing air near a shoreline w/ brevetoxin-producing algae. Climate change will kill us all
yungenchee.bsky.social Yung En Chee @yungenchee.bsky.social · Nov 15
Harmful algal bloom (HAB) spread across 20,000 km2 & resulted in the deaths of millions of marine animals, from at least 550 species

Scientists found a novel, significant brevotoxin-producing algal species, Karenia cristata, in the multispecies Karenia HAB—1st time brevetoxins have been found in 🇦🇺
November 15, 2025 at 8:30 PM
Reposted by Siobhan Harkin
mattgreencomedy.com
Every time I hear a politician say that an issue is “dividing” this country they always then come down on the side of the right wing view of it. Just once I’d love to hear someone say “this issue is divisive, which is why I’m making the argument that kindness and compassion is important”
November 16, 2025 at 9:58 AM
Reposted by Siobhan Harkin
c0nc0rdance.bsky.social
"Photo 51" was the X-ray diffraction pattern that revealed the internal structure of DNA, produced by PhD student Raymond Gosling working under Rosalind Franklin's direction at King's College in London in 1952.

Let's talk about how CORK & a PAPERCLIP played a central role in DNA's discovery.
Photo 51 showing the X-ray crystallographic image of DNA. It's a blurry outer ring with four dots in the middle radiating out in an X-pattern.
November 10, 2025 at 2:12 PM