Tom Murphy 🏳️‍🌈🇵🇸
LightNews LightNews
banner
thommurphy.bsky.social
Tom Murphy 🏳️‍🌈🇵🇸
@thommurphy.bsky.social
300 followers 450 following 1.3K posts
PhD student in the Ho Lab at Columbia med center and New Yorker 🗽🏳️‍🌈

Plasmodia, cryoEM, membrane proteins 😍
Posts Replies Media Videos
thommurphy.bsky.social
Crazy how all the men who think “cancel culture went too far” are sex predators. Imagine that.
November 17, 2025 at 2:08 PM
thommurphy.bsky.social
Beat election coverage in nyc— cannot wait for Lange’s take on the midterms next year
michaellangenyc.bsky.social Michael Lange @michaellangenyc.bsky.social · 3d
NEW: Zohran Mamdani built the multi-racial, working and middle-class coalition the left has always wanted.

Mamdani resoundingly won young men, Black and Latino voters, renters, and tens of thousands of immigrant Trump voters.

How did he do it?
www.michaellange.nyc/p/the-rainbo...
The Rainbow Coalition
The Tale of Two Cities
www.michaellange.nyc
November 14, 2025 at 3:09 PM
Reposted by Tom Murphy 🏳️‍🌈🇵🇸
odedrechavi.bsky.social
Adding citations of people who might review the paper
November 14, 2025 at 10:06 AM
Reposted by Tom Murphy 🏳️‍🌈🇵🇸
gbbranstetter.bsky.social
Note the class dynamics on display in both this and the Epstein story--these were wealthy men preying on girls made all the more vulnerable by their poverty
jaywillis.net Jay Willis @jaywillis.net · 4d
The woman whom the House Ethics Committee determined Matt Gaetz paid for sex when she was 17 years old was living in a homeless shelter, working at McDonald's, and needed the money for braces www.nytimes.com/2025/11/13/u...
She was 17 and a high school junior in Florida. She was working at McDonald’s. And she was living in and out of a homeless shelter. Hoping to save up to buy braces to fix her teeth, she falsely advertised herself in 2017 as 18 years old on a website that matches men looking for “companionship” with young women looking to make money. What followed would set off a chain of events that would have a dramatic impact on her life and help upend the political career of one of the men she would encounter, Representative Matt Gaetz, the Florida Republican.
November 13, 2025 at 8:52 PM
thommurphy.bsky.social
Who in their right mind is looking at this guy and thinking “gotta go with she/her pronouns” yall outta your mind
equality.house.gov Congressional Equality Caucus @equality.house.gov · 4d
Earlier this year, the Trump Admin revoked previously approved retirement benefits for a number of trans servicemembers who are being forced out of the services. It's beyond shameful.

We're glad to see these servicemembers are suing for the benefits they deserve.
The Advocate: "Transgender Air Force members sue Trump administration over revoked retirements." Read the full story at the link in our bio. IMAGE: Department of the Air Force seal (left); Master Sergeant Logan Ireland (right).
November 13, 2025 at 11:08 PM
Reposted by Tom Murphy 🏳️‍🌈🇵🇸
sbworkersunited.org
As of this morning, Starbucks workers across the country are officially ON STRIKE. And we're prepared for this to become the biggest and longest ULP strike in Starbucks history.

Say #NoContractNoCoffee with us: DON'T BUY STARBUCKS for the duration of our open-ended ULP strike! $SBUX
Don't Buy Starbucks! At any location, today and beyond, while workers are on ULP strike!
November 13, 2025 at 11:33 AM
thommurphy.bsky.social
Me but with protozoan parasites
November 12, 2025 at 5:53 PM
Reposted by Tom Murphy 🏳️‍🌈🇵🇸
gabrielaughey.bsky.social
Always shocking to see these kinds of data collected together. "[publishers made]US$12 billion in profits between 2019 and 2024" - That's $12 billion diverted away from actual research or materially supporting the community - these are disgusting numbers.
hansonmark.bsky.social Mark A. Hanson @hansonmark.bsky.social · 6d
We wrote the Strain on scientific publishing to highlight the problems of time & trust. With a fantastic group of co-authors, we present The Drain of Scientific Publishing:

a 🧵 1/n

Drain: arxiv.org/abs/2511.04820
Strain: direct.mit.edu/qss/article/...
Oligopoly: direct.mit.edu/qss/article/...
A table showing profit margins of major publishers. A snippet of text related to this table is below. 1. The four-fold drain 1.1 Money Currently, academic publishing is dominated by profit-oriented, multinational companies for whom scientific knowledge is a commodity to be sold back to the academic community who created it. The dominant four are Elsevier, Springer Nature, Wiley and Taylor & Francis, which collectively generated over US$7.1 billion in revenue from journal publishing in 2024 alone, and over US$12 billion in profits between 2019 and 2024 (Table 1A). Their profit margins have always been over 30% in the last five years, and for the largest publisher (Elsevier) always over 37%. Against many comparators, across many sectors, scientific publishing is one of the most consistently profitable industries (Table S1). These financial arrangements make a substantial difference to science budgets. In 2024, 46% of Elsevier revenues and 53% of Taylor & Francis revenues were generated in North America, meaning that North American researchers were charged over US$2.27 billion by just two for-profit publishers. The Canadian research councils and the US National Science Foundation were allocated US$9.3 billion in that year. A figure detailing the drain on researcher time. 1. The four-fold drain 1.2 Time The number of papers published each year is growing faster than the scientific workforce, with the number of papers per researcher almost doubling between 1996 and 2022 (Figure 1A). This reflects the fact that publishers’ commercial desire to publish (sell) more material has aligned well with the competitive prestige culture in which publications help secure jobs, grants, promotions, and awards. To the extent that this growth is driven by a pressure for profit, rather than scholarly imperatives, it distorts the way researchers spend their time. The publishing system depends on unpaid reviewer labour, estimated to be over 130 million unpaid hours annually in 2020 alone (9). Researchers have complained about the demands of peer-review for decades, but the scale of the problem is now worse, with editors reporting widespread difficulties recruiting reviewers. The growth in publications involves not only the authors’ time, but that of academic editors and reviewers who are dealing with so many review demands. Even more seriously, the imperative to produce ever more articles reshapes the nature of scientific inquiry. Evidence across multiple fields shows that more papers result in ‘ossification’, not new ideas (10). It may seem paradoxical that more papers can slow progress until one considers how it affects researchers’ time. While rewards remain tied to volume, prestige, and impact of publications, researchers will be nudged away from riskier, local, interdisciplinary, and long-term work. The result is a treadmill of constant activity with limited progress whereas core scholarly practices – such as reading, reflecting and engaging with others’ contributions – is de-prioritized. What looks like productivity often masks intellectual exhaustion built on a demoralizing, narrowing scientific vision. A table of profit margins across industries. The section of text related to this table is below: 1. The four-fold drain 1.1 Money Currently, academic publishing is dominated by profit-oriented, multinational companies for whom scientific knowledge is a commodity to be sold back to the academic community who created it. The dominant four are Elsevier, Springer Nature, Wiley and Taylor & Francis, which collectively generated over US$7.1 billion in revenue from journal publishing in 2024 alone, and over US$12 billion in profits between 2019 and 2024 (Table 1A). Their profit margins have always been over 30% in the last five years, and for the largest publisher (Elsevier) always over 37%. Against many comparators, across many sectors, scientific publishing is one of the most consistently profitable industries (Table S1). These financial arrangements make a substantial difference to science budgets. In 2024, 46% of Elsevier revenues and 53% of Taylor & Francis revenues were generated in North America, meaning that North American researchers were charged over US$2.27 billion by just two for-profit publishers. The Canadian research councils and the US National Science Foundation were allocated US$9.3 billion in that year. The costs of inaction are plain: wasted public funds, lost researcher time, compromised scientific integrity and eroded public trust. Today, the system rewards commercial publishers first, and science second. Without bold action from the funders we risk continuing to pour resources into a system that prioritizes profit over the advancement of scientific knowledge.
November 11, 2025 at 1:20 PM
thommurphy.bsky.social
SHAME
erininthemorning.com Erin Reed @erininthemorning.com · 6d
1. Going to the Library in Smyrna or Murfreesboro, TN?

You might be greeted by an EMERGENCY CLOSURE sign.

Apparently they have detected the presence of "transgender books" and are quarantining them as if they were a dangerous plague.

The latest from S. Baum.

Subscribe to support our journalism.
Some Tennessee Libraries Shut Down For “Emergency Closure” Over Transgender Books
It is unclear how many other libraries have or may need to temporarily shut their doors in order to cull their children’s sections for gender-subversive content.
www.erininthemorning.com
November 12, 2025 at 1:27 AM
Reposted by Tom Murphy 🏳️‍🌈🇵🇸
gbbranstetter.bsky.social
From czech.hunter.schafer on IG
November 11, 2025 at 6:41 PM
thommurphy.bsky.social
UNION BUSTING IS DISGUSTING!!
November 11, 2025 at 12:20 AM
Reposted by Tom Murphy 🏳️‍🌈🇵🇸
jules.su
this is literally never not accurate
November 10, 2025 at 6:32 PM
thommurphy.bsky.social
@chrismurphyct.bsky.social Challenge and replace!
gmf1369.bsky.social 𝕲𝖆𝖊𝖙𝖆𝖓𝖔 @gmf1369.bsky.social · 7d
#GVerse This 👇
At this point, Schumer is a dinosaur‼️
The DNC needs younger candidates‼️

Resign @schumer.senate.gov time new life, new direction!
November 10, 2025 at 10:10 PM
Reposted by Tom Murphy 🏳️‍🌈🇵🇸
maxberger.bsky.social
The reason people think the Democratic Party doesn't actually stand for anything is because it doesn't.
November 10, 2025 at 3:27 AM
Reposted by Tom Murphy 🏳️‍🌈🇵🇸
bkindivisible.bsky.social
BROOKLYN WE ARE GOING TO CHUCKS! Join us across from 9 PPW at 8:30 *tonight*

Bring pots and pans, let’s make some noise about Chuck folding (again).

Not another #SchumerSurrender

@indivisible.org @riseandresist.bsky.social @50501newyork.bsky.social @handsoffnyc.bsky.social
November 10, 2025 at 12:55 AM
Reposted by Tom Murphy 🏳️‍🌈🇵🇸
moryan.bsky.social
THEY PEPPER SPRAYED A BABY

THEY PEPPER SPRAYED A BABY

Please read this entire excellent piece by Caroline, which points out that a judge ordered the Feds (again) to stop doing **this exact kind of thing** and they are still continuing to do it all over Chicago
ckubzansky.bsky.social Caroline Kubzansky @ckubzansky.bsky.social · 8d
Arianna Sofia Veraza and her parents were driving to Sam's Club for milk, eggs and diapers yesterday when they heard helicopters and horns blaring yesterday. They had turned around to leave when a federal agent pepper-sprayed them through a car window.
www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/09/c...
Pepper-sprayed Berwyn family rattled after getting caught up in federal blitz
Southwest Side politicians condemned Saturday’s pepper spraying and the federal sweep of Little Village as “state-sponsored terrorism” at a news conference Sunday.
www.chicagotribune.com
November 9, 2025 at 11:56 PM
Reposted by Tom Murphy 🏳️‍🌈🇵🇸
wilwheaton.net
After the largest peaceful pro-democracy demonstrations in American history, and a blue wave election where voters clearly and loudly said FIGHT ALL OF THIS CHAOS, it is malpractice and disqualifying for an elected Democrat to suggest caving to Trump.

I'm looking in your direction, Chuck Schumer.
November 9, 2025 at 6:56 PM
Reposted by Tom Murphy 🏳️‍🌈🇵🇸
tomfreeman.bsky.social
RIP James Watson, co-discoverer of Rosalind Franklin's notes
November 7, 2025 at 9:17 PM
Reposted by Tom Murphy 🏳️‍🌈🇵🇸
cryoempapers.bsky.social
Seeing is believing-Plasmodium falciparum translation in action pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41202797/ #cryoem
November 8, 2025 at 9:58 PM
thommurphy.bsky.social
It’s not rhetoric babes, New York City is a workers’ state now 🥰ً
moreperfectunion.bsky.social More Perfect Union @moreperfectunion.bsky.social · 10d
 Canadian multimillionaire and Shark Tank guy Kevin O'Leary went on TV to say he's upset Zohran won't talk to him: "I and others who invest in real estate have tried to get a meeting to figure out what's rhetoric and what's policy. So far for me it's been crickets."
November 8, 2025 at 5:58 AM
Reposted by Tom Murphy 🏳️‍🌈🇵🇸
marcybones64.bsky.social
we've been talking about zohran mamdani for far longer than we ever talked about charlie kirk
November 8, 2025 at 5:03 AM
Reposted by Tom Murphy 🏳️‍🌈🇵🇸
groundingrod.bsky.social
Alternate headline: Elise Stefanik announces retirement from politics.
ronfilipkowski.bsky.social Ron Filipkowski @ronfilipkowski.bsky.social · 10d
Stefanik is running for governor.
November 7, 2025 at 2:11 PM
Reposted by Tom Murphy 🏳️‍🌈🇵🇸
harmitmalik.bsky.social
Don’t look away.

What some people call ‘suicidal empathy’ other (medical professionals) might call ‘psychopathy’
newyorker.com The New Yorker @newyorker.com · 11d
One analytical model shows that, as of November 5th, the dismantling of U.S.A.I.D. has already caused the deaths of 600,000 people, two-thirds of them children. https://newyorkermag.visitlink.me/jUzNSc
The Shutdown of U.S.A.I.D. Has Already Killed Hundreds of Thousands
The short documentary “Rovina’s Choice” tells the story of what goes when aid goes.
newyorkermag.visitlink.me
November 7, 2025 at 5:18 PM
thommurphy.bsky.social
hey @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social can we mandate the death penalty for people who park in the bus lanes?
November 7, 2025 at 3:19 PM
thommurphy.bsky.social
“Despite his privileged path to power” his dad is a professor. His opponent’s dad was *the governor* and has a bridge named after him.
November 6, 2025 at 10:29 PM