In recognition of us doing fuck all to reduce emissions, let me remind y'all that carbon dioxide removal (CDR) is useless unless we decarbonize drastically. rdcu.be/dbFbB

WeTransfer just changed their TOS giving themselves permission to train AI on any content you transfer and produce derivative works based on content you transfer that they are allowed to monetize and you are not allowed payment for. Stop using WeTransfer.

For anyone who had lived in the US in better days (like myself), this is sad to see. #chemsky

@kay-severin.bsky.social I guess no more laughing gas parties?

We developed an encapsulated NiCo alloy catalyst for high temp CO2 reduction in solid oxide electrochemical cells. An voltage of 1.1 V at 1 A/cm2, corresponding to 90% energy efficiency. The reactions produce CO in 100% selectively and we run it for 2000 h. www.nature.com/articles/s41... #chemsky

Choose Science. Choose Europe. A new Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Postdoctoral Fellowships 2025 call is now open. With a budget of €404.3 million, it will support around 1,650 researchers from Europe and beyond. Apply by 10 September → europa.eu/!fBTMgF

EU has made its choice clear and loud: the choice of science, freedom, and collaboration. Time for Switzerland and EPFL to follow suite. @snsf-ch.bsky.social

Europe’s choice is clear. To put science at the heart of its economy. To become the home of scientific freedom and collaboration. And to welcome talent from all over the world. I’m glad to present the first elements of our Choose Europe Initiative. → europa.eu/!TTbWbJ

This is too good to pass by😂

I am very pleased to announce the closing of a 9 M Series A financing round for our startup NovaMea. We are fully committed to develop critical materials such as membranes and catalysts for anion exchange membrane water electrolyzers, enabling green hydrogen production at large scale and low cost.

Great title: the rise of bullshit jobs in universities:-)

#chemsky I won’t go to US for a foreseeable future because I am guilty on several counts: 1. Being born in China; 2. Doing « sustainable » research; 3. Having infinitely negative opinion on MAGA cartels. I am genuinely afraid at the us border control. I am nostalgic of my previous life in US.

My wife asked me, should we stop Netflix because it is American? I said, I know we should boycott Disney because it is part of their gang, (and of course telsa, meta, amazon, Silicon Valley), but not sure about Nerflix. American friends, and #chemsky, what do you think?

You first.

Excellent truth-telling from @dechant.bsky.social: “Now we have a better idea why Occidental was keen to pick up the pricey [carbon capture] technology: They want to use it to pump more oil.” Same as it ever was… techcrunch.com/2025/02/21/t...

Wow… the ancient Chinese sage! So true for many countries today.

When bureaucrates roll out policies that have never been tested for self-claimed noble goals, it takes a long time for some research to be done to show they are wrong. But damaged are done and hard to correct @snsf-ch.bsky.social yes I am talking about your policies.

Pleasure to contribute to this study led by @lingenfelderlab.bsky.social

Amazing thread from Jeremy Berg giving insights in the elite academic publishing system. His tell-it-as-he-thinks is so refreshing. It is like public display of “tell you over a drink” contents. @jeremymberg.bsky.social #chemsky

A non precious hydrogen evolution catalyst that can actually be used in a prototype electrolyzer running at 3 A/cm2: pubs.rsc.org/en/content/a... In addition to detailed synthesis and activity , we report operando study that reveal the catalyst to be a novel MoOx-supported Ni4Mo species. #chemsky

We have a group logo now! #chemsky Thanks to our designated artist (and postdoc) Damien. Not able to cover all topics we work on, but at least you know Who we are working with😀 #catalysis #epfl #academiclife

By incorporating two cofactors into the four binding sites of streptavidin, we engineered programmable artifical enzymes for tandem abiotic transformations including an enantioselective formal C–H hydroxylation and a photooxidation-Michael addition. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/... #chemsky

Less parking, more Nobel Prizes! I love the humour of our parking admin. #academicsky #chemsky Talking about out of box thinking. P.S. for the moment we have zero NP laureate in our history.

It is actually not far from truth, although such a letter is better addressed to university presidents than students…

Hi Manuel, Happy New Year! You can use Decimer.ai by Christoph Steinbeck & team. Simply copy the structure from a screen or PDF, paste it into Decimer to get the SMILES, and then paste the SMILES into ChemDraw. #ChemSky

Academics can be fun sometimes

My nomination for molecular of the year, #chemski, is « molecular machine learning »! After molecular dynamics, molecular simulation, and even molecular physics had their shares of shine in previous years, it is time to honor the rise of machines in the molecular world!

Open access rant #chemsky. Maybe it is end of year, I am actually irritated to receive email from library saying their negotiation with Wiley is tough going blabla and say you can continue to publish in @angewandtechemie.bsky.social . As if they can tell us where we to or not to publish!

Never thought that I would looked at Vanity Faire one day but it turned out they have some bones

It is coming

The privilege of being a university professor is to be with a group of passionate young (and regeneratively young:-)) mentees and work on subjects that interest us. A reflection at our end of year gathering. #chemsky #realtimechem

We are hiring (resharing appreciated)! Given recent successful grant applications (I got my SNSF Starting Grant 🚀), we are extending the LIAC team with multiple openings (PhD/postdoc) for 2025. Apply now (deadline: December 20th) by filling in this form: forms.fillout.com/t/eq5ADAw3kkus. #ChemSky

For those who missed it: Elon Musk, the Royal Society, and me deevybee.blogspot.com/2024/11/why-...

Okay, I have to do a thread on this pretty amazing article because it is just seriously chockers with eye-opening stats about 'direct air capture' - ie, sucking up air and trying to remove carbon dioxide from it news.mit.edu/2024/reality...

Our latest paper: Field-enhanced CO electroreduction in membrane electrolyzers at a dehydrated interface. We achieve 2.5 A cm−2 at 2.7 V, with ethylene yields of 40%+ and C2+ of 80%. Using needle-like catalysts to intensify electric fields and accumulate K+ and water. www.cell.com/chem/fulltex...

Now I know: they think my first name is female and they cannot pronounce my last name…

Taylorism is a management philosophy based on using scientific optimization to maximize labor productivity and economic efficiency. Here's the result of making the false Taylorist assumption that the output of scientific research is scientific papers—the more, faster, and cheaper, the better.

Here are other resources of *free* science illustrations: bioicons.com, scidraw.io, inkscape.org, biogdp.com They still look like BioRender style thou.

🎨 In case anyone need… The NIH BioArt Source is an awesome library of *free* professionally drawn illustrations for scientific presentations or figures. Downloadable in HD. Thank you NIH for this invaluable tool 🙏! Check it out 👇 bioart.niaid.nih.gov

There are still angels around

You can’t make it up… reality surpasses fiction at another front

True story: Before I hand back their exam papers, I showed my class this gem… 5 second after, my laptop showing this photo just died in front of all of us #realtimechem #chemsky

Pleasure ro present today in the Challenge in Catalysis symposium by SCI and RSC in posh London central. #chemsky Pharma and chem industrial research remains strong in Europe, in classical organometallic, but also in emerging biocatalysis. Happy to see our biocat work fits right in.