Mike McCoy and I wrote this explainer for @cenmag.bsky.social about cereulide, the toxic compound that recently led Nestle to recall infant formula in 50 countries. The molecule's resilience is terrifying. cen.acs.org/safety/consu...

I'd like to chat with people who have applied for grad school in chem or biochem for fall 2026 for an article in C&EN (@cenmag.bsky.social) about how funding changes in the US are impacting admissions. If this is you, please fill out this form. forms.office.com/r/5xUxaqEnfX #chemsky #chemchat

Sensory overload: In the latest #Newscripts for @cenmag.bsky.social, @bribarbu.bsky.social explores scratch-and-sniff stamps and "deliciously unhinged" lickable wrapping paper. cen.acs.org/business/con...

Good morning. Do you want a feel-good story about ingenuity and a determined graduate student cracking a decades-old total synthesis problem? If yes, @bethanyhalford.bsky.social spins a yarn you may enjoy. cen.acs.org/biological-c...

A fun total synthesis paper from Karl Scheidt's group that reaches back almost 30 years. My latest for @cenmag.bsky.social cen.acs.org/biological-c...

Synthetic chemists breaking into the analytical chemists' labs at night to use their instruments without knowing what they are doing:

Only 8 days left to nominate a stellar early-career molecular scientist for @cenmag.bsky.social's Talented 12. I'd love to see more folks from industry in our nominations pool. Link to the nomination form here: cen.acs.org/sections/nom... #chemsky #chemchat

Who out there likes to look at small molecule #drugs? You can explore all the ones FDA approved in 2025 using this interactive table in @cenmag.bsky.social (made by Shea Murphy): cen.acs.org/sections/dru... #chemsky

Check out the excellent interactive table (made by Seamus Murphy) in my feature for @cenmag.bsky.social about the new molecular entities FDA approved in 2025. cen.acs.org/pharmaceutic...

The end of the year is a great time to boost your colleagues. If you know an amazing early-career* chemist or biochemist doing creative work on important problems, please consider nominating them to the Chemical & Engineering News Talented 12 class of 2026? cen.acs.org/sections/tal...

Fire starters, 400,000-year-old twisted fire starters... @bethanyhalford.bsky.social for @cenmag.bsky.social #chemsky 🧪 cen.acs.org/analytical-c...

I’m very glad I got to write about 28 Years Later for @cenmag.bsky.social just in time for the Jan release of the next chapter 😆

Looking for a fun read? For the December #Newscripts in @cenmag.bsky.social, Fionna Samuels (@fmorningstar.bsky.social) took a look at the chemistry of two pop culture moments from the past year: An exoplosive scene in 20 Years Later and the GBBO sugar dome disaster cen.acs.org/education/sc...

So, remember that MAHA summit 2 weeks ago that @statnews.com broke the news of and @maxkozlov.bsky.social somehow got into for Nature, even though it was closed to the press? The organizers posted the entire 6.5-hour conference proceedings to YouTube last week. cen.acs.org/policy/MAHA-...

Do you have recipe books with annotations and stains on the most popular pages? Me too, and so does the University of Manchester. Except their recipe books are medieval medical manuals. @bethanyhalford.bsky.social for @cenmag.bsky.social 🧪 #chemsky cen.acs.org/analytical-c...

Just as the page of a preferred pie crust recipe bears traces of flour and butter, the pages of two German medical manuals from 1531 hold traces of the ingredients used by medicine makers, a proteomic analysis from @stefanhanss.bsky.social and coworkers reveals cen.acs.org/analytical-c...

Bitopertin was once a failed drug candidate gathering dust in Roche's portfolio. Thanks to work from Disc Medicine, FDA could soon approve it to treat a rare blood disorder. Read @rowanwalrath.bsky.social's excellent story in @cenmag.bsky.social.

Monet, Munch, and Pissarro all used emerald green paint made from copper acetoarsenite pigment. Chemists have discovered that this pigment breaks down via two distinct chemical pathways. My latest for @cenmag.bsky.social cen.acs.org/analytical-c...

Hey #chemsky - it's time to vote for your favorite molecule in @cenmag.bsky.social's Molecule of the Year contest (curated by the amazing @bribarbu.bsky.social). Some strong candidates in here. I'm excited to see which molecule will win. cen.acs.org/synthesis/Mo...

Personal opinion that I am proud to have managed to get through as the lede of this story: differentiating between diastereomers is better left to chemists than Congress. cen.acs.org/biological-c...

Friends, what is the best text/reference about dementia in old age available? Please RT, serious responses only please - thank you! 🧪

There’s a lot of historically and culturally significant stuff captured on audio (and video) tape. But tapes are mass-market items that weren’t made with long-term archiving in mind. My latest for @cenmag.bsky.social explores the chemistry involved in preserving them: cen.acs.org/analytical-c...

Sam, stealer of the office chair, who I inherited from my mother in 2017 when he was 19 years old. Gone since 2019.

I love a good complex natural product. This one has two α-tropolones, 10 asymmetric stereocenters, and a a labile hemiketal. After a longstanding effort, chemists in Seth Herzon's lab have made (–)-gukulenin A. My latest for @cenmag.bsky.social cen.acs.org/synthesis/me...

Shiru, one of C&EN's #10StartupsToWatch, uses artificial intelligence to discover proteins for food ingredients and other applications. cen.acs.org/business/foo... #chemsky 🧪

In the world of proteins that drive cancer, Ras proteins and PI3Kα are major players. Several companies are developing molecules that break up this protein power couple. My latest short news feature for @cenmag.bsky.social cen.acs.org/biological-c...

Atropisomers are popular as chiral ligands and have been showing up in drugs and drug candidates. Making just one atropisomer isn’t trivial, though. That could change, thanks to @alisonnarayan.bsky.social and @narayanlab.bsky.social. My latest for @cenmag.bsky.social cen.acs.org/synthesis/bi...

Sharing @cenmag.bsky.social's Holiday gift ideas with the new collage art cen.acs.org/business/con...

Have a bit of #holiday #FridayFun with the 2025 #Newscripts Gift Guide in @cenmag.bsky.social. Find a chemistry-themed gift for the scientist on your list. #chemsky cen.acs.org/business/con...

Blue light special 🔵!

With chocolate prices on the rise, perhaps you're giving out gummies this Halloween. @mannyfoxmorone.bsky.social has the all the squishy details about what makes gummies so gummable.

I love it when there's advances in chemistry that involve stuff you learn about in high school.

#chemsky - Is there interest in a longer piece about all the research happening in this area?

It's been a big year for chemists trying to turn PTFE (better know as Teflon) into something that won't hang out in a landfill for 1,000 years. The latest development in this area uses chunks of sodium metal. My latest for @cenmag.bsky.social cen.acs.org/materials/po...

Turns out, boron-based heterocycles are anything but boring! In fact, some of them are pretty magical...1,2-oxaborines, for example, can be used as precursors to 11(!) other ring systems! Read more in my latest for @cenmag.bsky.social cen.acs.org/synthesis/sh...

When my colleague @maxhenrybarnhart.bsky.social told us he was going to get dengue, I wasn't sure he was thinking clearly (or if @cenmag.bsky.social was paying him enough). But his interesting piece on clinical trials shows he was onto a good story. cen.acs.org/pharmaceutic...

Behold the biological beauty of the naked mole rat. These rodents live around 37 years—10 times as long as their relatives of similar size. Scientists have identified one of the molecular mechanisms that gives these wrinkly darlings longevity. For @cenmag.bsky.social cen.acs.org/biological-c...

Does Dolly Parton read Terry Pratchett? Is she this world's Granny Weatherwax?

For the October #Newscripts, @cenmag.bsky.social's David Padgham wrote a meditation on how science is helping cyclists slide and stick. cen.acs.org/materials/Sl...

The @cenmag.bsky.social science team was up early this morning to report on this year's #ChemNobel. Check out Prachi Patel's excellent story on the prize.

John Clarke, Michel H. Devoret, and John M. Martinis have won the 2025 #NobelPrize in Physics for experiments that revealed quantum behavior in electrical circuits, showing that even systems made of billions of atoms can obey the strange laws of the quantum world: cen.acs.org/people/nobel... 🧪

Nobel week is basically the super bowl for science journalists, and @sarahbraner.bsky.social (with @laurahowes.bsky.social & @maxhenrybarnhart.bsky.social) gave us a strong opening play with their coverage of the med+physio prize! (did i get the sports metaphor right?)

#NobelPrize week starts tomorrow & the #chemnobel is Wednesday… used to be so much Nobel chat on Tw*tter, but that is not replicated here, alas. Anyway, for the record, I think MOFs will win at some point (maybe this year maybe not). Balasubramanian & Klenerman a good bet for next-gen sequencing too

Hey #ChemSky - I'm putting together the #Newscripts holiday gift guide for @cenmag.bsky.social. Have you given or received a great chemistry-themed gift recently? I'd love to know about it and maybe include it on our list. Here's last year's guide for ideas: cen.acs.org/business/con...

What grinds my gears is that US-born scientists can almost always get a job in the US. But this administration put a ton of scientists out of work. Andddd now they will most likely get snapped up foreign (OUS) companies. Everything is dumb.

Lots of chemists work in the US on H-1B visas. The new $100,000 fee is likely to prevent many brilliant scientists from coming here, which would be a huge loss. My latest for @cenmag.bsky.social cen.acs.org/careers/empl...

Instead of the promised "answer to autism," Trump offered families distorted science, false hope, and dangerous medical advice. My latest @opinion.bloomberg.com (gift link):

The #IgNobel Prizes were awarded last night. I hope this inspires scientists to paint more animals with zebra stripes, like squirrels and kangaroo. You can read about the Biology Ig Nobel (in which cows got the zebra treatment) in my latest for @cenmag.bsky.social. cen.acs.org/education/sc...

Art and science collide on the canvas in this Jackson Pollock painting mystery I wrote about for @cenmag.bsky.social cen.acs.org/analytical-c...

There are just two atomic tweaks that differentiate islatravir from MK-8527, but Merck & Co. scientists had to make hundreds of molecules to find the best one for their HIV PrEP candidate. My latest for @cenmag.bsky.social: cen.acs.org/pharmaceutic...