RFK Jr.’s claim that Tylenol causes autism has no backing Genetic factors are far more likely to influence a child’s later diagnosis. cen.acs.org/policy/RFK-J... #chemsky 🧪

EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin boasted about how the agency is taking action to “ensure Americans have the cleanest air, land, and water.” At the same time, the agency terminated over $15 million in grants for “forever chemicals” research. (Published July)

"The atmosphere doesn't care how many solar panels we build. it cares how many fossil-fuel burning plants we don't," Tzeporah Berman, Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative at #ClimateWeekNYC

Last year, I smelled a corpse flower for the first time at the US botanic garden, and immediately texted @chemj.bsky.social about the skink. It’s very cool to see Mj’s work on corpse flowers published!

My first block print just happens to be a celebration of the High Seas Treaty, the first international framework for protecting marine life 🐋🐋

We've reached 6,000 confirmed exoplanets! I talked with @aussiastronomer.bsky.social about where things go from here. (A great graphic by @unamandita.bsky.social visualizes the amazing jumps in planet finds since the first ones were confirmed in the 1990s.)

Who pays for wildfire damage? In the West, utilities are shifting the risk to customers. Utah laws cap wildfire damages and let utilities pass the cost onto customers. Utility lobbyists are pushing the model in other states. grist.org/wildfires/wh... #utilities #CA #California #Policy #Wildfire

Wildfire smoke could soon kill 71,000 Americans every year. The haze may already kill 40,000 people in the U.S. each year — the same number who die in traffic crashes. Climate change will only make matters worse. grist.org/health/wildf... #Wildfire #Smoke #Climate #Health #Wellness #Disaster

Just wrote about a wild new #geophysics finding: Satellites have detected the gravitational signal of mass redistribution in the deep Earth, near the core-mantle boundary. 🤯 www.nature.com/articles/d41... 🧪

"It’s a study in the perils of relying on the ultrarich to fund science: when the guy with the billions is ready to move on, the whole project is off." Remember Breakthrough Starshot, which was supposed to send a fleet of tiny probes to Proxima Centauri? By @sarahscoles.bsky.social in SciAm 🧪🛰️

Scoop: Business Insider informed its staff this week that they are allowed to use ChatGPT to generate first drafts of their stories, while also indicating the newsroom will not disclose such A.I. use to readers. Details in @status.news: www.status.news/p/business-i...

Probably worth me directing people to Max's story from back in May, again. 🧪 cen.acs.org/biological-c...

The summer is over - and for about 16,600 people across 854 European cities that doesn't mean autumn comes, but death. People who would still be alive if it wasn't for our burning of fossil fuels. - New study with @lshtm.bsky.social www.imperial.ac.uk/grantham/pub...

Karl S. Booksh, one of C&EN's Trailblazers, is a Professor of chemistry and biochemistry at @udelaware.bsky.social who uses data to make the most of analytical instrumentation. Read more: cen.acs.org/analytical-c... #chemsky 🧪

It was wonderful to learn about Dr. Booksh’s work and chemometrics more generally! ⚛️

I admit that when i started working on this project with @kvasquez.bsky.social, i didn’t think i knew any chemists with disabilities 🧵1/ cen.acs.org/people/profi... @cenmag.bsky.social

It so was hard to imagine having successful career in science as a disabled PhD student that eventually I just left. Who could have guessed that years later I would help create a magazine issue dedicated to highlighting Trailblazing disabled chemists! cen.acs.org/people/profi... #DisabledInSTEM

I feel like indoor air chemists might have some thoughts on this story #chemsky 👀

A tragedy. These southern resident killer whales only eat fish, mostly chinook salmon, unlike their mammal eating cousins. But salmon populations have tanked in the last couple decades. If we can bring back the fish, (hopefully) the whales will be able to bounce back.

C&EN’s 2025 Trailblazers issue, curated by guest editor Mona Minkara, looks at how chemists with disabilities are solving problems in new ways: cen.acs.org/people/profi... #DisabledInSTEM #chemsky #phdsky #academicsky #STEM 🧪

ICYMI: My story on the uncertain future of a NWS initiative to embed meteorologists in emergency management centers across the country. The first of these roles, hired in late 2024, was a "game changer" according to NWS director Ken Graham. Then the hiring freeze hit. www.eenews.net/articles/tru...

🍎🍎I love apple season🍎🍎

In another strike against US climate policy, Environmental Protection Agency head Lee Zeldin announced on Friday afternoon that the agency is proposing to end the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program (GHGRP). cen.acs.org/policy/EPA-p... #chemsky 🧪

Nearly one-quarter of heatwaves would have been ‘virtually impossible’ without global warming — and can be attributed to the emissions of individual energy producers go.nature.com/3Kir39u

🚨BREAKING: The Missouri Senate gave final approval Friday in a 21-11 vote to a gerrymander designed to rig the 2026 election by creating an additional Republican seat in Congress, at the expense of Kansas City voters. www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/...

Despite a line in the president's budget request for fiscal year 2026 calling for the cancellation of the Mars Sample Return mission, NASA's interim administrator appears open to negotiating with Congress about the best path forward.

What a pretty crystal 🤩

Citing concerns about DEI, the Department of Education has halted funding for programs that support students with combined hearing and vision loss in eight states. “How low can you go?” one advocate asked. “How can you do this to children?” By @jodiscohen.bsky.social @jsmithrichards.bsky.social

A new study finds dozens of heat waves would be "virtually impossible" without the activity of major fossil fuel producers, including oil companies. By @juliaradio.bsky.social

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...

This is a super interesting read about the indoor air quality issues residents can face after a fire burns through their neighborhood but spares their home

The EU recently banned TPO, often used in gel nail polish as a photoinitiator to kick off the curing process, because of reproductive toxicity. Read more about the chemistry of gel polish and its main safety concerns (hint: not TPO) in my story from 2 years ago: cen.acs.org/business/con...

To sum up: we have 🪨 A cool rock from #Mars that may or may not hold evidence of ancient life 🛰️ An internal fight over whether NASA should spend its money on science or human exploration, and on what planet 🤔 A totally uncertain future for this amazing rock 🧪

Fundamentally the #Mars announcement NASA is making today boils down to: there could have been some chemical reactions in these ancient rocks that could have been mediated by living organisms. The word "could" is doing a LOT of heavy lifting there. 🧪

How can YOU help fix the climate crisis? This new guide I researched and created with support from @projectdrawdown.bsky.social will help you find & flex your climate superpowers: 👩‍⚖️ Citizen 💼 Professional 💵 Investor ✈️ Consumer 🌟 Role Model Check out jointheshift.earth and let's #MakeSHIFThappen!

Cat-ch up on your kitty science and read @rowanwalrath.bsky.social's latest feline-themed #Newscripts column in @cenmag.bsky.social cen.acs.org/analytical-c...

How do you heal the wounds of war? That is the mission of Dr. Ghassan Abu-Sittah, a reconstructive and plastic surgeon at the American University of Beirut Medical Center.

Another gorgeous day to meander through DC (it will always be weird to see armed national guardsmen wandering around union station, though)

More than 85 scientists say that a recent U.S. Department of Energy report is full of errors and misrepresents climate science.

The climate crisis will continue making lightning-sparked wildfires more frequent for decades to come — putting public health, forests, and communities at greater risk. My latest for @theguardian.com, quoting experts from @uofcalifornia.bsky.social: www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Secretary of Energy: “Climate change, for impacting the quality of your life, is not incredibly important. In fact, if it wasn’t in the news, in the media, you wouldn’t know.” The burning West, choking on smoke from worsening wildfires:

Climate change made the hot, dry and windy weather that fueled recent wildfires in Spain and Portugal 40 times more likely, according to a scientific analysis released today.

Holy shit: Stateline spoke to nearly a dozen firefighters, agency staffers and contractors, who said that top officials assigned to the fire deployed the crews to a remote location under false pretenses so federal agents could check their immigration status. www.hcn.org/articles/fir...

Early climate models by Suki Manabe of NOAA/GFDL in the 60s and 70s laid the groundwork for modern climate science. They predicted key aspects of global warming, such as link to CO₂, stratospheric cooling, Arctic amplification, land-ocean temperature contrast, and delayed Southern Ocean warming.

Flame retardants slow the spread of fires but they can have serious, unintended human health and environmental impacts. Researchers in industry and academia are trying to develop safer chemistries and working on next-generation biobased flame retardants: cen.acs.org/materials/sl... #chemsky 🧪

Last week we launched our wildfire series. The first two stories were all about the air chemistry of WUI fires. In the third story published today, my colleague Prachi Patel explores how chemists are making flame retardants safer. Check it out! cen.acs.org/materials/sl...

I've long admired @philipcball.bsky.social's polished and prolific prose. It was great fun to talk to him about his new book on alchemy for @cenmag.bsky.social cen.acs.org/analytical-c...

A new study found that more than half of the world’s straddling stocks will shift across the maritime borders between exclusive economic zones & the high seas by 2050. Most of these shifts will be into the high seas, where fisheries management is much more challenging & stocks may be overexploited.

The Guardian has today printed the names, and where possible, images, of all the media workers killed in Gaza, as part of an international day of action involving more than 150 media organisations. www.theguardian.com/global-devel...

Our atypically awesome August weather has come with a price -- hardly any rain. In fact, it's been the driest August on record in D.C. Are we on the verge of drought? This article has the details → www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2025...