Years ago, when I began my journey in STEM, I never would have imagined chemists with disabilities like myself would ever been seen as "trailblazers". Now, I am so grateful that the @acs.org and @cenmag.bsky.social have celebrated chemists with various disabilities in this years Trailblazers issue!

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

Did you know Dorothy Hodgkin had a disability? I did not! This is a little taster before @cenmag.bsky.social drops our big Trailblazers package featuring chemists with disabilities in Sept: cen.acs.org/careers/dive...

Researchers have developed a spray that can keep fungi at bay. The nontoxic solution forms an extremely hydrophobic surface coating that makes it harder for fungi to latch on to a surface and kills them if they do take root. cen.acs.org/materials/co... #chemsky 🧪

When you run 20 reactions on a stirrer plate, are they all *actually* stirring? Read @markpeplow.bsky.social's latest in C&EN: cen.acs.org/research-int... @cenmag.bsky.social

This story will likely take you less time to read than it does to charge an EV. Check out @samlemonick.bsky.social's tech update in C&EN: cen.acs.org/materials/el... @cenmag.bsky.social

Nitrogen allotropes are rare. A new one just dropped. Read about the work from Peter R. Schreiner, Artur Mardyukov, and Weiyu Qian in my latest piece for @cenmag.bsky.social cen.acs.org/materials/in...

When is a knot not a knot? Enter perplexanes, molecules my mind is not meant to understand. Read @markpeplow.bsky.social's latest in ‬C&EN: cen.acs.org/synthesis/Pe... @cenmag.bsky.social

See how @laureloldach.bsky.social covers the news LIVE for @cenmag.bsky.social 👀

In 2020, we hoped this wasn't going to become an "evergreen" story so soon.

Nominate a chemist with disabilities for C&EN's Trailblazers 2025! Please tell us about your chemistry heroes, mentors, mentees, and inspirations—or nominate yourself. 👉 cenm.ag/nominatetrai... #chemsky 🧪 #phdsky #academicsky #STEM #phdchat #academicchatter

Meanwhile in the rest of the world, they are celebrating scientific progress instead of dismantling it. (Hong Kong based prize for a Munich based researcher) cen.acs.org/people/award...

I am grateful to @rowanwalrath.bsky.social, @helenbranswell.bsky.social, @melodyschreiber.com and all the other reporters covering this today for giving me a chance to book a CVS appointment today before the bottom falls out, which would leave my 3rd trimester unboosted cen.acs.org/pharmaceutic...

Chili peppers are holding back their true power. Read @samlemonick.bsky.social's latest in @cenmag.bsky.social: cen.acs.org/food/Hot-pep...

Here's a Q&A with chemical oceanographer Sambuddha Misra for Chemical & Engineering News @cenmag.bsky.social cen.acs.org/environment/...

Nominate this year's @cenmag.bsky.social Trailblazers! We will be featuring the work of chemists with disabilities and highlighting how they make their workspaces accessible. Before June 4, use this form to tell us about who inspires you—maybe even yourself? :) forms.office.com/Pages/Respon...

I'm helping lead @cenmag.bsky.social's Trailblazers 2025, and I want you 🫵 to nominate a chemist with disabilities for us to feature. Before June 4, fill out this form and recognize a chemist who inspires you: cenm.ag/nominatetrai...

This engineer drives a water-cleaning lab around the US Tzahi Cath's lab on wheels turns effluent from wastewater treatment plants into drinkable water cen.acs.org/environment/... #ChemistsCelebrateEarthWeek #CCEW #EarthDay2025 #EarthDay

This is the best-sourced reporting on what we should all call the Colossal Dire Wolf Debacle™️ from now on. Chapeau to @maxhenrybarnhart.bsky.social over at @cenmag.bsky.social for shedding some light on what went down... #ExtinctionIsForever cen.acs.org/biological-c...

Diana Kruzman went to Albania to talk to the startup Metalplant. They're growing flowers instead of mining nickel that's crucial for #EV batteries! Read her profile: cen.acs.org/business/sta... @cenmag.bsky.social

SCOOP: NIH abruptly canceled a slew of #LongCOVID studies funded through its RECOVER initiative this week, including 45 pathobiology studies designed to uncover how the disease works inside the body. @cenmag.bsky.social #chemsky #biosky cen.acs.org/policy/resea...

New pancoronavirus antiviral targets the main protease (Mpro) of the two different coronaviruses that cause Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) and COVID-19. Via @laurahowes.bsky.social @cenmag.bsky.social cen.acs.org/acs-news/acs...

Tomorrow will have been 5 years since WHO declared COVID-19 a pandemic. Today, @cenmag.bsky.social is publishing a cover package we're ambitiously describing as The Next 5 Years of COVID-19. 🧵

To determine how Tesla and BYD's batteries stack up against each other, a team of engineers and materials scientists in Germany took apart one cell from each company’s battery pack, which contain dozens of cells. cen.acs.org/energy/energ... #chemsky🧪

"This data purge by the federal government may cause ripples into the research of the future, resulting in less-robust studies or even a lack of studies on a subject with missing data." Story by @leighkboerner.bsky.social on the race to save federal data: cen.acs.org/policy/Amid-...

The loss of staff “will severely impact research and innovation across the United States, especially for some of those topics where NSF is the majority of the funding,” one of the former program directors says. More on the recent NSF layoffs from @cenmag.bsky.social: cen.acs.org/careers/Impa...

I'm still covering whatever the heck's happening to US federal science funding, especially at NSF and NIH. Any insider info, insights into long-term impacts or just feeling the weight of all the uncertainty? DMs open. Signal: kvasquez.12

If you work(ed) at DOE, Matt Blois is covering your department. cen.acs.org/staffDirecto... If EPA, please hit up my colleague Fionna @fmorningstar.bsky.social. CDC, Priyanka Runwal is all over cen.acs.org/staffDirecto...

Ugh I was so stressed out that I forgot to tag @kvasquez.bsky.social our amazing policy beat reporter. Talk to her about NSF! And any other government agencies. She covers them all for the magazine- the rest of us are just trying to help out as it’s clearly a job for a team

NSF says review panels scheduled for this week will be rescheduled to a future date. Unclear what that means for future panels. I'm still following this story. If you were on a review panel that was canceled or can speak to how these cancelations impact research, reach out. Contact info below ⬇️

All the pieces are falling into place for Japan to discover its second ever chemical element—and they're extremely stoked. Read @frogsandstars.bsky.social's story in this week's @cenmag.bsky.social. cen.acs.org/physical-che...

Before the news cycle moves on, I had one last thing to say about the LA fires. In this @cenmag.bsky.social editorial, I talk about how only focusing on the science of these types of disasters can make it easy to forget that real people are also being impacted by them. cen.acs.org/environment/...

I love papers that vindicate my 9th grade chem brain. “You need lithium sulfide? How about I grind up some lithium and sulfur?” Read more at @cenmag.bsky.social: cen.acs.org/materials/en...

Speaking from personal experience, this reporter has been sitting on this stock pic. Waiting to use this pic for *years*

Just to add to the sad news on #chemsky right now: I've now had it confirmed to me that Martin Karplus died on Saturday.

frosted pop tarts (e.g., strawberry, brown sugar, “s’mores”) are not vegetarian. kellogg’s refuses to replace the gelatin in the frosting despite me sending them an email about it each year since i was 15.

This year’s @cenmag.bsky.social Fascinating Findings from Prachi Patel are indeed fascinating! Really excellent eclectic mix from a wide range of sub-disciplines! chemsky 🧪 cen.acs.org/education/sc...

The cheesecake was divine

You can recycle black plastic (polystyrene) using focused sunlight—cool! Read the story in @cenmag.bsky.social here: cen.acs.org/environment/... (Black plastic has been in the news a lot lately! Without getting into how valid that scare is, just know this story isn't really about that other news.)

Landfills’ work faces, the areas where fresh waste is dumped, are responsible for a huge share of methane emissions in US landfills, yet work face emissions have largely gone uncounted by traditional methods for monitoring greenhouse gases. cen.acs.org/environment/...

When i’m old and gray, I think children will look at landfills the way i look at ice boxes or leaded gasoline. Anyway, another study says landfills could be giving off more methane than we thought. Read about it in @cenmag.bsky.social: cen.acs.org/environment/...

Hi #ChemSky! @cenmag.bsky.social and I want to learn how the chemistry community might be affected by any immigration policies currently being proposed for 2025. If you might be impacted and can give any insight, I'd really appreciate if you could fill out this form: forms.office.com/r/87NQhFKrFh

One reason our understanding of brain chemistry is hazy is because it's hard to fit a ton of sensors into your head without breaking something. Read about this sensor that keeps track of 6 aspects of brain chem and is just 2.5 mm wide: cen.acs.org/biological-c...

Congrats to #CENChemPics November winner Gracile Roxas, a textile conservator who recreated the dying process used on century-old textiles: cen.acs.org/analytical-c... Have cool images you want to share? Enter our contest: cen.acs.org/collections/...

I am a huge fan of Vincent van Gogh's Irises. I even have a dress that features the floral motif. So, it was such a delight to speak to folks from the @gettymuseum.bsky.social to learn about their work with this painting. My latest for @cenmag.bsky.social cen.acs.org/analytical-c...

In February, the US Food and Drug Administration approved the country’s first official treatment for severe frostbite. The drug, iloprost, was originally approved in the US in 2004 for pulmonary arterial hypertension. cen.acs.org/pharmaceutic... #chemsky #bluesci #science #health 🧪

My celebrity lookalike (according to my college roommate Tony)

I got some bamboo sheets this summer, and they're just ok. I guess i thought they'd make me sleep like a log because they're effectively made from logs. They feel kind of overrated, I dunno. Not cheap either. Plus, I came home last week and found some blood stains on the sheets, so 🧵

#Microplastics come in all shapes and sizes, and so does microplastics data. This Ai tool make all that data easier to use. Read about it in @cenmag.bsky.social: cen.acs.org/analytical-c...