In 2024 I cycled from the UK to China. I finally finished a vlog, so here it is if you'd like to watch it. It's a glorified holiday album with some complaints and maps 😂 youtu.be/MdgHZPfivVA

Pocket pals. I have accidentally done a thing. Can I have all your hints and tips for writing a decent fellowship. Nothing is too unhinged.

I wish the Greens or Lib Dems got the same breathless coverage from all sides every time they announced some inane, populist policy, but apparently only Reform get that perk.

Town to City is unbelievably cute

"In a landmark study, OpenAI researchers reveal that large language models will always produce plausible but false outputs, even with perfect data, due to fundamental statistical and computational limits." www.computerworld.com/article/4059...

158/ #chemsky ⚗️🧪

This does not look like “impartiality”. It looks like propaganda. www.thelondoneconomic.com/politics/how...

I wrote something about respectability in dress over on Twitter. The topic is nuanced for me, so unfortunately the post had to be long. Since Bluesky (reasonably) has character limits, I can't easily import the text here. So I'm including screenshots, if you would like to read it.

The Unbearable Slowness of Being: Why do we live at 10 bits/s? www.cell.com/neuron/fullt...

something something political violence

Heat pumps have broken the Sankey Diagram

All the good organic chemistry was done in the 60s in Russian language journals

Very odd watching BBC News talking about the Lib Dem conference and mentioning how the party has struggled to break through in the media like it's nothing to do with them.

Not sure if anyone saw the actual piece that was ran on BBC earlier tonight. My wife, my Mum, and I just sat there with our mouths hanging open. Absolutely incredible scenes.

I cannot overstate how remarkable it is that under GOP rule, US federal health regulations have been captured by fringe crackpots who espouse views that the vast majority of the US public—and nearly 100% of health professionals—reject. Gift link:

Ta-Nehisi Coates has written the best yet commentary on last week's events, while pundits, politicians and others have disgraced themselves in their whitewashing of of this man's legacy. www.vanityfair.com/news/story/c...

My partner every time I suggest going to the bookshop because my to-read shelf is looking a bit bare

Didn't take long, did it? www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Just so I'm clear: TV host says we should kill every homeless person? No big deal TV host says the right must "go to war" with the left? Pfft. TV host says the government is cracking down on critics? Well, the government cracks down on him for the criticism. Free speech, everyone.

When I was a sci-fi-loving secondary/high school kid nerding out over space in the local library, there were no other known planets in the universe outside the Solar System. None. Zero. What a time to be alive. (H/t @astropartigirl.bsky.social)

A grim reminder: these people will never be satisfied. There’s no point at which they will say “we’ve won, let’s enjoy life.” They will always be looking for someone else to punish, to revile, to dehumanize. They’re empty without that.

And here we are, the first book live on Amazon. A "Nobel in Chemistry coloring book" :D All 116 Nobels (3 books) have been hand-drawn and are ready to be colored. Part 2 is on its way, and Part 3 will be released after this year's Nobel Prize. www.amazon.com/dp/B0FRF39YS4 #chemsky #nobel

Our work on the unidirectional motion of a CD is now in the September issue of Chem and on the cover! Many thanks to the whole team and @cp-chem.bsky.social for the highlight! @ipcm-sorbonne.bsky.social @msollogoub.bsky.social @enxuliu.bsky.social www.cell.com/chem/fulltex...

"Who knows were science will flourish most highly a hundred years from now? Perhaps in Japan; perhaps in China. We know nothing about these things.” Niels Bohr in 1933 after hearing it suggested that US science would reign supreme in a few years.

Inspired by the natural properties of gastric mucus, scientists have developed an acid-resistant #hydrogel that helps heal stomach wounds in animals. spkl.io/63326AuOUA#hydrogel @cp-cellrepphyssci.bsky.social Zuankai Wang & colleagues

A landmark paper from Brian Hie’s group at the Arc Institute. The de novo design of the synthetic genome of an entirely novel biological entity www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Either everyone gets human rights — or eventually only Party Members get human rights. Trans rights are human rights. Immigrant rights are human rights. Women’s rights are human rights. Anyone who won’t fight for them is on the wrong side.

Sometimes it's nice to remember that even Marcus Aurelius was like "you don't have to comment on everything bro"

coates is genuinely a generational writer

And honestly Jesus didn't raise nearly that amount of money nor do Christians listen to Jesus as much as Charlie's podcast.

Still the best damn thread on bluesky

From Arts & Crafts patterns to medieval archaeology. These biscuits recreate stained glass fragments found a few years ago in the triforium of Westminster Abbey.

"there is a step in the (...) process which is highly accurate. It’s slow, error-prone, and expensive, but it is spectacularly good at identifying problematic research: that step is called "peer review". medium.com/@clearskiesa...

Aggrieved editor post incoming... At @lsajournal.org we offer to consider manuscripts that have been declined after review at one of our partner journals. We have to be fast, fair, and accurate. It's hard! Instead of saying "no thanks" this author wanted to make a point.

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

Exploring the role of short peptide motifs (focusing on Walker A P-loop) at the origins of life using simulations. Discussion of collaborative work with the @liamlongo.bsky.social and other colleagues. What can molecular fossils teach us about the first proteins? theconversation.com/molecular-fo...

Hi Sophie, here is the readcube link: rdcu.be/eGEH1 Thanks for your interest in this important topic!

My optimism here is limited, but I really hope centrist institutions like universities and major news organizations understand that the plan is for the govt to dismantle them. They do not care if you fire your columnists or discipline staff for accurately quoting Kirk. They just want us all gone.

This is out-Sovieting the Soviet Union. "You are free to express any opinion at all as long as it's the right one, and the consequences for all the others will be severe, and ratting out is an important part of our free society."

AI can now generate fake microscopy images that are nearly impossible to detect. A serious threat to scientific integrity—and we’re not prepared for it. Commentary in @natnano.nature.com #nanotechnology

The free speech activist who built a list of professors he worked to get fired for their speech must be celebrated for his support of free speech, and anyone who quotes his speech accurately in context will be fired and/or face state punishment by the champions of free speech, do I have that right?

FT piece on the decline of Chemistry (from January). www.ft.com/content/563f...

Important news from Cambridgeshire

all the pundits obsessing & ranting about "blueskyism" (whatever that is) will likely say nothing about the tech billionaire whose platform they prefer promising to "fix" his AI because it's shared politically inconvenient facts

Missed this piece of news earlier this summer: AAAI starts experimenting with AI reviews 4 their #AAAI-26 conference. As always, this is meant to assist & be with supervision #OverlyHonestEditor #ScientificPublishing #PeerReview #ArtificialIntelligence Don't be mistaken 1/ aaai.org/aaai-launche...

Yes, Charlie Kirk called for Joe Biden’s execution. But he called for it in the right way.

British values are not extreme, and don't need flags. They are caring what biscuit goes best with a cup of tea, buying a round for your friends because it's the right thing to do, and saying sorry when someone bumps into you on the pavement. That's the Britain I want to live in.

Reminder that 100,000 people marched for Trans Pride in London earlier this year, but because they weren't violent fascists, there was minimal press coverage, unlike the Nazis today. https://www.them.us/story/london-trans-pride-march-turnout-record-uk-transphobia