Executive orders cannot supersede federal law or the constitution. Federal law sets visa fees, including for H-1B visas. And the maximum fee is $4,500, according to the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2016 (Public Law 114-113). Current State Dept. site: travel.state.gov/content/trav...

Immigrants, particularly on H1Bs, are the lifeblood of American innovation. If you wanted to hurt US competitiveness in the next century, I can think of few more effective ways than a move like this Even when found illegal, the mere intent will have irreparably harmed our future

Authoritarianism is like measles: Ignore it and it will go away. I have this guidance straight from Secretary Kennedy. www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/...

Fearful Americans Stockpiling Facts Before Federal Government Comes To Take Them Away https://theonion.com/fearful-americans-stockpiling-facts-before-federal-gove-1819579589/

In @science.org this week @zachwickens.bsky.social and collaborators find a way to do Z-selective elimination using thianthrenium chemistry in a versatile route to Z olefins. chemsky 🧪 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

🚨FEE WAIVERS!🚨 Sign up for our info sessions on Nov. 4 and Nov. 11th - anyone who registers and attends will get an application fee waiver! chemistry.uchicago.edu/graduate-pro...

for people who love to keep a coal plant running against its will they sure hate canaries

Synthesis of Abietatriene via Nitrogen Deletion Julia L. Driscoll, Carys E. Obertone, Liao Chen, and Mark D. Levin (levingroup.uchicago.edu) www.orgsyn.org/demo.aspx?pr...

The GRFP lives!! (due end of October) www.nsf.gov/funding/oppo...

Good morning. After you've read about why renaming the DOD is the sign of silly and unserious nation, you can read my newest about why the world won't take Trump and America seriously anymore: www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

New meme for @levinchem.bsky.social

Go home evolution, you're drunk!

Florida Decided There Were Too Many Children

Bonkers to imagine maraviroc could help stroke patients; I guess we'll find out www.nytimes.com/2025/09/04/s...

Crawl harder, Albert. It’s still not going to do you - or anyone else who debases themselves like this - any real good in the end.

BREAKING: A federal judge reverses the Trump administration's cut of billions of dollars to Harvard University.

Hey, Federal Troops! Welcome to Chicago! Make sure while here to enjoy at meal at the Wiener's Circle, where they will welcome you with classic Midwestern hospitality.

Valued users! We understand that over the past 250-odd years, you have come to rely on the services provided by the U.S. of A.: postal delivery, representative government, edible food, clean water, lifesaving vaccines, and no kings—ever, guaranteed. Well, 250 years of free is enough.

I don't disagree with this, and maybe organic synthesis is just different enough from pipetting, but I've definitely met some chemists who are spooky-level "naturals" - skill levels I could never aspire to with practice alone

🧪 And House appropriators say: no cuts to NIH budget! House subcommittee version just came out (link below). Holds NIH flat at $48 billion. To be clear: this is far from over. But a good sign that science still matters across both sides of aisle. YOUR VOICE MATTERS!!

A prompt injection that just says "shame on you, think for yourself"

Marcus being most victorious! Want to oxidize something? This’ll do it. pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...

The Administration wants to limit F1 visa duration to 4 years. Students may apply for more time from "acceptable" universities (those complying, like not Harvard). Who can take a chance on a foreign grad student? Public comment open. Go www.federalregister.gov/documents/20...

It’s crazy that America just like. Destroyed science. Just looked at its golden goose and went “wow should we kill this? And not for the gold, but just because we fucking hate this thing” And if you tell random people about it they go “no, that doesn’t seem true” and just refuse to believe you

14. If they are entitled to a free pass, liability wise, then a biological lab that genetically engineers new bacteria should get a liability waiver if they release all their novel bugs into the wild. That would be insane.

we’d love to turn off the machine that convinces children to kill themselves, but we can’t really justify losing our ability to lay off customer service agents, now can we?

an appropriate response to your product killing a child after months of psychological manipulation and torture is to take the product off the market before it kills again and the fact that this isn’t universally accepted right now is incredibly frightening

Thrilled to see our name listed among this incredible group of awardees, particularly in inorganic chemistry! Congratulations to all of the folks awarded, and gratitude to mentors and students. Particularly grateful for Harry who has inspired so much of our labs work. cen.acs.org/people/award...

Glad to see that the ever excellent John Naughton agrees that we are simply confused when we equate the abilities of LLMs with knowledge or intelligence. And that Sam Altman is either deluded or dishonest. observer.co.uk/news/columni...

I loved @vermontgmg.bsky.social's latest piece so much that I asked if I could republish it on The Handbasket and he so generously said yes. If you haven't read it yet, please do. It's essential:

Why are museums full of artifacts and stories from the past? Why don’t museums include things from the future? These are questions everyone has, not just me, Donald J Trump. I have been to a museum even once and, more important, understand how linear time works www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/...

NIH: After review, we note that you have a large unspent balance on your grant. Please explain immediately. me: well, uh, yeah, one reason we're not spending on that grant is because NIH terminated it in May along with all the rest of federal funding to Harvard, maybe you don't remember

🚨NEW PAPER ALERT @jeflip.bsky.social / @lipshultzsbu.bsky.social out in ACS Catalysis, feat. my rockstar undergrad Celeste Barefoot who worked in this during her REU! She's applying for PhD programs this fall!! 🔗below

If you're at ACS this Wednesday, come by my talk at 2:05 PM in the East Salon A, part of the joint ORGN/AGRO symposium on accelerating discovery and development!

Hello. I wrote a nice long essay about AI and this very strange moment where we're constantly told we're living in the dawn of a strange new future but the only thing that's actually clear is that everyone feels pretty unmoored and uncertain. I hope you'll read it

This is the best articulation I've read yet for how I've been feeling.

Well well well, what do we have here ? #crossword #pulpcrossword

If you're at ACS this Wednesday, come by my talk at 2:05 PM in the East Salon A, part of the joint ORGN/AGRO symposium on accelerating discovery and development!

"when even the most benign activities are subject to capricious disruption and political interference, the luxury of disengagement is no longer a viable option."

Wait, _this_ is officially a mineral, really? Branchite. www.mindat.org/min-25689.html @mineralcup.bsky.social, maybe it is for you, just to annoy inorganic geologists. #minerals #crystallography

In @science.org this week, Harry Anderson's group finally put their cyclic carbon allotrope into solution. The, well, solution to getting it there? Protection by catenation--have a look! chemsky🧪 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Years from now, @petridishes.bsky.social columns are going to be a priceless historical record of our absurd times. Hell, they already are. Laughing helps at least. www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/...

Wow. The University of Chicago, a world-class institution whose humanities faculty in the past has included Homi Bhabha & Lauren Berlant & Ralph Ellison & Hannah freaking Arendt, is getting rid of basically every graduate department involving the acknowledgment that other cultures & languages exist.

it's nice to know that our economy runs on the same thought process as me avoiding the scale in the bathroom www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-b...

This is not just HHMI. All Chan Zuckerberg Initiative funding calls are CLOSED. The Gates Foundation has no Grand Challenges funding opportunities. I've never seen anything like this. Private foundations have just decided to stop supporting biomedical research.

lol @ PhD's in my pocket - still can't electron push 🤷‍♂️

a major argument in favor of LLMs is they will speed up scientific research, especially in human health. but when they are spending >10x the biomedical research burdget every year, it is very hard to argue that the money wouldn't be better spent simply paying for biomedical research.

Well, this is a huge Executive Order power grab... www.whitehouse.gov/presidential... 1/3