I still remember hearing about Sagan's death, it was a blow. He was not only an inspiring voice for science, but a pioneer in planetary science.

I feel for everyone w/SAD, but I have the opposite problem: June is awful. There is so much sun, light and warmth that I get horrible insomnia.

Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh have developed a skin patch that can detect antibodies for COVID and flu. It’s far more sensitive than current tests, needs only a half-volt of power, and provides results in about 10 minutes. Source: archive.li/yBsS2 Study: pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...

Wikipedia HERO A guy discovered a faked photo of a rare blue gas on Wikipedia. So he SYNTHESIZED THE GAS HIMSELF so that he could photograph it. Yesterday he updated the article with this real photo of trifluoronitrosomethane:

Overview of a good study using cheap wristbands to absorb exposure to chemicals from fire, then extracting them for analysis with mass spec.

This whole thread is interesting. The book referred to below is The Double Helix. Many big breakthroughs in science were inevitable. I hope what this means is that people like Watson become artifacts of the past and decent people thrive in the future.

Curious about what makes Halloween chocolate so creamy and smooth? In 2006, food scientist Erich Windhab outlined the delectable physics behind cocoa-based desserts. #physics #halloween 🎃👻🍫

Excellent and quick debunk of the perennial "ain't nobody landed on no moon" conspiracy.

#AChemS2026 ABSTRACT SUBMISSION IS OPEN! Submit an abstract and present your research at the preeminent international chemosensory meeting achems.org/2026/ Submission Deadline Date: January 12, 2026

Illness smells sometimes. Good overview in this article "Microbiota and malodor..." pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC...

Remarkably thorough work. Just because it's on a store shelf doesn't mean it's safe.

Juan Paulo Hinestroza matches nanotechnology with fashion design This materials scientist creates garments that can change color, filter pollutants, or detect explosives. #HispanicHeritageMonth cen.acs.org/materials/Ju...

There's a really nice explanation (with clear graphics) in this @quantamagazine.bsky.social article of why most molecules in the atmosphere (oxygen & nitrogen) don't act as greenhouse gases, but a lot of the far less numerous ones (like carbon dioxide and methane) do. A great teaching aid :)

I love a good evolution driven bait-and-switch scheme!

Our latest study showed that taste and smell were both found to activate a region of the brain important for taste, hunger and thirst.

If you see this, post a robot.

“Oxytocin of avoidant and anxious cats was found to drop after a forced cuddle. When interactions respect the cat's comfort, the oxytocin flows – but when a cat feels cornered, the bonding hormone is elusive.” #scicomm www.sciencealert.com/studies-reve... 🧪 🧠 🐈 🦊

Nevermind the headline, it's a well-written article. Stuff gets on spacesuits and astronauts can smell them in the airlock. Of course, future missions need to minimize exposure of crew to any toxics that might be present. www.bgr.com/1964842/what...

To avoid toxic fumes that can leak into planes, the 787 may be the best plane to fly. "One executive was concerned “if we elaborate on the 787 air purification & say how great and important it is,” he’d be asked why the system wasn’t available on Boeing’s other models." www.wsj.com/business/air...

What a curious result.🧪 www.sciencealert.com/smelling-thi...

Ecosystems can be put into problematic states by things like dredging. The smell is most likely microbial off-gassing, but for the residents it would be nice to know exactly what it is and if it is harmful. Even better would be a solution. www.wtkr.com/news/in-the-...

As kids head back to school, many will return to classrooms with poor air quality, and research shows that this can hurt their health & focus. Tools like the AirBeam + AirCasting help you monitor the air your kids are breathing so you can protect their health. Learn more: www.habitatmap.org/airbeam

People whose homes are near busy highways may be able to reduce their blood pressure by running an air purifier with a HEPA filter, a study finds.

Odors. Smells have been done in limited exhibits before, but focused on fragrances or designed art scents. I want room after room of every type of odor, good bad weird and all. 1 wing could be flora, another food, then drinks. There'd be a floor of stank, etc. Giant building. Guess the shape.

Check out Andreas Mershin on his start-up Realnose (developing “electronic noses") at the ~17:30 mark. www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

This is neat work, the authors pushed this technology pretty far. Graphene supported oxide sensors are best at categorizing complex mixtures. They are not very quantitative nor specific, both of which are crucial features for sensing toxic and industrial chemicals.

Disappointing. The NSF funds significant applied science and engineering as well as basic research. Retroactively rescinding grant funding is extremely counterproductive. www.statnews.com/2025/01/30/t...

Jerk is a term for the 3rd order rate of change of position (1st = velocity, 2nd = acceleration). It's useful in motion control systems used by robots, in manufacturing, and transportation (elevators). Higher order terms are snap, crackle, and pop. #motion en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerk_(p...

Smell affects our mental state in ways that are starting to be illuminated. One example here: #scent www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/me...

Wine is one of the most aromatic things we consume. There are at least 50 definable scents that can be identified in the nose of wines. But smelling and tasting wine remains a very subjective experience, even amongst experts. #wine www.theguardian.com/food/article...

Cognition is unquestionably a fast-moving area of science. Interesting to see the latest models of cognitive sensory maps.

Fascinating article. #olfaction www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Brand awareness in the form of gag gifts. It is funny.

There is a lot of research in electronic noses, for example: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... Not bad, but uses off-the-shelf sensors which are very _unspecific_. Smell is NOT like vision, which can be emulated photodetectors in just 3 colors (aka a camera).

Usually, air monitoring is done in a top-down way from a national or state-level government. Less often it can be a grassroots effort, such as this one in Louisville KY: www.lpm.org/news/2024-10...

There are reports from #ISS about toxic smell aboard the newly arrived Progress MS-29 cargo ship, which forced to urgently close the hatch into its cargo compartment Details: www.russianspaceweb.com/progress-ms-...

Food for thought: water is a thousand times more dense than air. A human can live a thousand times longer on just air than on just water, between the two options. There is a lot of research on and infrastructure for water, and rightfully so. There is comparatively little on air.

This is a nice, short, simple demo of the classic B-Z oscillating reaction. Nonequilibrium chemical systems are everywhere in nature, they're just more subtle and complicated than this one. www.youtube.com/watch?v=ieh9...

This company certainly has a vision and is good at raising capital. But what does heavy equipment do when it hallucinates? techcrunch.com/2024/11/21/t...

There are endless local news stories like this. Often they don't know what the source is or the actual chemical composition. Imagine if there was an affordable, easy to use tool to tell you what "that smell" is. We're working on it. wwmt.com/news/local/p...

Interesting how old some ideas are. Obviously the technology gets better. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smell-O... "..similar concepts integrating odor experiences into entertainment performances date back at least to 1868 for live theatre, with the first film usage in 1906."

This is neat, but the hype factor is pretty high (typical for AI related companies). tl;dr they use a tool called GC-MS to map scents and "AI" to reconstruct those smells. Problem is similar GC-MS patterns don't mean they smell the same. Smell isn't that simple. www.osmo.ai/blog/update-...

One of the wonderful things about science and technology is that there are research teams all over the world doing cutting edge work. Sometimes literally cutting edge: www.avcr.cz/en/news-arch...

"Cobots" or collaborative robots, have been around for years. The most useful ones can be taught by imitation, through vision or motion. This team found ways to improve cobots specifically designed to do surgical procedures: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/202...

Boston Dynamics is so good at what they do: www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_7I...

More IMTS: Pics of some cool stuff from the show last week. Giant gear being cut on horizontal mill, and a 1m long edm wire saw cut.

Also a beer. #IMTS

Got a chocolate bar from a robot