My DC people: have you seen this cat wtop.com/local/2026/0...

The tech industry is gutting our public science infrastructure and hijacking the NSF to be their own R&D department. Not paying taxes is apparently not enough; they need both hands in our pockets. (There’s nothing wrong with funding those fields; it’s funding them only at the expense of others).

Breaking Bad 2026 Jesse doesn't go to see Walter and instead asks a chatbot how to make meth. Goes and procures some stuff. Dies before the credits roll at the end of the first and only episode.

Is this reaction easy? Well ... it reacts quickly and gives a good yield. Excellent. Then anyone can do it. It's also highly exothermic. Excellent. Then anyone can do it. The reactants are also pretty toxic. Excellent. Then anyone can do it.

To @chemjobber.bsky.social's point here (bsky.app/profile/chem...) We encourage our first-year students to join a lab. (I've had 1st-week students join my lab). Students get safety training, PPE, mentorship, and an intentional on-ramp, built by expertise <ahem>, for doing research.

a lot in this bit to be disappointed, but like, in the best of times, *this IS the academy* i.e. undergraduate research at most colleges allows students access to basic research quickly? it's solely resource limited? I guess Dr. Robbins didn't talk to many of her Utah chemistry colleagues...

The fantasy of a university that is “cutting edge” without disciplinary basics and does football but not history and produces knowledge first but also profit first and makes expertise but improves nothing and saves the sector by cannibalizing it is incoherent, besides being a project of social harm

My kids had to trial this tech for Montgomery County 8 years ago or so. Absolutely hated every second of it. Literally burned the go-along workbooks as a form of catharsis after the school year.

AI: The Illusion of Expertise VibeChemming

It is hard to put into words how Mark impacted my life. His most incredible talent was in making people feel smarter than they actually were. 1/n

The hackers can have it

Tonight is a gin and tonics ... gins and tonic ... gins and tonics night. Gins and tonics is factually and grammatically correct. So we'll go with that.

Always worth reading this again ... and again ...

Hey chem. peeps: Are you aware of research univs that have bootcamps (à la Berkeley Math for Physical Chemistry) or tutorials (à la MIT's month-long organic tutorial for entering students)? Looking at you @matthartings.bsky.social @andrechemist.bsky.social @geoffhutchison.net @profsje.bsky.social

😬

Getting shit on for having expertise ... Expertise is good. It makes good things happen My colleague makes flame-retardant coatings for construction materials to prevent wildfire spread. My neighbor manages siding/roofing installations. Both are super valuable and 100% not interchangeable

I know that this is topic of the day (and during finals no less!) and I’m probably totally blinkered here but.. I teach and train students who have almost no skills into pretty dang good functional, independent chemists who can think, compete for jobs and do well. I REALLY don’t think AI can do that

And then it will estimate cranial structure to see if it should communicate with the user using big words or little words. So ridiculous.

They already paid those fees as bribes to Ohio politicians years ago ...

I get this and all and I know this isn't necessarily focused on the wide-spread LLMs but Many LLMs tell us what we want to hear. And this seems to be enhancing that? Also pretty stark that we don't understand what's 'under the hood' but are still trying to extract meaning from these things.

Number Crunchers (and Oregon Trail)

Probably some other options for appropriate adjectives here

Very nice. But is it a sandwich?

For our obit of Craig Venter, @maxhenrybarnhart.bsky.social dug up pre-HGP drama that I had never even heard of (spoiler: it's to do with patenting genes.) And @phylogenomics.bsky.social graciously shared remembrances of a complex, but really influential scientist. cen.acs.org/people/obitu...

Keep your eyes open, DC peeps

Holy smokes

🤨 "as good as"

In 2006–the extension of the Voting Rights Act passed the House 390-33 & the Senate 98-0 and was proudly signed into law by Dubya. It really puts the level of regression in 🇺🇸 in perspective: www.naacpldf.org/case-issue/v...

With @janainelson.bsky.social of NAACP LDF on the profound error, future harms, and deliberate misunderstanding of history in Callais

In its latest ruling gutting the Voting Rights Act, the Roberts Court has inverted the Reconstruction Amendments to justify the same racist devices and practices they were adopted to dismantle (🎁) www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

My book is out in less than a week!! I tried to make a video about why you should buy it for Mother's Day, but now I'm not so sure. 🧪 Ordering options here: www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/741329...

Research (of all things). I always type 'research'

Ooooh!

I left you 16 years ago, LAX. You're still an absolute mess

Time for celebrating done ... on to the next #AcademicLife ...

Uranus has been mooning us this entire time, and we didn't even know it.

Manuscript sent to some alumni today! Truly a great feeling

Why buy peptides when you trick your body into making them for you!

The Arc de Triomphe was commissioned to honor Napoleon in 1806. By the time construction had really begun in earnest, Napoleon had suffered a disastrous military defeat and had been forced into exile.

Great metaphor! 🚢

This is for anyone who has ever used soap before, or who ever will again: In just over a month, my book How and Why Soap Works hits the shelves! Join me online for a discussion and demos exploring a most magnificent material: surfactants. www.chemistryworld.com/webinars/how...

At its core, the political economy of scholarship was never supposed to rely on ~$50k from a smelting fortune. Institutions have hollowed out their support, the feds have done the same, and all that's left is inadequate private funding.

My latest for @sciam.bsky.social is all about the real biology, ecology, and climate science that is used to create the world of Pokémon, and how scientists use it to teach science in the real world. This is just about the most fun I’ve ever had interviewing anyone, and I hope you enjoy! 🧪🌎

Apparently its World Quantum Day. Not sure that I have ever used Planck's constant with eV (4.14 x 10-15 eV*s). But that wavefunction has been collapsed for me now.

I'm sad that, at least based on the Bluesky search box, this is the most recent RevMed post. Hello people!! Today's news is a bfd!! ir.revmed.com/news-release...

Lucky me! Thanks, @chanda.blacksky.app

Do I know any chemistry people on here from Spain (preferably near Madrid)? I have a rising senior here at AU (Spanish citizen) going back home to Madrid this summer and is looking for any lab work opportunities. Thanks! ChemChat ChemSky

Splish Splash - Bobby Darin Surfin' Safari - Beach Boys La Mer - Charles Trenet Boat Drinks - Jimmy Buffett I'm on a Boat - Lonely Island and T-Pain Break on Through - The Doors

👀