Snippet from an enquiry about a PhD position. Aren't we all inspired by Errors?

The term "Michael Fischer moment" is applied to public jokes, on any topic, that turn out to be embarrassingly unfunny.

Haven't posted here in a while, and now I'm back with something rather unpleasant: An anonymous "concerned reader" contacted a journal in which a (fairly old) paper of mine was published, alleging several methodological shortcomings and requesting retraction of the paper. I suspect that... (1/3)

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Can anybody explain to me why #Wiley is doing such a notoriously poor job in typesetting articles? Nowadays, you don't even get a PDF anymore, and 90% of the "corrections" mean reverting changes that the typesetters have made.

I hope everyone is getting great action figures for Easter! #ChatGPT #zeolites

This paper👇 is now retracted (with the authors' agreement): thanks again to the authors for putting this on the table, and hoping the "reviewer" feels ashamed... #researchintegrity doi.org/10.1016/j.ij...

I suspect that "humid relativity" is not something that Einstein had on his Bingo card...

Two more retractions have appeared for problematic papers published by Hitler Louis and associates. Journals are slow to respond, but at least some of them do the right thing eventually. #scientificintegrity www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... pubs.rsc.org/en/content/a...

I was just made aware of this. Worst thing is that the cover and "reputable" publisher Springer give the first impression of a serious science book, while a closer look reveals that AI-generated text parts were used without any editing. mastodon.social/@JMarkOckerb...

I admit to being unimpressed by most MOF "nomenclature", but this is a good one! 👌🏼

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Early morning view of the Lichthof at Leibniz Universität Hannover. No #dgk2025 participants yet, but lots of posters waiting to be explored! #crystallography #community

There's no cloakroom at #dgk2025 and it's still too cold to walk to the venue without a coat... Fortunately, we have dual-use poster walls!

Arrived in #Hannover for the annual meeting of the German Crystallographic Society #dgk2025. Looking forward to a great meeting and good discussions with friends and colleagues!

Incidentally, it is Thursday again and I'm in Bad Honnef today, attending a meeting in the "Physikzentrum" (venue run by the German Physical Society). As you see, it's marble rather than andesite in here. #ThinSectionThursday

What may be the longest period between publication as an "Early View" article and inclusion in a regular issue? Clearly, the answer will be "infinity" if an article is retracted after Early View publication, but before final publication. But what about this one? (Almost) 9 years and counting...

"What a year, huh?" "Captain, it's February" 🫥

When I am late with a review (which happens more often than it should), I usually send the editors an e-mail and apologise. Sometimes, I receive a formal extension, sometimes there's no reply. This time, I received a generous extension by 3 days, from Friday to Monday. No reply would've been better.

The Wiley journal "ChemistrySelect" has retracted four papers by the embattled researcher Hitler Louis and his associates. Following J. Phys. Chem. B (ACS), Scientific Reports (Nature Portfolio), ACS Omega, and Mol. Syst. Des. Eng (RSC), it is the 5th journal to retract some of HL's output. (1/2)

Incidentally, the executive board of the German Mineralogical Society #DMG meets in Bad Honnef once a year (they meet there because they use a centre owned by the German Physical Society #DPG located in Bad Honnef). Maybe they should also arrange a field trip?

Happy to see that my friend @filipformalik.bsky.social has joined us here on Bluesky! Everyone who is interested in porous materials, CO2 capture, #compchem, and related topics should follow him asap.

My new #preprint looks at the role of octahedral aluminium sites in #zeolites on adsorption of the anticancer drug 5-fluorouracil. #DFT shows that 5-FU strongly binds to those sites. The bonds do not break in the presence of water, reducing the amount of 5-FU available for #drugdelivery. #compchem

#EAZC2025 ends in style, with a poster prize for my PhD student Jakob and a cold beer with a nice view for me.

At #EAZC2025, we had an excellent city tour and conference dinner yesterday. While visiting the (very impressive) former cistern of the castle, I took a photo including @darrenbroom.bsky.social among other participants.

It's not a fancy bag, but I'm over the moon that we are reunited! Looking forward to wearing some of my best shirts on the last leg of #EAZC2025

At #EAZC2025, this visitor seems to be very interested in eavesdropping on #zeolite conversations (or does it just want a piece of croissant...?)

Second trip to Spain, second time my check-in luggage did not make it! @darrenbroom.bsky.social Please call me Michael "No bag twice" Fischer

This morning, I am leaving icy Northern Germany to head to Alicante for the Euro-Asia Zeolite Conference #eazc2025 Looking forward to warmer weather and friendly interactions with colleagues!

Not sure whether it counts as a hobby, but I do occasionally add observations on inconsistencies in papers on PubPeer. It mostly feels like screaming into the void, but sometimes it can help to correct the scientific record. Kudos to the other two anonymous commenters! pubpeer.com/publications...

I saw another paper using #DFT to study Be_12O_12 cages for the removal of pharmaceuticals from wastewaters appeared recently. Not convinced that it is desirable and/or practical to bring the wastewater in contact with nanosized beryllium oxide, but who am I to judge? www.nature.com/articles/s41...

New year, new number: 130 diverse members are now in this #bluesky #crystallography starter pack! I want to believe I am missing many, and many will join us soon on - as usual: like="add me!" 😌 go.bsky.app/MoRWz57

Good move! One should note that the list is not complete because some German institutions left earlier. For example, my employer @unibremen.bsky.social is not on the list, but deactivated the account in autumn 2023.

Those who are somehow familiar with #H2storage may be surprised to see such storage capacities being claimed in a reputed ACS journal. I alerted the journal more than half a year ago of several things that did not add up in this paper (and another one from the same group). Nothing happened yet...

I, for one, can say that I learnt something on #Bluesky this morning. (I did know the typical projections are distorted, but wasn't aware that they are *that* distorted)

If you ever play Scrabble and look for a word combining A, Ü (U umlaut, can be replaced by UE), and Y, here's your answer. On top of that, haüyne is a beautiful mineral, a #feldspathoid from the #sodalite group. #mineralogy

🍩 Traditionally, the old year ends (and the new year begins) with a few Berliners! 🍩 🍀 Wishing everybody a happy and healthy year 2025! 🍀

Merry Christmas and a happy and peaceful end of the year! I'm no good at baking, I have no cat, and my Christmas drinks are nondescript, but one thing I'm decent at is drawing #crystal structures. For the occasion, I prepared the zeolite mazzite (of course, a #zeolite!) in a seasonal attire! 🎄

deevybee.blogspot.com/2024/12/finl... re @zbmed.bsky.social new contract

Rising to global prominence with negative results? Count me in!

After attending the joint Christmas parties of the groups of @ellamschmidt.bsky.social and @elda-miramontes.bsky.social, I am leaving the nicely decorated department building for the last time in 2024. It's been an interesting year, and I really look forward to the Christmas break now! 🎄

Good advice 👍🏼 I have a resubmission deadline on Christmas Eve, but we asked for an extension for precisely that reason. The end of the year is already hectic enough and the manuscript will not benefit from a rushed revision.

I found #CompChem David Scanlon’s new home and got him to sign up to #ChemSky - follow @scanlond81.bsky.social!

Nearing the end of a long day and a long train journey, I admit to being tired. However, the fact that the structure shown below is part of a scientific publication in a real journal gets me going again. Where is reviewer 2 when we need them?? #compchem #scientificintegrity

Travelling back after a successful and intense day with very nice discussions. Just after I boarded, it was announced that our train has technical issues, but at least I have Kölsch, so I guess it's par for the course.

No blue sky, but a beautiful chilly day in #Cologne, where I am visiting the institute of #geology and #mineralogy today. I'm very grateful for the invite and look forward to an interesting day and my talk at lunchtime.

Better photos of yesterday's 🌈🌈 were taken by colleagues from our library - they had a geographic advantage over me and captured the entire rainbow 👍🏼 I hope they also found the pot of gold... 💰

Rather beautiful view from my office at @unibremen.bsky.social this afternoon. 🌈🌈

Let's start the day with an example of scientific misconduct documented on @pubpeer.com: Non-covalent interaction plots (a certain type of visualisation you can get from quantum chemistry calculations) were re-used in a series of papers, purportedly representing completely different systems. (1/2)

#ZeoliteMonday (...my alliterations are work in progress...)