Today is the #InternationalDayOfWomenAndGirlsInScience 👩‍🔬 This graphic highlights women of the periodic table, the elements they discovered, and the two elements named after women. Plenty more graphics on women in chemistry here: www.compoundchem.com/category/wom...#InternationalDayOfWomenAndGirlsInScience #ChemSky 🧪

The @ccdc.cam.ac.uk team did a fab job with this. Thoughtful detailed profiles of awesome women scientists like @crystallised-cricket.com. Much love to all the women scientists out there today! 💚

Crystallographer Kathleen Lonsdale 1 of 1st women elected Fellow of RoyalSociety 1945. 1st woman tenured professor @ucl.ac.uk 1st woman president IUCr & BritSciAssoc. Elected Womens Eng Soc member 1946 in recognition of “brilliant & important work" b #OTD 28 Jan 1903 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kathlee...

"The main message that came through from the experts we spoke to was simple: it is essential to impose limits on who can see any images you post of your children online." I shared some tips for this piece: www.thejournal.ie/grok-protect...

@boardgamegeek.com For an award you say acknowledges artistry, why are you choosing to highlight a game: - That uses AI art (which surely is anti-artistry if anything) - Designed by a person whose transphobic views have no place in our industry (artist = artistry) boardgamegeek.com/blog/1/blogp...

I came to Minneapolis to report on what's going on, and one of the main questions I showed up with is "just what is the scale of the resistance?" After all, we're all used to the news calling Portland a "war zone" or whatever when it's just some protests in one part of town.

This is one for all the #WomeninSTEM. If you are happy to, could you share some of the more awkward and unusual questions you have been asked? The ones your male colleagues would never be asked. I'm running an event @helmholtz.de with the awesome Michelle Browne for #IDWAGIS

Dr. Gladys West, the pioneering mathematician whose work laid the foundation for modern GPS technology, has died. She was 95.

Bumping this into the Bluesky science feed, because I always forget to add the 🧪. However, I know there are plenty of Women in STEM there who might want to share their questions!

This is one for all the #WomeninSTEM. If you are happy to, could you share some of the more awkward and unusual questions you have been asked? The ones your male colleagues would never be asked. I'm running an event @helmholtz.de with the awesome Michelle Browne for #IDWAGIS

US ICE agents have been using tear gas on protestors in Minneapolis. There's been plenty of tear gas misinformation flying around on social media; here's a summary of the chemistry and the best way to get rid of it (TLDR: water): www.compoundchem.com/2020/06/09/t... #ChemSky 🧪

Funny that this argument hasn't washed with them when children's rights groups are telling them age-gating social media access is a bad idea. But now... I've been saying from the start that age-gating is a cop out on regulating platforms properly. Feeling validated (and furious, frankly).

2026 has started with some of my favourite things: A long forest walk, baking (tea cakes!), letter writing and the promise of some excitement later in the year when I take part in a linotype print class at my local community college. Here's wishing the same joy and hope for you!

Exciting news! You can still enter #WikiScience until December 15th! Upload your images documenting science to Wikimedia Commons to win prizes! 🌒 Enter now: commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons... Anthony’s astro, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The letter writer in me is extremely jealous of Canadian stamps!!!

There’s still time to enter #WikiScience 2025!📸 🌋 Passionate about science? Work in a lab? Did you manage to spot the Northern Lights last week? Wiki Science is calling you! The photo contest is open until Nov 3, lots of prizes to be won! 🌍 Upload here: commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons...

Reminder: Every time you shop at an independent bookstore, Jeff Bezos loses a little bit of power.

This sounds like a delightful challenge. There's a lot on at the moment but let's see what I can read in November!

From finding a "universal language" in science, to comedy, conferences and following her passion, Prof Dame Ijeoma Uchegbu @ucllifesciences.bsky.social tells BBC World Service about her fascinating path to becoming a pioneer of pharmaceutical nanoscience and champion for race equality

On National Poetry Day, the greatest poem I have ever read

One of my favourite things in the world is sitting down to write a letter. It starts with so much possibility and elements of theatre (selecting the pen/paper, considering the story to tell) and then slowly centres on the person you write to. Given I upgraded to wax seals, the final act is 🔥 too.

This prefix caused much entertainment when we did 'Project M'. No, no I did not name a project after myself. It is M FOR THE THOUSAND SAMPLES!!! Speaking of which, our school and teacher scientists are AWESOME and you can read about our work @crystengcomm.rsc.org 🧪 pubs.rsc.org/en/content/a...

Dodgy/Predatory conferences get a direct delete in my inbox, but they do get a special side eye for being in such exciting places that I have not been to. A beautiful island in Greece! Japan! Singapore! They know full well the only reason we would even consider going is because of the location 🧪.

Happy Pride month, all! Way back in 2018 I made these galaxy pride flags. They were shared many thousands of times, featured on Vice, and even made their way onto book covers and into video games. Here are the original ones I created (in no particular order!) so Bluesky can have them too. 💙

10 years ago, Ireland voted YES. 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ A landslide 62% stood for love, dignity, and equality, making us the first country in the world to legalise same-sex marriage by vote 🌈 Marking that moment with #WikiLovesPride 🌈10 days to go til the photo contest that documents queer life tinyurl.com/msx48sbx

Today is #IDAHOBIT2025. The theme this year is "The Power of Communities". Here it is in Irish:

Today's protest is an important one. Berliners are out on the streets supporting the classification of the right wing party AFD as extremist by the German spy agency BfV. Here's to democracy and to inclusion that unite us rather than divide us 💚 #AFDVerbot

This was today's absolute highlight from the #DarkRooms. Called 'Tentacle' by @ausgangstudio.bsky.social, it's a reflection on whether the technology that now drives us brings us further away from being human. The combined light and sound installation was incredible, and I spent ages watching it.

I can't buy all the beautiful things I want to, but we have a small rotating gallery with A3 prints/paintings and smaller that I joyfully buy things for. The rotations are one of my favourite things to do and can align with seasons but also with my mood or feelings! Art is wonderful and so important

I’m glad so many people have found my “capybara method” for how to write alt text and image descriptions helpful! However, I know conflicting access needs exist and not everyone can write their own #AltText, so here’s an ongoing thread of tools that can help. Inclusion in thread ≠ endorsement

We want everyone in the chemical sciences community to feel welcome, supported and valued, so we're sad to see some people seize on yesterday's supreme court ruling with anti-trans messages. Today, we're highlighting our resources on allyship for trans colleagues and friends ➡ rsc.li/4j6lojs

📣 We're teaming up with @nationalgalleryirl.bsky.social for an #ArtAndFeminism Edit-a-thon! 📅 April 30 | 🕙 10am–1pm |📍 Nat. Gallery of Ireland Help amplify the voices of underrepresented womxn artists on Wikipedia 🎨✨ 🔗 Sign up info: wikimedia.ie/2025/04/16/w... #artandfeminism #wikimedia

fucking hell. so much love and solidarity to my trans friends and community in the UK.

I am due to do a presentation on AI for parents of secondary school students next week and am curious, what do parents want to know about?

Today was a great day. I got to listen to Florence Horicks from @ulbruxelles.bsky.social, who shared beautiful work on prioritising and maximising value for cancer patients for the @ecsa.ngo Empowerment, Inclusiveness and Equity working group.

I just saw a shampoo commercial that advertised that it contained “more than a trillion molecules” and I’m so mad that not enough people know how big Avogadro’s number is.

Mary Oliver hat immer recht. 🙏

IBM (1979)

For #BlackHistoryMonth pharmaceutical #chemist Alice Ball (1892-1916) who developed 1st effective treatment for leprosy. 🧪🐡👩🏾‍🔬 #histsci Though her life was cut tragically short, her research saved 1000s from exile & painful, ineffective lifelong treatment for leprosy, & she was a trailblazer for 🧵

"...Arts Minister Patrick O’Donovan wants to make sure that all projects funded by his department...represent value for money." How are they measuring value? Because they did this for Science Gallery, as though the arts were a business that should be cost-neutral, and it closed.

I feel like Sinéad Gleason and Edna O'Brien are serious omissions from this list, but curious as to what other folks think? I would also add Doireann Ní Ghríofa and Elaine Feeney because they have wooed me with their words! www.rte.ie/culture/2022...

Diversity is our greatest asset, even if the government disagrees… They not like us! POC in STEM are here to stay. They tried to rig the game but you can’t fake influence! Mustard on the [Be][At] bro. Happy Black History Month!

Information hygiene request - please circulate & take action. I’m getting bombarded with frantic fragments. Information flow is crucial right now, and every link in the chain matters. This is a concrete place where you can play a massive role in improving transmission. Start with SIFT method:

I'm mad. And tired. And sad. But today is a day that is supposed to be all about #WomenInSTEM. So let's go friends. What are you DOING? 🧪 (* Please don't tell me what you are saying. That's not good enough.)

This sounds brilliant and so important. I look forward to seeing whatever they create and share.

Science communication jobs and funding will no doubt be cut or controlled in the US, but the work has become more important, and will need to become more community-based. www.bbc.com/news/article...

The Irish saint and goddess entwined, Brigid is associated with blacksmiths, spring, and cattle, among others, and stories like blinding herself to repel men's unwanted attention. The three-armed cross here represents both the triple goddess and the trinity. Lá Fhéile Bríde shona daoibh 🌸

In a wild world, sometimes it helps to focus on what you can control. Our Caomhnú #CitizenScience storytellers from Irish rural communities shared their #ClimateAction and hopes. Check them out in our map and video funded by @impetus4cs.bsky.social. 🧪 bit.ly/caomhnu youtu.be/6JV65bKaQMA?...

Closing 10am Friday! 🧪 #SciComm

Cake in a car and now cake on a plane. Pray to the cake gods that it (and I!) arrive in one piece. Let's hope I can deliver it to the bride and groom in one piece! 🤞