iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Sam "The Mug Guy" Horrell @drhorrell.bsky.social · 06/11/2025

I'm currently at LCLS in Stanford, anyone got a lead on where I might find a #SynchrotonMug to add to my collection? I know they exist. I've seen pictures!

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Sam "The Mug Guy" Horrell @drhorrell.bsky.social · 26/08/2025

Finally, a detector suitable for the new SynchroGnome beamlines. A giant leap forward in tiny science. #ROD10atECM #ECM

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Sam "The Mug Guy" Horrell @drhorrell.bsky.social · 25/08/2025

Made it to Poznan for the European Crystallography Meeting. Looking forward to presenting at the Science Slam on Thursday with the help of my cat Rosalind. #Crystallography #ECM35 #StructuralBiology #ScienceCommunication #SciComm #ScienceSlam

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Sam "The Mug Guy" Horrell @drhorrell.bsky.social · 20/08/2025

I don't want to alarm anyone, but I think my electron density might be haunted. 💎👻💀

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Sam "The Mug Guy" Horrell @drhorrell.bsky.social · 11/08/2025

Said goodbye to the @dectris.bsky.social Pilatus 6M the other day with one last #DetectorSelfie featuring beamline scientist Sofia. Collected some data to 0.87 A to give it a proper send off. Not sure how many images it has taken on I24 but it is very deserving of a rest.

2 people, a woman wearing glasses and a man with a beard, taking a picture in the reflective surface of a photon counting detector.

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Sam "The Mug Guy" Horrell @drhorrell.bsky.social · 13/06/2025

Taking bets on if this is crystalline or not. We'll find out next week on @diamondlightsource.bsky.social's VMXm next week with the help of @adamcrawshaw.bsky.social.

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Sam "The Mug Guy" Horrell @drhorrell.bsky.social · 05/06/2025

The electron microscope can't believe you just said that.

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Sam "The Mug Guy" Horrell @drhorrell.bsky.social · 29/05/2025

After 2 weeks of antibiotics twice a day Nori (left) now has a clean bill of health. Kili (right) is clearly pleased about this too.

A light yellow and grey cockateil and a dark grey peid cockateil put their heads together. One has their beak wide open. Both have very orange cheeks.

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Sam "The Mug Guy" Horrell @drhorrell.bsky.social · 22/05/2025

I was minding my own business watching a music video when suddenly I see @thewarningarmy.bsky.social have managed to crystallise themselves. So I thought I'd see if they diffract, and they do! #Crystallography #TheWarning #Crystal #Diffraction

A regular repeating pattern of Ale, Pau, and Danny from the rock band The Warning. Effectively forming a 2D crystal of the band members.

$The reulsting diffraction pattern of the crystallised members of the warning. A Grey background with white spots in a regular repeating pattern.$

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Sam "The Mug Guy" Horrell @drhorrell.bsky.social · 15/05/2025

If this #crystal space group isn't P3 or P6 I'll eat my #crystallography hat. It also reminds me of a tiny allen key.

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Sam "The Mug Guy" Horrell @drhorrell.bsky.social · 04/05/2025

Happy #StarWars day from Nori and Kili. May the fourth be with you.

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Sam "The Mug Guy" Horrell @drhorrell.bsky.social · 02/05/2025

Pretty successful draft at the local game store. Won the event and got a chonky dragon. #MTG #MagicTheGathering

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Sam "The Mug Guy" Horrell @drhorrell.bsky.social · 01/05/2025

Blue copper crystals on a silicon chip.

A black silicon chip with regular etched square holes covered in blue/purple crystals.

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Sam "The Mug Guy" Horrell @drhorrell.bsky.social · 18/04/2025

¡Olé! ¡Olé! ¡Olé! WARNING! Had a great time watching #TheWarning at Brixton last night.

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Sam "The Mug Guy" Horrell @drhorrell.bsky.social · 16/04/2025

Did someone say protein crystals? Someone probably said protein crystals.

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Sam "The Mug Guy" Horrell @drhorrell.bsky.social · 15/04/2025

What are the Rolling Stones doing in my electron density?

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Sam "The Mug Guy" Horrell @drhorrell.bsky.social · 14/04/2025

A purrfectly normal envelope to have slid under my office door as a Crystallographer.

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Sam "The Mug Guy" Horrell @drhorrell.bsky.social · 13/04/2025

Hmm, looks orthorhombic primitive to me.

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Sam "The Mug Guy" Horrell @drhorrell.bsky.social · 03/04/2025

Had a lot of fun at the London final of #FameLab yesterday. Unfortunately as the runner up I won't be at the national final, but I did win the audience vote! Thanks for the kind words and advice from the judges @robinince.bsky.social, @funsizesuze.bsky.social, and @catherineloveday.bsky.social.

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Sam "The Mug Guy" Horrell @drhorrell.bsky.social · 26/03/2025

From now on, if you're not wearing the appropriate PPE while using a Sharpie in the lab I'm going to have to have words with you. For safety.

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Sam "The Mug Guy" Horrell @drhorrell.bsky.social · 07/03/2025

Anyone ever grown circular protein crystals before? Taking bets on the space group.

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Sam "The Mug Guy" Horrell @drhorrell.bsky.social · 28/02/2025

Kili has no respect for the structural integrity of bridges. Just 2 rungs left before we can't legally call this a bridge anymore.

A small grey peid cockateil with red cheeks and a yellow crest strands on a bridge in which most of the rungs have been chewed and broken. They look pleased with their destructive work.

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Sam "The Mug Guy" Horrell @drhorrell.bsky.social · 28/02/2025

Roz has been helping me prepare for my #FameLab entry at.

A stuffed tabby cat with white paws sits on a laptop with a word document on the screen.

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Sam "The Mug Guy" Horrell @drhorrell.bsky.social · 24/02/2025

Even more crystal growing success in the facility today! We've gone from tiny hexagonal disks to large hexagonal rods thanks to repeated seeding.

A shower of hexagonal protein crystals going from small to large with the biggest crystals in the middle.

A cluster of hexagonal rod shaped clear protein crystals.

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Sam "The Mug Guy" Horrell @drhorrell.bsky.social · 24/02/2025

We have gone from clusters to single crystals for this project! Just needed a little bit of poison and considerably less precipitant. Now to make many many more of them.

A small clear singular protein crystal in a drop of liquid under a microscope. Three blurred crystals float in the background.

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Sam "The Mug Guy" Horrell @drhorrell.bsky.social · 22/02/2025

Anyone got any ideas what animal this bone might be from?

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Sam "The Mug Guy" Horrell @drhorrell.bsky.social · 19/02/2025

Yeah in some drops there are only needles, some only hexagonal, some a mix.

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Sam "The Mug Guy" Horrell @drhorrell.bsky.social · 19/02/2025

Getting closer and closer to nice big single crystals for this project. Think some of these might be ready for X-rays.

Microscopic hexagonal shaped protein crystals.

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Sam "The Mug Guy" Horrell @drhorrell.bsky.social · 19/02/2025

#SynchrotronMugReviews: ALBA ALBA’s dark blue mug with white interior and synchrotron graphic is a simple but effective design. The handle is huge and very comfortable and the wide base gives great stability. Size: 8 Stability: 9 Handle: 9 Heat Retention: 7 Washability: 7 Design: 7 Total: 47/60

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Sam "The Mug Guy" Horrell @drhorrell.bsky.social · 17/02/2025

Just one bad day away from beginning my villain arc.

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Sam "The Mug Guy" Horrell @drhorrell.bsky.social · 17/02/2025

Wish me luck, I've thrown my hat into the ring for this year's #famelab competition. Best start planning my 3 minute talk on X-ray crystallography.

Text reading "University of Westminster" and "Welcome to Fame lab". Below this a blonde woman in a pink dress stands next to a bowl on a stool with colourful balls flying about the place. A blue sign behind her reads "fame lab talking science".

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Sam "The Mug Guy" Horrell @drhorrell.bsky.social · 13/02/2025

Finally got done crystals for an ongoing project. The key ingredient was just a bit of... arsenic...

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Sam "The Mug Guy" Horrell @drhorrell.bsky.social · 13/02/2025

If you see this, post a photo from your device with no explanation.

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Sam "The Mug Guy" Horrell @drhorrell.bsky.social · 11/02/2025

Many little hexagonal crystals this morning. Hoping to get these a little bigger in the next round of crystallisation.

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Sam "The Mug Guy" Horrell @drhorrell.bsky.social · 07/02/2025

In english this is how small a rotation can I make and the thing I'm rotating doesn't drift out of place. For example, a protein crystal on a goniometer needs to stay in the X-ray beam while we rotate it to collect a full dataset.

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Sam "The Mug Guy" Horrell @drhorrell.bsky.social · 31/01/2025

My working from home supervisor is very hands on.

The back of a black cats head looking at s laptop screen with a scientific paper on it.

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Sam "The Mug Guy" Horrell @drhorrell.bsky.social · 31/01/2025

Here we observe the transfer of the shared braincell between Nori and Kili. What wonders will the recipient achieve? Only time will tell.

A yellow and light grey cockateil and a dark grey peid cockateil putting their heads together.

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Sam "The Mug Guy" Horrell @drhorrell.bsky.social · 30/01/2025

Not sure if I'm inspired or threatened by the e-mail.

An e-mail with the title "Inspiration for your day: A quote just for you"

The quote reads "Hurry, time is run"

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Sam "The Mug Guy" Horrell @drhorrell.bsky.social · 28/01/2025

Kili has been working hard on some art for you all. 🦜🎨🖌️

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