Sign in

Josh Kurutz

@jkurutz.bsky.social
725 followers 214 following 689 posts

NMR Facility Manager, University of Chicago Chemistry. ACS Chicago Councilor, Historian, Secretary, Web backup; ACS Chemists With Disabilities comms. PhD Biophysics, BS Chemistry. Opinions here are my own, not institutional.

PostsRepliesMedia
Josh Kurutz @jkurutz.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
Well, the #ACSFall2026 meeting sure was a good way to get in steps! Sat = @acscwd.bsky.social mtng+ + walking tour Sun = half-day symposium, where I gave a talk on chem historical markers at #UChicago for @chicagoacs.bsky.social Mon-Thu = talks, posters, Council, and more!
A chart shows the author’s number of steps taken each day, from Friday Aug 21 to Thursday, Aug 27 - dates that encompass the Fall 2026 meeting of the American Chemical Society. All step counts from Sat through Thurs, except Sunday, were above 10,000. Peak was Tuesday, with 16,508 steps.
030
Reposted by Josh Kurutz
Heather Cox Richardson (TDPR) @hcrichardson.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
This is crucially important.
682069681
Josh Kurutz @jkurutz.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
NMR people: is your NMR spectrometer room on its own HVAC/air handler? Ours is conking out, and there’s discussion about integrating it with the rest of the building’s HVAC rather than replacing the one unit. I have thoughts about the whys of this arrangement, but I’d like others’ insights. #nmrchat
021
Josh Kurutz @jkurutz.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
Well, the Sears/Willis Tower is in there somewhere. Photo taken 8 blocks away (12th St / Roosevelt Rd). Where’s the rest of the Chicago skyscrapers? They’re just a few blocks more north, behind more smoke/soot.
Photo of the Sears/Willis Tower in Chicago, taken from a bridge 8 blocks south, over a river. Smoke from Canadian wildfires is dense enough that this enormous building is barely visible. The other skyscrapers to the north of the Sears Tower are not visible at all
010
Reposted by Josh Kurutz
ACS Chemists with Disabilities Committee (CWD) @acscwd.bsky.social · 05/06/2026
Are you a student presenting at the ACS Fall Meeting in Chicago, and you have been navigating accessibility challenges? Apply for the ACS Chemists With Disabilities cmte's Student Travel Award! tinyurl.com/ACS-CWD-trav... Deadline is June 14 #DisabledInStem #ACSFall2026 #chemsky #acs150
Announcement of the Student Travel Award by the American Chemical Society Chemists With Disabilities committee. Text over ACS-branded graphics: "For students presenting at the ACS Fall 2026 meeting who have had personal experience navigating or overcoming accessibility challenges, or who have helped make chemistry accessible for all." Deadline June 14. A QR code and link to the award description page are provided: tinyurl.com/ACS-CWD-travel-award
002
Josh Kurutz @jkurutz.bsky.social · 01/04/2026
#SpeedRacer !!! One of my all-time favorite movies!!! I wonder how many IMAX viewings of this hyperpigmented masterpiece my retinas can endure?!? Go!
000
Josh Kurutz @jkurutz.bsky.social · 16/03/2026
Today is Groundhog Accuracy Assessment Day! 6 weeks ago, Woodstock Willie, our closest meteorology rodent, did NOT see his shadow, thus he predicted an early Spring. Apparently, he got it wrong this year. For accountability, we must find that either Willie has failed or that he needs glasses.
Photo of a suburban Chicagoland neighborhood with a blanket of snow, indicating an early Spring has not arrivedPhoto of a small plaza outside an office building in downtown Chicago, showing a blanket of snow over a planter. Early shoots of bulb-based flowers are poking up about 4” above the snow. The snow indicates we are not experiencing an early SpringPhoto of snow-covered buildings at the University of Chicago. The blanket of snow indicates we are not experiencing the early Spring predicted the the groundhog Woodstock Willie
131
Reposted by Josh Kurutz
Resistbot @resist.bot · 05/03/2026
🖋️ “Demand OMB Release Appropriated Science Funds and Hold Vought Accountable” hit 250 signers! 💬 Text SIGN PYTADC to 50409
resist.bot
Demand OMB Release Appropriated Science Funds and Hold Vought Accountable
Text SIGN PYTADC to 50409 — I am writing to demand immediate congressional action to force the Office of Management and Budget to release science funding that Congress has already appropriated. While Congress rejected the Trump administration's proposed 30% cuts to federal research and development in favor of a 4% reduction for fiscal year 2026, OMB Director Russel Vought has weaponized bureaucratic mechanisms to achieve those cuts anyway through invisible impoundment that violates the Impoundment Control Act. The National Institutes of Health, the world's largest public funder of biomedical research, has awarded just 30% of its usual volume of new research grants this fiscal year. The National Science Foundation, responsible for a quarter of all federally supported basic research, saw grant awards plummet by approximately 25% before receiving authorization to spend in mid-February. OMB has placed unprecedented restrictions on ten specific science programs, including critical Earth-science satellites and missions to Venus, halting them until agencies justify their existence to political appointees. This bureaucratic asphyxiation is causing a brain drain crisis. More than 10,000 Ph.D.-trained STEM and health experts left the federal government in 2025, with departures outpacing hiring by 11 to 1. We have lost more than 106,000 years of federal service experience. Our best scientists are leaving for other countries because they cannot conduct research without funding. Congress controls appropriations, but Vought has modified the Budget Bible, Circular A-11, to bypass your legislative intent. This is not just a procedural violation. It is undermining American scientific leadership, threatening public health research, and forcing critical laboratories to close. I urge you to take immediate action to compel OMB to release all appropriated science funds, hold Russel Vought accountable for violating the Impoundment Control Act, and restore congressional authority over the budget. More than a quarter of our workforce is employed in STEM fields. We cannot afford to lose this generation of scientific talent and research capacity.
065
Reposted by Josh Kurutz
Ben Collins @bencollins.bsky.social · 28/02/2026
It's note for note. theonion.com/this-war-wil...
theonion.com
This War Will Destabilize The Entire Mideast Region And Set Off A Global Shockwave Of Anti-Americanism vs. No It Won’t
George W. Bush may think that a war against Iraq is the solution to our problems, but the reality is, it will only serve to create far more.
868775
Josh Kurutz @jkurutz.bsky.social · 27/02/2026
White noise in an analytical core lab #NMR - how much is acceptable? I’m moving 2 NMRs, and the new space has noisy pipes and ducts in it. My phone app dB meter shows “inside of a car” levels w/o even any equipment in it. I worry about distraction and spectrum noise. 1/ #NMRChat #DisabledInSTEM
132
Josh Kurutz @jkurutz.bsky.social · 03/02/2026
March 16 (six weeks from yesterday) should heretofore be known as “Groundhog Accuracy Evaluation Day”
000
Reposted by Josh Kurutz
Mrs. Betty Bowers @mrsbettybowers.bsky.social · 18/01/2026
Pew Research Institute (2023): • Red State Texas has about 2.1 million undocumented immigrants • Red State Florida has 1.6 M undocumented immigrants • Blue State Minnesota has 130,000. And yet only Minnesota is being occupied by masked thugs over "immigration." It's *not* about immigration.
14874765420438
Josh Kurutz @jkurutz.bsky.social · 19/01/2026
By Barbara Kruger, 1991
000
Reposted by Josh Kurutz
Sahara Stevens ❤️🇺🇸 @sahara-stevens.bsky.social · 11/01/2026
Where are the rest of the Epstein files?
962975790
Josh Kurutz @jkurutz.bsky.social · 08/01/2026
Want to help keep democracy running in a very concrete, practical way? Work the polls! With a few hours of training you can ensure your in-person election runs smoothly. I just re-upped for the March 17 election in Cook County, IL. Join me at www.cookcountyclerkil.gov/elections/wo...
Flyer promoting jobs working election polls in Cook County, IL, reading:
“Democracy is not a spectator sport”
“Election judges earn $250. Polling place technicians earn $400.”
 Sign up at cookcountyclerk.com/work
011
Reposted by Josh Kurutz
Sherrilyn Ifill @sifill.bsky.social · 03/01/2026
Members of Congress: stop posting online and APPEAR, PHYSICALLY on the steps of the Capitol to decry this unconstitutional violation of domestic & international law. SHOW THE PEOPLE the level of danger we are facing as a country. @housedemocrats.bsky.social @senatedemocrats.bsky.social
712256417852
Josh Kurutz @jkurutz.bsky.social · 03/01/2026
Please help stop the mad dotard and sign this Resistbot petition, which sends a message to your members of Congress to take action. It’s not much, but if you agree with the language, this is a very easy way to get their office staff to register another voice saying the madness must stop.
Resistbot petition entitled “Trump’s Unauthorized Wars and the Illegal Seizure of Venezuela’s President", urging people to send a text, “Sign PZWETF” to 50409
000
Josh Kurutz @jkurutz.bsky.social · 05/12/2025
I don’t know what to think of Pantone’s Color of the Year, “Cloud Dancer”. Every year I try matching my paper NMR account applications to the COTY. Mocha Mousse and Peach Fuzz were challenging. But I don’t know if I can handle plain white. www.npr.org/2025/12/04/n...
npr.org
You read that white: Pantone's 2026 Color of the Year is 'Cloud Dancer'
This is the first time Pantone has chosen a shade of white. The company says it's "a lofty white that serves as a symbol of calming influence in a society rediscovering the value of quiet reflection."
130
Reposted by Josh Kurutz
RNIB @rnib.bsky.social · 29/11/2025
If you don’t add alt text, your image is just vibes and mystery 🕵️‍♀️ Uncover the mystery, simply click "Alt" after you've uploaded your image, write a description and post.
0105
Reposted by Josh Kurutz
Ed Sherer @hartreefocker.bsky.social · 27/11/2025
Happy Helium Remembrance Day to all who celebrate #ChemChat #NMRChat
Macys Thanksgiving day parade helium filled balloons are being walked down a street in NYC however the balloons are shaped liked an NMR spectrometer and a covid virus
16213
Reposted by Josh Kurutz
Sketching Science @sketchingscience.bsky.social · 08/10/2025
For the second year in a row, Parafilm has been recognized with the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2025! 🏅
1182
Reposted by Josh Kurutz
Jeffrey J. Hall @mrjeffu.bsky.social · 19/09/2025
Video: a Japanese scientist was attacked by flies while giving the acceptance speech for his Ig Nobel Prize-winning research paper that proved painting Zebra-like stripes on cows led to a decrease in biting fly attacks.
171949465
Reposted by Josh Kurutz
JA Fields | NonCompliantCyborg @noncompliantcyborg.bsky.social · 04/10/2025
Happy Ctenophore Day! 🐙🦑🧪
A graphic that reads Happy Ctenophore Day in glowing pink text twice between three rows of different ctenophore species. The top row is lobate ctenophores including Bolinopsis microptera, Leucothea pulchra, Mnemiopsis leidy, and the bloody belly comb jelly Lampocteis. The second row has three different Beroe species. The lowest row has Pleurobrachia bachei, Dryodora glandiformis, red-x, and Euplokamis dunlapae.
6439141
Josh Kurutz @jkurutz.bsky.social · 03/10/2025
@katmabu.bsky.social telling it like is, giving us the facts on the ground at the ICE detention facility in Broadview, just outside Chicago
010
Josh Kurutz @jkurutz.bsky.social · 30/09/2025
Good morning #warzone Chicago! It’s a hellscape, here, I tell ya! No wonder everyone’s afraid to go downtown! Who will save us from this madness?
Morning photo of The Bean sculpture in Chicago’s Millennium Park, with Michigan Ave buildings in the backgroundView of Millennium Park, showing the Frank Gehry bandshell and floral display with skyscrapers in the background, including Jeanne Gang’s blue+wavy St. Regis
530
Reposted by Josh Kurutz
Kat Abughazaleh @katmabu.bsky.social · 10/09/2025
I don’t give a shit if JD Vance doesn’t give a shit about the Constitution. Striking civilian boats in international waters is both unconstitutional and a war crime. The party of “law and order” clearly doesn’t care about respecting it.
543199253874
Reposted by Josh Kurutz
Ariel Elias @arielcomedy.bsky.social · 10/09/2025
2010: I'm going to a foreign country. What vaccines do I need to get beforehand? 2025: I'm going to a foreign country. What vaccines should I get while I'm there?
172381465
Josh Kurutz @jkurutz.bsky.social · 02/09/2025
Happy Labor Day! Remember how we got here? People were murdered in Chicago and Pullman in the fight give you this day off. @katmabu.bsky.social here speaks to how this history is especially relevant, as federal troops are about to invade Chicago AGAIN. (Yes, *again!*)
010
Josh Kurutz @jkurutz.bsky.social · 16/08/2025
The horror!! 😱 I’m in Washington DC and I personally witnessed a large group of people outside, in the dark, at night, unbelievably close to my civilized hotel… … watching movies in the park!! Egad! Someone call the National Guard to keep us safe from this audience!!
000
Josh Kurutz @jkurutz.bsky.social · 08/08/2025
Friday morning project: finally jettisoning a bunch of old, redundant, mostly yellowed NMR standards that’ve been cluttering up the lab. I bet some of these date back to the 1990s! #nmrchat #realtimechem
141
Josh Kurutz @jkurutz.bsky.social · 06/08/2025
Well this is frightening. I just verified this myself. Sections 9 and 10 of Article I of the constitution are indeed missing from constitution.congress.gov/constitution/. For the moment, the version at the Archives still has them, www.archives.gov/founding-doc...
constitution.congress.gov
000
Josh Kurutz @jkurutz.bsky.social · 04/08/2025
Pro tip for people who need to attend a training session to use scientific equipment: Don’t ask “Can I show up an hour late?” to a one-time three-hour group training. Especially one that you’d already agreed to attend at that time. It’s not a good look.
010
Reposted by Josh Kurutz
Art Edison @artedison.bsky.social · 26/06/2025
The NSF is in trouble. Here is my latest substack post: open.substack.com/pub/artediso... @standupforscience.bsky.social
open.substack.com
The NSF is in trouble
The Trump administration is dismantling the NSF
15222
Josh Kurutz @jkurutz.bsky.social · 22/06/2025
Congress: Tu stultus es!
010
Reposted by Josh Kurutz
Allison Gill @muellershewrote.com · 22/06/2025
We’ve bombed Iran. And dismantled our joint terrorism task force. And sent a third of the FBI to help ICE. And gutted the National Security Council. And a drunk guy is in charge at the pentagon. And our intelligence allies probably won’t share intel with us. Because people couldn’t vote for a woman.
28036864521835
Josh Kurutz @jkurutz.bsky.social · 29/05/2025
I needed to hear this today. Schiff isn’t exactly bringing much-needed relief to the scientific enterprise with this post, but his earnest acknowledgement of our distressing situation and its significance is welcome.
020
Reposted by Josh Kurutz
Michael Baym @baym.lol · 24/05/2025
I appreciate the offers from other scientists to help Harvard (students, labs, etc) through this attack, but what would be most helpful is for you to use your position to contact your elected representatives and make it clear this fight isn't just Harvard, it will affect you, and their districts too
8489185
Reposted by Josh Kurutz
Chise @sailorrooscout.bsky.social · 20/05/2025
GUYS. The comment period for this ends in THREE DAYS. PLEASE if you have even a little bit of time, submit a comment here: www.regulations.gov/commenton/FD... Let them know EVERYONE should be able to get COVID vaccines. They BACK DOWN when WE PUSH BACK. www.statnews.com/2025/05/20/f...
statnews.com
FDA will limit Covid vaccines to people over 65 or at high risk of serious illness, leaders say
The FDA announced it will limit access to Covid-19 vaccines going forward to people 65 and older and others at high risk of serious illness
53767966445
Josh Kurutz @jkurutz.bsky.social · 30/04/2025
Alarming for U.S. academia: “All 350,000 Chinese nationals - students that are here in the country - gotta leave immediately.” - Steve Bannon (Trump advisor) on NPR today, discussing U.S. universities #science #immigration #universities Quote at 5:21 of the 11-min audio: www.npr.org/2025/04/30/n...
npr.org
Steve Bannon praises Trump's strategy, wants DOGE's receipts
NPR's Steve Inskeep speaks with Trump ally Steve Bannon about the president's agenda at home and abroad.
120
Josh Kurutz @jkurutz.bsky.social · 15/04/2025
Hey U.S. NMR facility managers. FYI the gov't docs that regulate academic recharge facilities (Circulars A-110 and A-21) don't seem to be available anymore. They've generally been on whitehouse.gov, but now there are zero circulars, afaik. #NMRChat #NMR #AMMRL www.whitehouse.gov/omb/informat...
whitehouse.gov
Circulars
121
Josh Kurutz @jkurutz.bsky.social · 19/03/2025
@ruthbenghiat.bsky.social provides some much-needed rationality by placing our current moment in historical context. For me, her remarks carry more weight by including dictators active in my news-reading lifetime, like Qaddafi and Pinochet.
110
Josh Kurutz @jkurutz.bsky.social · 07/03/2025
Despite the cold and oscillating snow/rain, THOUSANDS of people turned out at Chicago's #standupforscience2025! Including Senator @durbin.senate.gov and @schakowsky.house.gov. Gratifying and energizing to see so much support for #science! #sciencenotsilence #scienceforall
Photo of leadership crowd at Stand Up For Science 2025 in Federal Plaza, Chicago. Center is speaker with a bullhorn, and in back are people holding signs "I (heart) Science", "Fund Science Not Snake Oil", "Got Polio? Me Neither, thanks to science!"Panoramic photo of the sign-holding crowd at Stand Up For Science 2025 in Federal Plaza, Chicago. Photo of U.S. Senator (IL) Dick Durbin  Speaking at Stand Up For Science 2025 in Federal Plaza, ChicagoPhoto of U.S. Representative (IL) Jan Schakowsky, getting ready to speak at Stand Up For Science 2025 in Federal Plaza, Chicago
2152
Reposted by Josh Kurutz
David Lowry @davidlowry.bsky.social · 27/02/2025
Anyone have a sense of this means no flu vaccines next fall in the US? www.nbcnews.com/health/healt...
nbcnews.com
FDA cancels meeting to select flu strains for next season's shots
The canceled meeting comes just days after a CDC vaccine advisory committee meeting was abruptly postponed.
2141
Josh Kurutz @jkurutz.bsky.social · 08/02/2025
So we’re supposed to trust the tech bros to run the world, but it’s 2025 and you still can’t export a Word document as a PDF without choosing whether to keep the fonts OR the hyperlinks, but NOT BOTH. 🤦🏻‍♂️ answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffi...
answers.microsoft.com
Redirecting
020
Josh Kurutz @jkurutz.bsky.social · 04/02/2025
Has anyone had disturbing problems on FB this morning? I’m finding that @npr.org posts on news articles about Trump and Musk link to an unworkable fake N.PR address, whereas articles about #science work fine. The fact that only select articles fail suggests this isn’t a normal hack.
Facebook post by NPR about Elon Musk. Clicking this article goes to an erroneous site This is the site one finds when clicking to read the Musk article described in the NPR Facebook postFacebook post by NPR about a Trump appointee. Clicking this article goes to an erroneous site This is the site one finds when clicking to read the Trump appointee article described in the NPR Facebook post
110
Josh Kurutz @jkurutz.bsky.social · 25/01/2025
@microscopyed.bsky.social could you please remove me from your Core Facilities starter pack? It looks like it’s supposed to focus on imaging and microscopy facilities, and mine (NMR spectroscopy) is not part of that. I love the community, but I don’t want to misrepresent myself. Thanks!
010
Josh Kurutz @jkurutz.bsky.social · 14/01/2025
Big increase in usage entires this year, according to the very rough year-to-year increase in the number of login sheets. People took a liking to the 600 (installed 2023) & started using 500-2 more (incl. new interest in titrations, kinetics). Whew! #nmr #nmrchat
Two stacks of login register sheets, one for 2023, one for 2024. The 2024 stack is significantly thicker, roughly indicating growth in usage. Each spectrometer’s sheets are a different color, and those for each year are bound in an Acco “sandwich” binders. A pair of stone bookends holds down the stacks, enabling year-on-year comparison. Snow-highlighted got his UChicago architecture is in the background. Login register sheets are where users physically sign in and out to record usage, nuclei observed, sample temperature(s), whether all went ok, and details if there were problems or other comments.
031
Josh Kurutz @jkurutz.bsky.social · 07/01/2025
Doing my annual culling of inactive #NMR accounts, thinking about the beginning of the This American Life episode that starts with a guy on a subway platform, pointing at strangers saying “You, you’re out. You, you can stay”. #nmrchat www.thisamericanlife.org/75/transcript
thisamericanlife.org
75: Kindness of Strangers - This American Life
062
Josh Kurutz @jkurutz.bsky.social · 24/12/2024
He’s started!! www.noradsanta.org/en/map
020
Josh Kurutz @jkurutz.bsky.social · 20/12/2024
Current mood after experiencing the news the last month and a half (courtesy of artist Maxine Thirteen, linktr.ee/maxinethirte... )
020