iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Lewis MacKenzie @lemackz.bsky.social · 13h

First reaction in our lab's new microwave reactor - these are hopefully upconversion nanoparticles! Thanks to Rebecca (postdoc) and AJ (MChem student).

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Lewis MacKenzie @lemackz.bsky.social · 14/10/2026

RE: Hitchhikers Guide media. On the other hand, I think the 1981 BBC TV adaption is brilliant!

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Lewis MacKenzie @lemackz.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

Now I'm reminiscing about my best impractical messenger bags over the years.

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Lewis MacKenzie @lemackz.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

Managed to steal a day for a solo trip to the Edinburgh Fringe - I can confirm that these three comedy shows are excellent and you should go see them! 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 @tpneenan.bsky.social @gracejarvisohno.bsky.social @alicefraser.bsky.social

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Lewis MacKenzie @lemackz.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

@alicefraser.bsky.social I had just listened to the recent Realms Unknown, where you were talking about fantasy currency exchange rates, when this relevant comic by @checrawford.bsky.social popped up!

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Lewis MacKenzie @lemackz.bsky.social · 26/07/2026

Viking Ship museum is neat, but in a pinch you can just look at a 100 kroner note

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Lewis MacKenzie @lemackz.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

Today in science diagrams that go hard - this paper on where they fire an air gun at a mechanoluminescent material!

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Lewis MacKenzie @lemackz.bsky.social · 25/06/2026

This may be in my latest seminar talk, specifically relating to quantum superfluorescence

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Lewis MacKenzie @lemackz.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

One of the best first contact stories I've ever read is 'Dawn' by Octavia Butler. A novel about truly alien aliens, bodily autonomy motherhood, amongst other things. It's deeply unsettling and highly recommended.

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Lewis MacKenzie @lemackz.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

I'd like to eschew the well known examples and draw attention to "First Contact" by Galactaron. Where a band of aliens come to earth and communicate via music. It's Ghibli meets The Gorillaz and I adore the art and the music. The song "First Contact" in particular 💚 youtu.be/Vb1bwxKHX70?...

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Lewis MacKenzie @lemackz.bsky.social · 11/06/2026

New #preprint from my group - using a different polymer molecular weight made our #upconversion nanoparticles ~5X brighter, but the trade-off is FRET efficiency! A nice showcase of our new spectrometer capabilities & a big thanks to excellent collaborators! chemrxiv.org/doi/full/10.... #Chemsky

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Lewis MacKenzie @lemackz.bsky.social · 05/06/2026

Reminds me of the episode of Doctor Who where a primordial form of Satan is imprisoned on a planet orbiting a black hole so that he can't escape!

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Lewis MacKenzie @lemackz.bsky.social · 16/05/2026

Pint of Science is on this week in Glasgow

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Lewis MacKenzie @lemackz.bsky.social · 16/05/2026

The Christophers is an excellent movie and I recommend you go see it!

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Lewis MacKenzie @lemackz.bsky.social · 16/05/2026

Ian McKellan has never won a BAFTA or Oscar

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Lewis MacKenzie @lemackz.bsky.social · 14/05/2026

Picked up a copy of Focus magazine. The article on #mirrorlife is good. The 2 page editorial spread did give me a chuckle though! Our mirror life detection preprint is still making it's way through the peer review system... hope it'll get some press attention when it does!

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Lewis MacKenzie @lemackz.bsky.social · 13/05/2026

Some daylight pictures for comparison

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Lewis MacKenzie @lemackz.bsky.social · 13/05/2026

The Davidson glass works in England really took fluorescence to the next level #uraniumglass

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Lewis MacKenzie @lemackz.bsky.social · 11/05/2026

Not mythology per-say, but there was a delightful 1990s BBC TV show called 'Aquila' where a couple of young boys stumble upon a roman-era spaceship and have to figure out numerals etc in order to fly it! Looks like there was also a book at the same time

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Lewis MacKenzie @lemackz.bsky.social · 07/05/2026

Another interesting #upconversion paper - latest developments for transparent volumetric RGB displays using sophisticated UCNPs. #nanotech #photonics #chemsky

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Lewis MacKenzie @lemackz.bsky.social · 06/05/2026

Updated #preprint on how CPL could be used as an assay for #mirrorlife biohazards chemrxiv.org/doi/full/10....

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Lewis MacKenzie @lemackz.bsky.social · 01/05/2026

#MirrorLife has made it to the Doomsday Clock 2026! Here's my pre-print discussing how we could detect it before it becomes a big problem, and to underpin future biosecurity legislation! chemrxiv.org/doi/full/10.... #chemrxiv #chemsky #bioscience

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Lewis MacKenzie @lemackz.bsky.social · 17/04/2026

The Mendel Museum in Brno was very cool!

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Lewis MacKenzie @lemackz.bsky.social · 16/04/2026

Spotted some Mendel merch in Brno!

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Lewis MacKenzie @lemackz.bsky.social · 13/04/2026

Super anti-stoked to be at #UPCON 2026 in Brno, Czechia! An entire week of upconversion at the interface of physics, chemistry, and biology! #ucnps #Upconversion #nanotech

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Lewis MacKenzie @lemackz.bsky.social · 01/04/2026

Was that a Battlestar Galactica Reference? :D

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Lewis MacKenzie @lemackz.bsky.social · 30/03/2026

For creepy sci-fi puppets, I have to mention - "Stookie Bill" - the real-life puppet who was the subject of the first ever television image by John Logie Baird. Stookie Bill co-starred in a 2023 episode of Doctor Who called "The Giggle", alongside Neil Patrick Harris.

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Lewis MacKenzie @lemackz.bsky.social · 30/03/2026

The beach ball alien from Dark Star really is something. There's a direct line of descent from it to Geiger's Xenomorph!

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Lewis MacKenzie @lemackz.bsky.social · 20/03/2026

More new additions to my #uraniumglass collection - a beautiful set of candlesticks

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Lewis MacKenzie @lemackz.bsky.social · 20/03/2026

A uranium glass shoe ornament - really rare to find one in the UK! #fluoresencefriday

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Lewis MacKenzie @lemackz.bsky.social · 16/03/2026

"You either die a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain"

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Lewis MacKenzie @lemackz.bsky.social · 13/03/2026

Selfie using the internal camera of an electron microscope!

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Lewis MacKenzie @lemackz.bsky.social · 12/03/2026

What's 2026 like? Do you still use clipart? No, powerpoint now has hundreds of tiny people expressing all sorts of various emotions in high resolution

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Lewis MacKenzie @lemackz.bsky.social · 01/03/2026

'Inversions' by Iain M. Banks. I cannot say any more without spoilers, but it is best read as part of the loose tapestry of The Culture series.

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Lewis MacKenzie @lemackz.bsky.social · 27/02/2026

Another lovely brutalist sunset at Strathclyde Uni

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Lewis MacKenzie @lemackz.bsky.social · 16/02/2026

Huge contratulations to Rebecca McGonigle for passing her PhD viva last Friday! A massive achievement for Rebecca and a landmark moment for my group too! Thanks to the examiners Dr William Peveler (UoG), Dr Juliane Simmchen (Strathclyde), and Dr Alastair Wark for convening.

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Lewis MacKenzie @lemackz.bsky.social · 15/02/2026

If Moonbase Alpha and Snowpiercer counts, then I think the refugee fleet in Battlestar Galactica must also count. There are around 50,000 survivors which is a big town or small city.

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Lewis MacKenzie @lemackz.bsky.social · 09/02/2026

'Mirror life' - life of the opposite chirality to our own - poses a distant, yet serious, #biosecurity threat. In this #ChemRxiv preprint, we set out molecules emitting ciruclarly polarised light can be used to identify and screen against #mirrorlife threats. chemrxiv.org/doi/full/10....

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Lewis MacKenzie @lemackz.bsky.social · 09/02/2026

Sad to see this beautiful mural of St Enoch and St Mungo disappear #Glasgow

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Lewis MacKenzie @lemackz.bsky.social · 06/02/2026

Fun preprint title #Chemsky chemrxiv.org/doi/full/10....

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Lewis MacKenzie @lemackz.bsky.social · 19/01/2026

Excitation map of victorian (1890s) Davidson of Gateshead pearline uranium glass. Sweet-spots for fluorescence are 325 nm and 410 nm, emission peaking at 532 nm. #uraniumglass

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Lewis MacKenzie @lemackz.bsky.social · 12/01/2026

Cool new fourier framework mapping the 3D chirality of supramolecular systems - from nanoparticles to DNA and proteins! #Chemsky #Chirality www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

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Lewis MacKenzie @lemackz.bsky.social · 12/01/2026

Upconversion nanoparticles are as tough as nails - you can even use them to tag explosives, as set out in this paper by the group of Hirsch! #UCNPs #upconversion pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10....

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Lewis MacKenzie @lemackz.bsky.social · 05/01/2026

The UK's first dedicated #upconversion spectrometer is now up and running in my research group - high upconversion sensitivity detection, lifetime and quantum yield* capabilities. Please get in touch if you are interested in collaborating! *Full upconversion QY coming later 2026

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Lewis MacKenzie @lemackz.bsky.social · 02/01/2026

A beautiful example of Victorian 'pearline' uranium glass, made by Davidson of Gateshead in England. This is the 'Lady Chippendale' pattern, circa 1890s. #uraniumglass

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Lewis MacKenzie @lemackz.bsky.social · 02/01/2026

Just realized that an analogy for quantum superfluorescence in #upconversion nanoparticles is a like bag of microwave popcorn where every kernel pops nearly simultaneously, instead of individually over minutes! 🍿 #ucnps #photonics #chemsky

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