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Michelle Francl

@michellefrancl.bsky.social
2.6K followers 2.2K following 1.1K posts

Latest book Steeped: The Chemistry of Tea books.rsc.org/books/monograph/2162/… Professor of Chemistry, Bryn Mawr College & Adjunct Scholar, Vatican Observatory.

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Michelle Francl @michellefrancl.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
So many darlings dispatched, so many. I keep their ashes in the metadata in hope.
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Michelle Francl @michellefrancl.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
The conversation around this is ace. Wish I were teaching this fall, it would be a fascinating topic to discuss.
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Michelle Francl @michellefrancl.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
Today's reading: about marmorated stink bugs, defatted cricket powder, and brain heart broth. Flavor chemistry! (well, not that last) #chemsky #chemistswhocook
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George O'Toole (he/him/his) @geiselbiofilm.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
Pls share. Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences - Genetics/Genomics at Smith College. apply.interfolio.com/190342
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Michelle Francl @michellefrancl.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
This chapter on insect diets is has some great snarky prose: "data almost as hard to digest as the chitinous bodies of the insects themselves"
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Michelle Francl @michellefrancl.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
Synpathizing with @stuartcantrill.com ... I had to resort to the OED while reading today: what is "lacertilian"?!? and why would you call a fire-ant-eating horned toad a "lacertilian yogi"? (Lacertilian means "relating to lizards, which to the best of my limited knowledge, toads are not.)
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Michelle Francl @michellefrancl.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
Does your life depend on science? Mine certainly does. At the start of Trump’s term I wrote this op-ed: share.inquirer.com/Nf1shA Today is the last day to submit comments on the proposed rule changes that will dismantle US science — and have far reaching effects on everyone’s lives. Comment!!
share.inquirer.com
Inquirer.com: Philadelphia local news, sports, jobs, cars, homes
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Bethany Brookshire @beebrookshire.bsky.social · 06/07/2026
Hello we are back from a holiday weekend and the Office of Management and Budget is still trying to make sure federal grants can be withdrawn at any time, for any reason. There's still time to stop it. www.theverge.com/science/9576...
theverge.com
The war against ‘woke’ could end US science as we know it
‘Everyone will be affected, not just scientists. Every community in the country.’
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Michelle Francl @michellefrancl.bsky.social · 05/07/2026
Hey #chemsky - I am working on a book about women in chemistry and trying to track down an incident about a general chem textbook where the authors made a snarky comment about women in bikinis (and parenthetically called themselves out as sexist). Any hints for me??
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Michelle Francl @michellefrancl.bsky.social · 03/07/2026
Want to know more about the first women chemists? Try these terrific articles by Gisela Boeck and... www.chemistryviews.org/lydia-sesema... (1/2) #chemsky
chemistryviews.org
Lydia Sesemann: 150 Years of Women's Doctorates in Chemistry - ChemistryViews
First woman to be awarded a doctorate in chemistry
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Michelle Francl @michellefrancl.bsky.social · 02/07/2026
My most recent column in Nature Chem (@natchem.nature.com) is out: First Ladies of Chemistry. Who were the early women PhDs in chemistry? Why was the Ice Woman a hero (why is she still?)? Also -aren't those lab coats in the photo wild? rdcu.be/frKkW
rdcu.be
First ladies of chemistry
Nature Chemistry - Michelle Francl puts the early women of chemistry, who were ignored at the time, back into the picture.
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Compound Interest | Chemistry infographics @compoundchem.com · 29/06/2026
Many of us are relying on the welcome chill of air con during historic heatwaves 🥵 Here's a look at the chemical compounds keeping us cool in @cenmag.bsky.social: cen.acs.org/articles/95/... #ChemSky🧪
Infographic titled "The Chemistry of Air Conditioning" detailing how AC systems work and the evolution of refrigerant compounds. A 4-step diagram shows refrigeration cycles: 1) Compressor pressurizes vapor, 2) Condenser vents warm air, 3) Expansion valve creates a cold mist, and 4) Evaporator cools passing air. Below, it compares "Current Refrigerants" (CFCs, HCFCs, HFCs) with their ozone depletion (ODP) and global warming potentials (GWP), and "The Next Generation" options like HFOs and CO2.
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Avert Your Eyes, Pamela Ganache! @pressfuturist.bsky.social · 26/06/2026
Do you read fantasy fiction? Would you like to take a few minutes on this tedious Friday afternoon to help our marvellous publishing studies student Emma Watson with her dissertation by answering a few questions? Of course you do! (Please share too!) docs.google.com/forms/d/19v4...
docs.google.com
Why do you read Fantasy? Stories, Places and Myths behind Fantasy Fiction
You are invited to participate in a web-based online survey on reader preferences in the Fantasy genre. You have been invited to participate because you are age 18 or over and are a reader of fantasy ...
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Bethany Halford @bethanyhalford.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
This year has been a tough one for chemists who want to go to graduate school in the US - chemistry graduate programs are taking significantly fewer students than they did just 2 years ago. My latest for @cenmag.bsky.social cen.acs.org/education/gr...
cen.acs.org
US chemistry graduate programs scale back
Faced with uncertainty in federal funding and rising costs, chemistry departments are taking fewer students
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Stu Cantrill @stuartcantrill.com · 10/06/2026
📣 Calling all chemists/catalysis peeps! 📖 Ever considered working in scientific publishing as an editor? ✅ If yes, @natcatal.nature.com is hiring! 📍Shanghai, Beijing, Milan or Pune 📅 Deadline: July 12 🙏 Reposts appreciated 🧪 #Chemsky springernature.wd3.myworkdayjobs.com/SpringerNatu...
springernature.wd3.myworkdayjobs.com
Associate or Senior Editor, Nature Catalysis
Title: Associate or Senior Editor, Nature Catalysis Locations: Shanghai, Beijing, Milan and Pune – hybrid working model Application Deadline: July 12, 2026 (Candidates will be considered as they apply...
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Michelle Francl @michellefrancl.bsky.social · 08/06/2026
The president rants, shouts, stonewalls, belittles, as if his fury trumps the truth and the big story is Wisconsin? #butHerEMails
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Michelle Francl @michellefrancl.bsky.social · 08/06/2026
Enjoy experimenting with basic chemistry? Excited to read this…
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Michelle Francl @michellefrancl.bsky.social · 06/06/2026
Watching For All Mankind last episode #spoiler #chemFail #chemsky
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Ann Finkbeiner @annfinkbeiner.bsky.social · 05/06/2026
1. Editors of prof. society journal write editorial vsTrump admin policies. 2.Trump admin to give talk at prof. meeting. 3. Editors hand out copies of editorial. 4.Society says to stop; they don't. 5. Society sends in security cops. 6. Cops do their cop thing. www.medpagetoday.com/special-repo...
medpagetoday.com
Video: Police Tussle With Diabetes Experts at ADA Meeting
Researchers told they could no longer attend the annual scientific sessions
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Compound Interest | Chemistry infographics @compoundchem.com · 12/05/2026
Dorothy Hodgkin, Nobel Prize winner and crystallography pioneer, was born #OTD in 1910. Using X-ray crystallography she determined the structures of complex molecules including vitamin B10 and insulin: www.compoundchem.com/2019/05/12/h... #ChemSky 🧪
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Michelle Francl @michellefrancl.bsky.social · 22/04/2026
Trump wants Pope Leo to stay in his lane. What is Pope Leo's lane? My op-ed in today's Philadelphia Inquirer. share.inquirer.com/jA6FfM
share.inquirer.com
Exactly what does Trump imagine is within Pope Leo’s proper purview? | Opinion
It’s a circular argument at best: that faith and morals are meant to direct how I should pray and worship, but not how I manage my life outside the walls of the church.
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Michelle Francl @michellefrancl.bsky.social · 17/04/2026
This is brilliant! But who, what, where is Runcorn?
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SMBC Comics @smbccomics.bsky.social · 14/04/2026
Brought to you by Zach hasn't studied physics in years and is trying to read through the famous Mike and Ike quantum computing textbook. COMIC ◆ www.smbc-comics.com/comic/easier PATREON ◆ www.patreon.com/ZachWeinersm... STORE ◆ smbc-store.myshopify.com
4-panel SMBC comic update. A woman is teaching a man sitting at a desk. The man says "I get it! You write (equation)* and that tells you the superposition is some amount in the 0 direction and some amount in the 1 direction." The woman replies "now that you've got it, we'll use this easier form" and proceeds to write a much longer equation on the board. The man then says "this is why people become chemists" to which the teacher replies "do not use the c-word in my presence"

*equation won't copy properly in the alt-text.
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Michelle Francl @michellefrancl.bsky.social · 09/04/2026
Is this the first time Klingon has been used in a science journal? My latest @natchem.nature.com Thesis opens and closes in Klingon and looks at the language barriers in science. Chemists have tinkered with synthetic languages before! rdcu.be/fczV7 #chemsky
upper right stack of dictionaries, upper left a wooden molecular model, bottom left a model onto of an open Klingon dictionary
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Michelle Francl @michellefrancl.bsky.social · 02/04/2026
Talking water, the universe, and a bit about tea.
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Michelle Francl @michellefrancl.bsky.social · 25/03/2026
I ran 15 years of my own against a list of word "tells" for AI, will my esoteric vocabulary and my love of the em dash be my undoing? And yes, my writing was part of the training sets.
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Sarah McAnulty, Ph.D. @sarahmackattack.bsky.social · 16/03/2026
Attention Science Communicators! We are conducting a survey on the landscape of science communication & need your help gathering experiences. Please send this to #SciComm ppl you know. We want to get as thorough a sense of the state of the field as we can. umiami.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_...
A block of text that says "Scientists at the University of Miami are carrying out a research study on trends in the field of science communication. 

For this survey we are defining science communication as work that is done: 

• by a technical subject area expert in some field related to science, technology, engineering, or mathematics, 
• outside of classroom settings 
• aimed at the public 

If you are 18 years of age or older and work or recently worked in this field (full-time, part-time, or as a side project), please click the link below to complete a short survey. If you are interested in learning more about this research study, please e-mail us at Julia.wester@miami.edu. In the body of your email please provide your full name, and if you would prefer to be contacted by phone, your phone number and the best time to reach you. Contacting us for more information does not commit you to participating, and should you decide to participate you may terminate your participation at any time."
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Michelle Francl @michellefrancl.bsky.social · 16/03/2026
The potential of mRNA vaccines in a crisis...which the US HHS dismisses out of hand.
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tomate 🍅 @jascha.ohai.social.ap.brid.gy · 03/03/2026
When someone says „Scientists do not want you to know“ you can dismiss everything from there on. Scientists want you to know. They are desperate that you know. They can’t shut up about what they found out and want you to know.
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Katie Mack @astrokatie.com · 24/02/2026
I'm constantly trying (/failing) to get this point across. If you're a trained expert in a field, then it may be worthwhile to question the scientific consensus of your peers. If you're not, the scientific consensus is absolutely the best you can do and it's arbitrary foolishness to disregard it.
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Michelle Francl @michellefrancl.bsky.social · 18/02/2026
It can be exhausting to navigate the need for accommodations, and it can feel as if you are simultaneously far too visible and entirely invisible thewalrus.ca/how-universi...
thewalrus.ca
How Universities Are Shutting Out Disabled Students and Staff | The Walrus
Some administrators treat accommodations as a favour—and those requesting them as problems
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Michelle Francl @michellefrancl.bsky.social · 17/02/2026
Tea, too! Both caffeinated beverages also appear to be linked to a lower risk of Parkinson’s disease. Caffeine, not just fueling my students‘ late night study sessions. wapo.st/4rUaxwW
wapo.st
Opinion | Drink coffee to prevent dementia? It’s not so far-fetched.
Why coffee and tea may protect your brain’s health.
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Michelle Francl @michellefrancl.bsky.social · 16/02/2026
Qapla' (success!)...I think. We'll see what the copy editor has to say about a standfirst in Klingon!
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Compound Interest | Chemistry infographics @compoundchem.com · 11/02/2026
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... #ChemSky 🧪
This infographic titled "The Women of the Periodic Table" highlights ten women and their contributions to element discovery. A central periodic table marks specific elements in green and orange, with lines connecting them to names and portraits. Featured scientists include Marie Curie (polonium, radium), Marguerite Perey (francium), and Clarice Phelps (tennessine). It traces history from early pioneers like Harriet Brooks to modern teams including Dawn Shaughnessy and Darleane Hoffman.
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Michelle Francl @michellefrancl.bsky.social · 08/02/2026
Somehow I don't think the blessing gets attached to individual molecules?
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Michelle Francl @michellefrancl.bsky.social · 05/02/2026
TIL about Ostwald, his Nobel, and constructed languages - and his fight with van 't Hoff over the language his Zeitschrift für Physikalische Chemie should use for abstracts. Spoiler, it wasn't German. Also lots of chemists with skin in this game in the early 20th century. Who knew? #chemSky
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Michelle Francl @michellefrancl.bsky.social · 02/02/2026
A decade ago I wrote about the improbably named (and decidedly odd) Lancelot Hogben in a Thesis column for @natchem.nature.com (here: rdcu.be/e1YS8). And he just showed up in a literature search for my next column?!? #ChemSky
rdcu.be
Neolexia
Nature Chemistry - Michelle Francl thinks that new science words should have a touch of swagger and a whiff of mystery.
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Michelle Francl @michellefrancl.bsky.social · 02/02/2026
Wandering down the rabbit hole of journals published in constructed languages, are there chemistry articles in Esperanto? Klingon? #chemSky
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Michelle Francl @michellefrancl.bsky.social · 30/01/2026
Adding to my weekend podcast playlist!
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Michelle Francl @michellefrancl.bsky.social · 28/01/2026
And the NYT doesn’t note Trump’s reaction? In a phone interview Tues pm w/ABC’s Rachel Scott, Trump accused Omar of staging the attack. "I don't think about her. I think she's a fraud," Trump said. "She probably had herself sprayed, knowing her." www.nytimes.com/2026/01/27/u...
nytimes.com
Representative Ilhan Omar Is Attacked at Town Hall in Minneapolis
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Michelle Francl @michellefrancl.bsky.social · 23/01/2026
If you develop software for research, consider responding to this survey trying to help understand who develops research software and how they work so as to get more robust support: softwaresaved.limequery.com/611257?lang=en #chemSky
softwaresaved.limequery.com
2026 International RSE Survey
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Michelle Francl @michellefrancl.bsky.social · 17/01/2026
Will tea be next? It’s a big source of dietary fluoride.
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C&EN (Chemical & Engineering News) @cenmag.bsky.social · 11/01/2026
Welcome to this month’s crossword, constructed by Christopher Adams, a trivia writer from Iowa City, and George Barany, professor emeritus at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities. cen.acs.org/physical-che... #chemsky 🧪
cen.acs.org
Crossword: Quantum leapers
A centenary celebration of science that is anything but classical
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Michelle Francl @michellefrancl.bsky.social · 13/01/2026
Happy #NationalHotTeaDay! A great graphic on my (and the world’s) favorite beverage!
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Royal Society of Chemistry @rsc.org · 12/01/2026
📢 Get ready for #RSCPoster 2026. Join @errantscience.com for a live webinar on the history of cartooning & pick up some tips. The webinar will take place on LinkedIn & is sponsored by the School of Chemistry & Chemical Engineering @unisouthampton.bsky.social 👉 More info to come – stay tuned #ChemSky
Promotional graphic for the Royal Society of Chemistry 2026 #RSCPoster event on February 12th at 4:00 PM GMT, live on LinkedIn, featuring logos from the University of Southampton and ErrantScience. The image includes a stylized chemical experiment setup with a flask emitting fumes, situated next to a globe highlighting chemical elements.
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Michelle Francl @michellefrancl.bsky.social · 07/01/2026
Working on a piece about reading scientific journal articles in languages other than English. I got my PhD (chem) in 1983, no language requirement; my youngest got his (math) in 2024 and had a language requirement. Wondering what #chemsky's experiences have been. Did you have a language req?
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Michelle Francl @michellefrancl.bsky.social · 06/01/2026
Who would say this? The same people who blame Ukraine for the Russian invasion of…Ukraine? Up is down and we are living in 1984.
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Michelle Francl @michellefrancl.bsky.social · 06/01/2026
When I wrote my latest for @natchem.nature.com on the appropriation of the quantum mechanical lexicon by scam artists, could I have imagined that the surgeon general of Florida would be peddling the woo? Alas, probably. rdcu.be/eXQL (1/3)
rdcu.be
Quantum quacks
Nature Chemistry - It is 100 years since the initial development of quantum mechanics, and not only did it bring with it a greater understanding of the world around us, it also introduced a new...
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Michelle Francl @michellefrancl.bsky.social · 04/11/2025
Voted!
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Oliver Willis @owillis.bsky.social · 04/11/2025
Trump flips and decides to starve people after all www.dailykos.com/stories/2025...
dailykos.com
Trump flips and decides to starve people after all
President Donald Trump on Tuesday confirmed that he plans to weaponize hunger in America, writing in a post on Truth Social that he will not fund food stamp benefits during the government shutdown—...
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