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David K Smith @professor-dave.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

Today in his school cooking lesson the 13yo made Thai red curry with rice for our tea. We put some supermarket peawn toast and sweet chilli sauce on the side. #SpecialEducation

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David K Smith @professor-dave.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

As ever the devil will be in the detail of implementation.

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David K Smith @professor-dave.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

UK report recommends prioritisation on autism and ADHD waiting lists so that the most complex cases with the highest needs get prioritised first, saying it is not acceptable that kids with such high needs have to wait over 3 years to be seen. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

bbc.co.uk

ADHD and autism at risk of over-diagnosis, says government review

The review, which focuses on younger people, warned there was a risk society was moving from an era of under-diagnosis to over-diagnosis.

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David K Smith @professor-dave.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

I suspect they have awarded the 'discovery' of the reactions and not extended recognition to the full theiretical understanding. If so, this is fair, but still a missed opportunity.

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David K Smith @professor-dave.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

I understand the award is for the 'discovery' of these type of reactions, and then, yes, Kagan and Soai are the two. But it is still a missed opportunity to fold in the full theoretical/physical organic understanding of these prcesses.

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David K Smith @professor-dave.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

A bit surprised by the Kagan/Soai Nobel Prize. Definitely a missed opportunity for Donna Blackmond to be recognised for her outstanding work on understanding the physical organic chemistry and mathematical detail of these processes. What could it possibly be about HER that meant SHE got overlooked?

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David K Smith @professor-dave.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

My tip for the Chemistry Nobel Prize? Lipid nanoparticle technology (as used to deliver the mRNA in the Pfizer/Moderna Covid vaccines). Cullis/Langer/Felgner #ChemNobel #ChemistryNobel

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David K Smith @professor-dave.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Bavette Steak with Chimichurri Sometimes, I need an indulgent dinner just for me. With a large glass of Malbec. #Foodie #FoodSky

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David K Smith @professor-dave.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Being able to go to laserzone is a nice bonus of having a 13yo - its a guilty pleasure of mine.

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David K Smith @professor-dave.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Roast Pork Belly / Crackling / Roast Potatoes / Stuffing / Buttered Leeks / Roast Fennel / Broad Beans & Smoked Bacon / Pan-Juice Gravy with Lemon / Apple Sauce #SundayDinner #EnglishFood #HomeCooking

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David K Smith @professor-dave.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Fireball and Raptor in the house at Laser Zone! He's getting closer to beating me!

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David K Smith @professor-dave.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

When push comes to shove if you have young kids (probably aged in your 30s) and slready have an individual salary >100k then you're doing much more than ok!

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David K Smith @professor-dave.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

I mean there should be a taper to avoid edge, but if you tip over £100k, just use a pension to keep your salary below the threshold. People on that sort of salary can easily arrange it. In any case it only applies for a few years while your kids are very little. No reason to hand out more money.

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David K Smith @professor-dave.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

We had the therapy alpacas - they often go into old people's homes and dementia care settings, as well as doing lots of work with kids with additional needs - so they were very cuddly.

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David K Smith @professor-dave.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

We're the party of welfare cuts, unless you earn over £100,000, when we will give you more free stuff for your kids, funded by other taxpayers. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

bbc.co.uk

Conservatives pledge to scrap £100,000 childcare 'cliff edge'

Party leader Kemi Badenoch tells the BBC that she wants to see "people who work harder" not getting punished for doing so.

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David K Smith @professor-dave.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

After a difficult week, an alpaca trek at Butterwick Alpaca Retreat was just the tonic.

The 13yo stroking his alpaca to keep chill

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David K Smith @professor-dave.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

'Outwith the scope of our discussions' 'Outwith my experience' Etc

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David K Smith @professor-dave.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Finished reading this book last night. Narratively it's quite simple, but it's a masterclass in how an author can sometimes create more with less. The writing is beautiful - I devoured it. @keirangoddard www.amazon.co.uk/See-Building...

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David K Smith @professor-dave.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

The difference with an electron microscope is that it always has to be 'driven' and samples fabricated. It is not, in itself, capable of any sort of discovery step. AlphaFold fundamentally is, and indeed, that capability, and its impact in protein science, is what was receiving the Nobel.

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David K Smith @professor-dave.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Will future AIs look back on the fact AlphaFold was overlooked for recognition in the same way many of us look at students who did all the work being overlooked for the Nobel, which was given to their supervisor instead (e.g. Jocelyn Joyce Burnell who should clearly have a Nobel for pulsars)?

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David K Smith @professor-dave.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

I was reflecting on that. If AI is just a tool then you are correct. But once an AI model has been built, it can essentially run with no further specialist input. Is it then still just a tool? Will we always acknowledge the person who codes, or prompts, an AI as responsible for its outputs?

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David K Smith @professor-dave.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Sweet Sour Tofu Yaki Udon So easy, so tasty. Stir fry whatever you want (chicken, tofu, prawns, beef, veg..) Mix 3tbsp mirin, 2tbsp honey, 2tbsp red miso, 1tbsp rice wine vinegar, 2tsp sesame oil Add to stir fry Add cooked noodles Stir, mix, serve #Foodie #FoodSky #HomeCooking #JapaneseFood

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David K Smith @professor-dave.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Nobel Prize 'for computational protein design and protein structure prediction'.

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David K Smith @professor-dave.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Yes. But it was what the AI could do that won the Nobel. It was, overall, a Nobel Prize for protein structure work (it was not a Nobel Prize for computer programming). The third prize winner worked exclusively on protein structure (rather like the AI did).

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David K Smith @professor-dave.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Without the AI actually working successfully, doing its job (which could not have been done by humans at that scale) and solving important problems, the Nobel Prize would not have been awarded.

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David K Smith @professor-dave.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

"The AI has been able to predict the structure of virtually all 200 million proteins that researchers have identified. AlphaFold2 has been used by >2 million people from 190 countries. Researchers can better understand antibiotic resistance and create images of enzymes that can decompose plastic."

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David K Smith @professor-dave.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

It already has? The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2024 - Demis Hassabis and John Jumper developed an AI model to predict proteins’ complex structures. (Google DeepMind). OK the prize was for AI development, but the AI's achievements were fundamental. www.nobelprize.org/prizes/chemi...

nobelprize.org

Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2024

The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2024 was divided, one half awarded to David Baker "for computational protein design", the other half jointly to Demis Hassabis and John Jumper "for protein structure predi...

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David K Smith @professor-dave.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

We now present this story, which examines medicinal chemistry, ethics, race, gender, and legacy, alongside our Year 1 module on 'Carbonyl Chemistry' as part of our initiative to decolonise and diversify the curriculum here @chemistryatyork.bsky.social #DecolonisingChemistry @york.ac.uk

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David K Smith @professor-dave.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Arthur Dean was President of the University of Hawai'i, and there is still a building named after him. The students' union have petitioned a number of times for it to be renamed after Alice Ball, but these requests have been refused.

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David K Smith @professor-dave.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

In later years, researchers at Hawai'i uncovered the full story - there is now a bronze plaque commemorating Ball at the chaulmoogra tree at University of Hawai'i, ‘Alice Ball Day’ was established in Hawai‘i and in 2018, a new park in Seattle was named after her.

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David K Smith @professor-dave.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Sadly, in 1916, Alice Ball died and her work was taken on by Arthur Dean. He erased all mention of Ball from the work, which he published under his own name. The drug synthesis became known as 'The Dean Method', even though Alice's mentor, Harry Hollmann, worked hard to ensure Ball received credit.

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David K Smith @professor-dave.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Leprosy was a hugely stigmatising disease, with patients often isolated in terrible conditions. Patients treated with Ball's formulation achieved symptomatic relief and could be reintegrated into society. For the next 30 years, until the development of antibiotics, it was the best leprosy treatment.

Photographs of patient before and after treatment with injection of esterified chaulmoogra oil produced using the Ball method

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David K Smith @professor-dave.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Ball decided to convert the natural lipids in chaulmoogra oil into small molecule esters. She achieved this by hydrolysis followed by the relatively new method of Fischer esterification (see Scheme). This created a formulation that could be dispersed in water and was suitable for injection.

Ball method for preparation of injectable chaulmoogra esters

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David K Smith @professor-dave.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

In 1915, Alice Ball developed a project to turn the Chaulmoogra plant into an effective leprosy treatment. The viscous oil had been used as a traditional remedy in South East Asia, rubbed on sores. However, it was poorly effective and difficult to administer. If taken orally it made people vomit.

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David K Smith @professor-dave.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Alice Ball was born in Seattle in 1892 where her family were prominent members of the African American community. Her 1914 paper in @jacs.acspublications.org on benzoylation reactions made her one of the first Black American women to publish in a major chemistry journal.

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David K Smith @professor-dave.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

One of the most interesting biographies I discovered during my #DecolonisingChemistry project for the @chemistryatyork.bsky.social curriculum was that of Alice Ball a black chemist, whose leprosy treatment, using carbonyl chemistry to build on traditional medicine, was stolen by a male colleague.

Portrait of Alice Ball including images of the Chaulmoogra plant and its conversion into a leprosy treatment.

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David K Smith @professor-dave.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

American ACS reviewers have more than once commented on my 'poor English' and asked for it to be proof-read by a native speaker.

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David K Smith @professor-dave.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Chicken Poppa Chipchos French fries / leftover Indian-roast chicken / poppadom shards / sliced red pepper / sliced spring onion / crispy fried onions / mango chutney / mayo / sriracha Perfect junk food at home! Recipes: www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0DWLYCR96 #Foodie #FoodSky #HomeCooking

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David K Smith @professor-dave.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

All men, bar the woman in 1/3 share of 10th place. May have been better to ask people to vote for innovations/inventions/discoveries rather than people??

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David K Smith @professor-dave.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

I agree with much of this article about the risks of vaping amongst teenagers. However, I am fairly confident that teens with poor mental health are more likely to vape - i.e., I suspect it's a correlation between vaping and poor mental health, not causation. www.nature.com/articles/d41...

nature.com

Vaping in childhood has bigger health risks than we’d thought

Use of e-cigarettes makes it more likely that young people will experience mental-health disorders and take up smoking. Governments must act.

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David K Smith @professor-dave.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

I will also tag each of the stories that I share with the hashtag #DecolonisingChemistry to help them be found. #ChemSky @york.ac.uk

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David K Smith @professor-dave.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

This chemical and social history story, along with other parts of the history of gold plating, have now been placed alongside the 'Electrochemistry & Redox Processes' course in our Year 1 curriculum, as part of our 'Decolonising Chemistry' Strategy. @chemistryatyork.bsky.social @york.ac.uk

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David K Smith @professor-dave.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

This ingenious chemical process led to the myth of the Incan cities of gold that sadly helped fuel the colonisation of South America, and ultimately led to the death of many native people, some in battle, but many as a result of introduced diseases to which they had no immunity.

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David K Smith @professor-dave.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Placing the oxidised object in a pickling bath of acidic plant juices causes the copper and silver oxides to dissolve, leaving a golden surface, that could be polished up, to make the object appear as if it was pure gold. This allowed relatively low-cost production of decorative 'gold' objects.

Imaging showing gold-enriched surface of a tumbaga object

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David K Smith @professor-dave.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Tumbaga is a relatively common alloy of copper, silver & gold, typically containing low amounts of gold. To create 'gold' objects, the Inca cast the alloy into the desired shape then burned it. This oxidised the copper & silver, but the redox potential of the gold means it remains in metallic form.

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David K Smith @professor-dave.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

One of the most fascinating stories, completely new to me, was that of gold-plating. In particular, I enjoyed learning about the remarkable chemistry performed by the Inca in South America to create golden objects from 'tumbaga' using selective redox chemistry. #DecolonisingChemistry

South American object produced by the tumbaga method of depletion gilding

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David K Smith @professor-dave.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Aspirationally, I hope all of our students find that by seeing where chemistry has been, they can then help build a better chemistry for the future. Working in global teams, valuing the contributions of all, to solve problems that will benefit everybody in the world, just not the wealthiest few.

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