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SKS

@shawschem.bsky.social
204 followers 170 following 423 posts

Life, Liberty, and Pursuit of Happiness. See research group at: www.linkedin.com/groups/14636114

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Reposted by SKS
Matt Hartings @matthartings.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
"Seemed a curiosity at the time" Basic research at its best. We really don't know what's going to have legs. Do something fun and interesting and bizarre. Fund LOTS of work that is fun and interesting and bizarre.
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SKS @shawschem.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Ours was a casualty of covid. I've been making noises about bringing it back. minimal luck so far.
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SKS @shawschem.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
you still have surplus sales? How lovely. I miss ours.
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SKS @shawschem.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Got mine this morning... Not looking forward to tomorrow.
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SKS @shawschem.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
No love for LI, but it seems to be gaining popularity for chemjobs
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Chemjobber @chemjobber.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
#facultychemjobs
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Chemjobber @chemjobber.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
#facultychemjobs
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Carl Zimmer @carlzimmer.com · 27/09/2026
Four days ago, a scientist was surprised by the news that Anthropic discovered new virus genes for making DNA. He says he’s been studying them for years—and feeding his data to Anthropic’s AI as part of his own research. Coincidence? Here’s my story. nyti.ms/3VSWayc
nyti.ms
Did Anthropic’s A.I. Really Make a Scientific Discovery on Its Own? (Gift Article)
An expert at the University of Copenhagen said his team had been sharing its research with the company’s A.I. model, Claude, and that its new finding matched their work.
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SKS @shawschem.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
where did you find this video of me?
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SKS @shawschem.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
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SKS @shawschem.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Doing the mental math to decide; if I eat the popcorns one at a time will it be a caloric wash, or not?
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SKS @shawschem.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Evidence schmevidence
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C&EN (Chemical & Engineering News) @cenmag.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Julian West and his team at Rice University have developed a method for attaching electron-rich alkyl groups to electron-rich double bonds using, effectively, a polarity bait and switch. #chemsky 🧪
cen.acs.org
Polarity switch enables easier alkylation
Sequential decarboxylation lets chemists attach electron-rich groups to carbon-carbon double bonds
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SKS @shawschem.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
I don't think I've seen that one... Sounds like a good conversation starter.
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Chemjobber @chemjobber.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Postdoc position: Actinide Coordination Chemistry, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA #chempostdoc chemjobber.blogspot.com/2026/09/post...
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Chemjobber @chemjobber.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
I don't need to say this, but it's obvious to me: this dramatic drop can be laid at the feet of the Trump Administration. The impacts, I predict, will be dramatic, bad and only visible 5 to 10 years from now at the earliest.* *it's falsifiable, but quite a ways from now
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Chemjobber @chemjobber.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
#facultychemjobs weather report: ~equal of 2026 list year so far Today (9/15/26), there are 159 tenure-track positions and 13 teaching positions for the 2027 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List. 9/16/25: 149 TT, 16 teaching (107%/81% of 2026 list) 9/17/24: 245 TT, 18 teaching (65%/72% of 2025 list)
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SKS @shawschem.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Come be my colleague! Looking forward to hiring some great people in this search!
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SKS @shawschem.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Hey #chemsky, I'm looking for good content for a 1 semester hour (graduate) seminar course in chemical lab safety. Any good resources / links, please send my way...
static.klipy.com
Organic Chemistry Lab Partners Dry Ice Reaction
ALT: Organic Chemistry Lab Partners Dry Ice Reaction
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SKS @shawschem.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
Happy Friday folks
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SKS @shawschem.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
The Sept 3 CR keeps the government open only through Dec 11 — past the midterms, so real FY27 appropriations wait. It also blocks OMB's rule giving political appointees sign-off/kill power over individual grants, but that block expires the same day." Source: cra.org/govaffairs/b...
cra.org
FY27 Appropriations Update: Congress Passes Continuing Resolution; Punts FY27 to December
Congress passed a CR, extending FY27 budget authority till December 11, and also temporarily block OMB’s rule on grant funding reviews.
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C&EN (Chemical & Engineering News) @cenmag.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
A new metal-organic framework (MOF) can extract 23.9-karat, or 99.6% pure, gold from electronic wastewater without being bogged down by other metal ions. #chemsky 🧪
cen.acs.org
MOF made of crown ethers grabs gold from waste
Potassium-studded macrocycle extracts high-purity gold, leaves behind other metal ions
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SKS @shawschem.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
Funding lapses Sept 30 - senate bill rider blocks OMB's rule to give political appointees sign-off on federal research grants. Bets if the house will strip that rider? www.aip.org/fyi/the-week...
aip.org
THE WEEK OF AUG 31, 2026
- Congress returns to face budget crunch - Science agencies targeted by hackers - NSF and Treasury announce quantum initiatives
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Linsey Marr @linseymarr.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
"Indoor spaces as active protectors of respiratory health" now published in American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, led by Brent Stephens and Jerry Krishnan. academic.oup.com/ajrccm/artic... Free preprint at drive.google.com/file/d/1nrzL...
Opportunity to transform the quality of indoor air. The figure illustrates how indoor environments can transition from passive spaces to active
protectors of respiratory health through integrated sensing of airborne pollutants, pathogens, and allergens; occupant feedback; and automated responses to improve IAQ. These capabilities could also provide high-resolution environmental data that can deepen our understanding of the pathobiology and adverse health effects of poor IAQ on pulmonary, cardiovascular, neurocognitive, and metabolic disorders across the lifespan.
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SKS @shawschem.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/...
theatlantic.com
Why the Flock Backlash Has Gotten So Intense
The sudden anger about these cameras seems to reflect more than just wariness about the surveillance system.
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mcc @dryad.technology · 01/09/2026
This is the single biggest physics discovery of my entire lifetime. Or something's wrong with one of the cables. One of the two
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SKS @shawschem.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
Successful People Ask For Help. www.nytimes.com/2026/08/28/o...
nytimes.com
Opinion | I Study Successful People. They Have One Habit in Common. (Gift Article)
Being a successful self-starter doesn’t mean pulling yourself up by your bootstraps.
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SKS @shawschem.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Also from www.nafsa.org/fall2026outl... International doctoral applications to US programs are down 21% this fall; international PhD admissions down 17%. Chemistry departments have had significant PhD cohorts for decades. This is a student supply shock hitting departments, and TA lines
nafsa.org
Fall 2026 International Student Enrollment Outlook & Economic Impact
NAFSA: Association of International Educators is the world's largest nonprofit association dedicated to international education and exchange.
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SKS @shawschem.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
PhD admissions at 55 AAU universities dropped 15% for fall 2026. Domestic applications rose 3%. Intl apps fell 21%. www.aau.edu/newsroom/lea...
aau.edu
New PhD Admissions Data Show Threat to U.S. STEM Workforce,…
A decades-old partnership between federal research agencies and research universities has helped sustain doctoral education in the United States – but new…
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SKS @shawschem.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
✅
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Chemjobber @chemjobber.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Today is a good day to read Barry Sharpless' reminder to wear safety glasses in the chemistry lab #chemsky #chemchat #chemsafety
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SKS @shawschem.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
$1B of NSF's $8.8B budget is unspent. Where is that money going? www.nature.com/articles/d41...
nature.com
Exclusive: NSF set to issue lowest number of new grants in four decades
The US science-funding agency is withholding $1 billion of its budget so that the money can go to a special White House project.
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Nature @nature.com · 26/08/2026
Nature research paper: Spontaneously charged water drops induce corrosion go.nature.com/4xFA7cF
go.nature.com
Spontaneously charged water drops induce corrosion - Nature
 Experiments have shown that spontaneously charged water drops can damage coatings on metal surfaces, leading to corrosion of the metal.
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SKS @shawschem.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
I'm told NSF GRFP stipend jumped to $37k (from $34k) for the FY27 cycle. The chemistry/physical sciences deadline is Oct 23. If you advise undergrads or first-years, tell them now! Source: www.nsf.gov/funding/oppo...
nsf.gov
NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP)
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Simon Hammann @simonhammann.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
I'm in this picture and I don't like it
But chemistry is large, and contains multitudes. The dump-in-some-more-reagent crowd co-exists with the inorganic and organometallic specialists who live lives of Schlenk lines and rigorously maintained gloveboxes, who in turn find room for the analytical chemistry specialists who might spend as much time troubleshooting their equipment as they do generating results with it. There’s room for all of us, and that’s a good thing, because there’s a need for all of us too!
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SKS @shawschem.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
If you take any kind of medicine, stop now and take a moment to appreciate the chemist(s)
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SKS @shawschem.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
Tried using my browser to access the technical program, and was prompted *INNNCESSSANTLLLY* to download the app.
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Chemjobber @chemjobber.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
#chempostdoc
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Governor Tim Walz @governorwalz.mn.gov · 19/08/2026
The Boundary Waters will remain exactly as it should: wild, pristine, and unharmed.
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AAUP @aaup.org · 18/08/2026
Texas Tech is using AI to seek out content on sexual orientation & gender identity. Professors describe the effort as a dystopian academic nightmare. One professor worried about her core course, Holocaust in Literature, because it mentions that gay & bisexual men were also targets of the Nazis...
nytimes.com
Texas Tech University Is Using A.I. to Cut Left-Leaning Content
Texas Tech is using A.I. to cut left-leaning content in its curriculum. Some say the effort to ferret out forbidden topics is a dystopian academic nightmare.
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Brendan @chemscrapes.bsky.social · 16/08/2026
25 years ago, while waiting for columns/tlc etc...i used to get distracted. There's more..... #chemchat
A photo of a dessiccator which has a face drawn on it. It looks like it is panting and a bit beside itself. The caption reads "Gary wasn't sure why he always felt dehydrated".  

Such a dumb joke man.
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SKS @shawschem.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
Where's the milky way?
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Kevin A. Scott, PhD @sculpturatus.bsky.social · 09/08/2026
urushiol is the poison in poison oak. it covalently modifies proteins which get displayed on MHC and lead to a T cell autoimmune response. wild.
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Nicole Rust @nicolecrust.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
US scientists: Going into fall 26, how are you thinking about things? Following Fall 24 events and a tumultuous spring 25, I remember a convo with a colleague in which we agreed we just needed to wait things out until fall 25 and we'd have some clarity about the landscape (eg for funding). /1
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Environmental Science @envsci.rsc.org · 10/07/2026
Check out the work behind the inside front cover in Issue 7 of 𝘌𝘯𝘷𝘪𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘭 𝘚𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦: 𝘈𝘥𝘷𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘴 👀  1/2
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SKS @shawschem.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
Last stop of the mini vacation
Picture of principal park, baseball field for the Iowa Cubs
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SKS @shawschem.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
University of Iowa’s Center for Intellectual Freedom pauses courses amid search for director www.kcrg.com/2026/07/29/u...
kcrg.com
University of Iowa’s Center for Intellectual Freedom pauses courses amid search for director
The pause comes after Republicans in the state legislature just passed a law requiring undergraduate students to take classes at the new center.
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SKS @shawschem.bsky.social · 26/07/2026
Moon shining through thin clouds over a lake lined with trees.
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SKS @shawschem.bsky.social · 26/07/2026
This, and the cicadas singing, is everything I need tonight.
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