iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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Micro SF/F by O. Westin @microsff.com · 02/10/2026

On the market day, the witch stopped by all the stalls. "Have a care," he told the tinsmith. "You're getting fuzzy." "What?" "Do you ponder other paths you could have taken?" "All the time." "Shadows of other yous hang on you, making you indistinct. Don't lose the you you are. You're real."

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Tim Easun @timeasun.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

So much this, for so many of us. Shhhh, don't tell everyone.

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Tim Easun @timeasun.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

And in my head Anna is your age too. Professor Slater though, she's much older.

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Tim Easun @timeasun.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

I plead guilty to one of those. The other varies at times 👍

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Tim Easun @timeasun.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Of course! I would expect nothing less of our amazing RSC staff 😃

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Tim Easun @timeasun.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Archaic? That's someone with a narrow world view!

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Tim Easun @timeasun.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmarvellous thanks.

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Tim Easun @timeasun.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

We were once asked by a reviewer to "correct the quaint British spelling".

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Derek Lowe @dereklowe.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

The craziest compound-impurity story I’ve ever heard:

science.org

Now That's An Impurity Story

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Nikolay Tumanov @ntumanovxray.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Moving to rather something positive, because except food supplements "professionals", I am dealing people who care about their work and doing exiting things. Thank to EU office of @rigakuoxfordxrd.bsky.social, on (very long) Monday I had opportunity to try their electron diffractometer, Synergy ED.

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Tim Easun @timeasun.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Oh Nessa, I'm so sorry to hear that. The star of FPotD will be missed.

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Emma Monk @monkemma.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

🧵 As front-page headlines go, this has to be one of the most misleading I've seen in a long time It's an out-and-out lie But notice the trick they use to get away with it...👀 *They're* not lying - they're just quoting someone else who is👍🏻 In this case, the leader of the opposition🙄 1/33

Daily Express headline:

"More Freedoms Handed to New Arrivals than British Citizens"

Above an image of Kemi Badenoch

All with a Monk Debunked stamp on top

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Tim Easun @timeasun.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

My word. I don't believe I've ever had a reaction yield crescendo.

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Sarah McAnulty, Ph.D. @sarahmackattack.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Just emailed 26,000 people about snail facts advent calendars. This better result in 500 snail sales. Snales. Wait that just sounds like snails. Is that a good omen?? Get a calendar here: SquidFacts.net

An 11x14 inch poster featuring snails, slugs, nudibranchs, and other snails! There are 24 yellow-green snail shells that you can scratch off. There's a leaf sheep and sea bunny and sea angel and fire snail and banana slug and mystery snail and ramshorn snail and candy cane snail

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Compound Interest | Chemistry infographics @compoundchem.com · 21/09/2026

Did you know the wasabi in most sushi restaurants isn't wasabi? Or that a chemical synergy between dried seaweed and raw fish enhances sushi's savoury flavours? Learn more about sushi science with this infographic, as requested by my sushi-mad seven-year-old 🍣 wp.me/s4aPLT-sushi #ChemSky 🧪

This infographic titled "Sushi chemistry: nori, wasabi and sticky rice" explores the science behind sushi. It features three main panels with illustrations, chemical structures, and explanations. The left section explains how amylopectin in rice creates stickiness and how acetic acid from vinegar aids gelatinisation. The middle panel covers umami flavours from glutamate, inosinate, and guanylate found in nori and raw fish, displaying their molecular structures. The right panel discusses allyl isothiocyanate in wasabi and horseradish, along with gingerol and shogaol compounds in pickled ginger (gari). Photos of six different sushi rolls line the bottom.

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Martin Stoermer @martinstoermer.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Molecule doesn't know what's going on. #chemsky #chemchat

A representation of a large protein in wireframe format. It's in the shape of a question mark

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Kirsty Grainger @kirstygrainger.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Chris McDonald at UUK conference just announced UKRI will - increase grant decisions by internal UKRI expert teams (less to peer review) - fewer, larger awards - increase distributed peer review - more face to face decision making for high priority risky grants (to reduce AI peer review)

Chris McDonald talking to a lecture theatre

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Tim Easun @timeasun.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

But in the spirit of the post: All but two of them are sandwiches.

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Scott Bagley @bagphos.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

I see you are attempting to join #ChemSky Please mark all images containing a sandwich

Images in a 3x3 square showing different types of sandwiches ( or not). Top row a stack of pancakes; dppf catalyst, a sandwich, second row: a plate of tacos; a hot dog; a Ford F140 and row 3 a lead sandwich plate battery, a pizza and finally the famous Ham Sandwich road sign in Kent UK

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RSC MASC @rsc-masc.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

✨Spotlight✨ The MASC Group Supramolecular Chemistry Award 2026 🏆 Most senior award, for exceptional research contributions to MASC field in the broadest sense, and exceptional service to MASC community. Deadline 📆 18-Sep More on mascgroup.co.uk/2026-masc-pr... (1/4)

mascgroup.co.uk

2026 MASC Prize Calls

MASC: The Macrocyclic and Supramolecular Chemistry Interest Group 2026 MASC Prize Calls 2026 MASC Group Supramolecular Chemistry Award The MASC Group Supramolecular Chemistry Award is the award giv…

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Damon Young @damonyoung.com.au · 04/09/2026

This Finnish guy has been teaching himself Sumerian, and sent a cuneiform tablet to the British Museum to check his progress. They just emailed him that they've sent him something in the post. I'm now thrilled and excited for a total stranger! Clay tablet mail! www.reddit.com/r/Cuneiform/...

a photo of a hand holding a cuneiform tablet

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Dr Dean Burnett @drdeanburnett.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

Oh sure, when teens and young adults prefer to take in important information via clips and reels, they've all got 'brain rot' and society is doomed. But someone renders major historical events via the medium of a big scarf, and people can't get enough of it? PICK A LANE, GUYS! #BayeuxTapestry

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Roger Giner-Sorolla @rogerthegs.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

In the United Kingdom, mincemeat is not meat, unlike mince, which is meat

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Andrew D Thaler @drandrewthaler.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

The Hoff Crab is neither a crab nor is it David Hasselhoff. It is a Yeti Crab, which is neither a Yeti nor a Crab but a sub-group of Squat Lobsters, which are not lobsters, they're Anomurans, like Mole Crabs, which are neither moles, nor crabs.

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Tim Easun @timeasun.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

We have a similar blanket and our cat, who happily sits on most fabric coverings, absolutely hates it. Won't put a paw on it, runs away at top speed if you put her on it. We assumed it was a texture problem 🤷‍♂️

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Gavin Craig @g-craig.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

We've used more 3D electron diffraction here while studying Zn-based MOPs, just published in @chemcomm.rsc.org. Big thanks again to @leverhulme.ac.uk for funding our work, and congratulations to the team on a really nice collaborative effort. pubs.rsc.org/cc/article/d...

pubs.rsc.org

Submit This Form

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Scott Bagley @bagphos.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

ChemSky: Here’s my paper ChemChat: Sandwiches

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RSC MASC @rsc-masc.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

🚨The 2026 MASC Group Awards are all open for nominations 📣 with the following deadlines: 🏆 MASC Group Supramolecular Chemistry Award 📆 18-Sep 🏆 Bob Hay Award Lectureship 📆 18-Sep 🏆 MASC Group PhD Thesis Award 📆 6-Nov 🏆 MASC/WISC EDIA Award 📆 18-Sep More on mascgroup.co.uk/2026-masc-prize-calls

eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com

2026 MASC Prize Calls

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Tim Easun @timeasun.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

An important and rare long-term view on Research Council grant processes, by @kirstygrainger.bsky.social (the irony of needing a long-term view on this particular topic is not lost on me)

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Scott Bagley @bagphos.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

Inorganic = Organic (Backs away slowly) #ChemSky

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Tim Easun @timeasun.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

The options do change every so often - Google are nothing if not inconsistent with their products!

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Joshua Bowman @thalesdisciple.bsky.social · 08/08/2026

Working on an A.I. policy for my calculus classes. Decided to be upfront about the current situation with LLMs and to give a heartfelt explanation for why the course still matters.

Al policy

Context

Artificial Intelligence, or "A.l.," Is a broad term used to refer to several different kinds of technologies. The kind most relevant to this class are Large Language Models (LLMs), which use mathematics to analyze large amounts of human-produced text and then generate new text that simulates what a human might write in response to prompts or questions. Some examples of LLMs are OpenAl's ChatGPT, Anthropic's Claude, and Google's Gemini.

Current LLMs can provide a solution to any calculus problem I give you. So why should we work on them, you might ask? Here's the thing: for the most part, the problems were already solved anyway. Calculus as a subject is nearly 400 years old. It has reached into virtually every modern scientific and economic field. And while I would like to believe that I have crafted a few new problems with some small amount of originality tailored to this class, for the most part I have curated a collection of exercises drawn from my years of teaching calculus. Those exercises come from textbooks, workshops, friends, and other fields of study, as well as my own invention.
And they nearly all have known solutions, often with fairly standard approaches.
Before A.I. became widely available, you could find those solutions in another textbook, or from a friend's notes, or through a repository on the internet.

The point of this class is not necessarily to solve problems that have never been solved before. It is for you to develop habits of thinking that are used by mathematicians, scientists, and policymakers-to develop a sort of mental toolbox that can be applied to new problems. If along the way you happen to find a new way of solving one of the class exercises, that's great! I am constantly learning new things from my students. But you will be bereft of discovery if you rely on a LLM for solutions to the calculus problems before you. Here I mean the discovery of having your own realizations, crystallizing your own internal understanding, claiming the knowledge in a way that cannot be taken away from you.
That ownership is what I want for you, and that is what the course is built around.

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Tim Easun @timeasun.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

If you long-push the dot/arrow marker on Google navigation it gives you options including a car. Has done for ages. @chemjobber.bsky.social are you sure someone hasn't just changed your settings. Like in my case, a bored child...!

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Rosie Young @rosieyoung.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

Finding the patterns on my journey to #IUCr2026 starting off leaving the Austron and it's beautiful pattern tiles in the user lounge 🤩💎 #BraggYourPattern

Square blue tiles with different white patterns on each- zigzags, triangles and more

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FX Coudert @nanoporous.net · 06/08/2026

In case you missed it: @chemicalscience.rsc.org now charges an APC of £2,850 per paper. It was previously free (diamond OA), and in my view it contributed greatly to the appeal and success of Chem Sci. Sad to see the RSC go that way…

For submissions from 1 July 2026 an APC will apply to all articles accepted in Chemical Science. Use our journal finder to check if your APC is covered by an institutional agreement with us. Note, if your institution has an agreement with us that covers APCs, you will be notified of this at article acceptance. Details of the APC and discounted rates are found here.

Get your manuscript submission ready with our submission checker tool. You can instantly check against Chemical Science's guidelines and requirements, and receive helpful hints to get you ready to submit.

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Tim Easun @timeasun.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

That really is the last straw.

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Tim Easun @timeasun.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

I remember doing proofs for PNAS on paper, with the approved shorthand notation list, but even that was then scanned and emailed back to them. I guess now the only remnants of the physical copy days are that we still call them "papers".

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Tim Easun @timeasun.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

I wonder how they'd respond if you tried that now? 😂

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Tim Easun @timeasun.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

My current headache is the {Major Publisher} with a New Submission System. Which immediately dumps your files into the old system but crucially fails to include something that the old system requires, leading to... ...an automated email from the old system 'unsubmitting' your paper as incomplete.

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Alexander Knebel @knebelalexander.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

I have a position to fill as soon as possible for a DFG funded PhD project on optical modulation of MOF-glasses. If you are interested please send me your (non-AI generated) documents and describe your experience. An official job opening is coming later this months.

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