On the day that Barbara Synder, Douglas Girod and Ronald Daniels and the @aau.edu capitulated to the Trump administration, it's worth looking back at history. First. The Red Scare. @aau.edu was there to bend the knee to Senator Joe McCarthy and HUAC. 1/ www.insidehighered.com/opinion/colu...

How Elite Colleges Aided Censorship During the Red Scares

Powerful organizations during the Red Scares crafted a world where “academic freedom” was conditional on political allegiance.

insidehighered.com

Iris is as interested in the football as she was in the hurling. (She’d much prefer Kerrygold or actual Mayo)

Limerick ran away with it (and Galway’s sponsor placement made it look like everyone was named Papa John)

Learned some python from Chris Johnson & Ben Lear’s Coding for Chemists book & promptly misapplied it to see what a randomly seeded 4-voice midi version of Terry Riley’s In C at 12,000 bpm would sound like through an absurdly oversized amp.

a successful beach day (most) of the organic chemistry groups along with a PhDs vs Candidates volleyball match! (a few injuries, no deaths) @GustafsonLab @jillalty.bsky.social @barneygrubbs.bsky.social @qjbruch.bsky.social Prof. Katherine Aubrecht and Prof. Matthew Parkers Group

The dogs are unaccustomed to this much sudden yelling.

sleepy part heelers choosing surfaces that match their coloration

two umbrellas for cabo verde

Excited to share this set of 40 multicolor 3D-printed molecular orbital models for second-semester organic chemistry classrooms, developed with students @pomonacollege.bsky.social. Article and 3D print files (no paywall): pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/.... #chemsky #compchemsky #3DP #3Dprint #3DModels

3D-Printed Multicolor Molecular Orbital Models for a Second-Semester Organic Chemistry Course

We have developed a set of multicolor 3D-printed molecular orbital models associated with topics taught in a second semester organic chemistry course at Pomona College. The set includes the following: (1) π molecular orbitals (MOs) in benzene; (2) water sp- and p-type lone pair orbitals; (3) valence bond and π-MO models of amide stability and reactivity; (4) formaldehyde (neutral, H+, and Li+ complexes) sp- and p-type lone pair and π/π* orbitals; (5) orbital interactions and the Bürgi–Dunitz angle in a cyanohydrin transition state; (6) acetaldehyde enolate π-MOs; (7) orbital interactions in an enolate alkylation transition state; (8) orbital interactions in a lithium enolate aldol transition state; (9) benzyne πHOMO and π*LUMO orbitals; (10) n−σ* orbital interaction in the water dimer intermolecular hydrogen bond; (11) peptide α-helix structure and n−σ* orbital interaction in an intramolecular i, i + 4 hydrogen bond; (12) anomeric effect (nO–σ*CO orbital interaction) in a carbohydrate model compound. The models provide insights regarding aspects of π molecular orbital theory, stability, reactivity, and mechanistic “arrow pushing”. A hobby-grade five-color 3D fused deposition modeling (FDM) printer is used to make the models, which are sized to provide compact take-home class handouts and kits for each student. The models are fabricated with orbital bisections and text annotations to enhance information content. Student perceptions of this set of 3D-printed molecular models and their use in the classroom are generally favorable. 3D Manufacturing Format (3MF) model files are available in the Supporting Information for this article.

pubs.acs.org

One of my favorite Cabo Verde facts is that it has a genre of music that arose after an abandoned ship washed up in 1968, carrying hundreds of keyboards and synths

How a mysterious ghost ship brought cosmic disco to Cape Verde

A new compilation documents the strange history of the African country’s groove-laden sound, formed following the discovery of a boatload of synths

theguardian.com

We have a PhD position available in my group! If you know any talented students looking for a PhD in Switzerland, please send them my way! #chemsky #matsky Details can be found here: careers.epfl.ch/job/Neuch%C3...

a bit jealous my child is seeing Flipper (in whatever version of the band is possible at this date) right now.

An unapologetically angry post about what’s being done to US science:

The Current Crisis: What's Happening to Science in America

science.org

34,000 gallon tank of methyl methacrylate in Garden Grove, CA - sounds like the tank is not doing well and they're concerned it's going to polymerize/run away #chemsky

Matt Novak@paleofuture.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Sounds like things are not going well in Orange County, California, where 10,000 people have been told to evacuate because of a toxic chemical leak at the GKN Aerospace facility.

Random shuffle pushing Barren Path into West of Roan finally got me to remember to turn off the stupid apple music default 4-second song transition cross-fade setting.

I have been enjoying vol 1 of Solvej Balle’s _On the Calculation of Volume_ (tr. Barbara Haveland. Fortunately Zola only enjoyed the cover because I still have a lot of November 18ths to get through.

Most coverage is local so far, but after another hack & ransom demand, Canvas is down for maintenance thetech.com/2026/05/07/c... I checked: 24 of the 25 largest universities in the US all use Canvas - Texas A&M, Ohio State, UW, UW Madison, UMN, Penn... I think NYU is sole exception (Brightspace)

Liz Neeley@lizneeley.bsky.social · 3mo ago

“With access to real names, email addresses and even teacher-student messages, the next wave of phishing will not be generic. It will reference real courses and real conversations, which makes it far more likely to succeed.”

He'd sing lame lyrics

Sharing this screen grab from a friend at NIH (with permission). This is a checklist program officers have to complete before a grant can be awarded. The first question: "Is this grant All Clean/Clear in the NIH Text analysis Tool?" 🧵1/3

I’d rather not be in a temporary office with a construction elevator right outside the window, but it was nice to see the local hawk up close.

I suppose getting old is all about managing ever-increasing types of psychic damage, but wondering why you’re getting a glossy mag from a university you have no affiliation with, then realizing it’s because you made a donation to a memorial fund for a friend & peer is a new one.

I got fashion flip-flops & chintzy chanclas & mystifying mules, but fresh out of style slides

Sun dog vs Sunn dog

RIP Vincent the Cat, late of the lovely Etcetera Coffehouse in Paducah, KY. Cats shorten my breath dangerously, but he was a good one & was always a menacingly comforting presence.

When I was a youth, there was a caltech chemistry dept softball team that got a bunch of caps from INTERNATIONAL BOAR SEMEN (“The AI Innovators since 1976”) & played under the name HOG HEAVEN. Every time someone yelled “good eye” it was clearly an omen. internationalboarsemen.com

Nature@nature.com · 4mo ago

Scientists have used pig semen to develop eye drops that can stop tumour growth in the retina and preserve vision go.nature.com/4sLGoAU

Finally got to see @billorcutt.bsky.social & Chris Corsano & Ava Mendoza & Cyrus Pireh with a bunch of other folks playing Four Louies. It was beautiful.

Sad to hear that Chuck Casey has died. He was an old friend of my dad's and always a really nice guy. cen.acs.org/people/obitu...

Obituary: Charles Casey

The 2004 ACS president supported students and postdocs and helped advance catalysis

cen.acs.org

Jim O'Neill has officially been nominated to be NSF Director as of yesterday.

Nominations Sent to the Senate

Jeffrey Brodsky, of Florida, to be a Governor of the United States Postal Service for a term expiring December 8, 2029. Adam Cassady, of Virginia, to be

whitehouse.gov

Dan Garisto@dangaristo.bsky.social · 6mo ago

O'Neill, an investor in anti-aging technology who worked on HHS policy, would be the first non-scientist or engineer to lead NSF. His background will be a 'major concern' to the science and technology community, former NSF director Neal Lane told me. @maxkozlov.bsky.social and I report:

about to fly down to Roanoke for a seminar at Virginia Tech tomorrow. First time outside of greater DC Virginia. Basking in the beautiful drones of Daniel Bachman’s latest (from a couple hundred miles northeast) on the tarmac. danielbachman.bandcamp.com/album/revolu...

Revolutions, by Daniel Bachman

4 track album

danielbachman.bandcamp.com

Last point on this article: the two NSF admin guys more or less straight out admit they're going to follow Trump's 2026 budget for the agency, not the actual budget passed by Congress. Which is, you know, not legal.

Jeffrey Mervis@policyhound.bsky.social · 5mo ago

NSF leaders have just acknowledged what many scientists have long suspected: Presidential directives to boost AI and quantum have upended its traditional way of doing business. www.science.org/content/arti...