Just seen that the Elemental Analysis service at London Met is closing! This is devastating for us UK inorganic synthesists. They have been such a great, reliable service. @londonmetuni.bsky.social #chemsky
Michael O’Neill
@michaeloneill.org
Inorganic Chemistry || University of Liverpool || Education || Blogging || Textbooks || www.michaeloneill.org || PERIODically Podcast supporter
Spent the morning making a map of where you can grow #coffee. Simple comparison here uses temperature, elevation, and rainfall to map suitable areas (for arabica and robusta) in the year 2000 and the projections for 2050. It's about a 35% reduction in coffee-suitable land.
**New Blog Post** Using the recent RSC report as a vehicle, a reflection on how I've thought about Class when teaching Chemistry in the UK over the last 10 years. www.michaeloneill.org/blog-1/2026/...
Beyond Access? Class in Chemistry — Michael O'Neill
Reflections on a recent RSC report about socioeconomic status of the undergraduate Chemistry students
michaeloneill.org
we call it a "molecule" because it is a "little mole" send tweet
NEW on Wonkhe: With curriculum reform converging on fewer, larger modules across the sector, Jim Dickinson argues that consolidation solves institutional problems while reallocating regret onto students least able to absorb it buff.ly/5xu4GGB
**New Blog Post** Using the recent RSC report as a vehicle, a reflection on how I've thought about Class when teaching Chemistry in the UK over the last 10 years. www.michaeloneill.org/blog-1/2026/...
Beyond Access? Class in Chemistry — Michael O'Neill
Reflections on a recent RSC report about socioeconomic status of the undergraduate Chemistry students
michaeloneill.org
"You are now historians. BUT very few of you will go on to be professional historians - so will you then cease to be historians? This is a question that we, staff at risk of redundancy, are asking ourselves too: will I still be a historian if I’m not at the University of Exeter in September?" 2/
A Chilean salmon farm now draws about 57% of its power from panels laid over the water, cutting roughly 136,000 litres of diesel a year and silencing the generators. With the noise gone, thousands of salmon have gathered in the shade beneath the arrays. Ecoportal buff.ly/CwczkbP #ShareGoodNewsToo
An island in Chile covered its waters with floating solar panels. Soon, thousands of salmon had turned them into their home
An island in Chile covered its waters with floating solar panels. Soon, thousands of salmon had turned them into their home and were all thriving.
buff.ly
My brain in my head: ViCEPHEC My fingers on my keyboard: VICPEHEC
Congratulations to the government on saving 2700 jobs by nationalising British Steel. Now, about the 18,000 university jobs lost in the last 18 months, with more coming…
Maybe a silly question, but is the weight of a litre of room temp/pressure air just… zero? Not the mass, the weight.
Bringing financial ruin upon my friends by casually mentioning how well air-conditioned the Waterstones cafe is.
FINAL CALL for sign-up to the HEG Network meeting in August. It can be a nice way to spread out your @vicephec.bsky.social travel and have some slower conversations before the conference gathers pace.
Michael O’Neill@michaeloneill.org · 2mo agoThe RSC HEG Network meeting will be on the afternoon of Wednesday August 26th (the day before @vicephec.bsky.social) in Nottingham. You can join EITHER an escape room OR an LEGO Serious Play session. You do not need to be an RSC member to come. Sign up here: forms.cloud.microsoft/Pages/Respon...
FINAL CALL for sign-up to the HEG Network meeting in August. It can be a nice way to spread out your @vicephec.bsky.social travel and have some slower conversations before the conference gathers pace.
Michael O’Neill@michaeloneill.org · 2mo agoThe RSC HEG Network meeting will be on the afternoon of Wednesday August 26th (the day before @vicephec.bsky.social) in Nottingham. You can join EITHER an escape room OR an LEGO Serious Play session. You do not need to be an RSC member to come. Sign up here: forms.cloud.microsoft/Pages/Respon...
Ok so I am seeing the case for 0, but am increasingly veering into thinking it might be -2.
Michael O’Neill@michaeloneill.org · last mo.I guess that there is an oxidation state which is the most common one. As in, the most common oxidation state in the world. Been thinking about it all day. I imagine it is probably -1.
I guess that there is an oxidation state which is the most common one. As in, the most common oxidation state in the world. Been thinking about it all day. I imagine it is probably -1.
**New Blog Post** A commentary on edits I made to a section of my SFHEA application, trying to articulate how my understanding of the SFHEA application criteria changed over time. www.michaeloneill.org/blog-1/2026/6/30/the-history-of-an-sfhea-application
The History of an SFHEA Application — Michael O'Neill
A commentary on edits I made to a passage to my SFHEA application to try and explain what I realised along the way
michaeloneill.org
Sign up is open for the HEG Network meeting which will be in Nottingham the day before @vicephec.bsky.social. Lots of people are simply unaware of it! You don't need to be an RSC member to come, and it can be a nice way to spread out the travel and meet people in a structured and low-stakes way.
Michael O’Neill@michaeloneill.org · 2mo agoThe RSC HEG Network meeting will be on the afternoon of Wednesday August 26th (the day before @vicephec.bsky.social) in Nottingham. You can join EITHER an escape room OR an LEGO Serious Play session. You do not need to be an RSC member to come. Sign up here: forms.cloud.microsoft/Pages/Respon...
Happy "please remember to unscrew your ether bottles by a quarter-turn" day to all who celebrate.
Just seen the graphs for the square root of (s-electron) ionisation energies, which are shockingly linear. pubs.acs.org/doi/pdf/10.1...
... and this is for people who *did* have advanced skills to begin with. It is important for students to realise you should demand an education that teaches *you* how to learn, understand and do things, rather than cheating you out of this opportunity www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Iris van Rooij 💭@irisvanrooij.bsky.social · 2mo agoWhat a surprise ….. “Is AI ruining our skills? Early results are in — and they’re not good Reliance on artificial-intelligence tools degrades the abilities of physicians and software engineers, studies show.” www.nature.com/articles/d41...
The RSC HEG Network meeting will be on the afternoon of Wednesday August 26th (the day before @vicephec.bsky.social) in Nottingham. You can join EITHER an escape room OR an LEGO Serious Play session. You do not need to be an RSC member to come. Sign up here: forms.cloud.microsoft/Pages/Respon...
Microsoft Forms
forms.cloud.microsoft
Debate on the impact of the "University of the Air" tomorrow, the policy impetus behind the formation of the Open University. One of the most extraordinary educational institutions Britain ever developed. commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-bri...
Impact of the University of the Air White Paper on lifelong learning opportunities
There will be a debate on the impact of the University of the Air White Paper on lifelong learning opportunities on Tuesday 16 June at 2:30pm. The debate will last 90 minutes and be led by Patrick Hur...
commonslibrary.parliament.uk
Discovering today that the neutron was discovered in Liverpool, which is cool. news.liverpool.ac.uk/2026/06/04/n...
Not being dramatic, but this probably signals the effective end of Chemistry in English Universities. An *efficient* Department loses something like £2k per Chemistry student per year; this change will roughly double that loss. Universities would be mad to keep teaching Chemistry.
Research Professional News@resprofnews.bsky.social · 2mo agoBreaking: Government set to cut strategic priorities grant. The government is on the cusp of cutting public funding for higher education teaching, the head of Universities UK has told MPs, placing institutions under even more financial pressure. www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-u...
Number of universities in the QS Top 100 world ranking by country in 2026 USA = 27 UK = 17 Australia = 8 China = 5 South Korea = 5 A top five UK service sector export (c.£25bn) that we should probably support and champion more if we want to maintain an advantage.
🧪 #AcademicSky 🇬🇧 30% staff cut in Chemistry at Nottingham. Two years ago, the Department received the RSC Prize in Excellence for Higher Education. Resources and talent going to waste. UKG doing nothing to preserve strategic know-how for the country. www.chemistryworld.com/news/notting...
Nottingham’s chemistry department faces loss of 30% of faculty amid university-wide staff cuts
The department's technicians and support staff are also at risk
chemistryworld.com
Marking an exam question on redox potentials of different Co(III) complexes. Just had a student describe reduction as a “softening” of the metal, which I think is elegant.
A thorough write-up of the situation at Nottingham from @chemistryworld.com.
Chemistry World@chemistryworld.com · 3mo agoThe chemistry department at the University of Nottingham is set to lose 14 out of 46 of its academic staff, leading to warnings that teaching and research will suffer. www.chemistryworld.com/news/notting...