I am getting e-mails like this. Clearly written with the help of AI. Once I wrote back and then got a new science question written by AI with no real connection to my note. Anyone else getting such emails? Curious how the scam works. The transition to give me money, etc is hard to envision.

Could be straight out of Der Stürmer but it’s 2026 and these are mainstream outlets. Disgusting and disturbing.

Ben Phillips@benphillips76.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Sharing, without comment, British newspapers’ depictions of the only Jewish person currently leading a UK political party . Times. Mail. Telegraph. Sun.

Collab led by Shira Haber, Nicodemo Ciccia, & Zhengxing Peng with F. Yang, Julia Im, Mutian Hua, Sophia Fricke, R. Giovine, Cheng Wang, John Hartwig, & Jeffrey Reimer @departmentofenergy.bsky.social funded @molecularfoundry.lbl.gov @berkeleylab.lbl.gov @ucberkeleyofficial.bsky.social @als.lbl.gov

Just out in @chemicalscience.rsc.org ! We use NMR relaxometry to explore the microstructure of upcycled HDPE, wherein we find amidyl groups confined to the rigid amorphous phase. pubs.rsc.org/en/content/a...

Microstructure of amide-functionalized polyethylenes determined by NMR relaxometry

Amidation of polyethylenes creates a range of amide-containing materials with enhanced properties, but the effect of these functional groups on the microstructure of these new materials is not known. ...

pubs.rsc.org

@lemcoffgroupbgu.bsky.social group outing to Yeruham. Wonderful day hiking in the desert and visiting the Pinto Winery

We are smiling but having to say goodbye to the awesome Shira Haber as she starts her academic career at Bar Ilan University. @lemcoffgroupbgu.bsky.social

My last three students at Illinois. Congratulations to Dr. Joel Roberts, Dr. Nafisa Ibrahim (co-advised by @jrl-electrochem.bsky.social), and Astarte Abbott. Three amazing students with a bright careers ahead!

Some of the wildest voltammograms we’ve seen! And how to avoid them (just soak!) See our recent grad Nafisa’s systematic redox copolymers - synthesis, CV, SEIRAS and bulk electrolysis tour de force - in collab with @steveczimmerman.bsky.social #chemsky #electrochem pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...

Synthesis, Voltammetry, and Spectroelectrochemical Characterization of Tunable Ferrocene-Jeffamine Redox-Active (Co)polymers: Controlling Redox and Ionic Interactions Through Composition

There is a critical need for predictably modulating the reactivity of redox-active polymers (RAPs) to improve their performance in applications such as catalysis, energy storage, and sensing. However,...

pubs.acs.org

You beat us to the post 🥳 An absolute pleasure to work with Nafisa over these years! Pretty soon we will share her work on redox-active polymers!

Steve Zimmerman@steveczimmerman.bsky.social · last yr.

Congratulations to ZGroup and RodriguezGroup student Nafisa Ibrahim on passing her PhD defense. Super proud of this amazing scientist and wonderful person! 🥳🤩👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

Congratulations to ZGroup and RodriguezGroup student Nafisa Ibrahim on passing her PhD defense. Super proud of this amazing scientist and wonderful person! 🥳🤩👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

Please check out our Angew. communication on DNA mimic foldamers that can outcompete DNA itself in the binding of proteins! 🧬 onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

DNA Mimic Foldamer Recognition of a Chromosomal Protein

Biomolecular mimics are intended to outperform their natural counterparts. However, B-DNA surface mimicry to target DNA-binding proteins has long remained underdeveloped. We have introduced helical a...

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

The irony of my column on a promising new data on personalized mRNA-based vaccine for pancreatic cancer coming out the same day that Iowa gets closer to banning "gene-based vaccines" is not lost on me. gift link:

Cancer Vaccine Shows Hope. Make the Investment.

Success requires investing in the kind of foundational research that becomes the basis for breakthroughs.

bloomberg.com

States Newsroom@statesnewsroom.com · last yr.

A bill banning gene-based vaccines, like some forms of the COVID-19 vaccine, received approval from a Senate subcommittee Monday. via @iowacapitaldispatch.com www.newsfromthestates.com/article/bill...

Whether there is another election or not may well be irrelevant. Good chance they will have firm control of the election machinery by then so the dear leader can win in a popular landslide.

Chemjobber@chemjobber.bsky.social · last yr.

The last one is, I think, basically baked in. I see no indication that Trump will voluntarily leave office after his term is up, and I predict he will make noises about a third term before December 31, 2026.

An organic reaction that is both interesting and highly useful.

Lemcoff Group Ben Gurion University@lemcoffgroupbgu.bsky.social · last yr.

Can you guess the products of these reactions? check out our latest publication to find out! chemistry-europe.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/... #OrganicChemistry #Stereospesific #Radicals

Here is a tentative Supramolecular Chemistry starter kit. Please let me know if you wish to be added ! #ChemSky go.bsky.app/RjRgi6n

Lots of RSC journals popping up on Bluesky (with proper domain names - well done!) including @chemicalscience.rsc.org; flagging for #Chemsky

a picture of a penguin with the word hello on it

Alt: A picture of a cartoon penguin waving 'hello'; with the caption 'hello' at the bottom of the gif

media.tenor.com

Heartbreaking day in Israel as Shiri Bibas and her two sons Kfir and Ariel are buried in a single coffin. 😢

In our #ChemSci Pick of the Week today, Barry Carpenter argues that the "allowed" and "forbidden" classifications for electrocyclic reactions should be abandoned, based on NEVPT2 and DFT calculations. Judge the evidence for yourself #ChemSky #CompChemSky 🧪! Read it free: doi.org/10.1039/D4SC...

Great talk by Gabi Lemcoff showing how solid solution synthesis produces latent metathesis catalysts.

Exciting time in Jerusalem - my first ICS meeting.

Lemcoff Group Ben Gurion University@lemcoffgroupbgu.bsky.social · 2y ago

Start of 88th ICS meeting. The whole Lemcoff group is attending.

Thanks to everyone who shared this request. We updated our new Trump Tracker blog today with the voices of some federal scientists who reached out. More to come. www.science.org/content/arti...

Trump Tracker: Firings, lawsuits and U.S. science in chaos

Follow President Donald Trump’s impact on U.S. research and science globally

science.org

Clinton Bailey, Who Documented a Vanishing Bedouin Culture, Dies at 88. What an amazing life! A series of chance meetings, including Ben Gurion's wife, and a curious nature leads to the extraordinarily important task of documenting Bedouin life. www.nytimes.com/2025/01/22/w...

Clinton Bailey, Who Documented a Vanishing Bedouin Culture, Dies at 88

Armed with a camera and tape recorder, he spent decades preserving the ancient traditions of nomadic Middle Eastern tribes.

nytimes.com

Another assault on US competitiveness at a time when biomedicine is roaring with innovation, an own-goal in a high-stakes international tournament. Of course the real losers are American people needing medicines and cures. www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/...

NIH cuts billions of dollars in biomedical funding, effective immediately

The move halts a large slice of money for most universities and research institutions virtually overnight, imperiling vital research in everything from cancer to heart disease.

washingtonpost.com

Black excellence: Twice as qualified, half as respected, and still passed over or labeled as a ‘DEI hire.’ Black folks have always known this because we’ve seen it happen to our own family members. I know I have.

So sad. The retreat from excellence by a private foundation signals just how much the fear of these people is driving behavior.

Cliò Agrapidis@cagrap.bsky.social · 2y ago

🧪👩🏻‍🔬

Only a couple years ago I learned that the structure of the alpha helix was solved by Herman Branson, a Howard professor who was doing a sabbatical with Pauling at the time, despite initial pushback from Pauling and Corey that his proposed helix model was much too tight. #BlackHistoryMonth

Oh my 2,3-dihydrofuran, I don’t know know any monomer cooler than Thee. Your cyclic vinyl ether, Makes thermosetting so much easier For me: You ROMP in the dark, Crosslink in the light, Recycle to monomer under vacuum overnight. Degrade in acid or with a lot of O2, Oh DHF this is an ode to you.

Degradable thermosets via orthogonal polymerizations of a single monomer - Nature

Degradable thermoset multimaterials can be synthesized from a commercially accessible, biosourced monomer using orthogonal polymerizations in a single pot; after selective degredation, the resulting s...

nature.com

Find out what the economic impact of the NSF is in your state new.nsf.gov/about/about-...

NSF by the Numbers

NSF by the Numbers provides statistical and funding information for awards, NSF-funded institutions, funding rate, proposals evaluated, and obligations by fiscal year

new.nsf.gov

Crying or laughing emoji just won’t work but this is definitely why I’m here for BlueSky

NY Times Pitchbot@nytpitchbot.bsky.social · 2y ago

How it started. How it’s going.

Physical organic chemists - is there a good (non textbook) collected series of graduate-level problems on pericyclic reactions? Looking for problems involving mechanisms, stereochemistry, and application of W-H, FMO, and Zimmerman methods.