New preprint! Can quantum kernels classify micro-CT bone data as well as classical ML? Yes, but only if you preprocess with UMAP. Every linear reduction method (PCA, PLS, random projections) wiped out competitiveness. Manifold-preserving prep isn't optional for near-term QML. tinyurl.com/hpm9ctjn

Turns out you can just predict strain directly from XCT scans and skip the noisy displacement math entirely. Our new preprint on D2IM-Strain shows a 75% drop in false positives with way cleaner data. Great work Jon! #Biomechanics #DVC #XCT #MachineLearning www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

1 week left to apply for a fully funded PhD position in the UK on developing autonomous beamlines! www.gre.ac.uk/docs/rep/com... #chemsky #AcademicSky #PhDChat #MaterialsScience #MachineLearning #PhysicsInformedAI

Enceladus (Saturn's 6th largest moon) vents its subsurface ocean into space. In our latest preprint, we used synchrotron X-ray CT and diffraction to map the rapid freezing of Enceladean brines as they are ejected through tectonic plumes. doi.org/10.21203/rs.... 1/4

The STFC financial situation is worrying. There's a risk we start seeing facilities vs. strategy as a choice. But you can't build digital twins or AI models if you can't see the physics happening. Synchrotrons and neutron sources are the ground truth for Net Zero. #BatterySky #MaterialScience

🌟 Applications are now open for the Next Generation of AI Chemists Programme, a funded opportunity for penultimate-year undergraduates from backgrounds under-represented in chemistry. 📍 Imperial London | 📅 6–7 July 2026 (in person) 👉 Apply here: buff.ly/MLfs9Zg

James Le Houx: Benchmarking Autonomy in Scientific Experiments: A Hierarchical Taxonomy for Autonomous Large-Scale Facilities https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.06978 https://arxiv.org/pdf/2601.06978 https://arxiv.org/html/2601.06978

Autonomous is a catch-all term that means everything and nothing right now. I'm curious: if you work at a beamline or a shared facility, what is the #1 thing stopping you from letting an AI agent drive your motors? Is it the latency, the safety, or the lack of trust?

Why do solid-state batteries fail? We used operando X-ray tomography to find out. 🧪 Bare Cu creates localized islands that trigger cracks, but a 50nm Ag nanolayer keeps things uniform and stable, even at high current. 📷🔋 #chemsky #batterysky #sciencesky

We need to stop measuring experimental success by data volume (TB/hour) and start measuring it by scientific insight. In our new arXiv preprint, we propose Heuristic Operando experimentation: a framework to teach beamlines how to think. arxiv.org/abs/2601.00851 #ScienceSky #AI #BatteryResearch

Autonomous battery research: Principles of heuristic operando experimentation

Unravelling the complex processes governing battery degradation is critical to the energy transition, yet the efficacy of operando characterisation is severely constrained by a lack of Reliability, Re...

arxiv.org

Some news! I’m starting a new chapter as a Senior Lecturer at Greenwich and launching the BASE Lab. We are teaching beamlines how to think, building a Self-Driving Microscope to hunt for battery failure. I'm also hiring our founding PhD student. Come build with us! #SciSky #AIforScience

​In the wake of the Airbus A320 groundings, it's worth remembering that the ISIS Neutron and Muon Source has a facility dedicated to replicating this kind of cosmic bombardment. ​It’s called ChipIR. ​It allows engineers to test the degradation of avionics before they ever leave the ground.

Diving into the new UK AI for Science Strategy. They’ve made a definitive call, prioritise generating new data over optimising existing archives. As a materials scientist, I think this is absolutely the right call. Here is why. 🧵1/3 #AIforScience #MaterialsScience

Played around with Meta's new SAM 3 on our X-ray data today. Top: Our manually trained U-Net (accurate but slow). Bottom: SAM 3 out-of-the-box ("white objects"). It misses some outliers, but getting 90% of the way there with zero training is a win for high-throughput workflows. #Science #AI

Huge congrats to Harriet Jones for winning best poster at #IBSim-4i! She's leading our project adapting #code_saturne for on-the-fly simulation from CT data enabling autonomous workflows. Thx judges & sponsor #3Dmagination! #IBSim4i #Simulation #Physics #CFD #AutonomousScience #chemsky #BattChat

At PorTo, ILL's new beamline, tackling Li-ion failure: electrolyte consumption, interlayer buckling, & overcharge. Running high-res neutron imaging + multi-modal (X-ray/Neutron) correlation & unsupervised AI. Thx Bratislav Lukić! #Liion #ILL #CorrelativeImaging #DataScience #chemsky #BattChat

ACS Spring 2026 abstract deadline: September 29th! We're chairing a new session in Atlanta. If you use large-scale facilities to study energy storage materials with photons, neutrons, muons, or lasers, we want to hear from you. Submit here: tinyurl.com/4e3envar #chemsky #research #ACSSpring2026

EIS ice baby New ideas can be found in the intersection between battery science and planetary science. Myself and @thebeamline.bsky.social are exploring how ice microstructure will impact radar measurements on Europa using tomography and EIS. #Europa #icymoons #planetaryscience #tomography 🧪

In-situ dark field X-ray microscopy of solid state batteries this week. Seriously challenging experiment, thank you to the whole team at ID03 @esrf.fr

The classic problem with the weakest link is that when you fix it, you just create a new one. We saw this happen in real-time with solid-state batteries. Our new preprint shows how fixing one interface just moves the failure to the next weakest spot. 1/6 Paper link: doi.org/10.26434/che...

Operando X-ray Computed Tomography Reveals the Role of Interfacial Nucleation Nanolayers in Suppressing Mechanical Failure in Zero-Excess Lithium All-Solid-State Batteries

Lithium metal (LM) and zero-excess lithium (ZE) anodes offer pathways to increase the energy density of all-solid-state batteries (ASSBs). We employ operando X-ray computed tomography (XCT) combined w...

doi.org

What do solid-state batteries & plant roots have in common? Excited to share our new article in @theconversation.com written with my collaborator Siul Ruiz. We dive into the powerful mechanics roots use to navigate tough soils, vital for our food security. 1/4 theconversation.com/natures-unde...

Nature’s underground engineers: how plant roots could save harvests from drought

Plant roots don’t just take from soil; they shape it.

theconversation.com

Pocket coffee for those 4am beamtimes

Pretty exciting beamtime at @diamondlightsource.bsky.social I13-2 this week. We're going from manual sample centering to a fully automated process with a Yasakawa arm, hitting 150 battery samples a day and swapping optics from nm to µm resolution.

How do plant roots push through hard soil? Our new paper in npj Biological Physics and Mechanics uses X-rays to watch it happen. This new view can help us breed more resilient crops for a changing climate.🌾 #SoilScience #Agriculture tinyurl.com/5mdkrk3e @pereralj.bsky.social @tiinaroose.bsky.social

Coupled X-ray imaging/diffraction reveals soil mechanics during analogous root growth - npj Biological Physics and Mechanics

npj Biological Physics and Mechanics - Coupled X-ray imaging/diffraction reveals soil mechanics during analogous root growth

tinyurl.com

Well that's incredibly satisfying, new refactored code building and running a CI/CD pipeline in Github Actions. Only took 165 trys.....

Signs of life again....Watch this space

Harwell, home of the endangered bee orchid. Always impressed by the work of the conservationist team on site led by Bill Temple, looking forward to seeing them flower

Want a summer internship at Rutherford Appleton Lab? 🇬🇧 UK undergrads: learn battery characterisation, work with large science facilities & get hands-on exp with Gabriel Pérez & me! 🚨 Deadline April 14th (1 week left!) Apply: tinyurl.com/3trmeahp #STEMcareers #Internship #RAL #UKStudents

FUSE Summer Placement in Didcot, Oxfordshire, England

To apply for this placement, we are looking for the following: Essential:

tinyurl.com

One of those days today