I am pleased to share that our special issue on “Surfaces, Interfaces, and Heterogeneous Catalysis” is now live in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A. Issue link is here: royalsocietypublishing.org/rsta/issue/3...
#Catalysis #Surfaces #Interfaces @royalsocietypublishing.org
Of course, once the smaller universities all go bust, watch this 'hoovering up' completely stop. We will end up with huge restrictions to access to higher level education for all but the most privileged. Sleepwalking into this scenario
Jar Of Peaches - 1866
https://botfrens.com/collections/41/contents/6772
I forgot! It's trans day of visibility today. Most trans people probably wish they were a little less visible in the current climate; a little less endlessly debated. In recent years I've tried to donate directly to trans people's transition funds. Something worth considering if you can afford it ❤️
You'd be tripping over them walking around in the 90s
Happy St. Patrick's Day, New York.
That metal soup bowl. I'm feeling like Proust with his madeleine
Still from RTE Canteen 1991.
A badass picture of Cynthia Rothrock making fists
As I traditionally did on an abandoned platform I would like to point out that International Women's Day is Cynthia Rothrock's birthday. Happy both!
And the strategy @profafinlayson.bsky.social suggests, which seems correct, is pretty much what Tim Waltz was doing in the Harris campaign, calling out the right as 'weird'. Unfortunately it turned out that many of the democratic party leaders were also very weird
Excellent analysis as always. I was particularly amused that in the discussion on candidates, the labour one wasn't mentioned at all. Quite appropriate!
If it wasn’t for the heroic efforts of thousands of trees like this, our nation’s rivers would be at
a standstill
Cezanne was a completely revolutionary painter in many ways, but sometimes... I'm reminded of jaseomcn.bsky.social 's great post on the matter
In case the news is causing nothing but despair
'For instance, “Learn how to use the internet” - a free general computer literacy course - is listed as beginner-level. As is a course called “Git Fundamentals”.' 🤦♂️
The article itself even shows those annoying aspects of chatGPT written crap. Every other sentence basically a list. We need a word for it, maybe chatGPGibberish
So many of HE’s problems are the product of these efforts to generate market structures that just simply don’t work because the conditions that markets need to work really aren’t there, and all they do is create uncertainty (and financial problems) for students, staff, and institutions.
Very enjoyable thread!
Dear Sir Paul, Re: Royal Society Code of Conduct I am sure that many scientists have written to you about the specific question of Elon Musk’s Fellowship and whether, under the Royal Society’s Code of Conduct, his retaining that Fellowship is appropriate. I will not rehash these issues. Instead, as a female scientist with extensive experience of activities aiming to increase equality, diversity and inclusion in the engineering and physical sciences sector, I am writing to you (in a personal capacity) to ask you to reconsider the statements you have recently made in this context to the UK press about the Royal Society’s Code of Conduct and how it is applied. A 2018 report from the joint National Academies of the United States of America, concluded that “sexual harassment is common in academic science, engineering, and medicine” and that “greater than 50 percent of women faculty and staff and 20–50 percent of women students encounter or experience sexually harassing conduct in academia”. This report described codes of conduct that make clear that sexual harassment is unethical and will not be tolerated as a “powerful incentive for change”. The authors also noted that sexual harassment can have significant and damaging effects on the integrity of research. In my own praxis, I have found that clear and consistently-implemented codes of conduct that address these issues make female scientists and engineers safer, and allow them to focus more effectively on their research. For codes of conduct to have such a positive effect, it is vital that sanctions for actions which transgress the code are meaningful and substantial.
I was hence aghast to realise that in an interview with the Financial Times published on 9/1/26, you appear to have suggested that the Royal Society “should only expel fellows if their science proved “faulty or fraudulent or highly defective””. Moreover, in a further interview with the Guardian on 11/1/26 you suggested that the code “may need to be looked at again”, with the implication that your aim would be to remove the option of sanctions on Fellows for reasons not strictly related to faults or defects in their research. I suggest that changing the Royal Society’s code of conduct so that the likelihood of serious sanctions for sexual harassment is reduced, would directly endanger women who interact with the Royal Society at events or otherwise, and would provide a licence to harass to the already powerful people on whom the Society bestows fellowship. The implications of your words - that under your leadership the only infringements of the code which are likely to receive the sanction of the Fellowship being removed are those related to research misconduct - already risk empowering harassers. You stated, in the Financial Times interview, that “there’s many bad people around, but they have made scientific advances”. Given this awareness of the possibility of bad actors in our scientific community, it is wholly irresponsible to suggest that the Royal Society would not act to sanction these people if they harass more vulnerable scientists. I am hence writing to request that you retract any suggestion that the Society’s Code of Conduct should be changed so that the only reason a Fellow might be sanctioned by the removal of their Fellowship is “faulty or fraudulent or highly defective” research. This action is necessary to safeguard female scientists, a requirement placed on the Society by safeguarding legislation and UK statutory guidance. Yours sincerely, Professor Rachel A. Oliver.
Following coverage over the weekend of Sir Paul Nurse's comments that suggested that the only reason that a Fellow should be expelled from @royalsociety.org is scientific misconduct, I have written to him to explain the risks such an attitude poses of increasing sexual harassment in STEM.
Years ago my friend Dave’s then-four-year-old son walked into a room, looked at Dave, and said, “Well, well, well. If it isn’t Mr. Daddy.”
The days between December 25 and January 1 are the Lanthanides and Actinides of the Gregorian calendar
The sun rising over the London skyline this morning, only it’s a very cloudy sky and the sun is visible only as an orange streak of fire that coincidentally seems to be emanating from the spire on the top of St Paul’s dome
Rare footage of St Paul’s Cathedral testing its giant flamethrower
🇮🇪 #Eurovision 1994 winner Charlie McGettigan will return his trophy to the EBU in protest of Israel's inclusion.
"In support of Nemo I would like to return my trophy to the EBU as well. Unfortunately our win was in 1994, but if I do find it I will return [it]".
[📹 IPSC]
Charlie Brown's last words
Timeline showing the progress of quantum mechanics
Quantum mechanics has gone from a theory in test to becoming the foundation of new technologies.
Learn more in a new #SciencePerspective that looks at the last 100 years of #QuantumMechanics: https://scim.ag/4pVyB1p
Ooh, this is some lovely BOC content.
youtu.be/wubkrBd3-gg?...
I don’t know if anyone else notices or cares, but when I see a presentation in which the speaker uses obviously generated-AI images to illustrate their slides, it makes me immediately less confident in whatever other content they’re presenting.
Handshake meme - "Me doing a CAPTCHA" and "THE THIRD POLICEMAN by Flann O'Brien" uniting over "Is the guy riding the bicycle part of the bicycle?"
