I seriously just don't understand how any competent company lets a product this bad out the door? Maybe the reason certain people are afraid of AI/LLMs taking their jobs is just that they are really bad at their jobs. Every time I ask @microsoft-copilot.bsky.social for help, it makes me miss #Clippy
A student emailed me asking how to add custom error bars in the online version of Excel (which I don't use), so I decided that asking @microsoft.com copilot for directions might be quicker than figuring it out myself
The two critical interactions are pasted below.
I'm an early adopter of most new technologies, and while I wasn't as bullish on AI/LLMs as most, I really saw the potential in answering certain questions quickly. I just had a perfect use case come through my email, and Copilot failed.
“Security agencies staffed by dumb thugs are typically inept at identifying genuine subversive threats.”
Extraordinary piece
Another early career researcher speaking out about the value of biomedical research and the cost of NIH cuts. Thank you, Ben.
Yes. And the other thing about this Trump #NIH move is it’s NOT ABOUT organoids, nor models, nor in fact research.
This is merely an effort to destroy American science and universities.
Animal research policy is a useful tool in that destruction, because it is a political wedge issue.
That’s it!
SAVE THE DATE
AChemS XLVIII
April 22-25, 2026
New Location! Island Grand at Tradewinds, St. Pete, Florida
Microtubules (gold) and nuclei (pink) are shown in a z-projection of adipocytes.
For #FluorescenceFriday, this z-projection shows extensive microtubule networks (gold) and nuclei (pink) in adipocytes 🔬 #CellBiology #Microscopy
#Chemesthesis is in the house, and I am here for it.
youtu.be/qOa6GJ6_les?...
@achems.bsky.social #ChemSenses
I have spent less time in the last several months doing science than I have during my entire career, because so much of my time is taken up dealing with Federal dysfunction.
So if Lynne Partner wants scientists to get back to doing science, I have some suggestions.
Such an amazing book.
My personal gateway drug into science communication. Not sure when I first read it but it was a good bit over 20 years ago.
Congratulations Sarah Sniffen at University of Florida for achieving the Don Tucker Memorial Award for an Outstanding presentation at the #AChemS2025 annual meeting.
Heard from a former (undergrad) student who just defended her PhD. Students: tell your old profs about your successes and achievements. It's not bragging, and we love to hear about it. It's one of the best parts of being an educator.
#academicsky
🎉Congratulations #AChemS2025 Career Award Winners! Don't miss their award presentations tonight at 7 PM.
@achems.bsky.social
Need to cleanse your palate after gorging on the first day of fantastic (mostly vertebrate) taste and smell talks at #AChemS2025? Stop by our poster to hear about the feeding behavior of earthworms! tonight 4-6pm (poster #103) #ChemSenses #PUI @KeanUniversity #CougarsClimbHigher
Hi Randall @xkcd.com, is there any way you could update this cartoon with the current budget numbers: phdcomics.com/documents/ph... ?
It would be super useful to have right now to demonstrate visually that the research budget isn't big enough to produce the sized savings people are calming.
“On a Mission to Heal Gila Monsters -After years in Big Pharma, a chemist pivoted to help save the species that made Ozempic possible” www.nytimes.com/2025/02/16/s...
Reading in journal club:
Duan et al. @pnas.org
Postdoc publications and citations link to academic retention and faculty success
#AcademicSky 🧪
www.pnas.org/doi/full/10....
@plosbiology.org: Food hardness preference reveals multisensory contributions of fly larval gustatory organs in behaviour and physiology. dx.plos.org/10.1371/jour...
Perception of food texture #mouthfeel and #gustation are intimately intertwined! In Drosophila, these two sensations are apparently integrated at the level of the receptor cell! #ChemSenses
The entire archive of CDC datasets can be found here.
HUGE shoutout to data archivists- this work is important 👏🙌🏻
archive.org/details/2025...
Scientific breakthroughs we might not have had without NSF funding:
The Internet
Smartphones
DNA analysis
MRIs
Doppler radar
Bar codes
And this is just the tiniest tip of the iceburg.
