An infographic titled "Magnolia molecules: perfume and medicines" details the plant's chemistry. Pink petals contain cyanidin and peonidin pigments. Aroma molecules include aldehydes like 2-nonenal and heptanal, and terpenes like alpha-pinene and linalool. Medicinal bark compounds include magnolol and honokiol, which have antioxidant properties. It also highlights yulanosides, unique phenylethanoid glycosides. Chemical structures for these compounds surround a central magnolia branch photo.

Did you know magnolia petals are edible?

I didn't until this year, and discovering that they are led me to this exploration of magnolia chemistry (and experiments in making magnolia gin).

Learn more in the graphic here: www.compoundchem.com/2026/04/20/m...

#ChemSky 🧪

The 'dumb machine' promising a clean energy breakthrough A stellarator is difficult to build, but could it be the best way to make fusion energy work?

The 'dumb machine' promising a clean energy breakthrough. 🧪 www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

a man in a suit is standing in the desert and says anyone there ALT: a man in a suit is standing in the desert and says anyone there

We have been told we may be using SPARX science next year.
Does anybody already use it and if so, can you give your thoughts on it?

.. and now I just found out that on the days when I get the train and then a bus, the bus now leaves 5 minutes earlier!!
This means I now have only 4 minutes to get from the train to the bus (assuming the train runs on time!!)
If i miss it, I then have a 35 minute wait until the next one..

The new timetable wasnt lying.
4 minutes delayed setting off on the earlier but also slower bus.
Not a great start to Term 5 but better than if I hadn't checked the new bus timetables!!

Alarms back on... with a new alarm for tomorrow to catch my new, earlier but slower bus to test if it is still possible to get the bus or if I need to revert back to the trains every day

a man in a black hat is looking out of a red telephone booth ALT: a man in a black hat is looking out of a red telephone booth

Bus changes means I need to leave my house at least 10 minutes earlier on Monday Morning... good job I checked other my lift would have left without meas I would have been 15 minutes late (also changed from an 'X' bus to non-x bus)
Great start back to work!

Astronaut Jeremy Hansen on his way around the moon.

50 year old #JeremyHansen is the first Canadian to travel around the moon on a mission that hasn’t happened in more than 50 years. He was born for this mission & we Canadians are very proud of him! 🇨🇦🌖🇨🇦

if they have fixed it!! .. Channel 4 appears to have been frozen on a Chainsaw advert for the last 15 minutes.
Shame, as I was really looking forward to watching that Chainsaw advert too....

yes - for about 10 or 15 minutes

The award ceremony is tonight. Wish me luck!

A full disc image of Earth, as seen from the Orion Crew Module. The planet is a pale blue, swirling with white clouds and glowing slightly lighter blue in place from reflected light. At lower left, a large brown landmass is Africa, with Spain and Portugal with twinkling lights where the planet curves. At top right, auroras glow in a thin green glow, just barely separated from the planet's surface. Earth is set against the black of space (pic: NASA/R.Wiseman)

More context on this #Artemis II image:

* This is the night side, lit by moonlight. You can see city lights in Spain & Portugal, & a sliver of day at lower right

* The Sun is entirely behind Earth, which makes it a kind of solar eclipse, but w/ Earth doing the eclipsing instead of the Moon:
☀️🌍🚀🌕

This "Fuels for Spacecraft" infographic explains how rockets launch and move through space. The left side covers "Getting Off the Ground," detailing solid propellants like ammonium perchlorate and aluminum powder used in boosters, and liquid propellants like liquid oxygen and hydrogen used in main engines. The right side explores "Propulsion in Space," highlighting chemical propulsion via hydrazine decomposition, electric ion propulsion using xenon, and solar sails.

With #Artemis II blasting off to the Moon, here's a look at the different fuels used to get rockets off of the ground in this edition of #PeriodicGraphics in @cenmag.bsky.social: cen.acs.org/physical-che...

Turning these off for 2 weeks....

Spotted a bird this morning with an unusual call.. can you identify it and do an impression of it?

This "Aroma Chemistry" infographic explains why wet dogs smell. It features an image of a terrier and diagrams showing that microorganisms in dog hair produce volatile organic compounds, which water then liberates into the air. The graphic identifies ten specific compounds that increase in concentration when hair is wet, including benzaldehyde (almond-like), p-cresol (faecal), and dimethyl trisulfide (sulfurous). Conversely, it notes that hexanal and heptanal concentrations decrease when wet.

Today is #NationalPuppyDay 🐶 If you’ve ever wondered why wet dogs smell so funky, learn about the biochemistry behind it in this graphic! www.compoundchem.com/2015/07/28/w...

An infographic titled "The Chemistry of Daffodils" by Compound Interest for C&EN explains the flower's biological makeup. It features a bouquet of yellow daffodils and three main sections. The Aroma section highlights (E)-beta-ocimene for its woody scent, plus 1,4-dimethoxybenzene and (E,E)-alpha-farnesene. The Color section identifies carotenoids like zeaxanthin and beta-carotene. The Poison & Medicine section shows the toxic alkaloid lycorine and galantamine, used to treat Alzheimer's.

Spring is here in the northern hemisphere! Here's a graphic from the #PeriodicGraphic archives in @cenmag.bsky.social looking at the pigments that give daffodils their golden glow: cen.acs.org/articles/93/...

#ChemSky 🧪

View from below of the massive black cylinder of the LSST Camera pointed horizontally attached to Rubin's telescope. Text reads "One year ago this month, the LSST Camera was installed at NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory. Here are 7 things to know about it! Hace justo un año, en este mes, se instaló la Cámara LSST en el Observatorio Rubin de NSF–DOE. ¡Aquí tienes 7 cosas que debes saber sobre ella!"

A person in a head to toe white suit and blue latex gloves points a flashlight into the lens end of the massive LSST Camera, which is as tall as the person. Text reads "It's enormous. Es gigantesca. Built at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, the LSST Camera is the largest digital camera in the world* - it's about the size of a small car and weighs roughly 3 metric tons (6,600 pounds). Construida en el Laboratorio Nacional del Acelerador SLAC, la Cámara LSST es la cámara digital más grande del mundo*: tiene proximadamente el tamaño de un auto pequeño y pesa unas 3 toneladas métricas. *It even has a Guinness World Record! / ¡Incluso tiene un récord mundial Guinness!"

A graphic showing LSST Camera's field of view on the sky, with seven full moons filling the width. Text reads "It sees a huge area of sky at one time. Puede observar una enorme porción del cielo de una sola vez. Each image covers an area about 45 times the size of the full Moon, enabling Rubin to cover the entire visible sky every few nights. Cada imagen cubre un área de unas 45 veces el tamaño de la Luna llena, lo que permite a Rubin mapear todo el cielo visible en unas pocas noches."

View straight into the lens end of the massive LSST Camera, showing a mosaic of ~200 CCD chips in a roughly square shape. Text reads "Everything about the camera is huge, including the images it takes! Todo en esta cámara es enorme,¡incluyendo sus imágenes! A single LSST Camera image is about 3200 megapixels. Una sola imagen tomada por de la Cámara LSST tiene unos 3.200 megapíxeles."

A year ago this month, our 3200-megapixel LSST Camera was installed! 🔭🧪

Here's what to know about it!

1️⃣ It's enormous!
2️⃣ It sees a huge area of sky at one time
3️⃣ Everything about it is huge, including the images it takes

🧵

Kent meningitis outbreak unprecedented - health chiefs Officials confirm 15 cases of meningitis following an outbreak in Kent, in which two people died.

'Explosive' meningitis outbreak unprecedented – officials. 🧪 www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Infographic on how plastic is recycled. The graphic shows the mass of different plastic types produced in kilograms and the percentage of this mass that is recycled according to the US EPA. It also illustrates how plastics are sorted by type with a variety of techniques before washing, separation from contaminants, then drying and pelletisation.

How are plastics recycled and how do the recycling rates of different plastics compare? This 2012 edition of #PeriodicGraphics in @cenmag.bsky.social takes a look: cen.acs.org/environment/...

I've pretty much resigned myself to the fact I'll never win a Hugo, but if you're eligible to vote and you want to nominate my novel FUTURE'S EDGE (Titan) or my collection WHO WILL YOU SAVE? (also Titan), or my tie-in novelisation DOCTOR WHO: THE WELL (BBC Books), then I guess it can't hurt...

Been sitting on this news for a while! There's going to be a Children of Time TTRPG courtesy of the amazing folk at Rowan Rook and Decard (Heart, Spire, DIE, Eat the Reich and many more).

The cover of WHO WILL YOU SAVE? by Gareth L Powell. It shows a figure on an alien landscape reaching up to a figure standing on an upside down reflection of the landscape above. The cover of JITTERBUG by Gareth L Powell features a stylised rocket silhouette at the centre of an orrery, with a space suited figure dangling in its wake

Here I am with the books of the moment! The BSFA Award-shortlisted collection WHO WILL YOU SAVE? and the newly released novel JITTERBUG. They pair nicely together for anyone who likes imaginative fiction with great characters.
Get them now from @titanbooks.bsky.social and all good booksellers.

I havent actually read it but saw it was in an ebook deal so grabbed it while I could..

Have you read 'Recursion' - which is another Blake Crouch book?

No I don't even think I own it - thought the movie was more of a 'Teen' movie (although really good) so thought book would be the same

Group of guinea pigs spotted on Jersey's north coast Six of the rodents are seen among brambles near Devil's Hole, with three initially recovered.

Group of guinea pigs spotted on Jersey north coast. It's an invasion. Strangely it is. 🧪 www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Back to this conundrum... what shall I read next? .. unread books on the thread...

What a lovely moon!