Lars Fischer
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fischblog.bsky.social
Lars Fischer
@fischblog.bsky.social
30K followers 3.2K following 5K posts
Chemist, blogger and science journalist. Physical sciences editor for Spektrum der Wissenschaft.

Writes about chemistry, infectious diseases, earth sciences, disasters and quokkas.
Posts in english and german.
Posts Replies Media Videos
Reposted by Lars Fischer
propcazhpm.bsky.social
This is a success story that Sierra Leone deserves credit for.

#GoodNews #PublicHealth #Blackademics #Epidemiology
boghuma.bsky.social BK. Titanji @boghuma.bsky.social · 12h
At the peak of the outbreak Sierra Leone was seeing 600 cases of mpox weekly. Over the last 8 months 200,000 vaccine doses have been delivered prioritizing the most at risk groups. Currently cases are down to 30 a week.
Public health works to end epidemics.
www.gavi.org/vaccineswork...
Sierra Leone’s mpox case-count is plummeting. Can the country get to zero new infections?
Ten months into a national public health emergency, and nearly six months into a vaccination campaign, Sierra Leone appears to be winning its fight against mpox.
www.gavi.org
November 25, 2025 at 1:34 PM
Reposted by Lars Fischer
nickgreeves.bsky.social
I asked the latest version of Gemini (nano banana..) to DRAW the mechanism of the Wacker oxidation.

This is my usual test that always fails! Is this the worst yet?
#chemchat #chemsky
Perhaps the most creative and utterly incorrect version I have seen
November 24, 2025 at 11:42 AM
fischblog.bsky.social
I like this new phage paper by Ghatbale et al.

It appears that host range and killing power of phages targeting antibiotic-resistant bacteria strains can increase in lab evolution.

The narrow host range of phages is a serious issue in using them clinically against resistant infections. 🧪
1/3
Experimental phage evolution results in expanded host ranges against antibiotic resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae isolates - Nature Communications
Ghatbale et al. adapted a co-evolutionary technique to develop Klebsiella pneumoniae phages to be highly active longitudinally against K. pneumoniae clinical isolates, including drug resistant isolate...
www.nature.com
November 21, 2025 at 8:23 AM
fischblog.bsky.social
I can't fathom why right-wing extremists are such a potent journalist honeypot. Another odd example in here: modest right-wing gains get a prominent spot at the top, while the major upset in copenhagen is further down and we are never really told where most of the other votes went. 🤷‍♂️
Social Democrats in Denmark suffer sweeping election losses
PM Mette Frederiksen’s centre-left party loses control of Copenhagen for first time in more than 100 years
www.theguardian.com
November 19, 2025 at 11:36 AM
fischblog.bsky.social
In a world where you can be anything, be weird.
November 18, 2025 at 12:01 PM
fischblog.bsky.social
@meertext.bsky.social Grad bei der Konkurrenz gelesen. ^^ Schöner Artikel!
Autorenkasten mit @Meertext in einem Magazin.
November 17, 2025 at 7:52 PM
Reposted by Lars Fischer
the-episiarch.bsky.social
Codonobdella is a genus of leech found in the depths of Lake Baikal - there are three different species, and unlike most leeches which feed on vertebrate animals, Codonobdella is a parasite of amphipods
#Invertebrate 🧪
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Left: Codonobdella tenebris leech on an Acanthogammarus amphipod. Right: Dorsal view of a Codonobdella tenebris leech
November 17, 2025 at 2:57 AM
fischblog.bsky.social
TIL: Goldhamster leben gar nicht in Kolonien.

Als nächstes erzählt mir noch jemand, die bilden überhaupt keine Riffe???
November 15, 2025 at 1:44 PM
fischblog.bsky.social
55 years ago today the thing with the whale happened.

Happy exploding whale day to all who celebrate.
youtu.be/V6CLumsir34?...
The Exploding Whale: An infamous moment in Oregon history creates a strangely beloved icon
YouTube video by KATU News
youtu.be
November 12, 2025 at 5:40 PM
Reposted by Lars Fischer
bug-gwen.bsky.social
I absolutely snorted out loud in an important, quiet historic reading room. And then had the giggles for 5 minutes. Fingle rows of tentaculated fuckers!
The British Sea Pen: this article is using the old script F for S; so that the paragraph reads: "This Sea-pen has a round flefhy ftem; the midrib between the fins rough, with minute scales, and fingle rows on tentaculated fuckers on each fin. "
November 9, 2025 at 8:35 PM
Reposted by Lars Fischer
judithgeology.bsky.social
Wow! I am currently experiencing serious underwater-seismometer-envy. This is so cool.
fikgm.bsky.social Fumihiko Ikegami @fikgm.bsky.social · 15d
The underwater seismometer network is so great, as evidenced from yesterday's EQ off-Tohoku.
Reposting unofficial visualization by x.com/kotoho76/sta...
November 10, 2025 at 3:20 PM
fischblog.bsky.social
Germany improved to 20th place. Which just gues to show that people actually start to like you if you refrain from waging war on all your neighbors every few decades.

Also I wonder whether it makes a difference to finlands reputation if you ask the question in summer (mosquitos) or winter (sauna).
brenttoderian.bsky.social Brent Toderian @brenttoderian.bsky.social · 19d
According to this ranking, Canada’s reputation has improved since 2024. We are now the 2nd most reputable country in the world.

The United States has dropped from 30th to 48th in that same year, the biggest drop of any nation BY FAR. Its reputation-peers are now Kuwait, Algeria, Kazakhstan…
List of countries with the best reputation, showing change between 2024 and 2025.
November 10, 2025 at 10:01 AM
Reposted by Lars Fischer
jmelville.science
please don't @ me like "actually cerium is unique among the lanthanides for its +4 oxidation state"

⚗️🧪 #chemsky
A simplified, stylized periodic table of elements where large groups of elements are color-coded. Hydrogen (H) is isolated. Group 1 (alkali metals) is labeled "BOOM!". Group 2 (alkaline earth metals) is "rocks & sand & glass & stuff". The transition metals are split into sections: "the foundations of human civilization," "catalysts & superalloys," "ooh, shiny!," "expensive," and "heavy metal poisoning." Technetium (Tc) is boxed separately. The p-block is also grouped: "chips (not tasty kind)," "organic chemistry," and "useful for poisoning your husband." The noble gases are labeled "n o p e." The heaviest elements in the s-block and p-block are labeled "cancer 2" and "cancer alley," with the exception of Bismuth. The transactinides are labeled "more physics than chemistry." The bottom f-block (lanthanides and actinides) is also labeled. The lanthanides are "except for Pm these are all basically the same element," with Promethium (Pm) boxed. The actinides are labeled "rxtors & bombs" and "you probably work at Los Alamos."
November 8, 2025 at 10:23 AM
fischblog.bsky.social
This is your periodical reminder that the projected warming due to climate change practically always refers to the year 2100. The full temperature increase will likely be higher.

At #COP30, people will claim something like we avoided a truly apocalyptic amount of warming. This is probably not true.
November 6, 2025 at 11:50 AM
Reposted by Lars Fischer
scicom.bsky.social
Neue Daten widerlegen ein zentrales Narrativ der Impfgegner: Bei Kindern/Jugendlichen war nicht die #COVID19-#Impfung, sondern die Infektion das deutlich größere Risiko für Myokarditis/Gefäßerkrankungen.

Hier die wichtigsten Fakten. 🧵1/15
Vascular and inflammatory diseases after COVID-19 infection and vaccination in children and young people in England: a retrospective, population-based cohort study using linked electronic health records Alexia Sampri, Wen Shi, Thomas Bolton, Samantha Ip, Rochelle Knight, Venexia Walker, Rachel Den
November 6, 2025 at 8:09 AM
Reposted by Lars Fischer
paulmac.bsky.social
Anthropogenic Global Warming & Storms🧵

theconversation.com/even-weak-tr...
Even weak tropical cyclones have grown more intense worldwide – we tracked 30 years of them using currents
Research shows storms that might have caused minimal damage a few decades ago are becoming stronger and more destructive as the planet warms.
theconversation.com
February 28, 2025 at 4:58 AM
fischblog.bsky.social
Yay! Ore Cup is here! 😍
@amphibol.bsky.social
November 4, 2025 at 2:53 PM
Reposted by Lars Fischer
leoniemarch.bsky.social
Bundespräsident Steinmeier ist heute in #Angola. Ich war schon vor ihm da und habe mich umgehört: Wo steht das Land 50 Jahre nach der Unabhängigkeit? Zu hören im Deutschlandfunk: www.deutschlandfunk.de/angola-reich...
Angola - Reiches Land, düstere Zukunftsszenarien
Angola feiert seine Unabhängigkeit. Doch die Menschen werfen ihrer Machtelite vor, den Ölreichtum unter sich zu verteilen. Viele befürchten einen Bürgerkrieg.
www.deutschlandfunk.de
November 4, 2025 at 6:20 AM
fischblog.bsky.social
Sorry. 🤭
#3I/Atlas

(Photo by Lotem Loeb, I hope this counts as fair use)
Photo of Avi Loeb with the caption "I'm not saying it was aliens but it was aliens"
November 3, 2025 at 1:09 PM
fischblog.bsky.social
In unserer WWAS-Halloweenfolge mehr als nur ein Hauch von Frankenstein. 🧟‍♂️

Dieses künstliche Leben soll Forschung, Medizin und Biotechnik voranbringen - und könnte versehentlich alles Leben auf der Erde auslöschen.

Zumindest nach Ansicht mancher Fachleute. Wir machen es natürlich trotzdem. 😁
Wir Werden Alle Sterben: Das gruselige Spiegel-Leben
Technisch erschaffene Monster sind ein Klassiker des Grusels - doch auch in der Realität verursacht künstliches Leben Gänsehaut.
www.spektrum.de
November 1, 2025 at 7:53 AM
Reposted by Lars Fischer
nationaltrust.org.uk
When in the woods, best beware of dead man's fingers lurking there.
Reaching up above the ground, a creepy fungi to be found.

Happy Halloween everyone.

Photo: Sheringham Park by Rob Coleman
Fungi growing in a woodland, it looks remarkably like zombie fingers reaching up from the ground
October 31, 2025 at 8:08 AM
Reposted by Lars Fischer
cenmag.bsky.social
While this scanning electron microscope image may look like a harbinger of doom—perhaps a symptom of a haunted instrument or a cursed lab—Gustavo Porrata Caraballo says there’s a perfectly rational scientific explanation for it: cen.acs.org/materials/po... #CENChemPics #Halloween #chemsky 🧪
A scanning electron microscope image of polymer clusters, one of which resembles a skull.
October 31, 2025 at 10:27 AM
Reposted by Lars Fischer
pthorwartl.bsky.social
Der neue Haderer - morgen in der Wochenendausgabe der Oberösterreichischen Nachrichten. Zeichnerisch wieder grosse Klasse.
October 30, 2025 at 10:09 PM
fischblog.bsky.social
🧪
I agree, this is something researchers urgently need to answer!
dbellingradt.bsky.social Daniel Bellingradt @dbellingradt.bsky.social · 26d
Consider yourself an academic? But where is your hat with tassel, the hair worn in a plait, the spotted suit and checked tights, like this fella from 1773 - called: the Academic Mac - is wearing? #academicchatter
A 1773 brush drawing in grey wash, with pen and grey ink showing "The Academic Mac"; a man standing, wearing a hat with tassel, the hair worn in a plait, a spotted suit and checked tights. Source: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1865-1014-459
October 30, 2025 at 9:28 AM
Reposted by Lars Fischer
watershedlab.bsky.social
Apply for an @esa.int Living Planet Fellowship to work with me @ucalgaryscience.bsky.social! Canada is 'Associated State' and so we can host fellows who use Earth Observation data in their research. 🧪⚒️❄️🛰️ @igsoc.bsky.social @gaphaz.bsky.social @igs-egg.bsky.social

eo4society.esa.int/2025/10/17/l...
Living Planet Fellowship call for proposals 2025 - eo science for society
ESA invites young researchers in ESA Member States to submit scientific proposals to the Living Planet Fellowship Call 2025. The LPF aims at supporting
eo4society.esa.int
October 29, 2025 at 3:37 PM