Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Nick Greeves @nickgreeves.bsky.social · 3d

Metal organic frameworks MOFs win the Nobel Prize.
Explore some famous examples in interactive 3D www.chemtube3d.com/mof-home-2/

#chemnobel #nobel prize #chemsky

Metal Organic Frameworks - home

Interactive 3D chemistry animations of reaction mechanisms and 3D models of chemical structures for students studying University courses and advanced school chemistry hosted by University of Liverpool

www.chemtube3d.com

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Nick Greeves @nickgreeves.bsky.social · Jul 30

Is it really appropriate for Nature to display such crude representations of organic molecules in articles?

#chemsky
www.nature.com/articles/d41...

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Nick Greeves @nickgreeves.bsky.social · Jul 24

I thought there was a helium shortage! Didn’t expect to see this in HobbyCraft

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Nick Greeves @nickgreeves.bsky.social · Jul 23

You are correct , Chemistry is expensive but can a serious University afford to be without a subject that interfaces with Physics, Biology, Pharmacology, Materials Science and these days, Computer Science?

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Nick Greeves @nickgreeves.bsky.social · Jul 23

Chemistry ‘cold spots’ emerging across the UK, RSC warns www.chemistryworld.com/news/chemist... #chemsky

Chemistry ‘cold spots’ emerging across the UK, RSC warns

Some regions face a future with fewer chemists

www.chemistryworld.com

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Nick Greeves @nickgreeves.bsky.social · Jul 23

It is ironic that in spite of all the recent publications on "skeletal editing" the simple swap of CH2 for O in morphine is currently out of our reach so we have to rely on total synthesis.
www.chemistryworld.com/news/morphin... #chemsky

Morphine analogues kill pain with fewer negative side effects

Redesign of the potent painkiller's core prevents breathing suppression and reduces addiction-related behaviours in mice

www.chemistryworld.com

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Nick Greeves @nickgreeves.bsky.social · Jul 12

I personally survived desks in labs in Cambridge, Madison, Stanford and Liverpool. In the real world of academia this is very likely to still be the arrangement.
If you are in the ideal world of unlimited budgets (Pharma) or are designing a new lab then proximal separate desks are preferable.

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Nick Greeves @nickgreeves.bsky.social · Jul 10

Are large language models superhuman chemists?

Not with actual chemical structures in my experience!

www.chemtube3d.com/ai-and-chemi...

#chemsky

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Are large language models superhuman chemists? - Nature Chemistry

We developed ChemBench as a framework for the evaluation of large language models (LLMs). Our findings reveal that leading LLMs outperform expert chemists in chemical knowledge and reasoning across di...

www.nature.com

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Nick Greeves @nickgreeves.bsky.social · Jul 10

Remember Grok is built in to X (formerly Twitter). Unfortunate programming to say the least.

Hardly surprising that so many users have left X.

www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

Musk’s AI firm forced to delete posts praising Hitler from Grok chatbot

www.theguardian.com

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Nick Greeves @nickgreeves.bsky.social · Jul 10

Wow! Spotlight now offers a new system that lets the authors of file-provider apps (Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive) offer their content directly within Spotlight. Theoretically, this means that if you search for something in your Dropbox you find it! #Tahoe #macOS

www.macworld.com/article/2841...

macOS Tahoe finally puts the Spotlight where it belongs

20 years later, Spotlight returns to the spotlight on the Mac

www.macworld.com

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Nick Greeves @nickgreeves.bsky.social · Jun 12

I’ve signed and, if you go to concerts, you can too

www.which.co.uk/campaigns/st...

Stop Fleecing Fans | Which? Campaigns - Which?

Music, sports and theatre fans are at the mercy of a ticketing industry that allows greedy touts to resell tickets at outrageous prices.

www.which.co.uk

Nick Greeves @nickgreeves.bsky.social · Jun 10

One of my favourite elements

Chemjobber @chemjobber.bsky.social · Jun 9

Element of the moment: samarium #chemsky 🧪⚗️

www.nytimes.com/2025/06/09/b...

China’s Chokehold on This Obscure Mineral Threatens the West’s Militaries

www.nytimes.com

Reposted by Nick Greeves

Chemistry World @chemistryworld.com · Jun 10

In the face of mounting financial pressures in higher education and industry, the UK government is being urged to take action to protect the chemical sciences. #ChemSky #ScienceSky

Industry and academic leaders urge UK government to recognise chemistry’s strategic importance

Amid uncertainty in higher education, experts highlight subject's vital contributions

www.chemistryworld.com

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Nick Greeves @nickgreeves.bsky.social · Jun 2

And regular readers will know I like to challenge AI/LLM with the Walker oxidation mechanism in text and then graphically. Claude was a bit too creative….

An artist’s impression of Wacker oxidation mechanism

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Nick Greeves @nickgreeves.bsky.social · Jun 2

Claude does do better but lacks perspective even when specifically requested.

SN2 transition stage from Claude.AI lacks perspective

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Nick Greeves @nickgreeves.bsky.social · Jun 2

I’ve been playing with Gemini too. Bad idea!

If I knew how to link to my previous post I would….

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Nick Greeves @nickgreeves.bsky.social · Jun 1

Gemini offered to draw a diagram of the transition state of an SN2 reaction.

Like a fool I asked it to go ahead!

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Nick Greeves @nickgreeves.bsky.social · May 30

You forgot futile! Although sometimes just a methyl group makes all the difference!

www.chemtube3d.com/development-...

A level - Chirality of AWZ1066S vs AWZ1066R

Interactive 3D chemistry animations of reaction mechanisms and 3D models of chemical structures for students studying University courses and advanced school chemistry hosted by University of Liverpool

www.chemtube3d.com

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Nick Greeves @nickgreeves.bsky.social · May 30

Remember the main point was the ridiculous number of examples that seem to be expected and the resource wasted in performing them all. I’d include the Nature journals too in this!

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Nick Greeves @nickgreeves.bsky.social · May 30

What makes you think they aren’t still doing that?

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Nick Greeves @nickgreeves.bsky.social · May 30

That would be nice! #chemsky

Department of Chemistry, University of Aberdeen 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 @aberdeenchem.bsky.social · May 29

Growth of the workforce in the UK chemical sciences is expected to be much higher than in other fields over the next decade

@rsc.org
@chemistryworld.com
#ChemSky 🧪

Chemical sciences workforce growth could outstrip rest of UK over next 10 years

Royal Society of Chemistry report says support for schools, universities and industry is needed for sector to thrive

www.chemistryworld.com

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Nick Greeves @nickgreeves.bsky.social · May 30

I’ve observed this with concern myself. It risks disenfranchising small research groups who lack access to sophisticated kit and multiple coworkers. And some of the reported yields are not synthetically useful!

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Reposted by Nick Greeves

Royal Society of Chemistry @rsc.org · May 30

Winning an RSC Education Prize can be a joyful victory against imposter syndrome. Show someone that their work really is valued – get your nominations for 2025 in now.

Make a nomination: buff.ly/rZFrlW5 #ChemSky #EduSky #EduSkyPrimary

Image of an individual with long, dark hair, smiling beside a quote about winning the Royal Society of Chemistry’s 2023 Excellence in Secondary and Further Education Prize, with a blurred nature background.

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Nick Greeves @nickgreeves.bsky.social · May 25

After reading this I’m glad my #Alexa is unloved and unplugged!

www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

‘Alexa, what do you know about us?’ What I discovered when I asked Amazon to tell me everything my family’s smart speaker had heard

For years, Alexa has been our on-call vet, DJ, teacher, parent, therapist and whipping boy. What secrets would the data reveal?

www.theguardian.com

Reposted by Nick Greeves

Dr Andrea Laybourn @andrealaybourn.bsky.social · May 20

Interested in:
➡️ #flow and/or #microwave & #MOF synthesis
OR
➡️ Applications of #MOFs for air/water #pollution
& want to apply for #MCSA Postdoctoral Fellowship to work with us at Uni of Leeds?
Please contact me via email by 16th June if you’re eligible & think our research aligns. #chemsky🧪

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