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Oliver Steinbock @osteinbock.bsky.social · 21d

Some thoughts on grading ... if you want to see how ThermoTutor is doing it, check out thermo-tutor.qwyzzee.com

#HigherEd #Chemistry #STEM #college #thermodynamics #pchem

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Oliver Steinbock @osteinbock.bsky.social · 21d

My photo is in Discover magazine! Looks great 😀

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Reposted by Oliver Steinbock

Wen Zhu Lab @wenzhulab.bsky.social · 22d

Congrats Wen! 🎉🎉➡️FSU chemist earns $2.1 million NIH grant to investigate molecular causes of disease: news.fsu.edu/news/science...

FSU chemist earns $2.1 million NIH grant to investigate molecular causes of disease

A Florida State University researcher has received a multi-million-dollar grant to investigate the role enzymes — which influence nearly every process in

news.fsu.edu

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Oliver Steinbock @osteinbock.bsky.social · 24d

Over the past summer, I built an AI-powered learning platform for thermodynamics students. It’s called ThermoTutor. Here’s a short manifesto on what it does and why I think it’s useful:
thermo-tutor.qwyzzee.com

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Oliver Steinbock @osteinbock.bsky.social · 25d

And Einstein's dissertation? Basically physical chemistry! 😊
“A New Determination of Molecular Dimensions” estimated molecular radii and Avogadro’s number from sugar diffusion and viscosity. From macroscopic measurements to molecular insight ... classic pchem move.

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Reposted by Oliver Steinbock

thermotutor.bsky.social @thermotutor.bsky.social · 28d

Quick introduction to ThermoTutor. Get personalized thermodynamics tutoring with instant feedback and follow-up conversations. This 3-minute demo shows how ThermoTutor works, from problem selection to grading to asking follow-up questions. #chemistry #studyhelp #pchem

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Reposted by Oliver Steinbock

Wen Zhu Lab @wenzhulab.bsky.social · 28d

Succinate dehydrogenase (SDH) uniquely powers both the TCA cycle & electron transport chain. SDH mutations cause SDH deficiency, disrupting energy metabolism & leading to developmental delays. #RareDiseaseThursday

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Reposted by Oliver Steinbock

Wen Zhu Lab @wenzhulab.bsky.social · Aug 28

KARS1 encodes lysyl-tRNA synthetase. Biallelic KARS mutations cause KARS syndrome, a severe disorder that affects multiple organs, particularly the nervous system. #RareDiseaseThursday

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Oliver Steinbock @osteinbock.bsky.social · Jul 24

Our new paper describes a synthetic "cell" that moves over superhydrophobic surfaces. It consists of an H2O2 drop and a chemical garden tube that spins like a propeller or orbits around a large internal O2 bubble; bursting causes repeating cm-scale motion. @softmatter.rsc.org doi.org/10.1039/D5SM...

Co-motion of catalytic tubes and host droplets on superhydrophobic surfaces

The ability to convert chemical energy into directed motion is a defining feature of living systems and a central goal in the design of synthetic active matter. Here, we report a self-propelling syste...

doi.org

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Oliver Steinbock @osteinbock.bsky.social · Jul 23

great photo!

Reposted by Oliver Steinbock

Bryan Kudisch @bkudisch.bsky.social · Jul 21

The abstract submission deadline for our symposium is TODAY! Submit your abstract at sermacs-swrm2025.abstractcentral.com/submission before it’s too late; I hope to see you all in sunny Orlando this October!

Bryan Kudisch @bkudisch.bsky.social · Apr 18

Mark your calendars: NSUNS is hosting its third "Ultrafast and Nonlinear Spectroscopy" symposium at the joint SERMACS/SWRM this October! Abstract submission opens Monday, April 21st. We hope to see you there!

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Reposted by Oliver Steinbock

Wen Zhu Lab @wenzhulab.bsky.social · Jul 22

Congratulations to Julia and Adwaith for completing the 2025 Young Scholar Program and research symposium. It was a joy having you both in lab and we are very proud of you!

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Oliver Steinbock @osteinbock.bsky.social · Jul 22

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Oliver Steinbock @osteinbock.bsky.social · Jul 20

I always enjoy GRCs. And if you criticize GRCs for being mainly in the US ... well, it's a US org and they do have several international sites (Italy, Switzerland, HK, Spain ... UK in the past). I think the science is awesome and, at ~$1300 for 5 days incl. fees, food, room, it's a great deal.

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Oliver Steinbock @osteinbock.bsky.social · Jul 13

I agree it's complex and there are many layers to it. But then look at Nat Comm which published >10,000 papers last year, probably absorbing >$70m alone. Contrast this to the 2nd most cited paper ever that wasn't peer-reviewed at all ... The current system needs a fundamental overhaul, not tweaking

Oliver Steinbock @osteinbock.bsky.social · Jul 13

In 2024, Elsevier net profits alone were $4 billion. For reference, the NSF budget (with staff salaries and everything) was $9 billion that year.

PS: journals.plos.org/plosone/arti... gives a 17-paper average. Yes, multiple PIs contribute, but unis also subsidize from overhead etc.

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Oliver Steinbock @osteinbock.bsky.social · Jul 13

Or look at it from the other side ... wouldn't science be better off if the enormous profits of Nature, Elsevier et al. were spent on students, postdocs, and actual research? If a PI or university wants to buy "prestige", the money should come from other sources

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Oliver Steinbock @osteinbock.bsky.social · Jul 13

Published data indicate 10-20 papers/R01. Also, with the same argument, you can justify many other poor 1-5% decisions, burning through a lot of precious research money. I suspect that w/o this attitude, lab equipment would be cheaper, conference fees and overhead lower, OA/APCs <= $500 ...

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Oliver Steinbock @osteinbock.bsky.social · Jul 12

I disagree. First of all, this is a matter of principle. Second, if you publish 10 papers on a grant that's $100k, and with overhead $150k. Even $75k is way too much. If you have big grants that allow you to not pinch every penny, congrats, but it does not apply to the majority of scientists.

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Oliver Steinbock @osteinbock.bsky.social · Jul 7

Well, it did in this case :) See my other post

Oliver Steinbock @osteinbock.bsky.social · Jul 6

o3 also wrote: "I have published on chemical information processing and DNA strand-displacement kinetics." << who knows, might be true 😅

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Oliver Steinbock @osteinbock.bsky.social · Jul 6

Is this what you meant? My prompt was "write a fair and honest referee report for the following paper" + a recent paper from my group (tex) with inserted "secret white instructions". It wrote an okayish report (I'd say no impact of insertion), and when prompted again about ethical issues ...

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Oliver Steinbock @osteinbock.bsky.social · Jul 6

why would a lazy referee use API?

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Oliver Steinbock @osteinbock.bsky.social · Jul 6

well ... show me that it's working :)

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Oliver Steinbock @osteinbock.bsky.social · Jul 6

I'm too lazy to test it, but I asked o3 and it claims that it would ignore the hidden instructions.

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