Andy McMillan
@mcawmcmillan.bsky.social
I teach college biochemistry, with a personal interest in evolution of enzyme activity and protein structure. Interested in other general nerdery especially TTRPG. He/him
Reposted by Andy McMillan
This is a sobering read that starts from a straightforward premise: look at how the poverty threshold is calculated in the US and see how well it holds up as an actual measure.
I expected it to be bad. It’s much worse, in ways it’s hard not to see.
I expected it to be bad. It’s much worse, in ways it’s hard not to see.
Part 1: My Life Is a Lie
How a Broken Benchmark Quietly Broke America
www.yesigiveafig.com
November 26, 2025 at 12:58 PM
This is a sobering read that starts from a straightforward premise: look at how the poverty threshold is calculated in the US and see how well it holds up as an actual measure.
I expected it to be bad. It’s much worse, in ways it’s hard not to see.
I expected it to be bad. It’s much worse, in ways it’s hard not to see.
Reposted by Andy McMillan
NMR acronyms such as COSY and DOSY are an elaborate cover story. In fact, all NMR spectra are made up by small, cute sprites who can be summoned by spinning liquids at a magic angle.
November 25, 2025 at 10:20 PM
NMR acronyms such as COSY and DOSY are an elaborate cover story. In fact, all NMR spectra are made up by small, cute sprites who can be summoned by spinning liquids at a magic angle.
Reposted by Andy McMillan
This new policy from NIH is concerning.
It looks like a way to weaponize administrative burden, one of Russell Vought's favorite moves to break gov't.
Background: Program staff / NIH institute directors can move grants around outside peer review order. 1/
It looks like a way to weaponize administrative burden, one of Russell Vought's favorite moves to break gov't.
Background: Program staff / NIH institute directors can move grants around outside peer review order. 1/
This is concerning.
NIH is changing their policy so that staff have to prepare justification for every application that is funded BUT NO DOCUMENTATION FOR APPLICATIONS THAT ARE SKIPPED (BASED ON PERCENTILES).
1/2
NIH is changing their policy so that staff have to prepare justification for every application that is funded BUT NO DOCUMENTATION FOR APPLICATIONS THAT ARE SKIPPED (BASED ON PERCENTILES).
1/2
November 24, 2025 at 3:41 AM
This new policy from NIH is concerning.
It looks like a way to weaponize administrative burden, one of Russell Vought's favorite moves to break gov't.
Background: Program staff / NIH institute directors can move grants around outside peer review order. 1/
It looks like a way to weaponize administrative burden, one of Russell Vought's favorite moves to break gov't.
Background: Program staff / NIH institute directors can move grants around outside peer review order. 1/
Reposted by Andy McMillan
[email protected] has the right of it.
November 24, 2025 at 2:46 AM
[email protected] has the right of it.
Reposted by Andy McMillan
This is so irresponsible and absurd, it should make me angry but mainly I’m sad. All the billions of dollars we spend to make medicine incrementally better, and all the scientists and technicians who devote their lives to the work… 1/
The NIH director told attendees the NIH doesn't do enough innovative research.
“What puts lives at risk is doing research that’s incremental,” Bhattacharya said. “All it does is advance the careers of the researchers that do it. It results in publications that don’t get used and aren’t replicable.”
“What puts lives at risk is doing research that’s incremental,” Bhattacharya said. “All it does is advance the careers of the researchers that do it. It results in publications that don’t get used and aren’t replicable.”
November 22, 2025 at 12:59 PM
This is so irresponsible and absurd, it should make me angry but mainly I’m sad. All the billions of dollars we spend to make medicine incrementally better, and all the scientists and technicians who devote their lives to the work… 1/
Reposted by Andy McMillan
Catching up on blog posts: a biochemical role for the element tungsten, of all things. Don't look for it in your multivitamins any time soon, though:
Biochemical Tungsten - Really
www.science.org
November 21, 2025 at 6:19 PM
Catching up on blog posts: a biochemical role for the element tungsten, of all things. Don't look for it in your multivitamins any time soon, though:
Mess up loading protein into a gel a skip a lane? problematic PAGE gap
Bacteria keep running amok? Problematic phage gap.
Actors keep falling into the orchestra pit? Problematic stage gap.
November 20, 2025 at 12:29 AM
Mess up loading protein into a gel a skip a lane? problematic PAGE gap
Quite the mixed feelings right now. I’ve been mostly teaching but for first time have been working with a student doing research that would want to present at ASBMB meeting. But also needing to weigh risks of taking an immigrant student to visit DC #ChemChat #ITeachBio
November 18, 2025 at 1:05 AM
Quite the mixed feelings right now. I’ve been mostly teaching but for first time have been working with a student doing research that would want to present at ASBMB meeting. But also needing to weigh risks of taking an immigrant student to visit DC #ChemChat #ITeachBio
Reposted by Andy McMillan
When DHS dared to call its anti-immigrant racial profiling weekend in Charlotte, North Carolina, “Operation Charlotte’s Web,” I knew I was going to have to write about it.
Tonight, at Law Dork, here it is: www.lawdork.com/p/gregory-bo...
Tonight, at Law Dork, here it is: www.lawdork.com/p/gregory-bo...
November 17, 2025 at 12:41 AM
When DHS dared to call its anti-immigrant racial profiling weekend in Charlotte, North Carolina, “Operation Charlotte’s Web,” I knew I was going to have to write about it.
Tonight, at Law Dork, here it is: www.lawdork.com/p/gregory-bo...
Tonight, at Law Dork, here it is: www.lawdork.com/p/gregory-bo...
Reposted by Andy McMillan
“We analyzed 47000 conversations that people had with ChatGPT. We’re pretty sure we don’t have consent for a lot of them. So we are reproducing screenshots here.”
www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...
www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...
November 15, 2025 at 7:40 PM
“We analyzed 47000 conversations that people had with ChatGPT. We’re pretty sure we don’t have consent for a lot of them. So we are reproducing screenshots here.”
www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...
www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...
Reposted by Andy McMillan
this goes right along with my theory that the AI obsession in *users* is often bc…
1. they were never educated (esp "ipad generation") & don't know how computers work
2. our tools and services are all SO AWFUL NOW, degraded at best, actively user-hostile at worst
1. they were never educated (esp "ipad generation") & don't know how computers work
2. our tools and services are all SO AWFUL NOW, degraded at best, actively user-hostile at worst
November 15, 2025 at 6:47 PM
this goes right along with my theory that the AI obsession in *users* is often bc…
1. they were never educated (esp "ipad generation") & don't know how computers work
2. our tools and services are all SO AWFUL NOW, degraded at best, actively user-hostile at worst
1. they were never educated (esp "ipad generation") & don't know how computers work
2. our tools and services are all SO AWFUL NOW, degraded at best, actively user-hostile at worst
Reposted by Andy McMillan
There are certain fights that you need to either never pick in the first place or be certain you're willing to see all the way through.
The shutdown was one of them.
The shutdown was one of them.
November 12, 2025 at 12:22 AM
There are certain fights that you need to either never pick in the first place or be certain you're willing to see all the way through.
The shutdown was one of them.
The shutdown was one of them.
Reposted by Andy McMillan
At my blog, I write more about my concerns for aspiring entering grad students in chemistry for Fall 2026. To reiterate - if you don't have a plan for next fall RIGHT NOW, you need to talk to your professors and advisers and develop a plan NOW: chemjobber.blogspot.com/2025/11/towa...
#chemchat 🧪⚗️
#chemchat 🧪⚗️
Towards a data-informed prediction of Fall 2026 US chemistry PhD admissions | a warning to senior undergraduates
As faithful readers of this blog know, I found the statement that Harvard Chemistry and Chemical Biology was cutting its Fall 2026 entering ...
chemjobber.blogspot.com
November 10, 2025 at 7:27 PM
At my blog, I write more about my concerns for aspiring entering grad students in chemistry for Fall 2026. To reiterate - if you don't have a plan for next fall RIGHT NOW, you need to talk to your professors and advisers and develop a plan NOW: chemjobber.blogspot.com/2025/11/towa...
#chemchat 🧪⚗️
#chemchat 🧪⚗️
Reposted by Andy McMillan
Brilliantly written, and provides some useful insight into what actually went awry there.
“‘He loved getting a rise out of people,’ the lab friend said. ‘And when you think of yourself as a master of the universe, you think you can, or should, get away with things.’”
“‘He loved getting a rise out of people,’ the lab friend said. ‘And when you think of yourself as a master of the universe, you think you can, or should, get away with things.’”
A Sharon Begley byline, almost 5 years after her death.
Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written."
Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating.
🧪🧬🧫
Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written."
Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating.
🧪🧬🧫
James Watson, dead at 97, was a scientific legend and a pariah among his peers
James Watson, the co-discoverer of the structure of DNA who died Thursday at 97, was a scientific legend and a pariah among his peers.
www.statnews.com
November 8, 2025 at 9:46 PM
Brilliantly written, and provides some useful insight into what actually went awry there.
“‘He loved getting a rise out of people,’ the lab friend said. ‘And when you think of yourself as a master of the universe, you think you can, or should, get away with things.’”
“‘He loved getting a rise out of people,’ the lab friend said. ‘And when you think of yourself as a master of the universe, you think you can, or should, get away with things.’”
Reposted by Andy McMillan
Her sister wrote my favorite essay about her. She points out that RF would have been famous even if she'd never looked at DNA
www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
Remembering my sister Rosalind Franklin
Rosalind Franklin died of ovarian cancer in 1958 aged 37 years. Sympathy and feminism
have combined to give us her familiar image as a downtrodden woman scientist, brilliant
but neglected, a heroine t...
www.thelancet.com
November 7, 2025 at 11:20 PM
Her sister wrote my favorite essay about her. She points out that RF would have been famous even if she'd never looked at DNA
www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
Reposted by Andy McMillan
In case anyone is wondering if Watson was really THAT bad, @lpachter.bsky.social compiled a list of quotes that are absolutely not for the faint of heart.
liorpachter.wordpress.com/2018/05/18/j...
liorpachter.wordpress.com/2018/05/18/j...
November 7, 2025 at 10:18 PM
In case anyone is wondering if Watson was really THAT bad, @lpachter.bsky.social compiled a list of quotes that are absolutely not for the faint of heart.
liorpachter.wordpress.com/2018/05/18/j...
liorpachter.wordpress.com/2018/05/18/j...
Reposted by Andy McMillan
Watson’s death is a fantastic reminder that you can be intelligent without being a good person.
The obituary of someone who gained widespread fame through remarkable achievements at a young age and then expected to be taken seriously for anything he said thereafter.
James Watson, Co-Discoverer of the Structure of DNA, Is Dead at 97
www.nytimes.com
November 7, 2025 at 7:57 PM
Watson’s death is a fantastic reminder that you can be intelligent without being a good person.
I think the best part of this is that it took a bit to figure out where T was going from because the description messed up by not randomly capitalizing the the T in experImenTs
Ok, this has to be the worst/best NMR acronym I've ever seen:
"MIChI StAndard foR ReportinG Liquid-StAte NMR ExperIments of SmAll MoleculeS (MARGARITAS)"
(Source: www.nfdi4chem.de/uv-vis-michi...) #chemsky
"MIChI StAndard foR ReportinG Liquid-StAte NMR ExperIments of SmAll MoleculeS (MARGARITAS)"
(Source: www.nfdi4chem.de/uv-vis-michi...) #chemsky
UV-Vis MIChI Draft Is Ready - NFDI4Chem
We are pleased to announce that the amended UV-Vis MIChI draft is now ready and will be published before the end of the year.
www.nfdi4chem.de
November 7, 2025 at 12:50 PM
I think the best part of this is that it took a bit to figure out where T was going from because the description messed up by not randomly capitalizing the the T in experImenTs
Reposted by Andy McMillan
Ok, this has to be the worst/best NMR acronym I've ever seen:
"MIChI StAndard foR ReportinG Liquid-StAte NMR ExperIments of SmAll MoleculeS (MARGARITAS)"
(Source: www.nfdi4chem.de/uv-vis-michi...) #chemsky
"MIChI StAndard foR ReportinG Liquid-StAte NMR ExperIments of SmAll MoleculeS (MARGARITAS)"
(Source: www.nfdi4chem.de/uv-vis-michi...) #chemsky
UV-Vis MIChI Draft Is Ready - NFDI4Chem
We are pleased to announce that the amended UV-Vis MIChI draft is now ready and will be published before the end of the year.
www.nfdi4chem.de
November 7, 2025 at 9:23 AM
Ok, this has to be the worst/best NMR acronym I've ever seen:
"MIChI StAndard foR ReportinG Liquid-StAte NMR ExperIments of SmAll MoleculeS (MARGARITAS)"
(Source: www.nfdi4chem.de/uv-vis-michi...) #chemsky
"MIChI StAndard foR ReportinG Liquid-StAte NMR ExperIments of SmAll MoleculeS (MARGARITAS)"
(Source: www.nfdi4chem.de/uv-vis-michi...) #chemsky
Reposted by Andy McMillan
you absolute NINCOMPOOPS
if a cis person presents a "historical fact" that aligns with their current presentation and appearance, it's not a big deal.
if a trans person presents that "historical fact" that is so obviously in glaring contrast to present, WE WILL BE SUBJECT TO DIFFERENT TREATMENT
if a cis person presents a "historical fact" that aligns with their current presentation and appearance, it's not a big deal.
if a trans person presents that "historical fact" that is so obviously in glaring contrast to present, WE WILL BE SUBJECT TO DIFFERENT TREATMENT
I spit on the reputation of the U.S. Supreme Court, not that it can get much more degraded than it has already become by the repulsive actions of its disgusting GOP members.
You can hear the transphobic sneer in these words.
You can hear the transphobic sneer in these words.
November 6, 2025 at 10:28 PM
you absolute NINCOMPOOPS
if a cis person presents a "historical fact" that aligns with their current presentation and appearance, it's not a big deal.
if a trans person presents that "historical fact" that is so obviously in glaring contrast to present, WE WILL BE SUBJECT TO DIFFERENT TREATMENT
if a cis person presents a "historical fact" that aligns with their current presentation and appearance, it's not a big deal.
if a trans person presents that "historical fact" that is so obviously in glaring contrast to present, WE WILL BE SUBJECT TO DIFFERENT TREATMENT
Reposted by Andy McMillan
This Norwegian stabbur, ca 1700, one of the oldest buildings in the region. Used to store foods & other things off of the ground, away from animals.
I'm not OK, for all the Crone reasons.
We know where her house came from! Its origins, most likely!
imma go get my evil mortar and pestle now brb
I'm not OK, for all the Crone reasons.
We know where her house came from! Its origins, most likely!
imma go get my evil mortar and pestle now brb
November 6, 2025 at 4:35 PM
This Norwegian stabbur, ca 1700, one of the oldest buildings in the region. Used to store foods & other things off of the ground, away from animals.
I'm not OK, for all the Crone reasons.
We know where her house came from! Its origins, most likely!
imma go get my evil mortar and pestle now brb
I'm not OK, for all the Crone reasons.
We know where her house came from! Its origins, most likely!
imma go get my evil mortar and pestle now brb
Reposted by Andy McMillan
The story of Max Theiler (who created the yellow fever vaccine still used today) sipping coffee in her office while she checks Lassa cultures at her desk microscope is truly…haunting? incredible? to anyone who’s worked in a virology lab this century, and/or has any sense of self-preservation
![The experiments carried out at the Yale Arbovirus Research Unit by me had been successful.
How did the Lassa fever experiments change my daily existence? work on the new human pathogen had been restricted by wil Downs to my tissue culture section and to the adjacent section presided over by Jordi Casals on the 7th floor of the Laboratory of Epidemiology and Public Health. Other experienced and qualified investigators at YARU such as Bob Shope, assistant director as of 1968, and Nick Karabatsos, were excluded from participation, because of possible danger to their young children. In my own section, whenever I was working with the Lassa agent, I slowed down and became meticulous in techniques. Inasmuch as possible i remained in my own laboratory and avolded other people in the department, since we could not know how highly virulent this infectious agent might be.
In Stamford, we were living then -- and I still do today -- in a home with a large yard. [her dog] loved children…I asked our good neighbors to keep their children temporarily away for reasons of safety…
Many people asked me: "Are you not afraid for your own safety when working with the dreadful agent?" And I answered: "Not really." By the late sixties. I had a vast experience in the handling of dangerous human pathogens. but I had never suffered a laboratory infection.
I had, in the meantime, familiarized myself with the course of illness of Lassa fever in the three missionary nurses. Briefly, Laura Wine, 69 years old. working in a mission hospital in Lassa, a small village with about 1,000 inhabitants in northeastem Nigeria, was in good health until January 12, 1969 when her illness started. The onset was gradual with low grade fever, malaise. myalgia, headache, ulcerative pharyngitis, dyspnea, leukepenia and some hemorrhagic signs.
Following a steady downhill course, she was flown…to Bingham Memorial Hospital in Jos, a town of about 100.000 inhabitants on the Jos plateau, Nigeria.
She was cared for by the](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:kiozjehz4wovetl76xlzbex5/bafkreib27xyglmg4pnclk2ffnsdpzendgkuxwzjxrfon7qbq3st2efbivu@jpeg)
![…I gave Jordi Casals a batch of infectious Vero cell culture fluid…He inoculated baby & adult mice housed next to his office on the 7th floor in a large sterile room. Jimmy Washington, his long-time technician, took care of the experimental animals over the long weekend…Early in June, Casals came to my office, quite excited. He said: “Come and see! All the baby mice are still well, but most of the inoculated adult mice have died, the few still living are sick." I…stood at the entrance of the "mouse room", door half open. Jordi Casals removed an adult mouse from its cage, spun it by its tail, whereupon it started to have convulsions, bringing to my memory the picture of Laura Wine who had convulsions just prior to death. I discreetly stepped away from him. I recalled at that moment vividly a statement by Hermann Mooser, the discoverer of Rickettsia typhi: "You don't have to be afraid of a corpse, it being quite stiff and still; but be aware of any living creature which sneezes, coughs. urinates and defecates."
It entered my mind that this adult mouse possibly urinated over Jordi Casal's hand as he spun its tail.
Be it as it may, some days later, on June 9th 1969, Jordi Casals came down with an unusually severe "summer cold" - at least so we thought at first.
Nevertheless, he came to work every day. commuting from NY. He must have experienced "chills", because he was wearing a thick, gray winter sweater underneath the lab coat. His condition deteriorated during the week.
By Friday afternoon, he displayed a deadly, ashen color - one of the secretaries saying: "He looks like death warmed over." He complained of having severe leg pains.
…his wife and daughter visited their grandmother…over the weekend. When they returned on Sunday evening. Jordi Casals was critically ill, & his skin was flushed. Christina, on her way to becoming a medical doctor, insisted on calling the family physician, who, in turn, arranged for the immediate admission of Jordi to the [hospital]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:kiozjehz4wovetl76xlzbex5/bafkreicypbluubeyaay4m4hlz5vsub5m2xqvbq3bnwu7t5p4g2wxlztavy@jpeg)
November 2, 2025 at 6:50 PM
The story of Max Theiler (who created the yellow fever vaccine still used today) sipping coffee in her office while she checks Lassa cultures at her desk microscope is truly…haunting? incredible? to anyone who’s worked in a virology lab this century, and/or has any sense of self-preservation
Reposted by Andy McMillan
Alright let me tell you a story about a prominent scientist in my field and my first conference. This was in the days when most had adopted PowerPoint, but some of the older folks still showed up with actual physical slides to show on one of those old fashioned overhead projectors.
Nobody makes enemies by finishing their talk early…
October 29, 2025 at 12:19 PM
Alright let me tell you a story about a prominent scientist in my field and my first conference. This was in the days when most had adopted PowerPoint, but some of the older folks still showed up with actual physical slides to show on one of those old fashioned overhead projectors.
If you just need a quick premade illustration there’s good science stock art sources. Some I’ve got bookmarked www.biorender.com
chemix.org
bioicons.com
scidraw.io
reactome.org/icon-lib
www.phylopic.org
chemix.org
bioicons.com
scidraw.io
reactome.org/icon-lib
www.phylopic.org
October 31, 2025 at 3:15 PM
If you just need a quick premade illustration there’s good science stock art sources. Some I’ve got bookmarked www.biorender.com
chemix.org
bioicons.com
scidraw.io
reactome.org/icon-lib
www.phylopic.org
chemix.org
bioicons.com
scidraw.io
reactome.org/icon-lib
www.phylopic.org
Reposted by Andy McMillan
Wanted to talk about the fact that the ONLY form of communication/transparency the MAGA world seems to believe in is "trolling the libs." And why they're doing that. And why it's so stupid.
Trump’s Government Of Spite: Political Performance Art For Assholes
A couple weeks ago, as hundreds of thousands of Americans took to the streets in what may have been the largest single day of protest in U.S. history, the President of the United States responded by… posting a video of himself…
A couple weeks ago, as hundreds of thousands of Americans took to the streets in what may have been the largest single day of protest in U.S. history, the President of the United States responded by… posting a video of himself…
Trump’s Government Of Spite: Political Performance Art For Assholes
A couple weeks ago, as hundreds of thousands of Americans took to the streets in what may have been the largest single day of protest in U.S. history, the President of the United States responded by… posting a video of himself literally dumping shit on citizens. Not a policy response. Not an attempt at dialogue. Not even a coherent defense of whatever decisions prompted the protests.
www.techdirt.com
October 30, 2025 at 6:19 PM
Wanted to talk about the fact that the ONLY form of communication/transparency the MAGA world seems to believe in is "trolling the libs." And why they're doing that. And why it's so stupid.