Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Palli Thordarson @palliunsw.bsky.social · 20h

Indeed! Great day for Aussie chemistry. Richard Robson's work is finally being properly recognised. Congratulations also to Kitagawa and Yaghi. #ozchem

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Palli Thordarson @palliunsw.bsky.social · 20h

This is a fantastic day for Australian chemistry. First Australian chemistry Nobel prize since John Cornforth in 1975, but Richard Robson's work is at least as impactful. #ozchem

Jon Beves @jonbeves.bsky.social · 20h

Fantastic to see one of my chemical heroes, Richard Robson, winning the Nobel Prize for coordination frameworks (MOFs), together with Kitagawa and Yaghi. #ozchem

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Palli Thordarson @palliunsw.bsky.social · 2d

Beyond proud to be the 2025 recipient of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute (RACI) Leighton Memorial Medal, in recognition of eminent service to chemistry in Australia. Big thanks to all my former and current students, staff amd collaborators for making this happen. #RACI #ozchem #chemistry

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Palli Thordarson @palliunsw.bsky.social · Aug 27

Hahahaha! I still think of my favourite student survey feedback: "Great accent, sounds like a 1930's Chicago ganster" Maybe Sydney Uni should also look into the benefits of foreign accents;-) See www.news.com.au/lifestyle/pa...

www.news.com.au

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Palli Thordarson @palliunsw.bsky.social · Aug 9

It started ok when asked re isobutanol vs 1-butanol but then it butchered the iso-butanol structure. Yeah... so like a middling undergraduate not PhD.

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Palli Thordarson @palliunsw.bsky.social · Aug 9

A nice round number on Google Scholar, so I couldn't resist snapping a screenshot.

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Palli Thordarson @palliunsw.bsky.social · Jul 25

P.s. the main reason the lecture is not already dead is that both admin and many academics refuse to face the issue. For admin it is particularly hard because once we ditch lectures we MUST lower student to staff ratio as we shift to more active learning methods. Admin hates that! + some academics.

Palli Thordarson @palliunsw.bsky.social · Jul 25

Exactly. Let's stop passive lectures and turn our contact hours into active learning. It is the only way. Students enjoy learning by doing. They don't like lecturing, they prefer to watch videos in their own time.

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Palli Thordarson @palliunsw.bsky.social · Jul 25

Microscopically yes, some might. Long term/macroscopically the lecture is still dead. You should hear also what kids like mine at high schools say about these old fashion passive methods of teaching. The next generation is going to be even more brutal. Let focus on labs, discussion groups and such.

Palli Thordarson @palliunsw.bsky.social · Jul 25

That is like when teachers tried to ban calculators. Let's face it, this battle is lost. The lecture is dead. Frankly it isn't bad. We should focus on teaching by doing, not 18th century style preaching from the altar.

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Palli Thordarson @palliunsw.bsky.social · Jul 24

Yep... I don't know why we have done that already. We did this of course during covid but then some people wanted to turn back the clock after covid and bring back conventional in person lectures. It is a lost cause. Let's focus on hands on DOING stuff, not "preaching".

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Palli Thordarson @palliunsw.bsky.social · Jul 24

Stop doing "live lectures"(just do videos etc) focus our contact hours on hands on activities (labs!), discussion groups. Students WANT TO do stuff but they see no points in wasting their time on conventional lectures when they learn that stuff online.

Palli Thordarson @palliunsw.bsky.social · Jul 24

I got a light teaching load so it impacts me less than others but boy, isn't demoralising to have only 3 of 64 students attending lectures. This is not sustainable as eventually people lose the will to teach this way. Can we not just admit the lecture is dead & buried and make some big changes.

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Palli Thordarson @palliunsw.bsky.social · Jun 5

Saying goodbye to Carlos, our superstar visiting #supramolecular PhD student from U. Chile, Santiago who has been with us here at UNSW School of Chemistry, for the past 10 months doing some amazing work in #calixarene host-guest chemistry. We will miss you Carlos! #ozchem

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Palli Thordarson @palliunsw.bsky.social · May 10

Off to Les Diablerets in the Swiss Alps for the biannual Gordon Conference on Self-assembly and Supramolecular Chemistry! Looking forward to catching up with friends and making new + soaking in some great science in the alpine environment. And yes it includes RNA condensates etc ;-)

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Palli Thordarson @palliunsw.bsky.social · Apr 26

My 15y tells me there a lot of ads from Labor, LNP and yes, Clive's Trumpets on Insta. Big diff between the Labor & LNP content is that people just make fun of the latter for how out of touch they are while Labor, being also mostly lame, at least gets sometimes right with the cynical Insta crowd

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Palli Thordarson @palliunsw.bsky.social · Apr 21

My 15y son listens to Radiohead and my 13y daughter to Nirvana and got herself also a Green Day t-shirt (she had 2 Nirvana ones already). Several years of listening to my playlist in the car seem to have paid off;-) #GenX

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Palli Thordarson @palliunsw.bsky.social · Mar 20

Add me please

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Palli Thordarson @palliunsw.bsky.social · Mar 20

Marc Greenberg from John Hopkins giving a fantastic lecture here at @unswchemistry.bsky.social UNSW RNA Institute on oxidative damage in DNA-histone protein interactions. #ozchem #RNA #DNA

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Palli Thordarson @palliunsw.bsky.social · Mar 16

Fantastic analysis of what is wrong with Australian politics: We wasted a $400b windfall, and now we’ll all have to pay www.afr.com/policy/econo...

We wasted a $400b windfall, and now we’ll all have to pay

An audit of federal finances finds Australia has never seen rivers of gold like this, but the hangover will be brutal.

www.afr.com

Palli Thordarson @palliunsw.bsky.social · Mar 15

P.s. and if good researchers is defined by a local cabal of like minded researchers that is not necessarily a good thing for an agency that should funding innovative risky ideas. There is a fair amount of groupthink in some Australian research communities.

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Palli Thordarson @palliunsw.bsky.social · Mar 15

What is your field? I heard the opposite from many in the physical sciences, e.g. quantum physics and synthetic chemistry.

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Palli Thordarson @palliunsw.bsky.social · Mar 15

I reviewed for half a dozen European agencies and they are not that different from the ARC. Our problem is that we don't have experts on the panels that don't have COI. We need more int involved especially at the panel level.

Palli Thordarson @palliunsw.bsky.social · Mar 14

I should have clarified we in particular need international members in the panels. That it is were we lack experts without COI most.

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Palli Thordarson @palliunsw.bsky.social · Mar 14

Lack of neutral expertise. Too much COI here. Especially on the panels. So we don't have enough subject experts that don't have COI. Problem is worst for big schemes.

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