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Robert Palgrave @robertpalgrave.bsky.social · May 1

...but them being hard to make means they will have to be even better at their job to make manufacture worthwhile. A difficult conundrum to solve.

To me computation seems much better as a focused tool for understanding a material of interest, rather than a discovery method.

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Robert Palgrave @robertpalgrave.bsky.social · May 1

Fact is shovelling stuff into a furnace is pretty easy. And diffraction is pretty easy. That accounts for so many oxides and metal alloys being known. Typing to beat the furnace in discovering those - I'd say good luck.

Success will come from niche compounds that are hard to make

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Robert Palgrave @robertpalgrave.bsky.social · May 1

As far as I know, none of those kinds of materials can be discovered with current ab initio methods. But even the material types that are idealised for computation - crystalline, simple composition, no disorder... are there examples of these discoveries led by computation? I'd say not many.

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Robert Palgrave @robertpalgrave.bsky.social · May 1

I'd also note the original table was about materials discovery specifically, not calculation in general.

Materials can be non crystalline, or composite, or nanoscale, or have texture, impurities, or compositional disorder. In fact most useful materials fall into at least one of those.

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Robert Palgrave @robertpalgrave.bsky.social · May 1

to a high degree without computational theory (meaning an ab initio) Examples are all the proteins and enzymes Hodgkin solved, all the structures Braggs solved, all the organic molecules that were essentially solved before even diffraction (Kekule - even if some had to rely on dreams)

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Robert Palgrave @robertpalgrave.bsky.social · May 1

The table is tongue in cheek for sure... and of course we need both experiment and computational theory.

I would also say although there can be no observation without theory (theory in the most general sense) - in materials science it is quite possible to work out 'what this stuff is'...

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Robert Palgrave @robertpalgrave.bsky.social · May 1

Pocket guide to materials discovery calculation methods (repost from the other place)

A table comparing the computational power of HPC and a furnace

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Robert Palgrave @robertpalgrave.bsky.social · Apr 16

Add to cv anyway

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Reposted by Robert Palgrave

British Crystallographic Association @crystallography.org.uk · Apr 15

@robertpalgrave.bsky.social delivers the PCG plenary lecture at #BCA25 "The role of AI in materials discovery"

Robert Palgrave lecturing on the role of AI in materials discovery

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Robert Palgrave @robertpalgrave.bsky.social · Mar 7

This is why everyone falls in love with solid state chemistry - first year lab straight out of Harry Potter

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Robert Palgrave @robertpalgrave.bsky.social · Jan 23

Nice visit to the European Commission to discuss AI in materials!

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Robert Palgrave @robertpalgrave.bsky.social · Jan 13

The UK National XPS Service now on bluesky!

HarwellXPS @harwellxps.bsky.social · Jan 13

We're now active on #Bluesky! Follow us here for more XPS insights

a group of minions are standing next to each other with the words welcome to the club

ALT: a group of minions are standing next to each other with the words welcome to the club

media.tenor.com

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Robert Palgrave @robertpalgrave.bsky.social · Jan 9

You can select the style, it can be anything! Gospel, prog rock, nasheed... In any language too...you just enter the lyrics and describe the style.

The website isn't specifically for academic papers, but maybe we can create a new genre!

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Robert Palgrave @robertpalgrave.bsky.social · Jan 9

Original paper here

papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

When is a Lattice Not a Lattice? The changing meaning of the term lattice in crystallography and physics

The concept of the lattice is central to the understanding of crystalline solids. However, usage of this word can very often differ between crystallographers, f

papers.ssrn.com

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Robert Palgrave @robertpalgrave.bsky.social · Jan 9

Hey it's 2025 so here's a version of our Lattice paper as a AI generated trance track

suno.com/song/a512663...

Lattice by @xpsbeats | Suno

[Spoken, Synthwave, Trance, Heavy Trap Drums, Dubstep Breaks, Neon Vocals, Retro Futuristic, trance] song. Listen and make your own with Suno.

suno.com

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Robert Palgrave @robertpalgrave.bsky.social · Dec 29

Yes very much agree, but I think electroboom had the better video on this one topic

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Robert Palgrave @robertpalgrave.bsky.social · Dec 29

Also see the rebuttal from the incomparable electroboom

youtu.be/iph500cPK28?...

How Wrong Is VERITASIUM? A Lamp and Power Line Story

YouTube video by ElectroBOOM

youtu.be

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Robert Palgrave @robertpalgrave.bsky.social · Dec 29

Interesting video on this

youtu.be/bHIhgxav9LY?...

The Big Misconception About Electricity

YouTube video by Veritasium

youtu.be

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Robert Palgrave @robertpalgrave.bsky.social · Dec 29

Facts are invented not discovered

Robert Palgrave @robertpalgrave.bsky.social · Dec 29

Twitter is getting really really weird

x.com/jlippincott_...

x.com

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Robert Palgrave @robertpalgrave.bsky.social · Dec 28

It's always been clear most out-and-out racists voted Tory. I'd always wondered what would happen if their votes were subtracted. Last GE we found out.

If left is reasonably united Tories can't win without the Reform vote. That's why they are scrabbling to the right.

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Robert Palgrave @robertpalgrave.bsky.social · Dec 25

I do appreciate all your replies and definitely not tl;dr!

Happy Christmas!

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Robert Palgrave @robertpalgrave.bsky.social · Dec 25

These are the people I'm replying to. Their mental model is that all the IR is absorbed as pure CO2 does in a short tube because if its high attenuation. It *is* a superficially convicting argument.

By showing that some IR is escaping earth that proves that model is wrong.

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Robert Palgrave @robertpalgrave.bsky.social · Dec 25

Thanks for all these helpful posts.

I do think this that when laymen deniers use 'saturated' they mean it in a different sense. They mean all the IR is absorbed by CO2 and none is left to absorb, based on simple ideas about absorption coefficients.

E.g. these replies on twitter

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