The 10 Dumbest Things I’ve Seen An Undergraduate Chemist Do
In no particular order, here are the 10 dumbest things I’ve seen an undergraduate chemist do in the last decade or so. 1. Derive a bond-length longer than the Humber bridge This is a fairly common...
View ArticleThe Environment: Social vs Science
A thing I’ve long suspected, but have really only figured out and cemented after having to write some lecture materials on it, is that green chemistry, climatology, sustainability and environmentalism...
View ArticleYou’re Not Here To Study Chemistry
I don’t gripe about work too often here… okay, maybe I do. Anyway, here’s one thought flowing throw my head as I have ten minutes to kill between doing allegedly important things. Sometimes, I want to...
View ArticleWhat I’d say to climate change deniers if… fuck it, I AM saying this
You may have read this before, so you know where this is going… I just wanted to say to you by the way of introductory remarks that I’m extremely miffed about this subject, and in my quest to try to...
View ArticleNo, Scientists Didn’t Do The Thing
I threatened to write this a few posts back, and after I Fucking Don’t Understand Science’s last clusterfuck, I’m going to. So next time a major science story gets reported in the popular press, this...
View ArticleThe Predictability of Science Churnalism + Bonus Sweary Rant
Ca. 20 hours ago, I dropped the following comment on Facebook: Currently trending is that the Philae lander has perhaps found life on a comet… yeah, if that turns out to be verified and not just media...
View ArticleMagical Narrative Thinking
Before I begin, this focuses on a very specific example – so, if you have time, have a think about how it generalises. There are countless examples out there, in fiction especially, but where it bleeds...
View ArticleYes, You Are Allowed to Say Whatever You Want – You’re Asking For Something Else
Whenever something like Tim Hunt’s clusterderp happens in the world, there’s one phrase I can absolutely count on hearing almost immediately. It’s so unavoidable, so foreseeable and so inevitable that...
View ArticleThings You Should Probably Stop Saying –“BUT EVERYTHING IS A CHEMICAL!”
Anyone who hasn’t lived under a rock somewhere in the barren wastelands of nowhere will probably at some point heard about dangerous “chemicals” in our food and water supply. It’s an amazingly common...
View ArticleWhat I’d say to climate change deniers if… fuck it, I AM saying this
You may have read this before, so you know where this is going… I just wanted to say to you by the way of introductory remarks that I’m extremely miffed about this subject, and in my quest to try to...
View ArticleNo, Scientists Didn’t Do The Thing
I threatened to write this a few posts back, and after I Fucking Don’t Understand Science’s last clusterfuck, I’m going to. So next time a major science story gets reported in the popular press, this...
View ArticleThe Predictability of Science Churnalism + Bonus Sweary Rant
Ca. 20 hours ago, I dropped the following comment on Facebook: Currently trending is that the Philae lander has perhaps found life on a comet… yeah, if that turns out to be verified and not just media...
View ArticleMagical Narrative Thinking
Before I begin, this focuses on a very specific example – so, if you have time, have a think about how it generalises. There are countless examples out there, in fiction especially, but where it bleeds...
View ArticleYes, You Are Allowed to Say Whatever You Want – You’re Asking For Something Else
Whenever something like Tim Hunt’s clusterderp happens in the world, there’s one phrase I can absolutely count on hearing almost immediately. It’s so unavoidable, so foreseeable and so inevitable that...
View ArticleThings You Should Probably Stop Saying –“BUT EVERYTHING IS A CHEMICAL!”
Anyone who hasn’t lived under a rock somewhere in the barren wastelands of nowhere will probably at some point heard about dangerous “chemicals” in our food and water supply. It’s an amazingly common...
View Article10 Questions for Climate Change Denialists
From politicians to regular old average folk on the street, many people seem to reject the idea that the climate has been adversely affected by man-made activity. Yet science seems to be pretty sound...
View ArticleChemistry by Chance – How Even Qualified Chemists Cease to Understand...
See Part 1 and Part 3 Time to continue slogging through this… so… 4. The Problem of Reactivity In this 4th section, McComb’s gradually tries to get into a little bit of abiogenesis and evolutionary...
View ArticleChemistry by Chance – How Even Qualified Chemists Cease to Understand...
Part 2 and Part 3 I’m going back on a chemistry and creationism kick. You know, because I can. And in this case, I’m going to look at this article* by Charles McCombs, Ph.D – apparently a Ph.D in...
View ArticleHow To Be A Proper Fucking Scientist – A Short Quiz
Recently, this little quiz from Time Magazine has been doing the rounds. Reactions to it have mostly gone along the lines of – and I’ll paraphrase here - “Holy fucking shit how the fuck can people not...
View ArticleNo, Disco Tute, Chemistry is Not Wrong.
Thanks to a previous post, it’s been pointed out to me that creationist do, albeit on fairly rare occasions, go after the chemical sciences. And what was sent my way was an article almost intelligently...
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