Mark Schofield

A ChemScrapes illustration showing how big a mole of eggs would be. The size would be roughly that of 5 moons. The image shows two people staring up at 5 moons. The person on the left asks, "Mum, what are the moons made from?." The person on the right says, "A mole of eggs, Dear."

An image by ChemScrapes showing how far a mole of gasoline (octane, by approximation) will take your car. The image on the left shows a car filling up with a mole of gas. The image on the right shows that the car has traveled just over a mile before the gas runs out.

An image from ChemScrapes showing that a mole of Skittles would fill the Atlantic ocean.

An image from ChemScrapes showing a person (me ... I'm the person) reading directions to add a mole of water, roughly 3.5 teaspoons, to a recipe. The person (ahem ... me) says, "Now, let's see ... 1 mole of water ... 3 1/2 teasppons? Doesn't seem like a lot!"

Happy Mole Day, everyone! 10 to the 23 is a biiiiig number. Here are some incredible drawings from @chemscrapes.bsky.social illustrating the bigness of moles and the smallness of atoms and molecules.

Not to mention, a beautiful example of the effect of Rayleigh scattering…

Trump administration says immigration enforcement threatens higher food prices U.S. farmers face labor shortages and potential food price hikes due to Trump’s immigration policy, the administration acknowledged in a Federal Registry document.

“[t]he near total cessation of the inflow of illegal aliens” is threatening “the stability of domestic food production and prices for U.S. consumers.”

www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...

Teaching scientific writing like

MIT's response to the Trump admin's proposed "compact" is excellent and should be a model for other universities. orgchart.mit.edu/letters/rega...

María Corina Machado, Venezuelan democracy crusader, wins Nobel Peace Prize The Nobel Prize committee recognized María Corina Machado, a Venezuelan opposition leader in hiding, for fighting for democracy in her country.

www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/1...

The Chemistry and Applications of Metal-Organic Frameworks

Here’s a @science.org review Omar Yaghi published about 10 years ago

🧪 chemsky

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Over the weekend ICE abducted an NIH contractor when he showed up to a courthouse for his green card hearing. He is documented. His wife is a citizen.

He is also member of the skeleton crew of animal care staff that works through a shutdown, to ensure the health and wellbeing of research animals.

Why some federal workers aren't scared by the threat of shutdown layoffs Some federal workers support the government shutdown, even as President Trump threatens to use this moment to lay off employees and cut funding to programs.

@jenna-m-norton.bsky.social “Every awful thing that would happen in a shutdown...is already happening.” This isn’t about partisanship. It’s about stopping the erosion of our public services. It’s time to protect the programs that serve our communities and stand up to authoritarianism. #StopTheScam

The 2025 chemistry Nobel goes to MOFs Susumu Kitagawa, Richard Robson and Omar M. Yaghi win the prize for developing metal–organic frameworks

The 2025 #NobelPrize in Chemistry has been awarded to Susumu Kitagawa, Richard Robson and Omar M. Yaghi “for the development of metal–organic frameworks.” Stay tuned for the full story to come! cen.acs.org/people/nobel...

#ChemNobel #Chem #Chemistry #chemsky 🧪

1GFL

Sir, you are mistaken. Unlike a tardis, that object is smaller on the inside.

Random scene idea: in attempting to escape the back door, the robbers are thwarted when a tumbling cascade of un-recycled Amazon boxes prevents them from opening the door.

At least they accepted NUCLEON…

I have always been mildly suspicious of this form of currency. Now I know why.

Trump Is Shutting Down the War On Cancer

Powerful new article in NYT Magazine on cancer research

[Gift Link]

www.nytimes.com/2025/09/14/m...

Opinion | I'm a Former Surgeon General. Here's Why I'm Getting the COVID Shot This Year. Vaccines continue to prevent hospitalizations and save lives

I'm a Former Surgeon General. Here's Why I'm Getting the COVID Shot This Year. www.medpagetoday.com/opinion/seco...

Opinion | Not vaccinating comes at an exorbitant cost Agony and death are not all that shots prevent.

www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...

Former CDC director weighs in on leadership shakeup The White House says CDC Director Susan Monarez was fired because she was not aligned with President Trump's mission to make America healthy again. What does the exodus mean for the agency?

"I never thought I would see the day when I couldn't rely on the CDC website for fact-based information with transparency about how it got there, what it's recommending and why."

Former CDC director and author of "The Formula of Better Health," Dr. Tom Frieden, on @npr.org's All Things Considered:

www.aap.org Recommended Child and Adolescent Immunization Schedule: United States, 2025
The American Academy of Pediatrics evidence-based immunization schedule includes updated guidance for children and adolescents from birth to age 18.

Opinion | Bernie Sanders: Kennedy Must Resign

Tell your own Senators and Representatives to stand up. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/30/o...

Autocracy, Inc. All of us have in our minds a cartoon image of what an …

Reading another of Anne Applebaum’s terrific books. www.goodreads.com/book/show/18...

Former surgeon general: The CDC shooting must be a wakeup call “When influential figures amplify falsehoods, they legitimize the anger that leads to violence,” writes former Surgeon General Jerome Adams.

Powerful op-ed in STAT

www.statnews.com/2025/08/09/c...

1/2

Worse Than Watergate: The Secret Presidency of George W… The former cousel to President Nixon provides a stingin…

Loved this book by John Dean who reminds us of the critical function of government and the institutions responsible for making government work for everybody (and what happens when government doesn’t work work right).
www.goodreads.com/book/show/88...

The Road to Unfreedom: Russia, Europe, America NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - From the author of On Tyran…

Strongly recommend Timothy Snyder’s Road to Unfreedom and On Tyranny.

www.goodreads.com/book/show/36...

Kennedy Cancels Nearly $500 Million in mRNA Vaccine Contracts

Good policy decisions are based on evidence. There is no good reason for HHS to take this action.

www.nytimes.com/2025/08/05/h...

RFK Jr.’s Plan to Eliminate Vaccines Think VICP

open.substack.com/pub/pauloffi...
RFK Jr.'s wants to eliminate vaccines. Here is how he will do it.

Jen Easterly - Wikipedia

Ms. Easterly has had a distinguished career across multiple administrations. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jen_Eas...

USDA reorganization will cut agricultural and forest research One of the agency’s largest and most storied research facilities will be closed along with most forest research stations

www.science.org/content/arti...

With Tom Lehrer's passing, I suppose this is a moment to share the story of the prank he played on the National Security Agency, and how it went undiscovered for nearly 60 years.