David K Smith

He's male.

Best cat buddy ever.

Surface Tension and Surfactants. What’s Really Going On? For effective cleaning we add surfactants (in soaps and detergents) to lower the surface tension of water. Using a new theory, a York chemist can explain this effect more effectively, developing new i...

Was excited to teach surfactant chemistry to our 2nd year students today, as a landmark theoretical understanding of how they *really* work has just been published by my talented colleague, Seishi Shimizu.
#ResearchLedTeaching
@chemistryatyork.bsky.social @york.ac.uk
www.york.ac.uk/chemistry/ab...

One of the joys of special school is that all such nonsense disappears to focus on what actually matters.

a cartoon character stitch is reading a book with a mermaid on it ALT: a cartoon character stitch is reading a book with a mermaid on it

My annual reminder that on World Book Day, schools should either get kids to dress up in comfy clothes and just *read* or encourage the older kids to read stories to the younger ones. The performative dressing up competitive crap has to stop.

After work/school bowling trip with the 13yo.

Awww, thats genuinely lovely to hear!

Thank you!

Thank you so much!

The world might be difficult, but Bluesky can be a place of hope and optimism - something I tried to capture in my latest cookbook, which includes reflections on finding joy.
It won the Gourmand World Cookbook 'Food & Mental Health' Award.
@bsky.app
www.amazon.co.uk/Bluesky-Reci...
#FoodSky #BookSky

Pork / Ginger / Mushrooms / Kimchi.
With a sauce based on soy/mirin/rice vinegar, the 13yo prepared this in today's home cooking lesson.
Skills - chopping, stir-frying, using rice cooker, learning that delicious food can be made in under 10 minutes!
Recipe: www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B09H...

RAF Clifton
80 years ago, this was a thriving WWII airbase, now there's a stub of a runway next to the northern edge of York's ring road - most of the rest is underneath a large 1980s shopping/industrial complex. Today, me and the 13yo went there exploring and metal detecting.

Black pudding, Avocado, Porato Cake
Breakfast small plate for the 13yo.

Chicken Katsu Curry
Demolished by the 13yo - it's always been one of his favourites.
Recipe: www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/1739...

#FoodSky #BookSky #HomeCooking #SimpleRecipes #SoulFood #KatsuCurry

We went to the brand new exhibition of Japanese Woodblock prints at #YorkArtGallery, featuring one of the original prints of Hokusai's 'Great Wave of Kanagawa'. I thought it was outstanding, and me and the 13yo both enjoyed making our own four-layer stamped 'Great Wave' at the end.

Well, yes. We had spinach & ricotta.

Everything is premade here - the sauce is from a jar, the ravioli from a packet. It's super-easy, meltingly cheesy, slightly dirty, Friday night vegetarian food.

Ravioli Bake
This idea was from instagram - it's fab
In a baking dish, arrange in layers:
Tomato (marinara) sauce, premade fresh ravioli (any filling), grated mozzarella
Repeat
[Total 350g sauce, 250g pasta, 1 ball mozarella]
Finish with grated parmesan.
Bake, Fan 180, 30 min.
'It's amazing' - 13yo

Spanish Omelette
I struggle to make spanish omelette, mostly because I don't have a really perfect pan for it. But the 13yo absolutely loves it.

Manchester tickets start at around £80 at the very back and ho up to £300 for the front row.

It's worth saying your tumour has to be suitable, with a single well-defined zone, localised in one half of the prostate, and at one of the lower risk grades (Gleason 6 or 7). But if those apply then it is an option worth considering that should be made more available.

Having recently had focal therapy to treat prostate cancer myself, this is worth amplifying. I was lucky that my local urologist did mention it as a possibility and referred me to London, one of the only places it can be done on the NHS. But it's a lottery.
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/02...

If I play for a football team, score 15 goals in the first half of the season, and then transfer to a different team, my goals do not magically count for the new team, that did absolutely nothing to put the support in place to allow them to be scored.
REF judges universities, not academics.

If I was teaching a student with Tourettes, who involuntarily shouted "fa**ot" during my lecture, I would not be offended, I would reach out to them to check they were ok when the lecture finished. However, I would also edit it out of the lecture capture so it was not recorded for posterity.

The 13yo said: 'this is insanely good - I want all the leftovers!'

Korean Fried Cauliflower with Egg Fried Rice
Vegetarian tea for Monday night - the KFC recipe is in my latest book.
www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/1739...

#HomeCooking #AsianFood #KoreanFriedCauliflower #RecipeoftheDay #SoulFood #FoodSky #BookSky #CookSky

The incentives for schools must change so SEND support is rewarded, the curriculum needs to be engaging and meet the needs of far more pupils, and schools need to be places of learning & joy, not filled with rules, punishments and isolation rooms for anyone who finds total conformity hard.

The problem for SEND pupils in mainstream is Gove's very academic curriculum that fails to meet the needs of many pupils, education experts advocating zero tolerance discipline policies to 'hold the line', and schools being rewarded for spending less and achieving top exam results.

I think that was already decided when the USA elected Trump.

It is not in the interests of an Academy Trust to make extensive provisions for many SEND pupils. It costs money and likely impacts on league table positions. They would prefer to off-roll & exclude. I see nothing in the new policy that changes incentives for schools to properly support SEND pupils.