Ellis Crawford

The Yiddish Lit professor I TA'ed for in grad school used to say that most people vastly underestimate the degree to which violent millenarianism was going to affect the rest of our lives. That was in 2007 & everybody thought he was nuts. One of the smartest people I've ever met.

This exceptionally bulky ligand features trityl groups and a benzylated backbone that together create steric shielding that allows the isolation of rare low-coordinate metal complexes.
www.chemistryworld.com/news/benzyla...

David Lynch saying ‘One day, the sadness will end. But I don’t think today’s the day.’

Kansas has, overnight, invalidated the drivers’ licenses of trans people, a pointless cruelty that upends their lives

If Brits think “it won’t happen here” think again! Groups in the U.K. who want the same thing are routinely invited to consult with Labour and normalised in our press!

This is what I need cis folks to understand.

It's been a decade.

Imagine living TEN FUCKING YEARS watching as a blatant, artificial campaign to erase your personhood, your identity and your safety chugs along, increasing in power every single day, and most people don't care or dismiss it

Isolation of arylhalodiphosphenes: periodic trends in R–PP–X bonding (X = Cl, Br, I) For over a century, aryldiazonium halides have served as widely used building blocks within synthetic chemistry. They are vital intermediates in converting simple anilines to high-value products, incl...

Check out recent work from the Mehta group looking at structure of Ar-P=P-X molecules, the compositional all P analogue of aryldiazonium halides. Published in @chemicalscience.rsc.org Thanks @ukri.org @erc.europa.eu for funding!
pubs.rsc.org/en/content/a...

This is a promotional image for #RSCPoster 2026. It features the text: "Last chance to register. #RSCPoster 2026 is next week (3-4 March). Don't forget to register to be eligible to win a prize! Register by 11:59pm (UK time) on 2 March 2026." The Royal Society of Chemistry and American Elements logos are present. The background is a digital network design.

#RSCPoster 2026 is next week (3-4 March). Don't forget to register to be eligible to win a prize! Go to our webpage and register today ➡️ https://rsc.li/3XGGvzS

20 years of microfluidic technology for advancing plant sciences Understanding how plants respond to dynamic and spatially variable stimuli is a key goal in plant sciences. Traditional imaging methods often involve a trade-off between environmental control and spat...

I’m happy to share that the first paper of my PhD - "20 years of microfluidic technology for advancing plant sciences” has been published in Lab on a Chip.

Many thanks to Dr Claire Stanley and Dr Eleonora Moratto for their support throughout this work.

doi.org/10.1039/D5LC...

Yes, looking over our selections that does seem like it might be the case - apologies!

I can see automation is under analytical and theoretical for some reason, but not elsewhere. An update is likely needed so I will feed all of this back. Thank you!

A not very friendly robot from the television show Blake's 7.

Keyword: "Chemistry (as done by a robot from Blake's 7)"

Looking over our selection choices, we definitely have some things that need moved around so will put together a request to our technology team.

Yip, sounds like we do! Less meccano robots, more up to date with LLMs, neural networks and digital chemistry I feel!

Robotics and automation shouldn't be under theoretical chemistry but this might be a way that it has (oddly) been set up... 😔

Which are the ones that are missing? I am more than happy to feed all this back to our systems team!

Probably The Creator.

I had such high hopes for it and it was rotten. Narrowly beats out Rise of Skywalker.

An R-S-C promotional graphic for a P-C-C-P Meet the Editor session titled How to publish with impact. Monday 30 March 2026, 3.30PM CET, Bunsen-Tagung. Join Development Editor Bee Hockin (Royal Society of Chemistry, UK)

Delighted to announce that I'll be attending Bunsen-Tagung 2026 in Dresden from 30 March - 1 April, and I've teamed up with the Young Physical Chemists to present a Meet The Editor workshop on how to publish with impact!

More info: veranstaltungen.gdch.de/microsite/in...

#ChemSky #MeetTheEditor

Front cover

Ryosuke’s paper was featured on the cover of the latest issue of @chemicalscience.rsc.org! With the support of his loving family, he is spreading the wings of a once-bent kite and sending it soaring into the sky💫 Congrats, Ryosuke!!
pubs.rsc.org/en-ph/conten...

Check out our subject-specific collections of our most popular Chemical Science content published in 2025! These collections highlight some of the exceptional research published in Chemical Science and they are free to read.

Read our blog post: blogs.rsc.org/sc/

#ChemSky #ChemSciMostPopular

Description of hyaluronic acid Class: Polysaccharide Treats: Dry skin, aging skin, low natural hyaluronic acid production, wounds Mechanisms: Humectant, moisturizer, injectable filler, biosynthesis stimulant Retail formulation: 0.01–2% in lotions and serums Sources: Natural product extraction, microbial fermentation Michelle’s take: Naturally, in the body, hyaluronic acid is in the extracellular matrix, where it holds onto large amounts of water for lubrication and shock absorption. In skin care, hyaluronic acid is used as a moisturizer; it holds on to water and slows it from evaporating from the skin. It also seems to have a signaling function to cause long-term changes in skin.

As hyaluronic acid is in the news this week (thanks ski jumping) here's a quick reminder about what it is from a recent @cenmag.bsky.social story.
You can also read more about the polysaccharide in a feature story from 2021 by @craigofwaffles.bsky.social
cen.acs.org/business/con...

New #ICMABResearch published in #ChemicalScience!🧪

📌Addressing first cycle irreversible capacity in lithium-rich layered oxides by blending with delithiated active materials

icmab.es/addressing-f...

📜Read the paper here: pubs.rsc.org/en/content/a...

Now out in @chemicalscience.rsc.org ! First paper by Léna Triestram in our group, “Identifying phase transitions in Zeolitic Imidazolate Frameworks” by advanced #compchem methods. #chemsky doi.org/10.1039/D5SC...

Riding My Bicycle (From Feddersensgate 5A to Møllerveien 31)

tidal.com/track/843588...

Travel funding information Travel cost reimbursement available!

Travel funding is available for our Trans+ in STEM symposium in London on 27th Feb!
Huge thanks to @prideinstem.bsky.social and @proud-science.bsky.social for making this possible🔬🧪🔭🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈

#lgbt #trans #lgbtSTEM
open.substack.com/pub/transste...

Do you know any researchers that have made significant contributions to digital #chemistry, #AI, #machinelearning and #automation and has published in Chemical Science within the last five years?

Find out how to nominate the for the 2026 Chemical Science Lectureship here: rsc.li/chemsci-lect...

Rowling extended an invite to Epstein for the "Cursed Child" broadway debut. Musk emailedEpstein begging to be allowed on the island. Epstein chatted with evo psych guys about the suitability of trans women for prostitution.

Society is organized around the sexual exploitation of the vulnerable.

Funding piece Modern astronomy is full of marvels. In recent years we have rejoiced in the success of the James Webb Space Telescope, and been puzzled by the surprisingly vibrant early Universe it is showing us. We...

Or not. This has been removed for review by the University. (Who asked me to write it in the first place). You can find it here while they sort themselves out: docs.google.com/document/d/1...

Expert Comment: Cuts to fundamental research will hurt the UK’s Chris Lintott, Professor of Astrophysics at Oxford’s Department of Physics, responds to the news that University funding for astronomy and physics research will be cut by almost a third.

Wrote something about what we're facing in funding for fundamental science - and why it matters: www.ox.ac.uk/news/2026-01... 🔭 🧪 #academicsky #Oxford cc @ox.ac.uk

Three-state molecular switch based on terarylene photo- or redox-induced reversible isomerisation Multi-addressable molecular photoswitches whose isomerisation can be triggered not only by light, but also by other stimuli are appealing for the development of novel smart materials as well as for br...

Just shortly after the 3rd (😱) anniversary of my PhD defense, a work of my thesis got accepted in @chemicalscience.rsc.org 🚀

If you're interested in dual-responsive #photoswitches, check the link out, it's 💎🔓!

#ChemSky #ChemPubs

Do you know any researchers that have made significant contributions to digital #chemistry, #AI, #machinelearning and #automation and has published in Chemical Science within the last five years?

Find out how to nominate the for the 2026 Chemical Science Lectureship here: rsc.li/chemsci-lect...

A photograph of attendees for the 2025 Chemical Science Symposium, including the winner of the 2025 lectureship, Professor Chris Chang.

Separately, it was fantastic how well the talk from the winner of the 2025 Lectureship was integrated into our Chemical Science Symposium. Can you spot the winner (Professor Chris Chang) in the symposium photo?

Apologies for the truncated link for finding out details on the nomination. It should be rsc.li/chemsci-lect...

A scientific infographic titled “Steric Analysis” showing a 3D molecular model of a chiral catalyst interacting with a substrate. Color‑coded isosurfaces (green to red) represent steric repulsion values from 0 to 0.4 kcal/mol/bohr³, computed with IGMPlot. Molecular fragments such as a mesityl group and (S)-configured center are labeled. Numerical steric values in kcal/mol appear along bonds. A yellow circle on the left reads “Pick of the Week,” and the words “SELF” and “chiral catalyst” are highlighted. Small cartoon molecules with repulsion arrows appear in the top right.

Want to visualise steric repulsion in 3D? Our Chemical Science Pick of the Week for this week is "A Visualizable and Widely Applicable Steric Repulsion Descriptor for Guiding Experimental Chemistry" by Éric Hénon et al.

Read it here, free: doi.org/10.1039/D5SC...

#ChemSky #CompChemSky 🧪