Martin Rahm

A Quest for the World’s Most Energetic Compound In a recent article, Lara Harter and Guillaume Belanger-Chabot (both at Université Laval in Quebec) and I computationally investigate the feasibility of making dinitroacetylene (C2(NO2)2; see Fig 1…

💥 How much energy can be squeezed into chemical bonds before reality objects? A part of my scientific journey has been focused on answering that question, by both modeling and making extremely energetic materials.

In this blog post, I reflect on that pursuit rahmlab.com/2025/07/23/a... #chemsky

Machine learning + quantum computation of chemistry. It doesn’t get more “it”. Great collaboration - we’ve learned a lot!

YouTube video by acapellascience The Molecular Shape of You (Ed Sheeran Parody) | A Capella Science

Bluesky needs more music, and the world needs more nerds. This, ladies and gentlemen, is a blast from the past. And a reminder not to underestimate the chemists 😉. #chemsky youtu.be/f8FAJXPBdOg?...

Solids And Surfaces A Chemists View Of Bonding In Extended Structures : Roald Hoffmann : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive The book begins with the language of crystal orbitals, band structures and densities of states. The tools for moving back from the highly delocalized orbitals...

Do you aspire to chemical understanding of condensed matter? Then this book is for you: Solids and Surfaces by Roald Hoffmann! #chemsky archive.org/details/soli...

Bluesky link was botched! Use this: www.chalmers.se/en/about-cha...

#PhDposition in Computational #Astrobiology & #QuantumChemistry! Join us at Chalmers in 🇸🇪. Collab with NASA's JPL and @starsarecalling.bsky.social in 🇺🇸. @astrobiology.bsky.social @thephdplace.bsky.social @bluemarblespace.bsky.social #chemsky #compchem
www.chalmers.se/en/about-cha...

Have you seen this petition yet? Oppose the layoff of the NIST Atomic Spectroscopy Group

Oppose the layoff of the NIST Atomic Spectroscopy Group! #chemsky chng.it/wv4cFszkWG

‘My boss was crying.’ NSF confronts potentially massive layoffs and budget cuts Trump could propose slashing agency’s budget by two-thirds

The #EU should dedicate substantial resources to attracting American top reseach talent, asap. Then double research funding, collectively and nationally. It’s time to pick up the ball. www.science.org/content/arti...

Just don’t let anyone in charge know that FOREIGNERS 👻 also rely on NIST. Including pesky freeloading Europeans.

#Chemunity is a better tag than #chemsky! Works on all media!

Announcing The Stargate Project Announcing The Stargate Project

$500 billion = Not peanuts. I think they have found something. openai.com/index/announ...

The idea of a Boltzmann brain, a 🧠 spontaneously appearing someplace in space believing it is you granted the universe is large enough, is bogus. In contrast, here is evidence for the Boltzmann hut (Swedish: koja), a series of branches randomly assembling to form a hut. #thermodynamics #chemsky

😂 I did my best 🤦‍♂️

Werner is great - check it out! #compchemsky

A Theory of Food Evolution During the holiday season I got reminded of an idea I sometimes bring up jokingly (usually after a few drinks): A theory of food evolution! It goes something like this: Food is an evolving story of…

During the holidays, I revisited an idea I bring up (usually after a few drinks): A Theory of Food #Evolution! 🥖🍕 Just like species evolve, so does food. Which food risks extinction, and what food evolution will happens in zero gravity? #FoodForThought #recipes #culinary
rahmlab.com/2025/01/04/a...

I am sad to see this post not trending, must mean the world have worse problems to deal with. Nah.

Raise your hands if your only problems running #Mac relate to #Microsoft! Here’s what Word had the balls to ask after failing to sync to OneDrive and proceeding to spinning-wheel-freeze on three separate attempts. Note how the “submit” button is greyed out. #1stworldproblems

Interested in pursuing a #PhD in #nanoscience at Chalmers University of Technology, #Sweden? Our excellence PhD positions are now open, featuring a range of top PIs. If you specifically want to join my research group, feel free to PM! #chemsky #chemjobs #compchemsky www.chalmers.se/en/about-cha...

A Current-based Currency To Save Our Climate The world would clearly benefit from abundant access to carbon-neutral electricity. However, a significant obstacle lies in the basic economics of supply and demand. As electricity production incre…

Here’s an idea: Imagine a #currency literally powered by carbon-neutral #energy. Could this help #SaveTheClimate? Let me know what you think. Share to reach those who might help bring it to life: rahmlab.com/2024/12/07/p... #Sustainability #GreenFuture #CleanTech #Altcoin

Reached 500 followers, almost exclusively scientists, without a single crappy bot. Great place! #chemsky 🧪

New powder that captures carbon could be ‘quantum leap’ for industry A ‘covalent organic framework’ can be used to capture carbon to store it or convert it for industrial use

Example of nonsense #science reporting ”Just half a pound of the stuff may remove as much carbon dioxide as a tree can, according to early tests. ”. What!? Maybe if the #MOF is reused A LOT? #chemsky www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Happy to have been elected board member of the European Committee for Chemical Bonding (ECCB)! Great community - I can recommend membership to those digging bonds. #chemsky #compchemsky #chembond www.eurchembond.com

Pure gold 🧪 best journal www.universalrejection.org

This came up in discussion with a student, on the topic of citation ethics. Funny drop of the ball by an editor. #chemsky Paper is here: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

😂 still, there ought to be something we can do to improve things?! We did do “better science” in the past after all (see video).

So what say you, friends and colleagues in #chemsky #academia #science, what do you think the average #BSresearch % is world wide, and do you dare share your own? Remember, it can still be very good science. Just not the one you would ideally like to pursue. I’m privileged at ~40% currently.

And there are many more ”benign” mechanisms that increase #BSresearch (remember the definition), hidden in plain sight. Anything from lending expertise to a colleague’s research project, or spending time on a paper draft you are not really enthusiastic about, simply to be helpful.

Both mechanisms of which might still produce incremental useful science, and the occasional lucky break. A third flavor of #BSresearch, arguably more worthy of the name, actual 🐂 💩🧪, is that which is pursued due to a lack of good ideas.

Add to this funding selection pressure towards specific goals, proven feasibility and societal impact (non of which I necessarily advocate against), and one sees a second mechanism for increasing #BSresearch, i.e., activities different than the individual researcher would like to ideally pursue.

Don’t everyone speak at once 😂. Clearly a touchy subject. If one accounts for research that is done to ensure that students graduates, i.e, are “safe” enough to lead to publication, honest estimates of #BSresearch will be high.