Ben Dicks⌬n

For those saying James Watson's intellectual brilliance made his bigotry an acceptable trade-off, might I point out (Exhibit A below 👇) that one brain ought to be easily big enough to be a genius AND a decent human being. We don't call bigotry 'small mindedness' for nothing.

James Watson, dead at 97, was a scientific legend and a pariah among his peers James Watson, the co-discoverer of the structure of DNA who died Thursday at 97, was a scientific legend and a pariah among his peers.

"His signal achievements, and the way he accomplished them, inflated his belief not only in his genius but also in how to succeed"

This is (IMO) a prevalent and harmful feature of the way academia and funding systems work.

www.statnews.com/2025/11/07/j...

When intelligence is synonymous with "only says things I agree with" 🫠

Somewhat perplexing that with all the pointless redesigning of things in Word M365 they still don't let you do a horizontal split view.

I have so much horizontal screen real-estate! I know there are ways to achieve this, but it should be a single button press... 😒

Controversial! Definitely on shaky ground...

1,000,000×

Information on the 2025 Marsden Fund round Information about the number of funded proposals in the 2025 Marsden Fund round broken down by research area and institution, also including gender and ethnicity data

I'm sure it's totally coincidental that the AoNZ government's changes to the Marsden Fund have been followed by successful applications led by female investigators dropping from 55% to 33%, and successful applications led by Māori investigators dropping from 13% to 5%. 🫠 🧪

If there are any international chemists who look at this idyllic picture and think they would love to travel to NZ for a conference - hit me up! I can't promise anything, but if you have a compelling story to tell, we'll definitely take a look.

I'm sure there must be millions upon millions coming Julie, otherwise why would they be going on and on about this stuff? 🫣

"Somewhere in those 80,000 may lie the next cancer drugs, the next nutraceuticals..."

One of those things feels very not like the other 🤔

Synthesis of ambocidin and novel analogues | Te Kāuru / Ferrier Research Institute | Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington This is a unique opportunity to work at the interface of organic chemistry, peptide science, and antibiotic discovery, contributing to new treatments.

The Ferrier Research Institute in Wellington is seeking a motivated PhD student to work on an exciting project at the interface of organic chemistry, peptide science, and antibiotic discovery, contributing to urgently needed new treatments.
www.wgtn.ac.nz/ferrier/stud...

Mōrena e te whānau. Do any of you have contact with Emma Wehipeihana? Her linkedin bio says she's still on Twitter, but I'm not. I'd appreciate either an email address, or an introduction if possible? My DMs are open

Spiders inspired biologists to create artificial webs to capture airborne DNA for biodiversity monitoring Natural spiderwebs are good at capturing DNA from the environment, but artificial webs are cheap and provide better control – without harm to spiders.

A Conversation piece on our (@manpreetkdhami.bsky.social @sbirdy.bsky.social) quirky fake spiderweb research for eDNA biomonitoring, just out in time for Halloween. Paper forthcoming!

theconversation.com/spiders-insp...

As a reward for supporting @siouxsiew.bsky.social I've donated 6 signed copies of #TheCovidResponse. And if you want to know how important Siouxsie's case was for academic freedom in Aotearoa, I've written a piece for the NZSR on what I think it means: ojs.victoria.ac.nz/nzsr/article...

At a time when academics are under sustained right-wing attack, Dr Siouxsie Wiles stood up to the neoliberal regime of university management and won, but it came at a cost. If you can, please consider supporting Siouxsie, one of the most courageous scholars I know.
www.pledgeme.co.nz/projects/852...

Very 'tell me you didn't bother reading it without telling me you didn't bother reading it' energy

Haha, you're good! The whole thread was tongue in cheek so we were very much on the same page! 😁

Maybe... I mean, liking me and not finding me scary aren't necessarily the same 😅

My grad students told me I'm not scary today. Am I doing it wrong? 🫣

In the ownest of goals Reti is quoted saying "This Government stands by its commitment to science and innovation and has nothing further to add to this story."

I would argue that "further" is unnecessary in that sentence.

Incel dolphins would be so 2025

I love the optimism, but having observed a couple of them... they turned up and sat there making no effort to look through the paper. Something drove them to be there, but I have no idea what it is!

If you're in Dunedin, I'll happily show you how to upload photos of storm damage to Wikimedia Commons so they can be used on Wikipedia. Come to the Otago Uni central library 12.30-1.30 today for a demo or drop in on me in the library 9-12 weekdays. I'm a terrible photographer...we need you!

Is an "incomplete" on a paper, vs. a "fail" treated different in terms of student allowance, or other funding? Trying to understand students who clearly have no chance to pass a paper but attend the exam only to not write anything 🤷

I figure there must be a reason?

It's interesting when I talk to people about riding bicycles recreationally they always respond about how it must be good to keep fit and I'm always thinking... Fit!? More like sane...

I don't need more money. I would like more money. The new English curriculum for Years 9 and 10 was released last Sunday. I now have about two months to totally rewrite two years worth of courses, come up with work, assessments, and also find tens of thousands of magical dollars for new resources, so that we can implement them at the start of next year. (That time-estimate assumes I'll work through about half of my holidays, as I usually do. I could work through the rest. You know, like politicians don't.) I'm paid okay - I'm not paid enough for that.

I know the argument that money is thin on the ground, and we can't be greedy but let's do the stats: This government gave $300 million worth of tax breaks to the tobacco industry. This government has given $2.9 billion (with a "B") of tax breaks to landlords. This government has committed $4 billion to build some more roads in Wellington. This government spent $140 million to not buy some ferries. No, you read that wrong - they didn't buy ferries. They _didn't_ buy ferries. They spent $140 million to not-buy them. There is no $140 million, _and_ no ferries. This government has committed $10 million to 215 students because those students go to schools that David Seymour likes.

If there was no money, I'd get that. But there is money. What there aren't any of is teachers. And nurses. And firefighters.

Taken from a teacher friend. The money is there, the government is choosing to use it for roads, landlords, tobacco companies, etc.
There is money. What there aren't any of is teachers. And nurses. And fire fighters.
#NZMegaStrike

I hid one of those "send me a chemistry joke in exchange for a chocolate bar" instructions in my first year practice problem set, and only one student responded (🫠).

I guess I have office snacks now...

22 ºC here and I'm getting the pool ready for use lol

Every now and again one of us says the right combination of words and Cherie emerges from hibernation. Fascinating...!

Can anyone help identify the starting point of this tortured phrase?

"So, this is indeed considered an Absolute Cinema moment across the oncology community"

Bonus points if you can figure out a reference to "Game of Molecule" in the context of combining chemistry and biologyl

I'm drawing blanks!