Lewis MacKenzie

Huge contratulations to Rebecca McGonigle for passing her PhD viva last Friday! A massive achievement for Rebecca and a landmark moment for my group too!

Thanks to the examiners Dr William Peveler (UoG), Dr Juliane Simmchen (Strathclyde), and Dr Alastair Wark for convening.

A small polymerase ribozyme that can synthesize itself and its complementary strand The emergence of a chemical system capable of self-replication and evolution is a critical event in the origin of life. RNA polymerase ribozymes can replicate RNA, but their large size and structural ...

Link to the original research article in Science
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Link without paywall: archive.is/D1dyl

RNA strand that can almost self-replicate may be key to life's origins Life may have begun when RNA molecules began to replicate themselves, and now we’ve finally found an RNA molecule that is very close to being able to do this

Very cool #science story - examining a trillion RNA sequences to find a few that can almost self-replicate! #chemsky #bioscience #biology #originoflife

www.newscientist.com/article/2515...

Link without paywall: archive.is/D1dyl

Yeah the book is definitely enjoyable YA Sci-fi.

If Moonbase Alpha and Snowpiercer counts, then I think the refugee fleet in Battlestar Galactica must also count. There are around 50,000 survivors which is a big town or small city.

'Mirror life' - life of the opposite chirality to our own - poses a distant, yet serious, #biosecurity threat. In this #ChemRxiv preprint, we set out molecules emitting ciruclarly polarised light can be used to identify and screen against #mirrorlife threats.

chemrxiv.org/doi/full/10....

This bonobo had a pretend tea party — showing make believe isn’t just for humans In the first demonstration of pretend play in a non-human, the ape favoured a cup filled with imaginary juice over one with its ‘contents’ emptied.

I feel like this is a science news story for The Gargle @alicefraser.bsky.social

" the ape favoured a cup that scientists had pretended to fill with juice over one they had pretended to empty"

www.nature.com/articles/d41...

UK government proposes 30% budget cut to astronomy and physics research: 'It's pretty disastrous' "You can't have a cut of that scale and not expect to see a massive impact."

"UK government proposes 30% budget cut to astronomy and physics research: 'It's pretty disastrous'" www.space.com/astronomy/uk... 🔭🧪

'Mirror life' - life of the opposite chirality to our own - poses a distant, yet serious, #biosecurity threat. In this #ChemRxiv preprint, we set out molecules emitting ciruclarly polarised light can be used to identify and screen against #mirrorlife threats.

chemrxiv.org/doi/full/10....

Sad to see this beautiful mural of St Enoch and St Mungo disappear

#Glasgow

Fun preprint title #Chemsky

chemrxiv.org/doi/full/10....

The Moon over Livingstone Tower.

#Glasgow

Oh look what the postman brought! @alicefraser.bsky.social

Aurora above the Dwingeloo radio telescope

Great aurora visible in Dwingeloo yesterday!

More aurora tonight at Loch Calder, far north of Scotland

Excitation map of victorian (1890s) Davidson of Gateshead pearline uranium glass. Sweet-spots for fluorescence are 325 nm and 410 nm, emission peaking at 532 nm. #uraniumglass

Electronic energy levels and optical spectra of trivalent lanthanide ions in water – Ce(III), Pr(III), Nd(III), Sm(III), Eu(III), Gd(III), Tb(III), Dy(III), Ho(III), Er(III), Tm(III), and Yb(III) - Na... Dieke diagrams have formed the basis for describing the electronic structure of f-block ions, but experimental methods have improved since their development. Here, the authors use experimental data to...

Fellow #lanthanide botherers, don't miss the new data on lanthanide transition and spectra published late 2025. This work superceeds the old experiments and has very nice creative-common licenced figures! #chemsky

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Science podcasts: analysis of global production and output from 2004 to 2018 Abstract. Since 2004, podcasts have emerged as a decentralized medium for science communication to the global public. However, to date, there have been no

Just checked my Facebook 'memories' from 2011. I'm moaning about being rejected from a science communication PhD program because I didn't have a humanities background 🤦

Anyway, here's my paper on science podcasts that's been cited 164 times 😉

royalsocietypublishing.org/rsos/article...

Cool new fourier framework mapping the 3D chirality of supramolecular systems - from nanoparticles to DNA and proteins! #Chemsky #Chirality

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Biomimetic Upconverting Nanoplatforms for Glioblastoma Bioimaging and Targeted Therapy Glioblastoma (GB) is an aggressive and fast-progressing brain tumor with high recurrence rates and poor patient survival. Its resistance to conventional treatments and limited therapeutic options highlight the urgent need for innovative strategies to improve outcomes. In this scenario, we present a multifunctional biomimetic nanoplatform designed for targeted therapy and bioimaging of GB. The system comprises core–shell upconverting nanoparticles (UCNPs) coated with a mesoporous silica (UCNP@mSiO2), loaded with the chemotherapeutic agent temozolomide (TMZ), and cloaked with U251 GB cell membranes (BUCNP:TMZ). The mesoporous silica shell enhances stability and drug-loading capacity, while the membrane coating improves colloidal stability, immune evasion, and homotypic targeting. The UCNP core enables real-time near-infrared (NIR) imaging under 980 nm excitation. BUCNP:TMZ exhibits an average diameter of approximately 80 nm, a TMZ encapsulation efficiency of 58.5%, and drug complete release after 4 h at pH 5.5. Cellular internalization studies demonstrated preferential uptake of BUCNP:TMZ in homologous U251 GB cells compared to nonparental U87 and nonmalignant HDFn cells. Cell-viability assays showed a concentration-dependent cytotoxic response, with BUCNP:TMZ reducing U251 viability by over 50% at 50 μg mL–1, while showing minimal toxicity toward HDFn fibroblasts. This multifunctional nanoplatform integrates targeted delivery, NIR bioimaging, and sustained drug release into a single construct, offering a promising approach for GB theranostics.

Why are nanoparticles cool? Reason #9874: you can make them "wear" cancer cell membranes to evade the immune system and deliver drugs to those nasty cancer cells! #UCNPs #upconversion

pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10....

*Hirsch and collaborators I should have said! Corresponding author is Prof. Uwe Karst (Münster)

Upconversion nanoparticles are as tough as nails - you can even use them to tag explosives, as set out in this paper by the group of Hirsch! #UCNPs #upconversion

pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10....

The lightcurve of 2025 MN45 — the fastest-rotating asteroid with a diameter over 500 meters that scientists have ever found. The y-axis shows the asteroid’s brightness, and the x-axis shows its phase, or where it is in its rotation. When plotted, the resulting curve shows the asteroid's fluctuating brightness as it spins. Lightcurves can help scientists determine an asteroid's rotation period (the total time it takes to complete one rotation), size, shape, and surface properties. The discovery of 2025 MN45 was made using data from NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory, jointly funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science. The asteroid is about 710 meters (0.44 miles) in diameter, and it completes a full rotation every 1.88 minutes.

In happier news, it's been a great week for learning strange new things about the universe. A few highlights:

The Rubin Observatory opened its eyes & immediately discovered 1900 asteroids, including the fastest-spinning large asteroid (once every 1.88 minutes!). 🧪🔭

noirlab.edu/public/news/...

Alice on a dragon

The @realmsunknown.bsky.social subgenre for this week is endings! Good ones, bad ones, surprise ones!

Talk to me about your most memorable endings in sci fi and fantasy.

I have to say, the book adaption of '2001' is a great companion to the movie. Fairly short. Actually explains what's going on, whilst you have the vibe, visuals, and music of the movie in your head.

Accessible Synthesis of Lanthanide-Doped Upconversion Nanoparticles at University of Strathclyde on FindAPhD.com PhD Project - Accessible Synthesis of Lanthanide-Doped Upconversion Nanoparticles at University of Strathclyde, listed on FindAPhD.com

Funded #PhD opportunity in my group at University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, starting October 2026. The funding covers UK tuition fees and stipend. Applicants must be eligible for UK student status.

www.findaphd.com/phds/project...

Accessible Synthesis of Lanthanide-Doped Upconversion Nanoparticles at University of Strathclyde on FindAPhD.com PhD Project - Accessible Synthesis of Lanthanide-Doped Upconversion Nanoparticles at University of Strathclyde, listed on FindAPhD.com

Funded #PhD opportunity in my group at University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, starting October 2026. The funding covers UK tuition fees and stipend. Applicants must be eligible for UK student status.

www.findaphd.com/phds/project...