Jake Yeston

A quote by H. Holden Thorp, Editor-in-chief of Science journals, on a black background. The quote is: "… why curtail a program … that cultivates and grows the number of US graduate students and future researchers?"

"There is perhaps no stronger evidence of the [Trump] administration’s objectives to reduce the quality of the US scientific workforce than its treatment of the [NSF]’s flagship Graduate Research Fellowship Program," writes H. Holden Thorp in a new #ScienceEditorial. https://scim.ag/4d0fi3N

Koalas (Phascolarctos cinereus), such as this mother and 7-month-old joey from Queensland, Australia, embody a genetic paradox. Populations rich in diversity are declining, whereas those with little variation are expanding and rapidly reshuffling their genomes. These findings reveal that diversity alone does not determine resilience. Instead, a population’s fate depends on several evolutionary processes unfolding across generations.

According to a new study of Australia’s koala populations, rapid demographic rebound may be able to restore once-lost genetic variation and drive recombination in ways that re-establish long-term evolutionary potential in previously bottlenecked populations.

Learn more: https://scim.ag/4b6hLaE

Science stories for young readers

My daughter and I reviewed Megan Durnford’s terrific book “Our Plastic Problem: A Call for Global Solutions” in this week’s @science.org

chemsky #chemchat

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

🤣🤣🤣

the first meeting of the shark coterie board

Nearing a decade @science.org, this is a point I should stress more. It's only $25/year to support one of the largest science-focused newsrooms in the world. Independent and nonprofit.

Our organocatalytic stereoselective head-to-tail macrocyclization is now out in @science.org! We use a peptide catalyst to access 12- to 18-membered rings featuring various functionalities with catalyst-controlled stereochemical outcome. #chemsky

NSF officials break silence on how AI and quantum now drive agency grantmaking Leaders acknowledge White House role in controversial moves

NSF leaders have just acknowledged what many scientists have long suspected: Presidential directives to boost AI and quantum have upended its traditional way of doing business. www.science.org/content/arti...

In their Perspective, Ziyang Dong and Changgui Zhao note "Rackl et al. provide a way to synthesize macromolecules without a metal catalyst. The approach avoids toxic metal residues on the reaction product and eliminates reliance on scarce precious metal" www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Organocatalyst-controlled stereoselective head-to-tail macrocyclizations Chiral macrocycles are key to the discovery of new medicines. Their synthesis is, however, challenging and typically requires the often-cumbersome installation of stereochemical features in a linear p...

In @science.org for chemsky this week, @wennemersgroup.bsky.social asymmetrically clasp macrocycles using a peptide catalyst

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

In fact quite credible, but still remarkable

The Man Who Stole Infinity | Quanta Magazine In an 1874 paper, Georg Cantor proved that there are different sizes of infinity and changed math forever. A trove of newly unearthed letters shows that it was also an act of plagiarism.

Incredible story and reporting in @quantamagazine.bsky.social

www.quantamagazine.org/the-man-who-...

4-panel comic. (1) [Person with white hat talking to another person.] PERSON 1 with white hat: As Sherlock Holmes said, When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth. (2) PERSON 2: What about the possibility that you forgot to eliminate a possibility? Or that you eliminated one incorrectly? Both of those remain, too. (3) PERSON 1: You’re being pedantic. It’s just a general rule for deduction. PERSON 2: But it’s a *bad rule*. (4) PERSON 2: How often have you thought, “I can’t find this thing, and I’ve searched the whole house. The only place I haven’t looked is the car, so it *must* be there.” PERSON 2: ...And then it’s never in the car. PERSON 1: *It’s never in the car!*

Eliminating the Impossible

xkcd.com/3210/

😭

American Voices | Alexandria Choral Society March 8, 2026 | 3:00 PM & 7:00 PM @ George Washington Masonic Memorial

@alexchoral.bsky.social is partnering with the Washington Metropolitan Philharmonic for two concerts on March 8th at the GW Masonic Memorial. Bernstein! Challenging ruminations on humanity's stewardship of our planet! Fun! Tickets on sale now. Do you remember Icarus?

Also when I typed this the first time, choral was accidentally chiral and I should have left it that way🤣

How to solve the tenor shortage A voice that is made, not found

Why did no one tell me @economist.com ran not just an article, but also a whole editorial, bemoaning the choral tenor shortage!!!

They should come hear @alexchoral.bsky.social 🤣

www.economist.com/leaders/2026...

Suprematism, by Nikolai Suetin, 1920-21, 📸 by @tiltoncreative

Reported in @science.org, lithium pentasilacyclopentadienyl complexes.

These silicon analogues of the cyclopentadienyl ligand have a non-planar 5-membered ring and further characterisation shows evidence of aromaticity.

🔗 CSD Entry EXOMUD: dx.doi.org/10.5517/ccdc...

#FeaturedStructureFriday

Life is for learning🤣

This is niche but every time I visit London and ride the underground, I have “And you’re giving a treat, penny ice and cold meat, to a party of friends and relations: they’re a ravenous horde and they all came on board at Sloane Square and South Kensington stations” running through my head

Can astronomical imaging be more sensitive, with no additional observations?

Guo et al. apply machine learning to the co-addition (stacking) of multiple exposures. For stacks of 8 JWST NIRCam exposures, the detection limit improves by 1 magnitude. ☄️🔭 #astrocode
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Increasing synchronicity of global extreme fire weather Increasing synchronicity of global extreme fire weather constrains fire suppression coordination and exacerbates air pollution.

Our new study in Science Advances: Extreme fire risk days are increasingly synchronizing globally. This trend strains firefighting cooperation and worsens regional air quality.

With @climate-guy.bsky.social @mattwjones.bsky.social @mojisadegh.bsky.social and Alison Cullen

doi.org/10.1126/scia...

An illustration of a man speaking at a podium in front of a group, with another person sitting inside the podium. The headline is: Staff scientists shouldn’t feel invisible. We deserve more voice

“We’re all valuable cogs in the system.” #ScienceWorkingLife https://scim.ag/4aBvber

C&EN stands in solidarity with communities of color Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN): Keeping you up to date with the chemistry news that matters most. Published by the American Chemical Society.

We’ve been consciously working to include diverse voices in our pages, and that work will continue. Check out our editorial written in 2020. cen.acs.org/policy/CEN-s...

#BlackHistoryMonth

Good morning team!

Here's a professional society standing up!

Not really my lane but something super weird about The Olympics is how everyone watching and commenting treats it like a show. It’s not really fair for people who do the best sports thing and are barely adults to also have to be amazing actors. If you lose you should be allowed to cope privately.

Still had to do this though

agree

Roses are red.

Valentine’s Day is bad.

Married couples ignore it

and it makes lonely people sad.