Lewis MacKenzie

The UK's first dedicated #upconversion spectrometer is now up and running in my research group - high upconversion sensitivity detection, lifetime and quantum yield* capabilities. Please get in touch if you are interested in collaborating! *Full upconversion QY coming later 2026

More news coverage for our mirror life detection method on phys.org. phys.org/news/2026-10...

First reaction in our lab's new microwave reactor - these are hopefully upconversion nanoparticles! Thanks to Rebecca (postdoc) and AJ (MChem student).

21,627 applications for the Marie Curie early career fellowships.

Attention Ecologists! We are going to need *a lot* of ecologists. The First Lego League Teams need to speak with a scientist about their projects every year. Every year it's a different type of scientist. Last year was archaeologists. This year, ecologists! Sign up: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

Managed to steal a day for a solo trip to the Edinburgh Fringe - I can confirm that these three comedy shows are excellent and you should go see them! 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 @tpneenan.bsky.social @gracejarvisohno.bsky.social @alicefraser.bsky.social

@alicefraser.bsky.social I had just listened to the recent Realms Unknown, where you were talking about fantasy currency exchange rates, when this relevant comic by @checrawford.bsky.social popped up!

Blinking upconversion nanoparticles enable < 1 nm super-resolution imaging #upconversion #optics #chemsky www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Earlier this year UKRI launched a funding call to invest £40M in ONE AI lab. www.ukri.org/opportunity/... For some unknown reason they decided to fund TWO AI labs at the cost of £60M. An extra £20M. Just found. That's the equivalent of 7 more years of Jodrell Bank. www.ukri.org/news/ukri-la...

@alicefraser.bsky.social a fun coincidence in my podcast feed

@alicefraser.bsky.social perhaps a science story for The Gargle? The latest in synthetic cells. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

The latest impressive work on artificial cells, from the group of Prof Kate Adama, who led the big report on Mirror Life risks in Science in 2024.

This may be in my latest seminar talk, specifically relating to quantum superfluorescence

Side Effect xkcd.com/3261/

@realmsunknown.bsky.social deep dive for this week is First Contact (With a New Species / civilisation). Tell me your favourite examples of first contact done interestingly in sci fi and fantasy!

Think this week is hot in the UK? In 30 years' time this could look mild, according to a new @metoffice.gov.uk forecast of a 1976-style heatwave in 2056. The forecast suggested a peak of 45C and nine consecutive days at more than 40C. Story soon.

My latest video on Newcastle. Take a trip through the city's architecture, famous bridges, urbanism, and history - from its founding as a Roman fort 2,000 years ago to its Georgian city planning, right up to its modern day regeneration. www.youtube.com/watch?v=inf8...

#Upconverison nanoparticles are good because they don't "blink", unlike conventional dyes. But every rule has an exception - here's a new paper about blinking #UCNPs for super-res microscopy! #optics #photonics #chemsky www.nature.com/articles/s41...

New #preprint from my group - using a different polymer molecular weight made our #upconversion nanoparticles ~5X brighter, but the trade-off is FRET efficiency! A nice showcase of our new spectrometer capabilities & a big thanks to excellent collaborators! chemrxiv.org/doi/full/10.... #Chemsky

Thermo Fisher now has a page up in response to our observations. They flatly deny that images were manipulated or fabricated while repeating that images were "optimized for presentation and clarity on the website", no lie, six times. www.thermofisher.com/us/en/home/l...

Pretty much the last place in the universe I'd expect to find planets is in the incredibly violent and radiation-laden accretion disks around supermassive black holes. And yet… maybe? ⚫ 🌎 www.scientificamerican.com/article/plan... [thanks to @saavikford.bsky.social for a convo about this] 🧪 🔭

A topical paper - #upconversion nanoparticles enable trans-tissue non-invasive release of GLP-1 upon NIR light stimulus, providing extended glycemic control #chemsky #BioNanoTech www.cell.com/cell-biomate...

#upconversion nanoparticles turbo-charge micro-algae by converting NIR light to visible light - interesting! #BioNanoTech #nanotechnology #chemsky pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10....

“On 20 May the university’s UCU branch said it will take 61 days of strike action from Monday 1 June to Friday 31 July, on top of a pre-scheduled strike day in May.” Two months of strikes confirmed at #Nottingham University. Difficult times for everyone involved. @uniofnottingham.bsky.social

If you wish to support our efforts, you can do so here. Any funds donated here will be used to off set any loss income suffered by those of us mabbing. www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding... You can also donate here: UCU Nottingham LA63 Hardship Fund Account number: 20346359 Sort code: 60-83-01

Hello. The moment you gate educational videos behind a paywall, a massive wall of bureaucracy goes up. Teachers have to beg administrators for budgets, companies have to wine-and-dine school boards, millions of students get locked out, and people get forced into using material they don't like.

Pint of Science is on this week in Glasgow

The Christophers is an excellent movie and I recommend you go see it!

Crazy news from Nottingham Uni. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Picked up a copy of Focus magazine. The article on #mirrorlife is good. The 2 page editorial spread did give me a chuckle though! Our mirror life detection preprint is still making it's way through the peer review system... hope it'll get some press attention when it does!

Beautiful new preprint from Antonio and Andres on the evolution of eye loss in spiders! Find the full thread below for details on unequal losses across parallel visual systems, possible regains of eyes, 1000s of surveyed species, ecological and developmental clues, and a gratuitous dinosaur emoji 🦕

Our placement student just got some exciting lab results today! 😁 Wish I could share them, but it is ultra-early stage and so has to remain secret for now 😉 It'll be a fun paper later in the year!

I'm thrilled to announce that my book LOST IN CURIOSITY: Field Notes from Scientists' Adventures into the Unknown is available to pre-order now and has been chosen for Indies Introduce, the American Booksellers Association's list of best summer/fall debuts! www.instagram.com/p/DYCj597DTp... (1/N)

Good video by Prof Dave Explains about Hantavirus and what we know, and why not to panic. Worth a watch and a share! #hantavirus #science www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ZWx...

Interesting paper - very well engineered inert-core #upconversion nanoparticles improve CdTe solar cell power conversion efficiency by ~6% #UCNPs #nanotech www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Updated #preprint on how CPL could be used as an assay for #mirrorlife biohazards chemrxiv.org/doi/full/10....

#MirrorLife has made it to the Doomsday Clock 2026! Here's my pre-print discussing how we could detect it before it becomes a big problem, and to underpin future biosecurity legislation! chemrxiv.org/doi/full/10.... #chemrxiv #chemsky #bioscience