Michael O’Neill

In another life (about a decade ago) I was a lab scientist - this is a great explainer on why you should be (at least for now) relatively sceptical re AI allowing us to suddenly cure all diseases (or even a lot of them) - we don't have the info to give an AI. ahalflife.substack.com/p/why-are-so...

Just closed down 647 browser tabs, and I feel lighter. Free, even.

The abstract of the original article in Journal of the History of Biology by @alistairsponsel.bsky.social and Brian Sutton is really quite something. doi.org/10.1007/s107...

**new blog post** My MA dissertation on the closures of Chemistry Departments. My best attempt at explaining what's happening and why it's happening. www.michaeloneill.org/blog-1/2026/...

New cat just dropped www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/9/...

The only thing that makes life possible is permanent, intolerable uncertainty: not knowing what comes next.

Not being dramatic, but this probably signals the effective end of Chemistry in English Universities. An *efficient* Department loses something like £2k per Chemistry student per year; this change will roughly double that loss. Universities would be mad to keep teaching Chemistry.

There’s still time to register & to join us for the one-hour webinar today on the challenged facing pregnant chemists & what working safely can look like. Anna Slater & Mary Kate Lane will discuss the support needed for pregnant chemist at 3pm today. #ChemSky www.chemistryworld.com/webinars/wor...

#ViCEPHEC27 will be in Belfast. To get email updates, fill in this form: forms.cloud.microsoft/pages/respon...

Sincere Q: has anyone tried specific things which improved lecture attendance? I would like more students in the room this year, and would love to hear about what's worked for other people.

**New blog post** reflections on some graffiti I saw in the library toilets. It was in pencil, which I found curious. www.michaeloneill.org/blog-1/2026/9/1/on-toilet-graffiti

Train time #ViCEPHEC26

“Widening participation may require more intensive teaching, transition support, academic guidance and local infrastructure. These are not peripheral costs. They are part of what it means to deliver higher education well to a broader student population.”

Cool Liverpool snake cancer story. news.liverpool.ac.uk/2026/08/21/w...

Story about an expert witness using chat gpt to generate his report defending safety practices after an industrial explosion which killed workers. www.404media.co/show-how-3m-...

Walked past the LJMU UCU memorial for Jason Arday this morning. Lots of sunflowers, lots of rain.

Police sirens blaring. Someone in Liverpool is doing eclipse crime.

They're all sold out here in Heidelberg, but if you have some, this is a primer for how they work cen.acs.org/safety/consu...

Chemistry on the front page ❤️

**New Blog Post** A quick run-down on Bronze, the *real* star of Blockbuster Sensation The Odyssey. www.michaeloneill.org/blog-1/2026/8/6/bronze-as-seen-in-the-odyssey

**New Blog Post** A quick run-down on Bronze, the *real* star of Blockbuster Sensation The Odyssey. www.michaeloneill.org/blog-1/2026/8/6/bronze-as-seen-in-the-odyssey

Very glad to hear this. A fantastic little museum.

Just seen that the Elemental Analysis service at London Met is closing! This is devastating for us UK inorganic synthesists. They have been such a great, reliable service. @londonmetuni.bsky.social #chemsky

Spent the morning making a map of where you can grow #coffee. Simple comparison here uses temperature, elevation, and rainfall to map suitable areas (for arabica and robusta) in the year 2000 and the projections for 2050. It's about a 35% reduction in coffee-suitable land.

**New Blog Post** Using the recent RSC report as a vehicle, a reflection on how I've thought about Class when teaching Chemistry in the UK over the last 10 years. www.michaeloneill.org/blog-1/2026/...

NEW on Wonkhe: With curriculum reform converging on fewer, larger modules across the sector, Jim Dickinson argues that consolidation solves institutional problems while reallocating regret onto students least able to absorb it buff.ly/5xu4GGB

**New Blog Post** Using the recent RSC report as a vehicle, a reflection on how I've thought about Class when teaching Chemistry in the UK over the last 10 years. www.michaeloneill.org/blog-1/2026/...

"You are now historians. BUT very few of you will go on to be professional historians - so will you then cease to be historians? This is a question that we, staff at risk of redundancy, are asking ourselves too: will I still be a historian if I’m not at the University of Exeter in September?" 2/

He can direct you to the library

A Chilean salmon farm now draws about 57% of its power from panels laid over the water, cutting roughly 136,000 litres of diesel a year and silencing the generators. With the noise gone, thousands of salmon have gathered in the shade beneath the arrays. Ecoportal buff.ly/CwczkbP #ShareGoodNewsToo

My brain in my head: ViCEPHEC My fingers on my keyboard: VICPEHEC

Maybe a silly question, but is the weight of a litre of room temp/pressure air just… zero? Not the mass, the weight.

Bringing financial ruin upon my friends by casually mentioning how well air-conditioned the Waterstones cafe is.

FINAL CALL for sign-up to the HEG Network meeting in August. It can be a nice way to spread out your @vicephec.bsky.social travel and have some slower conversations before the conference gathers pace.