Martin Rahm

Martin Rahm

@rahmlab.bsky.social

Professor of Theoretical Chemistry at Chalmers University of Technology in 🇸🇪 interested in chemical bonding, material prediction, and astrobiology. www.rahmlab.com

786 followers284 following45 posts

Martin Rahm
@rahmlab.bsky.social

Finally!! Scientific evidence on the meaning of corporate bullshit. Share so we can collectively leverage cross-functional awareness, align our strategic narratives, and operationalize a paradigm-shifting roadmap for reducing corporate BS across the value chain. news.cornell.edu/stories/2026...

news.cornell.eduWorkers who love ‘synergizing paradigms’ might be bad at their jobs | Cornell ChronicleEmployees who are impressed by vague corporate-speak like “synergistic leadership,” or “growth-hacking paradigms” may struggle with practical decision-making, a new Cornell study into “corporate BS” r...
Martin Rahm
@rahmlab.bsky.social

Could there be 👽 life in Venus’s clouds? Up to six missions are planned to explore our hot neighbor. In our latest #astrobiology paper, we ask: Could carbon-free heteropolymers be the backbone of life in sulfuric-acid–rich clouds? Check it out! 🔗 www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

cambridge.orgOn the possibility of carbon-free heteropolymers on Venus: a computational astrobiology study | QRB Discovery | Cambridge CoreOn the possibility of carbon-free heteropolymers on Venus: a computational astrobiology study - Volume 6

Martin Rahm reposted

Werner Dobrautz
@dobrautz.bsky.social

Excited to see our work featured by Digital Discovery! Tired of quantum noise ruining your chemistry sims? Our new MREM method brings multireference insight to error mitigation—boosting accuracy for strongly correlated molecules on NISQ hardware. Proud of this collaboration with @rahmlab.bsky.social

Digital Discovery@digital-discovery.rsc.org

Tired of quantum noise ruining your chemistry simulations? Our new MREM method brings multireference insight to error mitigation, boosting accuracy for strongly correlated molecules on near-term quantum devices. @rahmlab.bsky.social @dobrautz.bsky.social Read the paper here: doi.org/10.1039/D5DD...

Martin Rahm
@rahmlab.bsky.social

💥 How much energy can be squeezed into chemical bonds before reality objects? A part of my scientific journey has been focused on answering that question, by both modeling and making extremely energetic materials. In this blog post, I reflect on that pursuit rahmlab.com/2025/07/23/a... #chemsky

rahmlab.comA Quest for the World’s Most Energetic CompoundIn a recent article, Lara Harter and Guillaume Belanger-Chabot (both at Université Laval in Quebec) and I computationally investigate the feasibility of making dinitroacetylene (C2(NO2)2; see Fig 1…
Martin Rahm
@rahmlab.bsky.social

Machine learning + quantum computation of chemistry. It doesn’t get more “it”. Great collaboration - we’ve learned a lot!

Simon Olsson@smnlssn.bsky.social

New pre-print from PhD student Hang Zou on warm-starting the variational quantum eigensolver using flows: Flow-VQE! Flow-VQE is parameter transfer on steroids: it learns how to solve a family of related problems, dramatically reducing the aggregate compute cost!

Martin Rahm
@rahmlab.bsky.social

Do you aspire to chemical understanding of condensed matter? Then this book is for you: Solids and Surfaces by Roald Hoffmann! #chemsky archive.org/details/soli...

archive.orgSolids And Surfaces A Chemists View Of Bonding In Extended Structures : Roald Hoffmann : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet ArchiveThe book begins with the language of crystal orbitals, band structures and densities of states. The tools for moving back from the highly delocalized orbitals...
Martin Rahm
@rahmlab.bsky.social

The idea of a Boltzmann brain, a 🧠 spontaneously appearing someplace in space believing it is you granted the universe is large enough, is bogus. In contrast, here is evidence for the Boltzmann hut (Swedish: koja), a series of branches randomly assembling to form a hut. #thermodynamics #chemsky

Martin Rahm
@rahmlab.bsky.social

During the holidays, I revisited an idea I bring up (usually after a few drinks): A Theory of Food #Evolution! 🥖🍕 Just like species evolve, so does food. Which food risks extinction, and what food evolution will happens in zero gravity? #FoodForThought #recipes #culinary rahmlab.com/2025/01/04/a...

rahmlab.comA Theory of Food EvolutionDuring the holiday season I got reminded of an idea I sometimes bring up jokingly (usually after a few drinks): A theory of food evolution! It goes something like this: Food is an evolving story of…
Martin Rahm
@rahmlab.bsky.social

Raise your hands if your only problems running #Mac relate to #Microsoft! Here’s what Word had the balls to ask after failing to sync to OneDrive and proceeding to spinning-wheel-freeze on three separate attempts. Note how the “submit” button is greyed out. #1stworldproblems

Martin Rahm
@rahmlab.bsky.social

Here’s an idea: Imagine a #currency literally powered by carbon-neutral #energy. Could this help #SaveTheClimate? Let me know what you think. Share to reach those who might help bring it to life: rahmlab.com/2024/12/07/p... #Sustainability #GreenFuture #CleanTech #Altcoin

rahmlab.comA Current-based Currency To Save Our ClimateThe world would clearly benefit from abundant access to carbon-neutral electricity. However, a significant obstacle lies in the basic economics of supply and demand. As electricity production incre…
Martin Rahm
@rahmlab.bsky.social

Happy to have been elected board member of the European Committee for Chemical Bonding (ECCB)! Great community - I can recommend membership to those digging bonds. #chemsky #compchemsky #chembond www.eurchembond.com

eurchembond.comEuropean Committee for Chemical BondingA society dedicated to advancing the science and research of chemical bonding theory in Europe. Founded with the aim of fostering scientific excellence and collaboration, ECCB serves as a hub for researchers, academics, and professionals in the field. Our activities include organizing conferences such as the European Symposium on Chemical Bonding (ESCB), awarding prizes and scholarships for groundbreaking research, and publishing special issues in scientific journals to highlight significant contributions in chemical bonding. Committed to non-profit and public-benefit principles, ECCB ensures that all funds are utilized solely for promoting scientific endeavors without personal gain. With its headquarters in Leipzig, ECCB is a vibrant community that welcomes members from across Europe, offering opportunities for professional growth, networking, and recognition in the field of chemical bonding theory.
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Martin Rahm
@rahmlab.bsky.social

And there are many more ”benign” mechanisms that increase #BSresearch (remember the definition), hidden in plain sight. Anything from lending expertise to a colleague’s research project, or spending time on a paper draft you are not really enthusiastic about, simply to be helpful.

Martin Rahm
@rahmlab.bsky.social

So what say you, friends and colleagues in #chemsky #academia #science, what do you think the average #BSresearch % is world wide, and do you dare share your own? Remember, it can still be very good science. Just not the one you would ideally like to pursue. I’m privileged at ~40% currently.

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Martin Rahm
@rahmlab.bsky.social

Add to this funding selection pressure towards specific goals, proven feasibility and societal impact (non of which I necessarily advocate against), and one sees a second mechanism for increasing #BSresearch, i.e., activities different than the individual researcher would like to ideally pursue.

Martin Rahm
@rahmlab.bsky.social

Both mechanisms of which might still produce incremental useful science, and the occasional lucky break. A third flavor of #BSresearch, arguably more worthy of the name, actual 🐂 💩🧪, is that which is pursued due to a lack of good ideas.

Martin Rahm
@rahmlab.bsky.social

Don’t everyone speak at once 😂. Clearly a touchy subject. If one accounts for research that is done to ensure that students graduates, i.e, are “safe” enough to lead to publication, honest estimates of #BSresearch will be high.

Martin Rahm
@rahmlab.bsky.social

Hello world! I am here to bring the #science - with hopes the communities of #chemistry, #quantumchemistry, #chemicalbonding, #astrobiology, and many many more will follow.

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