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Gav Armstrong

@nchemgav

Chief Ed @naturechemistry.bsky.social (handling physical stuff) #science #chemistry #publishing - Live #Calderdale, work London. No time for hobbies until my kids grow up ….

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Latest posts by Gav Armstrong @nchemgav

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Reporter, Nature News Job Title: Reporter, Nature Location: Washington DC or New York (Hybrid Working Model) Application Deadline: March 27, 2026 About Springer Nature Springer Nature is one of the leading publishers of re...

Nature Magazine is hiring! This is a rare and wonderful chance to join our US news team as a physical sciences reporter. US$85,000 - $100,000. Based in Washington, DC or New York City (you must have the right to work in the US, sorry). springernature.wd3.myworkdayjobs.com/SpringerNatu...

06.03.2026 10:40 👍 4 🔁 13 💬 1 📌 1
Image of a man (from the Royle family TV show) sat on a chair with a TV remote with the words "Typical UK person: 15 tonnes"

Image of a man (from the Royle family TV show) sat on a chair with a TV remote with the words "Typical UK person: 15 tonnes"

This stock image from alamy is a bit harsh

26.01.2026 15:13 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0

Come work with us at Nature Chemistry! We're hiring a locum editor to handle our chembio content in London or Pune.

20.01.2026 09:42 👍 10 🔁 14 💬 0 📌 0

Come work with us at Nature Chemistry! We're hiring a locum editor to handle our chembio content in London or Pune.

20.01.2026 09:42 👍 10 🔁 14 💬 0 📌 0
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Preferential play - Nature Physics Nature Physics - Preferential play

I wrote a research highlight on a paper in @physreve.bsky.social that uses statistical physics to analyse football matches. ⚛️

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

16.01.2026 09:54 👍 3 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 0

Working on a piece about reading scientific journal articles in languages other than English. I got my PhD (chem) in 1983, no language requirement; my youngest got his (math) in 2024 and had a language requirement. Wondering what #chemsky's experiences have been. Did you have a language req?

07.01.2026 17:24 👍 13 🔁 4 💬 30 📌 0
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In praise of inefficiency, failure and friendship: ten galvanizing reads for this festive season In a world that can seem lacking in optimism, researchers share their opinions on books that stimulate thoughts — and actions — for a better future.

All I want for Christmas is books!

I asked 10 researchers about a book that galvanized them; they cooked up a poignant, serious yet joyful and ultimately uplifting collection.

"I have never read a book like this before — deeply personal, yet relevant to everyone."
www.nature.com/articles/d41...

12.12.2025 11:55 👍 20 🔁 10 💬 1 📌 2

We just took a deep dive into this tour-de-force chemoproteomics paper from @stephanhacker2.bsky.social and colleagues in our journal club today — really interesting findings about selectivity and coverage of 56 different electrophilic warheads, and great experimental and analysis workflows. Bravo!

20.11.2025 01:24 👍 17 🔁 9 💬 2 📌 0
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Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2025 The 2025 Nobel Prize in Chemistry has been awarded to Susumu Kitagawa, Richard Robson and Omar M. Yaghi “for the development of metal–organic frameworks.”

The 2025 Nobel Prize in Chemistry has been awarded to Susumu Kitagawa, Richard Robson and Omar M. Yaghi “for the development of metal–organic frameworks.” This Collection recognises the achievements of the Laureates. #chemsky 🧪

08.10.2025 22:07 👍 33 🔁 19 💬 0 📌 0

Today my @nytimes.com colleagues and I are launching a new series called Lost Science. We interview US scientists who can no longer discover something new about our world, thanks to this year‘s cuts. Here is my first interview with a scientist who studied bees and fires. Gift link: nyti.ms/3IWXbiE

08.10.2025 23:29 👍 4725 🔁 1825 💬 142 📌 83

and props go to @annenotintokyo.bsky.social for this one.

08.10.2025 10:19 👍 3 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Cover of the journal Nature Chemistry with the cover line "Every MOF you make"

Cover of the journal Nature Chemistry with the cover line "Every MOF you make"

If you've not got The Police/Sting in your head at the moment then you've clearly never seen this cover before.

08.10.2025 10:09 👍 32 🔁 11 💬 2 📌 1
A Nobel medal

A Nobel medal

BREAKING: The Nobel Prize in Chemistry has been awarded to Susumu Kitagawa, Richard Robson and Omar M. Yaghi “for the development of metal-organic frameworks”

Stay tuned for more.
#NobelPrize

08.10.2025 09:49 👍 192 🔁 83 💬 3 📌 30
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Opinionated science Nature Chemistry - When the facts can’t speak for themselves, scientists can give them a voice, argues Michelle Francl.

Why should scientists write op-eds? It's tempting to say the facts ought to speak for themselves. But the facts are largely whispering among themselves in the scientific literature. They need us to give them a voice. How? Advice in my latest @natchem.nature.com Thesis rdcu.be/eJlGL #chemsky 1/3

06.10.2025 14:26 👍 46 🔁 23 💬 2 📌 3
Post image

#ChemSky had the best time at this year's chemistry conferences and wondering what to attend in 2026?! The full #FaradayDiscussion programme for 2026 is announced at www.rsc.org/our-events/a...

24.09.2025 12:54 👍 8 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 1
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Flame synthesis achieves compositionally tailorable high-entropy metal-containing nanomaterials - Nature Chemistry High-entropy nanomaterials, which incorporate multiple homogeneously dispersed elements, are promising for energy conversion, but typically require complex, high-temperature synthesis. Now a scalable ...

Fire is wonderful and does so much for us. So congrats to Guo, Caruso, Pan and team for the work on the flame-synthesis of high-entropy nanomaterials! www.nature.com/articles/s41...

03.09.2025 15:08 👍 2 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0

I actually had a ticket for this!!! Tickets in the UK were like gold dust and a friend from Philly got me one for a NJ show - I couldn't make it because I'd have missed my son's first day at high school!

03.09.2025 12:21 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
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Magnets could be simple way to enhance oxygen generation on a mission to Mars Strategy sets free gas that normally gets trapped on electrodes in microgravity during water splitting

Water-splitting devices could provide oxygen for astronauts on long-term space missions but microgravity presents an issue. One team has found that off-the-shelf neodymium magnets are a simple addition that much improves these devices' efficiency.

22.08.2025 10:00 👍 6 🔁 3 💬 0 📌 0
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Chemistry ‘cold spots’ emerging across the UK, RSC warns Some regions face a future with fewer chemists

University chemistry departments & course closures in the UK is leading to the emergence of ‘cold spots’ - areas where the subject cannot be studied within a reasonable travel time - says @rsc.org. Students from lower SE backgrounds could be affected the most: www.chemistryworld.com/news/chemist...

17.07.2025 10:32 👍 16 🔁 9 💬 2 📌 2
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Skeletal editing: How close are we to true cut-and-paste chemistry? Reactions that alter organic scaffolds by a single atom are already proving useful, but time will tell if they’ll fundamentally change how molecules are made

My latest feature for @cenmag.bsky.social is about organic chemists' continuing quest for ultimate control over molecular structures! 🛠️⚗️🔄💊

That's right...it's... the rise of the atom-swappers!

cen.acs.org/synthesis/Sk...

11.07.2025 14:15 👍 24 🔁 11 💬 2 📌 0

Come work at Nature Methods! A dream job. I know from experience 😄

10.07.2025 12:35 👍 37 🔁 23 💬 0 📌 1
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How to break up a locust party? Disrupt their pheromones Researchers have mapped the chemical pathway for 4-vinylanisole that causes locusts to swarm and figured out how to inhibit it

It's Friday, and I haven't done a @cenmag.bsky.social thread for a while, so...
First up, our editorial fellow Elizabeth Walsh had two stories published this week, and I love this one about disrupting pheromone biosynthesis to break up locus swarms.
cen.acs.org/biological-c...

27.06.2025 10:26 👍 3 🔁 3 💬 1 📌 0

This is so cool.

24.06.2025 09:18 👍 3 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
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Associate or Senior Editor, Nature Communications (Polymer Chemistry) Job Title: Associate or Senior Editor, Nature Communications (Polymer Chemistry) Locations: New York, Jersey City, Beijing, Shanghai, Nanjing, Milan or Madrid - Hybrid working model  Closing date: Jul...

@natcomms.nature.com is hiring!

Loking for an Editor with experience in Polymer Chemistry.

📍New York, Jersey City, China Offices, Milan or Madrid
⏱️ July 5th 2025

Send me a message if you want to have an informal chat about this position.

springernature.wd3.myworkdayjobs.com/SpringerNatu...

24.06.2025 06:13 👍 8 🔁 8 💬 0 📌 0
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Accessing sulfonamides via formal SO2 insertion into C–N bonds - Nature Chemistry Despite recent advances in primary sulfonamide synthesis, approaches using primary amines as starting points for direct sulfonamide construction remain elusive. Now a formal SO2 insertion into the C–N...

Online today @natchem.nature.com - we show how to turn a deletion reaction into an insertion reaction:

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

20.06.2025 14:43 👍 48 🔁 9 💬 2 📌 0
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Transparent peer review to be extended to all of Nature’s research papers From today, all new submissions to Nature that are published will be accompanied by referees’ reports and author responses — to illuminate the process of producing rigorous science.

From today, every paper submitted to Nature -if published - will be accompanied by peer reviewers comments & authors rebuttal.

We started the trial in 2020; we now want to open up the review process & showcase its role in shaping & improving papers
🧪 #AcademicSky

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

16.06.2025 20:29 👍 217 🔁 68 💬 8 📌 11
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NIH indirect cost cuts will affect the economy and employment Nature Human Behaviour - NIH indirect cost cuts will affect the economy and employment

Wondering what's the big fuss about US fed cuts to research grant indirect costs? Very informative details & interactive map here on the big impacts nationwide. America: Your tax dollars fund these science & economic benefits and return on investment. 🧪🛟📈 Sociology demography 😷 Medsky health policy

17.06.2025 07:06 👍 92 🔁 33 💬 1 📌 5
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Social media and connecting with our community

I have poked the @rsc.org on X/Twitter a bit over the years (sorry folks...), but huge kudos to them for leaving what has become even more of a toxic and hateful platform www.rsc.org/news-events/... 👏 #chemsky

16.06.2025 08:49 👍 140 🔁 31 💬 7 📌 1

The #BethesdaDeclaration coalition expands. Let keep these numbers growing.

Sign up and reach out to friends and family.

@standupforscience.bsky.social

11.06.2025 04:22 👍 23 🔁 9 💬 0 📌 2
Original post on mastodon.social

It is with great sadness that I am doing what I would once have thought unthinkable. Following Salim Abdool Karim's superb Faraday Lecture 10 days ago, i have decided to return my own Faraday prize, awarded in 2014.

The silence of the Royal Society in the face of Elon Musk's rampage (a member […]

10.06.2025 06:20 👍 244 🔁 88 💬 5 📌 7