David Harding

@ProfDaveLeigh @ChemistryUoN I have signed. Although I never went to Nottingham, I knew many students from there and the research was always excellent. This is a deeply flawed plan, driven by people who seem to be responsible for the trouble in the first place.

Online petition and open letter to the University of Nottingham in response to its plans for redundancies in the School of Chemistry @ChemistryUoN. nottinghamchemistry.github.io/Open_Letter/

@ProfDaveLeigh I have often wondered if the UK government should give unis an extra per student budget, if the uni has a chemistry department. Extra provision is provided for med schools and I would argue that chemistry is key to the UK's future security.

Weakening this provision undermines the pipeline of talent & innovation that national policy gov.uk/government/pub… says the UK urgently needs to strengthen. 2/2

@SBattenResearch That's crazy!

That was us! Fun times…

@Ajarncom I've been enjoying the thread on Almaty. It looks like an interesting place. I've never been to central Asia.

It's a shame (and feels dispiriting) when you put a bit of effort into a travel thread and it feels like more people would rather challenge you about the price of Indian food or the cost of living in Thailand, etc. But it is definitely that stuff that sells.

@Ajarncom I think ultimately it's about the relative rarity of Indian restaurants in the country. Thus, competition is low and even in areas where there are more, these are very touristy and (like all restaurants) much more expensive than they should be.

We had a discussion a while back on Thai Twitter X attempting to get to the bottom of why Indian restaurants are so expensive in Thailand. You'll be pleased to know they're even more expensive in Almaty. 350 baht for a curry + your rice and naan + a 10% service charge. Bugger that!

@SaksithCNA We have this problem at the universities too. Students use it without thought and as their English is generally not great, they don’t understand when it’s got it wrong. Actually, basic translation is better than AI translation, I’ve found.

There's a shocking lack of restraint among Thai media outlets in their usage of generative AI and I doubt they are cognizant of the constraints and consequences, especially when they blindly translate stuff and thus unintentionally put out less accurate stuff into the ether - the stuff that will be cited by Wikipedia or other AI clients themselves. I don't know either what the ultimate solution will be, but little bit more thought of our own looking at what these apps spit out would be a good start... (rant over)

I really take no joy in this, but this is yet another example of a Thai media outlet using very likely using AI to blindly translate a story into English: Apart from the wonky headline, the story is written in past tense, even though the visit is still ongoing....

As an chemistry lecturer, I find this really annoying. Every time unis are strapped for cash, chemistry is one of the 1st subjects to go. It happened around the 2000s, only to have to be reopened at great cost later. I know it's expensive, but it's worth it.

Reform's election results do not prove they dominate the country. Their vote share fell, they control around 6% of councils, and Farage has a net favourability rating of minus 38. The media narrative of inevitability serves Reform far more than the facts do.

A lifetime dedicated to bringing the natural world closer to us all. Happy birthday, Sir David Attenborough – from Planet Earth 💚🌍 #AttenboroughAt100 #DavidAttenborough100 #DavidAttenborough

One for @Ajarncom. It's clear, he's a national treasure.

@Ajarncom I love Sir David and it's my impression that that is true of the vast majority of people.

I didn't realise there was so much hatred out there for Sir David Attenborough. I'd find it difficult though to lay into a 100-year-old man who has brought so much TV pleasure and education to billions. I guess it's just the way I was brought up.

@RocaJungfer @angew_chem @fubcp @UniHeidelberg @ChariteBerlin @chemieverband As someone who did metal-alkyne chemistry for my Ph.D., I find this deeply satisfying.

Finally: structurally confirmed Tc alkyne complexes - just in early view @angew_chem. doi.org/10.1002/anie.6… #Organometallics #Radiochemistry #Technetium #99mTc #Alkyne Big thanks to the whole team and supporters (KIT, @fubcp, @UniHeidelberg, @ChariteBerlin, @chemieverband)!

@keene_chemistry @LuizaJarovsky I can understand the temptation to do this, but the more I read AI output the more I've come to realise how generic it sounds. It just has no personality.

@LuizaJarovsky I was really disappointed to hear many colleagues saying they use AI to write paper intros for them.

🚨 University professors have been saying AI is completely destroying learning and that we'll soon have an AI-powered, semi-illiterate workforce. Here's a glimpse into the educational apocalypse: "Sarah, a freshman at Wilfrid Laurier University in Ontario, said she first used ChatGPT to cheat during the spring semester of her final year of high school. (...) After getting acquainted with the chatbot, Sarah used it for all her classes: Indigenous studies, law, English, and a “hippie farming class” called Green Industries. “My grades were amazing,” she said. “It changed my life.” Sarah continued to use AI when she started college this past fall. Why wouldn’t she? Rarely did she sit in class and not see other students’ laptops open to ChatGPT. Toward the end of the semester, she began to think she might be dependent on the website. She already considered herself addicted to TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat, and Reddit, where she writes under the username maybeimnotsmart. “I spend so much time on TikTok,” she said. “Hours and hours, until my eyes start hurting, which makes it hard to plan and do my schoolwork. With ChatGPT, I can write an essay in two hours that normally takes 12.” - "By November, Williams estimated that at least half of his students were using AI to write their papers. Attempts at accountability were pointless. Williams had no faith in AI detectors, and the professor teaching the class instructed him not to fail individual papers, even the clearly AI-smoothed ones. “Every time I brought it up with the professor, I got the sense he was underestimating the power of ChatGPT, and the departmental stance was, ‘Well, it’s a slippery slope, and we can’t really prove they’re using AI,’” Williams said. “I was told to grade based on what the essay would’ve gotten if it were a ‘true attempt at a paper.’ So I was grading people on their ability to use ChatGPT.” - AI in education is a serious topic, and many schools and universities are blindly jumping into the "AI-first" wave without considering short and long-term consequences. It would be great to hear more from teachers and educators to understand potential solutions. This might be a great opportunity for rethinking the education system and how students are assessed. - 👉 Link to the full article below. 👉 To learn more about AI's legal and ethical challenges, join my newsletter's 94,700+ subscribers (link below).

Growing up in Scotland, I was unaware until my early twenties that England had different laws on the right to roam. I think landowners are frightened, simply because it's new. Once over that barrier they'll realise it's not a major problem.

@jfwduffield @simongerman600 This graph simplifies complex issues and all studies I have read so no correlation between immigration and GDP/capita. This is more broadly part of the UK's productivity puzzle, that became evident after the 2008 financial crisis.

@GroupHarding @simongerman600 To understand why immigration is totally toxic in Britain you only need one graph.

From the outside, there are indeed funny aspects to Brexit. The fact that migration went heaps up is certainly the funniest bit.

@Ajarncom It is. Today is also a holiday for the private sector as it is labour day. Not so for those of us working in the public sector, like me.

I've asked four Thai people today if Monday is a holiday. One said yes, two said no... and one changed the subject.

Sir John really captures the true problem of politics today. It's not about left or right, it's about tackling long-term problems to help make world a better place for normal people.

@SoVeryBritish I also really dislike voice notes. As you say they invariably don’t provide the information you need in a concise way. I also find it harder to process requests this way. Just write an email!

A recent report says that voice notes are huge across the world… apart from in Britain. Here’s my two cents (or pennies) on why I dislike voice notes: 1. I don’t want to have to put in earphones or find a quiet place when out and about, just for you to tell me “yes” or “no” about whether you’re free for a cup of tea next Wednesday. 2. While I’m watching telly, I want to be able to glance down at my phone and get the information I need in text form. I don’t want to have to turn the telly off and listen to your private podcast that’s just for me. 3. I don’t want to wade through three minutes of waffle and chit-chat I never asked for when a thumbs-up emoji will do. 4. It makes me feel like you expect a voice note back - and I’m not doing that. 5. I have no interest in tangents about how you’ve just seen an interesting pigeon on the pavement. I asked if you could give me a lift to the station, and 12 minutes in you’re talking about a pigeon and I’ve missed my train. 6. The convenience is all yours. It’s quick to send a voice note, but much slower for me to consume it. It’s bad manners. I think that about covers it. Of course, if voice notes are a more accessible option for the sender (due to difficulty typing, vision impairment, language barriers, etc.), that’s completely understandable - a different kettle of fish! But if you just like waffling, I’d rather not be the waffle sounding board. (Really I think I’m just jealous of people who are able to talk coherently for minutes at a time).

The point here is that it's impossible to fight the system in any meaningful way. All we can do is enocourage banks, companies and government offices to change the system to make it more customer focused. But if we're honest nobody's managed this anywhere in the world.