Stuart Cantrill
@stuartcantrill
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21,387
Following
2,678
Media
6,157
Statuses
49,097
Wine, chemistry, words & snark. Husband, Dad, Editorial Director ( @NaturePortfolio ) & pedant. Views ranty, but all mine. He/Him. #ContaminatedBlood
UK
Joined March 2009
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Pinned Tweet
My Twitter feed is usually about chemistry, publishing, gin (of course) and stuff related to that, but here's a thread explaining why you might have noticed me using the
#ContaminatedBlood
and
#InfectedBloodInquiry
hashtags recently (and why you'll be seeing more) 1/n
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Preprint, published paper, press release, retraction notice
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As a chemist, once you realise F*cebook Messenger’s icon is a cyclohexane chair in a speech bubble, you can’t unsee it...
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📢 Some personal news 📢
After 14+ years as Chief Editor of
@NatureChemistry
, I am moving on (albeit not very far).
I have accepted the position of Editorial Director, Nature Journals, Physics & Chemistry.
I’ll still be helping out at NChem until a new Chief is in place.
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I'd like to report crimes against the periodic table.
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OK, seeing as
@JTHAndres1
suggested this should happen (h/t
@RealTimeChem
), here goes... a thread of Taylor Swift as
@NatureChemistry
covers... (RIP my browsing history).
March 2020 >>>
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Hey academic advisors - take note:
Many many people in the UK legal profession need to read and digest this right now. From the President-elect of the USA HT
@danbarker
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Take a look at this awesome periodic table compiled by Nick Thomas (
@TinseltownTalks
) from (
@aumontgomery
) where each element is represented by a book that has the element in its name (or is closely related to it)!
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#ChemTwitter
did it again!!
#chemnobel
to Bertozzi, Meldal and Sharpless!
OK,
#chemtwitter
has spoken; the
@NobelPrize
committee should save themselves some time and just run with 'Bioorthogonal/click' for the
#chemnobel
. So here's the next question for you all... who gets it if that is the chosen topic? Let battle commence in the thread below...
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Not often you get a home-cooked meal courtesy of a
#ChemNobel
-ist, but here is
@sirfrasersays
hard at work in the kitchen... and the result!
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Calling it now. Think this might be the biggest
#chemtwitter
shitstorm since records began...
#chemtwitter
has spoken.
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Accept as is. Publish immediately.
Hi
@stuartcantrill
. Some absolute bullshit with no basis in reality has just dropped into my head and I thought the world would benefit from knowing how much of a tool I am. Please let me know the date I can expect it to be published.
Yours etc.
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TOP TIP – addressing cover letters to a journal:
Dear Editor ✅
Dear Editorial Team ✅
Dear [Actual name of editor at journal] ✅
Dear [Journal name] Team ✅
Dear Mr Editor ❌
(To clarify, it's not that it doesn't say 'Dr', it's the assumption the handling editor will be a man)
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Chemical structures in the wild that aren’t utterly bonkers. Amazing.
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Wow... editors suspended, referees not to be used again.
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Tell me you’re a chemist without telling me you’re a chemist.
Tell me you're a biologist without telling me you're a biologist.
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Publishing tip
#325
: tracking down the editor’s personal e-mail address and using it to chase them on Christmas Day about the status of your manuscript is inadvisable at best...
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This, by
@amateuradam
, is the best-ever description of MRI (and hence nuclear magnetic resonance) - it should be in all chemistry textbooks. Also, the rest of the book (so far) is laugh-out-loud funny too...
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I was at a dinner with Emmanuelle Charpentier in Montreal last year. I cheekily asked her if CRISPR wins a
@NobelPrize
, did she think it would be
#MedNobel
or
#ChemNobel
... she said
#MedNobel
- still, I bet she'll be happy today!
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Hey Twitterverse - indulge me for a moment and do me a small favour. If you haven't spoken to your Mum or Dad for a while, give 'em a call and have a chat. I lost my parents years ago and there are lots of things I wish I'd told them. Don't wait until it's too late.
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If you're going to try to do a chemistry joke Neil, get it right. If it's Fe(II) ions, it's a ferrous wheel; Fe(III) ions and it's a ferric wheel. With Fe atoms, maybe a ferrum wheel, but that's just weird. It's never gonna be 'ferris'...
Geeky dad-joke Alert...
QUESTION: What do you call a molecular ring of six Iron atoms?
Fe
/ \
Fe Fe
| |
Fe Fe
\ /
Fe
ANSWER: A Ferris Wheel.
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Turns out I was doing organic chemistry all wrong.
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On my way to London for the publication of the final report from the
@bloodinquiry
tomorrow - dug out my Dad’s wedding so that he’s with me every step of the way. Time for the
#ContaminatedBlood
scandal to finally be acknowledged in a full and frank manner - and reparations made.
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Oh no,
@Conservatives
! Look at this lovely rainbow of quantum dots that just won the
#ChemNobel
... (picture pinched from an old Guardian story)
NEW: Conservatives are safeguarding scientific research from the denial of biology and the steady creep of political correctness.
@michelledonelan
announces plans to depoliticise science at
#CPC23
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Somehow we’ve woken up in the house with a TEN year old. Not quite sure how we got here, but it’s been the best thing ever. Happy birthday
@theacantrill
! And, as usual,
@Vikki_Cantrill
knocked it out of the park with the llama cake (copied from
@SweetieDCakes
)!
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Amazing who you bump into strolling through Kings Cross ;-)
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Hey
#ChemTwitter
, one of the lead authors of the amine-catalysed Suzuki–Miyaura-type coupling paper that appeared in
@NatureCatalysis
and has generated much debate isn't on Twitter, but he has responded to some of the comments here:
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So, here’s my scary left-handed DNA pumpkin (that’s as close as I could get to DNA; hey, it’s a double helix at least)
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I'm glad the UK have decided to offer us all up as a control experiment...
Chart from my live on
#Newsnight
just now. Right or wrong, there’s no doubt the UK is increasingly an outlier in our Covid response.
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My postdoc mentor. Such a lovely, humble man and scientific genius. RIP Bob. Thoughts go out to Helen and the family. 😢
Caltech, chemists, the world just suffered a colossal loss. RIP Prof. Grubbs.
#chemtwitter
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Thank goodness for that. Was waiting for the day that organic chemistry became relevant and here we are! ;-)
When organic chemistry becomes quite relevant. Two small molecules in the form of pills that take down
#SARSCoV2
will be making a big difference in the months ahead for preventing hospitalizations and deaths, adding to the powerful impact of vaccines
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I only finished my PhD in 2001, but I still get called to meetings with the boss...
@sirfrasersays
!
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Tomorrow (May 28th) marks the 17th anniversary (OMFG, where did the time go?) of the publication of the research paper I'm most proud of; not because of where it was published (
@ScienceMagazine
), but because of the work and the story behind it 1/n
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Journals/editors/authors – next time you're tempted to point out the high Altmetric score for an article, just bear in mind there are lots of reasons why something racks up big numbers... (next highest
@angew_chem
paper scores 457)
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As part of
#YoungScientistNetworking
(thanks to
@QuantumTessera
for organizing this) I'm going to share my career journey; this will be a (very) long thread & personal in parts in an attempt to put some of the decisions into context (1/n)
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If there’s a bike shop along this road and it’s not called Carnot Cycle, I want my money back
#NicheThermodynamicsJokes
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And it's this: I want the truth. I want to know exactly what happened and whether it could have been avoided. I want someone to stand up and say sorry. I want accountability. I want closure (as much as that is possible). Thanks for listening. 16/16
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The benefits of living at work/working from home includes this one stopping by to bring me a coffee...
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Something did indeed go very wrong, but it's not like you accidentally published an early version here is it - that sort of thing just doesn't happen. I suspect somebody knew what this was and chose to publish it.
@JakeYeston
@stefcestellos
This paper contains opinions that don't reflect our values and has been removed. It wasn't the final version and is pending further editing and final review. Something went very wrong here and we're committed to do better. This isn't who we are and action will be taken.
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I’ve come up with a new game. You need to decide which of the following tweets are from
@kanyewest
and which from
@leecronin
...
#KanyeOrCronin
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@SigmaAldrich
Don’t know what you’re all complaining about; the NO₆ functional group is entirely reasonable…
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With minimal supervision from
@Vikki_Cantrill
, my birthday cake was made entirely by
@theacantrill
! 😍
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Bugger; I was hoping it had a bit of ethanol in it…
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If you want to reconnect with those from
#ChemTwitter
who have created accounts on
#Mastodon
, see Google Sheet here: – includes instructions on how to add yourself.
#ChemiVerse
#RealTimeChem
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“I’ve got a great idea for the cover”
“Cool, what is it?”
“We’ll spell ‘Elemental’ using element symbols”
“But that’s not possible...”
“Fuck it, let’s just make shit up”
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Manuscript typo of the day - in the title no less:
ultra-violent
:-)
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Love this cover; also enjoyed coming up with the cover line! (Like it
@mvdelius
,
@ribas_xavi
?)
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It’s
#WorldAIDSDay
so, like most years, I’ve been thinking about my Dad. Here’s the old blog post that explains it all and a photo I dug out the other day of the two of us.
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WHAT DOES HE THINK HE IS POURING INTO WHAT?!
(as well as the lack of PPE of course... ugh, chemistry stock photos)
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This paper on cyclic polymers went live yesterday; it’s one of the last few papers I accepted at
@NatureChemistry
- Bob Grubbs was the corresponding author at the outset, but is sadly not here to see the published version.
#RIPBob
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My work here is done.
(Here’s the link to the Comment article from
@DrLCsquare
&
@danithechemist
)
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This could be our most popular 'Call for Papers' ever 😂
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What in the holy living fuck is this abomination?!
No ice. No stirrer. No glass. We're redefining how whisky can be enjoyed. Introducing The Glenlivet Capsule Collection
#noglassrequired
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Woot - only three years out... this was my pick for the 2016
#chemnobel
for the
@cenmag
webinar...
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In 4 days time it will be 31 years since my Dad died. He was one of 5 brothers; this morning I found out that his oldest brother, my Uncle Harry, died yesterday; the last of the brothers & the end of that generation. Old post:
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@SuperScienceGrl
@NatureChemistry
Here's my
@NatureChemistry
version... (the
@Nature
version is nothing to do with me...) – and mine wasn't in an editorial, but I use as a slide in presentations.
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I just dropped (an unopened) bottle of wine. It did not survive the fall. I’m so done with 2020.
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It's
@dmac68
!!!
BREAKING NEWS:
The 2021
#NobelPrize
in Chemistry has been awarded to Benjamin List and David W.C. MacMillan “for the development of asymmetric organocatalysis.”
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Congratulations to everyone for correctly predicting the Physiology or Medicine Nobel Prize 😂
3 weeks today (Oct 4th), the 2023
#chemnobel
will be announced, so it's time for my annual
#ChemTwitter
poll! What topic do you think *will* (not should) claim the prize? (Leave comments suggesting what might win if none of the options in the poll...). RTs appreciated!
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Birthday haircut courtesy of
@Vikki_Cantrill
(and a little help from
@theacantrill
!). Before, during and after...
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I really should quote this in our guide to authors...
Stop trying to be the first person to do it and concentrate on being the one who does it right.
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Things I never thought I would do: retweet MC Hammer from the Nature Chem Twitter account... I mean, it is 2020, but still 😂
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Review unto others as you would like to be reviewed.
All colleagues out there reviewing papers. Please write your reviews in a constructive way. Lots of "!!!" with extremely harsh/offensive words really shouldn't be the way to review. Think of the PhD students dealing with it and it might be their 1st ever paper
#AcademicChatter
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36-month old comté and some Puffeney vin jaune. It really is my birthday 😀
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I know, I know, I shouldn’t have looked, but I did. The Hudlicky response to
#AngewandteGate
is just trash.
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And this is why you pierce potatoes before you bake them. Was checking to see if these were done by sticking a knife in them and almost had my head taken off by a potato bomb. Currently tweeting from the ceiling; may be coaxed down soon…
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I think they’ve un-liked it now, but spotted this in my notifications this morning 😂
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OK, enough Twitter, time to try and get some sleep. One thing’s for sure, certainly never sending any of my papers to
@angew_chem
again... 😉
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This is how we’re doing
@NatureChemistry
covers from now on…
Gas-Phase Ozonolysis of Alkenes: Radical Production and Mechanism
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Not always been terribly impressed with Biden’s speeches, but holy shit, this is fucking good. And presidential.
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There are many reasons to use Twitter. Wanting a higher h-index is a pretty shit one.
Want a higher h-index? Maybe you should be spending more time on Twitter.
#Altmetrics
reveal insights into the impact of scientific knowledge:
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