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bethanyhalford.bsky.social
Bethany Halford
@bethanyhalford.bsky.social
2.6K followers 570 following 200 posts
Science writer and senior correspondent at C&EN. Opinions here are mine and mine alone (she/her).
Signal: bethanyhalford.29
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bethanyhalford.bsky.social
I'd like to chat with people who have applied for grad school in chem or biochem for fall 2026 for an article in C&EN (@cenmag.bsky.social) about how funding changes in the US are impacting admissions. If this is you, please fill out this form.

forms.office.com/r/5xUxaqEnfX
#chemsky #chemchat
Microsoft Forms
forms.office.com
January 14, 2026 at 4:03 PM
bethanyhalford.bsky.social
Sensory overload: In the latest #Newscripts for @cenmag.bsky.social, @bribarbu.bsky.social explores scratch-and-sniff stamps and "deliciously unhinged" lickable wrapping paper.
cen.acs.org/business/con...
Scratch-and-sniff stamps and lickable parcels
Meaningful messages that engage the senses
cen.acs.org
January 14, 2026 at 3:51 PM
Reposted by Bethany Halford
laureloldach.bsky.social
Good morning. Do you want a feel-good story about ingenuity and a determined graduate student cracking a decades-old total synthesis problem? If yes, @bethanyhalford.bsky.social spins a yarn you may enjoy.

cen.acs.org/biological-c...
Stereochemical secrets of secalosides A and B revealed at last
After almost 30 years, chemists fully decipher the structures of a pair of natural products
cen.acs.org
January 14, 2026 at 2:13 PM
bethanyhalford.bsky.social
A fun total synthesis paper from Karl Scheidt's group that reaches back almost 30 years. My latest for @cenmag.bsky.social
cen.acs.org/biological-c...
Stereochemical secrets of secalosides A and B revealed at last
After almost 30 years, chemists fully decipher the structures of a pair of natural products
cen.acs.org
January 12, 2026 at 9:17 PM
Reposted by Bethany Halford
andrechemist.bsky.social
Synthetic chemists breaking into the analytical chemists' labs at night to use their instruments without knowing what they are doing:
Picture of text from a book that reads as follows: This was almost definitely going to get them killed, but as least those GC fuckers would never see it coming.
January 12, 2026 at 2:46 AM
bethanyhalford.bsky.social
Only 8 days left to nominate a stellar early-career molecular scientist for @cenmag.bsky.social's Talented 12. I'd love to see more folks from industry in our nominations pool. Link to the nomination form here: cen.acs.org/sections/nom...

#chemsky #chemchat
Nominate Talented 12 candidates for 2026
Help us identify early career scientists doing research that will have a global impact
cen.acs.org
January 12, 2026 at 5:19 PM
bethanyhalford.bsky.social
Who out there likes to look at small molecule #drugs? You can explore all the ones FDA approved in 2025 using this interactive table in @cenmag.bsky.social (made by Shea Murphy): cen.acs.org/sections/dru...
#chemsky
January 8, 2026 at 9:00 PM
bethanyhalford.bsky.social
Check out the excellent interactive table (made by Seamus Murphy) in my feature for @cenmag.bsky.social about the new molecular entities FDA approved in 2025.
cen.acs.org/pharmaceutic...
FDA’s new drug approvals dipped in 2025
46 new molecular entities cleared the agency’s hurdles last year, 4 fewer than in 2024
cen.acs.org
January 5, 2026 at 7:12 PM
Reposted by Bethany Halford
laureloldach.bsky.social
The end of the year is a great time to boost your colleagues. If you know an amazing early-career* chemist or biochemist doing creative work on important problems, please consider nominating them to the Chemical & Engineering News Talented 12 class of 2026?

cen.acs.org/sections/tal...
C&EN's Talented 12
Know an extraordinary young researcher who is inspiring the next generation of chemists? Submit your nomination by January 20, 2026 for the Talented 12 class of 2026.
cen.acs.org
December 18, 2025 at 9:22 PM
Reposted by Bethany Halford
laurahowes.bsky.social
Fire starters, 400,000-year-old twisted fire starters...
@bethanyhalford.bsky.social for @cenmag.bsky.social #chemsky 🧪
cen.acs.org/analytical-c...
Earliest evidence of human fire starters unearthed
Discovery of iron pyrite at a site in England pushes back the date of human fire creation by 350,000 years
cen.acs.org
December 10, 2025 at 5:25 PM
Reposted by Bethany Halford
fmorningstar.bsky.social
I’m very glad I got to write about 28 Years Later for @cenmag.bsky.social just in time for the Jan release of the next chapter 😆
bethanyhalford.bsky.social Bethany Halford @bethanyhalford.bsky.social · Dec 3
Looking for a fun read? For the December #Newscripts in @cenmag.bsky.social, Fionna Samuels (@fmorningstar.bsky.social) took a look at the chemistry of two pop culture moments from the past year: An exoplosive scene in 20 Years Later and the GBBO sugar dome disaster
cen.acs.org/education/sc...
Molecular moments in pop culture
Chemical quibbles with explosions and sugar domes
cen.acs.org
December 3, 2025 at 4:03 PM
bethanyhalford.bsky.social
Looking for a fun read? For the December #Newscripts in @cenmag.bsky.social, Fionna Samuels (@fmorningstar.bsky.social) took a look at the chemistry of two pop culture moments from the past year: An exoplosive scene in 20 Years Later and the GBBO sugar dome disaster
cen.acs.org/education/sc...
Molecular moments in pop culture
Chemical quibbles with explosions and sugar domes
cen.acs.org
December 3, 2025 at 3:51 PM
Reposted by Bethany Halford
laureloldach.bsky.social
So, remember that MAHA summit 2 weeks ago that @statnews.com broke the news of and @maxkozlov.bsky.social somehow got into for Nature, even though it was closed to the press?

The organizers posted the entire 6.5-hour conference proceedings to YouTube last week.

cen.acs.org/policy/MAHA-...
At MAHA Summit, the NIH head pushes for research that risks failure
And 4 other takeaways for life scientists from the ‘off-the-record’ Make America Healthy Again conference
cen.acs.org
November 26, 2025 at 3:58 PM
Reposted by Bethany Halford
laurahowes.bsky.social
Do you have recipe books with annotations and stains on the most popular pages? Me too, and so does the University of Manchester. Except their recipe books are medieval medical manuals.
@bethanyhalford.bsky.social for @cenmag.bsky.social
🧪 #chemsky
cen.acs.org/analytical-c...
Proteins plucked from the pages of Renaissance recipes
Analyses of German medical manuals from 1531 reveal what ingredients those who handled the books used
cen.acs.org
November 26, 2025 at 3:42 PM
bethanyhalford.bsky.social
Just as the page of a preferred pie crust recipe bears traces of flour and butter, the pages of two German medical manuals from 1531 hold traces of the ingredients used by medicine makers, a proteomic analysis from @stefanhanss.bsky.social and coworkers reveals
cen.acs.org/analytical-c...
Proteins plucked from the pages of Renaissance recipes
Analyses of German medical manuals from 1531 reveal what ingredients those who handled the books used
cen.acs.org
November 26, 2025 at 4:13 PM
bethanyhalford.bsky.social
Bitopertin was once a failed drug candidate gathering dust in Roche's portfolio. Thanks to work from Disc Medicine, FDA could soon approve it to treat a rare blood disorder. Read @rowanwalrath.bsky.social's excellent story in @cenmag.bsky.social.
November 24, 2025 at 6:14 PM
bethanyhalford.bsky.social
Monet, Munch, and Pissarro all used emerald green paint made from copper acetoarsenite pigment. Chemists have discovered that this pigment breaks down via two distinct chemical pathways. My latest for @cenmag.bsky.social
cen.acs.org/analytical-c...
How to prevent emerald-green oil paint from breaking down
Chemists decipher dual degradation pathways for a once popular pigment
cen.acs.org
November 21, 2025 at 2:19 PM
bethanyhalford.bsky.social
Hey #chemsky - it's time to vote for your favorite molecule in @cenmag.bsky.social's Molecule of the Year contest (curated by the amazing @bribarbu.bsky.social).

Some strong candidates in here. I'm excited to see which molecule will win.
cen.acs.org/synthesis/Mo...
Meet the molecules of the year 2025
C&EN editors’ annual round-up of spectacular molecules we’ve covered in the past year
cen.acs.org
November 19, 2025 at 7:16 PM
Reposted by Bethany Halford
laureloldach.bsky.social
Personal opinion that I am proud to have managed to get through as the lede of this story: differentiating between diastereomers is better left to chemists than Congress.

cen.acs.org/biological-c...
Why synthetic cannabinoids appear in the US funding bill
The law that ended the federal government shutdown also closes a loophole in cannabis regulation
cen.acs.org
November 18, 2025 at 5:45 PM
Reposted by Bethany Halford
chemjobber.bsky.social
Friends, what is the best text/reference about dementia in old age available?

Please RT, serious responses only please - thank you!

🧪
November 13, 2025 at 10:05 PM
Reposted by Bethany Halford
bribarbu.bsky.social
There’s a lot of historically and culturally significant stuff captured on audio (and video) tape. But tapes are mass-market items that weren’t made with long-term archiving in mind.
My latest for @cenmag.bsky.social explores the chemistry involved in preserving them:
cen.acs.org/analytical-c...
How preservation scientists are using chemistry to save sounds of the past
Preservation scientists are using polymer chemistry to help prevent old audio and video tapes from degrading beyond recognition
cen.acs.org
November 13, 2025 at 3:47 PM
bethanyhalford.bsky.social
Sam, stealer of the office chair, who I inherited from my mother in 2017 when he was 19 years old. Gone since 2019.
November 13, 2025 at 8:38 PM
bethanyhalford.bsky.social
I love a good complex natural product. This one has two α-tropolones, 10 asymmetric stereocenters, and a a labile hemiketal. After a longstanding effort, chemists in Seth Herzon's lab have made (–)-gukulenin A. My latest for @cenmag.bsky.social

cen.acs.org/synthesis/me...
A guide to making gukulenin A
3-component assembly builds a natural product that could fight cancer
cen.acs.org
November 13, 2025 at 8:27 PM
Reposted by Bethany Halford
cenmag.bsky.social
Shiru, one of C&EN's #10StartupsToWatch, uses artificial intelligence to discover proteins for food ingredients and other applications. cen.acs.org/business/foo... #chemsky 🧪
10 Start-Ups to Watch 2025: Shiru searches for natural proteins to create more-sustainable food and cosmetics
AI mines a database of 77 million natural proteins for novel ingredients
cen.acs.org
November 13, 2025 at 12:06 PM
bethanyhalford.bsky.social
In the world of proteins that drive cancer, Ras proteins and PI3Kα are major players. Several companies are developing molecules that break up this protein power couple. My latest short news feature for @cenmag.bsky.social
cen.acs.org/biological-c...
A breakup strategy that’s inspiring clinical candidates for cancer
Scientists seek molecules that will disrupt the Ras-PI3Kα interaction
cen.acs.org
November 12, 2025 at 8:36 PM