Emma Van Burns
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envb.bsky.social
Emma Van Burns
@envb.bsky.social
37 followers 92 following 1 posts
🏢 Editor @ Advanced Science, Small, Small Methods
🎓 BS Harvey Mudd College, PhD Penn State (chemistry)
💚 Cheese lover, public transit enthusiast, virus avoider
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Reposted by Emma Van Burns
superbreeze.bsky.social
The worst charts I've ever seen at work
A 3d bar chart for one single data point ("yes") showing 10 people would "cook this recipe at home" A 3d line chart that is almost impossible to read showing (I think) numbers of people who would use coconut oil, olive oil, or vegetable oil when eating starchy foods? A totally illegible bat chart (2d this time, phew) showing numbers of people leaving different free text comments to a survey. The axis includes half person points on the scale. 2 people appear to have left the same illegible comment. Why does this exist?
December 10, 2025 at 9:39 AM
Reposted by Emma Van Burns
chemistryworld.com
Can generative AI be trusted to draw chemical structures? Not yet, according to two chemists who want to see the community take a tough stance against its use.
The chemistry community should ban drawing chemical structures with generative AI, chemists warn
AIs like Microsoft's Copilot, Google's Gemini and OpenAI's ChatGPT still make serious errors rendering structural formulae
www.chemistryworld.com
October 15, 2025 at 9:41 AM
Reposted by Emma Van Burns
dereklowe.bsky.social
A new nitrogen allotrope is news, and a neutral one that can be studied spectroscopically is even more so. Does it blow up? Well, sure. But that’s not its whole personality;
Hexanitrogen
www.science.org
June 23, 2025 at 6:30 PM
Reposted by Emma Van Burns
cpsc.gov
#RECALL: Anker recalls more than one million power banks. The lithium-ion battery in the power bank can overheat, posing fire and burn hazards to consumers. Get a free replacement. CONTACT: 800-988-7973 or www.anker.com/product-reca...

Details: cpsc.gov/Recalls/2025...
Recalled Anker A1263 power bank
June 12, 2025 at 1:21 PM
Reposted by Emma Van Burns
brenttoderian.bsky.social
The financial costs of the #ClimateCrisis “are now starkly apparent to Americans in the form of soaring home insurance premiums – with those in the riskiest areas for floods, storms and wildfires suffering the steepest rises of all.”

“A climate crisis is starting to stir an insurance crisis.”
How climate risks are driving up insurance premiums around the US – visualized
‘Tight correlation’ between premium rises and counties deemed most at risk from climate crisis, experts say
www.theguardian.com
December 11, 2024 at 3:41 AM
Reposted by Emma Van Burns
michaelgbertram.bsky.social
Earlier this year, I received news that fake peer reviews were allegedly being submitted impersonating me and approximately six others

I shared my story with Science to, hopefully, reduce the chance of this kind of breach happening again

www.science.org/content/arti...
‘It felt very icky’: This scientist’s name was used to write fake peer reviews
Elsevier retracts dozens of journal articles that were published based on “fictitious” reviews
www.science.org
December 3, 2024 at 9:24 AM
Reposted by Emma Van Burns
stevenjcbuckley.bsky.social
"While the total rate of fatal accidents per billion miles driven by all vehicles was 2.8, Tesla vehicles overall had a rate of 5.6. Tesla’s Model Y SUV had fatal accident rate of 10.6, more than double the average for SUVs, which was 4.8."

sherwood.news/business/tes...
Tesla has the highest rate of fatal accidents among all car brands, report shows
A new analysis of National Highway Transportation and Safety Administration auto crash data shows that Tesla has the highest rate of fatal accidents...
sherwood.news
November 21, 2024 at 7:49 PM
Reposted by Emma Van Burns
thewaroncars.bsky.social
We found the weather machines.
October 11, 2024 at 3:39 AM
Reposted by Emma Van Burns
c0nc0rdance.bsky.social
Gen X, NOT 'Boomers', are the generation with the highest lead levels in childhood & the highest IQ loss as a result.

On average, someone born between 1966 and 1970 lost 5.9 IQ points due to lead exposure, 1970-1975, 5.1 points.

Half of children tested in 1976 were 4X the CDC's 'action threshold'.
From "Half of US population exposed to adverse lead levels in early childhood" "Changes in the distribution of childhood BLLs by age (A and C) and over time (B and D). The absolute distribution of BLLs experienced in childhood for US adults in 2015 (A) and the relative distribution (C). The absolute distribution of BLLs (B) and the relative distribution for the entire population over time for the period 1940 to 2100 (D). More than 90% of those born between 1950 and 1980 experienced BLLs in excess of 5 µg/dL, the threshold considered “safe” for children. The legacy of early life lead exposure will stay in the United States for decades to come."
August 4, 2024 at 9:16 PM
Reposted by Emma Van Burns
edzitron.com
Newsletter: Goldman Sachs has called BS on Generative AI, and I believe that it's time that everybody follows suit - generative AI is unreliable, unsustainable, requires an entire rebuild of America's power grid, and is most decidedly not the future.
www.wheresyoured.at/pop-culture/
Pop Culture
A week and a half ago, Goldman Sachs put out a 31-page-report (titled "Gen AI: Too Much Spend, Too Little Benefit?”) that includes some of the most damning literature on generative AI I've ever seen. ...
www.wheresyoured.at
July 8, 2024 at 5:45 PM
Reposted by Emma Van Burns
drandrewthaler.bsky.social
ChatGPT hallucinating Material Safety Data Sheets is a nightmare scenario for lab safety: www.funraniumlabs.com/2024/04/phil...
Phil vs. LLMs - Funranium Labs
Last year, my friend Ed made a post regarding the nascent proliferation of ChatGPT and competitors into various search engines and other products. With a moment’s contemplation after reading it, I jus...
www.funraniumlabs.com
April 12, 2024 at 7:10 PM
Reposted by Emma Van Burns
washingtonpost.com
you guys we talked about this
April 8, 2024 at 8:01 PM
Reposted by Emma Van Burns
c0nc0rdance.bsky.social
The new chaotropic solvent arrived from Sigma-Eldritch.

(from Reddit.com/r/labrats)
A bottle of some organic solvent (ether would be my guest) has probably had the solvent spill or come into contact with the inked label containing chemical safety information, resulting in the letters sliding apart into a chaotic mess of distinct letters in no particular shape or alignment. Sigma-Aldrich makes most of these types of bottles, but the homonym "Sigma-Eldritch" suggests Cthulu type horrors and madness.
March 4, 2024 at 2:24 PM
Reposted by Emma Van Burns
niedermeyer.online
Thanks to their weight and torque, electric vehicles make this problem worse. Teslas have some of the fastest tire wear ever seen. I've only ever heard of one small UK startup (The Tyre Collective) working on a solution to this issue.
jametc.bsky.social jess m. @jametc.bsky.social · Feb 29
TIL learned a fun fact

the vast, vast majority of microplastics aren't actually from breaking down single-use plastics like I thought, but from car tires. Car tires, simply by being worn down while driving, emit more microplastics than anything by far
Environmental risks of car tire microplastic particles and other road runoff pollutants - Microplastics and Nanoplastics
Tire wear represents a large source of microplastic entering the aquatic environment, however little is known about its environmental risks. Here, we provide the first assessment of the environmental ...
microplastics.springeropen.com
February 29, 2024 at 2:54 PM
Reposted by Emma Van Burns
davidho.bsky.social
Instead of fixing the gun problem, we have active shooter drills.

Instead of fixing infrastructure and car bloat, we have this 👇.
An infographic titled "WALK THIS WAY - Pedestrian Safety Tips" with six panels, each featuring an icon and a safety tip: Unplug (don’t be distracted), Make eye contact (wait until traffic stops), Be bright (wear reflective clothing at night), and the nonsense goes on.
February 27, 2024 at 3:54 PM
Reposted by Emma Van Burns
luckytran.com
I think it's a positive sign that such a large consumer-focused outlet like Men's Health is warning its readers about COVID reinfections, Long COVID, and is recommending masking in 2024. More of this, please!
Men's Health How Repeat Covid Infections Can Harm Your Health They might push up your risk for diabetes and other chronic problems. Why You Still Need to Take Covid Precautions You’ve likely stopped masking and might not think about Covid as much as you used to, but it remains a major cause of death and disease, Dr. Friedberg says. Still, Covid seems to have joined the ranks of other respiratory and infectious diseases, like the flu, that are here to stay, Dr. Loafman says. However, Covid isn’t necessarily following a seasonal cycle, like the flu—instead, it keeps hanging around with new variants emerging and periodic spikes happening. So, it’s crucial to keep following all the guidelines we’ve learned over the past four years to protect yourself and others. Stay up to date on vaccines, Dr. Loafman says, and if you do get sick, wear a mask and stay away from others. “Each infection is like taking a chance at the lottery,” Dr. Friedberg says. “The odds are a bit better than they were three years ago, but there is still a chance you could end up with serious illness..."
February 25, 2024 at 9:37 PM
envb.bsky.social
Did the head lice write this?
February 23, 2024 at 10:36 PM
Reposted by Emma Van Burns
notalawyer.bsky.social
it’s foolish to imagine yourself as immune to scams, but my strategy of never answering the phone for any purpose is pretty much rock solid
February 15, 2024 at 6:50 PM