Debbie Gale Mitchell
LightNews LightNews
banner
heydebigale.bsky.social
Debbie Gale Mitchell
@heydebigale.bsky.social
8.7K followers 3.1K following 1.9K posts
Chemist, 🧲 spectroscopist, mother, Associate Teaching Prof. of Chemistry at University of Denver. Loves reading romance and nonfiction 💖📚, currently writing a narrative nonfiction book on spectroscopy🚨Opinions and thoughts and posts are my own!
Posts Replies Media Videos
Pinned
heydebigale.bsky.social
Debbie Gale Mitchell @heydebigale.bsky.social · Mar 25
I have some big news!

I’m writing a book about spectroscopy! 🚨🧲🌈🖼️🔦

My book is narrative nonfiction—with illustrations ✍️

A huge thank you to my wonderful agent Jessica Papin!!

Also thank you to my β-reader Sarah Zingales who has supported me through this whole process 🥹
Publishers Marketplace Deal Report RESONANCE & RADIANCE By Debbie Gale Mitchell Imprint: MIT Press Professor and chemist Debbie Gale Mitchell's RESONANCE & RADIANCE: HOW LIGHT REVEALS THE CHEMISTRY OF OUR WORLD, a narrative and illustrated exploration of the singular field of spectroscopy, explaining how the interaction of light and molecules is not only a science of astonishing beauty, but also a powerful analytical tool, to Andrew Kinney at MIT Press, by Jessica Papin at Dystel, Goderich & Bourret (world). Non-fiction: Science/Technology March 21, 2024
heydebigale.bsky.social
Nonfiction science new releases for November, 2025!
Which of these books are you adding to your TBR?

I am planning to read WHISPERS OF ROCK for science book club & I have already preordered GROWING PAPAYA TREES!

#nonfiction #booksky #science 🧪 #sciencebooks #womeninscience #nonfictionscience
A light-brown slide with the text "nonfiction science new releases November, 2025" along the top with a structure of morphine at the top right corner. 20 book covers are lined up in rows below the title: GROWING PAPAYA TREES by Jessica Hernandez THE NATURE OF FASHION by Carry Somers THE WHISPERS OF ROCK by Anjana Khatwa CRUSH by James Riordon UNDER A METAL SKY by Phillip Marsden THE BEaR AT THE BIRD FEEDER by Randi Minetor SINK OR SWIM by Susannah Fisher THE RANDOM UNIVERSE by Andrew Jaffe THE GREAT BLACK SWAMP by Patrick Wensink ELECTRIC LIFE by Sander Funneman THE GREAT MATH WAR by Jason Socrates Bardi HOW TO CHANGE A MEMORY by Steve Ramirez DO ALIENS SPEAK PHYSICS by Daniel Whiteson BETTERNOT BURN YOUR TOAST by Dr. Joe Schwarcz THE SCIENCE OF PETS by Jay Ingram TIGERS BETWEEN EMPIRES by Jonathan C Slaght HIDDEN GUESTS by Lise Barncoud THE BREATH OF THE GODS by Simon Winchester NIGHTMARE OBSCURA by Michelle Carr WHAT SHEEP THINK ABOUT THE WEATHER by Amelia Thomas
November 11, 2025 at 1:13 PM
Reposted by Debbie Gale Mitchell
roxanegay.bsky.social
What interesting books are being released in December?
November 11, 2025 at 1:53 AM
heydebigale.bsky.social
I finally finished my Invisalign today (it took twice as long as it was supposed to) and the orthodontist gave me balloons and sparkling cider and I kind of felt like I deserved that 🫠
November 10, 2025 at 11:42 PM
Reposted by Debbie Gale Mitchell
chemjobber.bsky.social
I know I'm totally romance-pilled by @heydebigale.bsky.social because I am like "there is totally a romance novel angle to this story" www.reuters.com/business/hea...
www.reuters.com
November 8, 2025 at 3:30 PM
heydebigale.bsky.social
ooooh this (April) 2026 release looks really good:

#chemsky #chemchat

Chain Reactions: The Wonderous Chemistry of Everyday Life

www.goodreads.com/book/show/23...
Chain Reaction: The Wondrous Chemistry of Everyday Life
All around us are ever-evolving strings of chain reacti…
www.goodreads.com
November 8, 2025 at 2:59 PM
Reposted by Debbie Gale Mitchell
jmelville.science
please don't @ me like "actually cerium is unique among the lanthanides for its +4 oxidation state"

⚗️🧪 #chemsky
A simplified, stylized periodic table of elements where large groups of elements are color-coded. Hydrogen (H) is isolated. Group 1 (alkali metals) is labeled "BOOM!". Group 2 (alkaline earth metals) is "rocks & sand & glass & stuff". The transition metals are split into sections: "the foundations of human civilization," "catalysts & superalloys," "ooh, shiny!," "expensive," and "heavy metal poisoning." Technetium (Tc) is boxed separately. The p-block is also grouped: "chips (not tasty kind)," "organic chemistry," and "useful for poisoning your husband." The noble gases are labeled "n o p e." The heaviest elements in the s-block and p-block are labeled "cancer 2" and "cancer alley," with the exception of Bismuth. The transactinides are labeled "more physics than chemistry." The bottom f-block (lanthanides and actinides) is also labeled. The lanthanides are "except for Pm these are all basically the same element," with Promethium (Pm) boxed. The actinides are labeled "rxtors & bombs" and "you probably work at Los Alamos."
November 8, 2025 at 10:23 AM
Reposted by Debbie Gale Mitchell
brittanytrang.com
A Sharon Begley byline, almost 5 years after her death.

Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written."

Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating.
🧪🧬🧫
James Watson, dead at 97, was a scientific legend and a pariah among his peers
James Watson, the co-discoverer of the structure of DNA who died Thursday at 97, was a scientific legend and a pariah among his peers.
www.statnews.com
November 8, 2025 at 1:39 PM
heydebigale.bsky.social
I like the idea of #chemchat as a hashtag to for conversations around chemistry!
chemjobber.bsky.social Chemjobber @chemjobber.bsky.social · 4d
I would like to move chemistry-related conversations to chemchat, seeing as how chem/sky is basically a promotion place now.

I would have liked that to have moderated, but it's bluntly clear that the publishing houses can't change their spots
November 8, 2025 at 2:17 PM
Reposted by Debbie Gale Mitchell
chemjobber.bsky.social
after listening to some chemistry professors talk about graduate admissions for next year, if you are a senior this year, you need to be thinking about post-graduation plans RIGHT NOW #chemchat 🧪
November 7, 2025 at 10:02 PM
Reposted by Debbie Gale Mitchell
stuartcantrill.com
Nov 7th is the birthday of both Lise Meitner & Marie Curie. Of the 13 chemical elements named directly after real people (not mythological figures) only two are named after women: meitnerium and curium (the latter of which is named in honour of both Marie & her husband) #chemsky 🧪
A black & white picture of Lise Meitner sat on a chair while holding a book. There is a bookcase in the background A black & white picture of Marie Curie
November 7, 2025 at 9:49 PM
Reposted by Debbie Gale Mitchell
lollardfish.bsky.social
FWIW I wrote this. I wrote it in part as a tool to use in persuasion in my own communities.

www.startribune.com/adam-raine-c...
Perry: How can AI be used ethically when it’s been linked to suicide?
"It’s not on us, on you and me, to use AI ethically or responsibly. It’s on the companies to build safe, reliable, ethical products," David M. Perry writes.
www.startribune.com
November 7, 2025 at 1:56 AM
heydebigale.bsky.social
Back on my bougie bullsh*t 💅🏻

I love the bus so much 🩷🚌🩷
Selfie of a white Woman with green hair on the city bus
November 6, 2025 at 1:32 PM
Reposted by Debbie Gale Mitchell
kcrowe.bsky.social
I'm so pleased
kylec.bsky.social Kyle Clark @kylec.bsky.social · 5d
NEW: Aurora City Councilwoman Danielle Jurinsky has conceded. A stunning defeat for a MAGA media fixture who built a national profile on claims of a "complete gang takeover" of Aurora that led President Trump to visit and falsely proclaim the city "conquered" by an immigrant gang
November 6, 2025 at 3:30 AM
Reposted by Debbie Gale Mitchell
davidho.bsky.social
Forrest Smith, the only National Park Service engineer cleaning up abandoned oil and gas wells, lost his contract, leaving 93 orphaned wells on park lands unmanaged. These leaking wells release methane and toxins, threatening human health and the environment.
He Alone Tracked Leaky Oil Wells in National Parks. He Was Let Go.
www.nytimes.com
November 3, 2025 at 5:58 AM
heydebigale.bsky.social
I only recently learned about antivenom from V IS FOR VENOM by Kathryn Harkup.

This is cool:
November 1, 2025 at 6:19 PM
Reposted by Debbie Gale Mitchell
lisavipes.bsky.social
#BirdGlamour says BOO! this Halloween with the Spotted Lanterfly! Calling southeast Asia home, these planthoppers were first noted in Philadelphia in 2014! Populations are checked by parasitic wasps in southeast Asia but are an invasive species in N.A., going after agriculture and lumber crops. 🐞
Makeup in Spotted Lanternfly colors and patterns: above eyebrow in beige with inner scattered black spots and outer small black mesh-like spots, upper eye in inner red with scant black spots, outer in white patches and an outer black temple blend, under eye in red with black spots and an outer upper cheek fade blend, edge of nose in yellow. Lips in shimmer beige with black spots. Spotted langerfly imag eas reference
October 31, 2025 at 11:10 PM
heydebigale.bsky.social
I know I’m old because I open TikTok and there is a person doing Y2K makeup to Like a G6 and do they not know that song came out 10 years later?!
October 30, 2025 at 12:44 PM
heydebigale.bsky.social
I finished reading V IS FOR VENOM by Kathryn Harkup yesterday.

I love the mix of history, true crime, literature, and chemistry in both this book and A IS FOR ARSENIC.

Harkup does such a good job describing the chemistry of the different poisons.

The #chemsky will love this one! 🧪⚛️🐍

#booksky
photo of a hand holding a copy of V IS FOR VENOM by Kathryn Harkup
October 30, 2025 at 4:16 AM
heydebigale.bsky.social
The irony of Chegg calling LLMs parasitic...

(They are both parasites!!!)

www.sfgate.com/tech/article...
CEO gets $3.2M severance deal as Bay Area tech company lays off 388 workers
Chegg's four recent layoff rounds combine for 1,396 jobs.
www.sfgate.com
October 30, 2025 at 12:12 AM
Reposted by Debbie Gale Mitchell
compoundchem.com
It's #NationalPumpkinDay! 🎃

Why are pumpkins orange, and what do pumpkins have to do with pumpkin spice? Here are the chemical answers in @cenmag.bsky.social: cen.acs.org/articles/93/...

#ChemSky 🧪
Infographic on the chemistry of pumpkins. The colour of pumpkins is due to carotenoid compounds such as beta-carotene, the same compound that gives carrots their orange colour. The vegetal aroma of pumpkins is mainly due to cis-3-hexen-1-ol, along with other six-carbon alcohols and aldehydes. Canned pumpkin is often not the same type of pumpkin as those used for carving, and consequently, the aroma compounds differ, including burnt-smelling 2-methylbutanal, coffee furanone, and furfural. Pumpkin spice flavour has little to do with pumpkin and more to do with the spices added, including cinnamon, nutmeg and clove.
October 26, 2025 at 8:50 PM
Reposted by Debbie Gale Mitchell
hormiga.bsky.social
Yesterday, our campus had the honor of hosting Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson.

She said a lot of interesting and valuable things. One thing that's stuck with me is this claim: "The only thing that distinguishes the ordinary from the extraordinary is hard work."
October 24, 2025 at 7:09 PM
Reposted by Debbie Gale Mitchell
compoundchem.com
I'm a bit late with the customary #MoleDay infographic this year, but better late than never!

The mole makes it easier to describe the huge numbers of atoms, molecules, or ions that participate in chemical reactions.

More in this graphic: www.compoundchem.com/2014/10/23/m...

#ChemSky 🧪
Infographic on the mole. One mole is the amount of substance that contains exactly 6.022 x 10^23 atoms, molecules or ions. This number is also known as Avogadro's number. Using moles makes it easier to talk about amounts of substances involved in reactions by relating the mass of a substance to its atomic or molecular mass. Amount of substance (moles) = mass (grams) divided by the mass of 1 mole (grams per mole). One mole contains a different mass for different substances.
October 23, 2025 at 7:35 PM
Reposted by Debbie Gale Mitchell
awesomebiota.bsky.social
So let's do some real-talk about my teaching job now that I'm going to be on strike in less than 12 hours, yeah?

I co-teach first-year Biology at SMU. The other professor teaching the other half of the course is a full-time tenured professor. We may be the only PT/FT teaching team on campus.
October 22, 2025 at 10:07 PM
Reposted by Debbie Gale Mitchell
shiplives.bsky.social
Humans of Bluesky! I want your questions, please.

Let me explain.

I like writing explainers about things like: What colors do bees see? Do bugs fart? How long can viruses survive in a dead body? What's the difference between hemp and marijuana?

But my brain is wrung dry. I need questions! 🧪🧵
October 22, 2025 at 5:34 PM