Andy McMillan
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mcawmcmillan.bsky.social
Andy McMillan
@mcawmcmillan.bsky.social
140 followers 410 following 140 posts
I teach college biochemistry, with a personal interest in evolution of enzyme activity and protein structure. Interested in other general nerdery especially TTRPG. He/him
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mcawmcmillan.bsky.social
Quite the mixed feelings right now. I’ve been mostly teaching but for first time have been working with a student doing research that would want to present at ASBMB meeting. But also needing to weigh risks of taking an immigrant student to visit DC #ChemChat #ITeachBio
November 18, 2025 at 1:05 AM
Reposted by Andy McMillan
chrisgeidner.bsky.social
When DHS dared to call its anti-immigrant racial profiling weekend in Charlotte, North Carolina, “Operation Charlotte’s Web,” I knew I was going to have to write about it.

Tonight, at Law Dork, here it is: www.lawdork.com/p/gregory-bo...
LAW dork = I am certain that someone thought this was particularly witty when they came up with the name, but it's honestly one of the more offensive possibilities these hateful authoritarians could have used. Even on its face, using the name of a beloved children's book as the name of your anti-immigrant, mass-arrest operation is appalling. But, to use a book authored by E.B. White as your name is an offense to history. White was a leading voice for American democracy and freedom and against fascism and tyranny. Abusing his life's work like this cannot stand without a response.
November 17, 2025 at 12:41 AM
Reposted by Andy McMillan
carlbergstrom.com
“We analyzed 47000 conversations that people had with ChatGPT. We’re pretty sure we don’t have consent for a lot of them. So we are reproducing screenshots here.”

www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...
ChatGPT conversations are private by default, but users can create a link to share them with others. Public chats do not display a username or other information about the person who shared them. The Post downloaded 93,268 shared chats preserved in the Internet Archive, from June 2024 to August this year. The analysis focused on the 47,000 conversations that were primarily in English. It's possible many of the people who shared the conversations did not realize they would be publicly preserved online. In July, OpenAI removed an option to make shared conversations discoverable via Google search, saying people had accidentally made some chats public.
November 15, 2025 at 7:40 PM
Reposted by Andy McMillan
amyhoy.bsky.social
this goes right along with my theory that the AI obsession in *users* is often bc…

1. they were never educated (esp "ipad generation") & don't know how computers work

2. our tools and services are all SO AWFUL NOW, degraded at best, actively user-hostile at worst
Mariya Delano @mariyadelano@hachyderm.io I've been testing a theory: many people who are high on #AI and #LLMs are just new to automation and don't realize you can automate processes with simple programming, if/then conditions, and API calls with zero Al involved. So far it's been working! Whenever I've been asked to make an Al flow or find a way to implement Al in our work with a client, I've returned back with an automation flow that uses 0 Al. Things like "when a new document is added here, add a link to it in this spreadsheet and then create a task in our project management software assigned to X with label Y". And the people who were frothing at the mouth at how I must change my mind on Al have (so far) all responded with resounding enthusiasm and excitement. They think it's the same thing. They just don't understand how much automation is possible without any generative tools. Nov 14, 2025 at 08:29 AM • 830 boosts • 9 quotes • 1.2K favorites
November 15, 2025 at 6:47 PM
Reposted by Andy McMillan
akivamcohen.bsky.social
There are certain fights that you need to either never pick in the first place or be certain you're willing to see all the way through.

The shutdown was one of them.
November 12, 2025 at 12:22 AM
Reposted by Andy McMillan
chemjobber.bsky.social
At my blog, I write more about my concerns for aspiring entering grad students in chemistry for Fall 2026. To reiterate - if you don't have a plan for next fall RIGHT NOW, you need to talk to your professors and advisers and develop a plan NOW: chemjobber.blogspot.com/2025/11/towa...

#chemchat 🧪⚗️
Towards a data-informed prediction of Fall 2026 US chemistry PhD admissions | a warning to senior undergraduates
As faithful readers of this blog know, I found the statement that Harvard Chemistry and Chemical Biology was cutting its Fall 2026 entering ...
chemjobber.blogspot.com
November 10, 2025 at 7:27 PM
Reposted by Andy McMillan
isabelott.bsky.social
Brilliantly written, and provides some useful insight into what actually went awry there.
“‘He loved getting a rise out of people,’ the lab friend said. ‘And when you think of yourself as a master of the universe, you think you can, or should, get away with things.’”
brittanytrang.com Brittany Trang @brittanytrang.com · 11d
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 9:46 PM
Reposted by Andy McMillan
jeffreymphd.bsky.social
Her sister wrote my favorite essay about her. She points out that RF would have been famous even if she'd never looked at DNA

www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
Remembering my sister Rosalind Franklin
Rosalind Franklin died of ovarian cancer in 1958 aged 37 years. Sympathy and feminism have combined to give us her familiar image as a downtrodden woman scientist, brilliant but neglected, a heroine t...
www.thelancet.com
November 7, 2025 at 11:20 PM
Reposted by Andy McMillan
celestelabedz.bsky.social
In case anyone is wondering if Watson was really THAT bad, @lpachter.bsky.social compiled a list of quotes that are absolutely not for the faint of heart.
liorpachter.wordpress.com/2018/05/18/j...
November 7, 2025 at 10:18 PM
Reposted by Andy McMillan
punkrockscience.bsky.social
Watson’s death is a fantastic reminder that you can be intelligent without being a good person.
davidho.bsky.social David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · 11d
The obituary of someone who gained widespread fame through remarkable achievements at a young age and then expected to be taken seriously for anything he said thereafter.
James Watson, Co-Discoverer of the Structure of DNA, Is Dead at 97
www.nytimes.com
November 7, 2025 at 7:57 PM
mcawmcmillan.bsky.social
I think the best part of this is that it took a bit to figure out where T was going from because the description messed up by not randomly capitalizing the the T in experImenTs
November 7, 2025 at 12:50 PM
Reposted by Andy McMillan
supersciencegrl.co.uk
Ok, this has to be the worst/best NMR acronym I've ever seen:

"MIChI StAndard foR ReportinG Liquid-StAte NMR ExperIments of SmAll MoleculeS (MARGARITAS)"

(Source: www.nfdi4chem.de/uv-vis-michi...) #chemsky
UV-Vis MIChI Draft Is Ready - NFDI4Chem
We are pleased to announce that the amended UV-Vis MIChI draft is now ready and will be published before the end of the year.
www.nfdi4chem.de
November 7, 2025 at 9:23 AM
Reposted by Andy McMillan
jfmclaughlin92.bsky.social
you absolute NINCOMPOOPS

if a cis person presents a "historical fact" that aligns with their current presentation and appearance, it's not a big deal.

if a trans person presents that "historical fact" that is so obviously in glaring contrast to present, WE WILL BE SUBJECT TO DIFFERENT TREATMENT
faineg.bsky.social Faine Greenwood @faineg.bsky.social · 12d
I spit on the reputation of the U.S. Supreme Court, not that it can get much more degraded than it has already become by the repulsive actions of its disgusting GOP members.

You can hear the transphobic sneer in these words.
November 6, 2025 at 10:28 PM
Reposted by Andy McMillan
theradr.bsky.social
This Norwegian stabbur, ca 1700, one of the oldest buildings in the region. Used to store foods & other things off of the ground, away from animals.

I'm not OK, for all the Crone reasons.

We know where her house came from! Its origins, most likely!

imma go get my evil mortar and pestle now brb
small cabin on tree stumps. Tree stumps look like chickenfeet
November 6, 2025 at 4:35 PM
Reposted by Andy McMillan
isabelott.bsky.social
The story of Max Theiler (who created the yellow fever vaccine still used today) sipping coffee in her office while she checks Lassa cultures at her desk microscope is truly…haunting? incredible? to anyone who’s worked in a virology lab this century, and/or has any sense of self-preservation
isabelott.bsky.social Isabel @isabelott.bsky.social · 16d
the initial characterization of Lassa virus, continued (2/3)
The experiments carried out at the Yale Arbovirus Research Unit by me had been successful. How did the Lassa fever experiments change my daily existence? work on the new human pathogen had been restricted by wil Downs to my tissue culture section and to the adjacent section presided over by Jordi Casals on the 7th floor of the Laboratory of Epidemiology and Public Health. Other experienced and qualified investigators at YARU such as Bob Shope, assistant director as of 1968, and Nick Karabatsos, were excluded from participation, because of possible danger to their young children. In my own section, whenever I was working with the Lassa agent, I slowed down and became meticulous in techniques. Inasmuch as possible i remained in my own laboratory and avolded other people in the department, since we could not know how highly virulent this infectious agent might be. In Stamford, we were living then -- and I still do today -- in a home with a large yard. [her dog] loved children…I asked our good neighbors to keep their children temporarily away for reasons of safety… Many people asked me: "Are you not afraid for your own safety when working with the dreadful agent?" And I answered: "Not really." By the late sixties. I had a vast experience in the handling of dangerous human pathogens. but I had never suffered a laboratory infection. I had, in the meantime, familiarized myself with the course of illness of Lassa fever in the three missionary nurses. Briefly, Laura Wine, 69 years old. working in a mission hospital in Lassa, a small village with about 1,000 inhabitants in northeastem Nigeria, was in good health until January 12, 1969 when her illness started. The onset was gradual with low grade fever, malaise. myalgia, headache, ulcerative pharyngitis, dyspnea, leukepenia and some hemorrhagic signs. Following a steady downhill course, she was flown…to Bingham Memorial Hospital in Jos, a town of about 100.000 inhabitants on the Jos plateau, Nigeria. She was cared for by the night nurse Charlotte Shaw and also by the head nurse Lay Pinneo. She went Into cardiac failure, had convulsions and expired on January 26, 1969, 30 hours after admission. The illness of Charlotte Shaw, 45 years old, started on February 3, 1969. with chills and fever (102ºF to 103°F), pharyngitis, headache, drowsiness. dyspnea and leukopenia. She died on February 13, 1969, the 11th day of illness. Lily Pinneo. 52 years old, had assisted at the autopsy of Charlotte Shaw. She became ill on February 20, 1969 with fever (99? to 100ªF). malaise. headache, nausea. She was admitted to the Bingham Memorial Hospital on February 23, 1969 with a mild sore throat. She was sent by her physician, Dr. Jeanette Troup' to New York for diagnosis and treatment. During transit, she lay 4 days in an isolation shed in Lagos, the capital of Nigeria. Accompanied by a missionary nurse, she arrived at the Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center in New York on March 4, 1969, just after midnight and critically ill. Under the care of Dr. John D. Frame', Lily Pinneo was recovering. While the Lassa agent had been isolated by me from serum samples collected 5 and 14 days after onset in Vero cell cultures, the serum samples collected 28 and 37 days after onset were negative. Instead, the serum samples drawn 28 and 37 days after onset, when mixed with the Lassa agent isolated 14 days after onset during the acute phase of illness, protected the inoculated Vero cell cultures from being destroyed. Lily Pinneo had clearly developed protecting antibodies against the Lassa agent during the convalescent phase of Lassa fever. Characterization, identification and tentative classification was undertaken next. It is evident from my account up to now that one cannot characterize, identify and classify a human pathogen without having first Isolated it. That is the conditio sine qua non. Speed in going "right on" in the solving of the Lassa mystery" was our primary concern. Thus, we engaged our ested muble -workers' both from our unit and the Department of Epidemiology & Public Health. They, however, were only allowed to work with inactivated material. …in three short months the Lassa agent was characterized, identified and tentatively classifed. Up to the end of May 1969, all tests were carried out with Lassa agent grown in Vero cell cultures in the tissue culture section by me. The Lassa agent chosen for the subsequent studies was the isolate obtained from a blood specimen collected by Dr. Jeanette M. Troup on February 25. 1969 (5 days after onset). It was tentatively designated as L.P. (Lily Pinneo) strain. In serological studies, samples of serum collected from Lily Pinneo on days 14 and 28 after onset, were used as acute phase - and convalescent phase specimens. The Lassa agent was inactivated by sodium deoxycholate and by betapropiolactone. It appeared to contain ribonucleic acid (RNA)…By electron microscopy, spheroid particles closely resembling those reported for lympheytic choriomeningitis (LCM) were revealed. As calculated by filtration. the agent had a diameter between 70 and 150 nm. By complement-fixation tests, Jordi Casals showed a reproducible, although only low-level relationship between the LP strain and LCMV, and also with Junin virus, the cause of Argentinian hemorrhagic fever… Thus, a hitherto undentified human pathogen causing Lassa fever. Isolated by me in Vero cell cultures, was given at this point the name Lassa virus*, with the prototype strain being designated as L.P. (Lily Pinneo) strain. At the end of May 1969…Jordi Casals asked if I had any objection to the inoculation of baby and adult mice with the Lassa LP strain isolated in Vero cell cultures by me.? Of course not and obliging gladly in the spint of "advancing medical knowledge". It was after all the spirit which had motivated turner, my academic mentor. …I gave Jordi Casals a batch of infectious Vero cell culture fluid…He inoculated baby & adult mice housed next to his office on the 7th floor in a large sterile room. Jimmy Washington, his long-time technician, took care of the experimental animals over the long weekend…Early in June, Casals came to my office, quite excited. He said: “Come and see! All the baby mice are still well, but most of the inoculated adult mice have died, the few still living are sick." I…stood at the entrance of the "mouse room", door half open. Jordi Casals removed an adult mouse from its cage, spun it by its tail, whereupon it started to have convulsions, bringing to my memory the picture of Laura Wine who had convulsions just prior to death. I discreetly stepped away from him. I recalled at that moment vividly a statement by Hermann Mooser, the discoverer of Rickettsia typhi: "You don't have to be afraid of a corpse, it being quite stiff and still; but be aware of any living creature which sneezes, coughs. urinates and defecates." It entered my mind that this adult mouse possibly urinated over Jordi Casal's hand as he spun its tail. Be it as it may, some days later, on June 9th 1969, Jordi Casals came down with an unusually severe "summer cold" - at least so we thought at first. Nevertheless, he came to work every day. commuting from NY. He must have experienced "chills", because he was wearing a thick, gray winter sweater underneath the lab coat. His condition deteriorated during the week. By Friday afternoon, he displayed a deadly, ashen color - one of the secretaries saying: "He looks like death warmed over." He complained of having severe leg pains. …his wife and daughter visited their grandmother…over the weekend. When they returned on Sunday evening. Jordi Casals was critically ill, & his skin was flushed. Christina, on her way to becoming a medical doctor, insisted on calling the family physician, who, in turn, arranged for the immediate admission of Jordi to the [hospital]
November 2, 2025 at 6:50 PM
Reposted by Andy McMillan
bassisjeremy.bsky.social
Alright let me tell you a story about a prominent scientist in my field and my first conference. This was in the days when most had adopted PowerPoint, but some of the older folks still showed up with actual physical slides to show on one of those old fashioned overhead projectors.
seismatters.bsky.social Prof Chris Jackson @seismatters.bsky.social · 21d
Nobody makes enemies by finishing their talk early…
October 29, 2025 at 12:19 PM
mcawmcmillan.bsky.social
If you just need a quick premade illustration there’s good science stock art sources. Some I’ve got bookmarked www.biorender.com
chemix.org
bioicons.com
scidraw.io
reactome.org/icon-lib
www.phylopic.org
October 31, 2025 at 3:15 PM
Reposted by Andy McMillan
mmasnick.bsky.social
Wanted to talk about the fact that the ONLY form of communication/transparency the MAGA world seems to believe in is "trolling the libs." And why they're doing that. And why it's so stupid.
techdirt.com Techdirt @techdirt.com · 19d
Trump’s Government Of Spite: Political Performance Art For Assholes

A couple weeks ago, as hundreds of thousands of Americans took to the streets in what may have been the largest single day of protest in U.S. history, the President of the United States responded by… posting a video of himself…
Trump’s Government Of Spite: Political Performance Art For Assholes
A couple weeks ago, as hundreds of thousands of Americans took to the streets in what may have been the largest single day of protest in U.S. history, the President of the United States responded by… posting a video of himself literally dumping shit on citizens. Not a policy response. Not an attempt at dialogue. Not even a coherent defense of whatever decisions prompted the protests.
www.techdirt.com
October 30, 2025 at 6:19 PM
Reposted by Andy McMillan
sarahmackattack.bsky.social
You have until Sunday SUNDAY Sunday to order a Biology is Bigger than Binaries shirt. I don't have room in my house for piles of shirts so our shirts are always time-limited.

Designed by @franzanth.bsky.social, supports @skypeascientist.bsky.social, looks cool as hell.

Get one: SquidFacts.net
sarahmackattack.bsky.social Sarah McAnulty, Ph.D. @sarahmackattack.bsky.social · Oct 10
I'm doing another print run of these "Biology is Bigger than Binaries" shirts!

Back, quite literally, by popular demand. Bullying works, sure, but so does a bunch of nice cutie patooties politely asking!

Order 'em now, I'll mail 'em in early November.

SquidFacts.net
a woman with short bown hair, glasses, and tassel earrings, wears a purple KN95 and looks cool as hell in her biology is bigger than binaries shirt, in orange a woman with green glasses takes a selfie lookin' cool as hell in her pink biology is bigger than binaries shirt. She's also got ice cream, that lucky dog. a woman with long brown hair and glasses hangs out in the back yard with her pink biology is bigger than binaries shirt A man with a hat and sunglasses stands in hero-pose with his biology is bigger than binaires shirt (orange)
October 30, 2025 at 12:59 AM
Reposted by Andy McMillan
jelenawoehr.bsky.social
it’s not his fault they told him to have his briefs ready for court
phillewis.bsky.social Phil Lewis @phillewis.bsky.social · 20d
A Detroit police officer appeared in court virtually wearing his uniform top with no pants on

Judge: “You got some pants on, officer?”
October 29, 2025 at 11:49 PM
Reposted by Andy McMillan
jaredmcclain.bsky.social
A witness in our case had ICE reject all her documents after using facial rec on her.

For her, tho, it seemed like nothing could make them accept that she has a right to be here.

Either way, a gov policy of not trusting gov-issued docs is going to violate lots of people's rights.
I told the officers nearest to me that I had all my paperwork, including my U.S. Employment Authorization Card, my Social Security Card, my Florida-issued REAL ID, and my Mexican Passport. 14. The officers walked me to my car and retrieved my paperwork. 15. The officers reviewed my paperwork and used what I believe was facial recognition to confirm my identity. 16. At first, they seemed satisfied, but another officer (who appeared to be a supervisor) said that they could not trust my paperwork because “the Biden Administration made a lot of mistakes.” After about 20 minutes in zip-ties, the officers decided that they would not let me go, and they replaced my zip-ties with handcuffs and shackles around my legs. 18. I was in shackles for several hours before the officers finally told me that they were “giving me a second chance” and let me go. Case 1:25-cv-00397-JB-C Doc# 30-5 Filed 10/27/25 Page 3 of 10 PageID# 361 25-00397-C 30-5 25 Page4of10 PagelD# 17.
October 29, 2025 at 5:18 PM
Reposted by Andy McMillan
soraaad.bsky.social
Religion and Violence

IYKYK
dicknixon.bsky.social Richard M. Nixon @dicknixon.bsky.social · 22d
Mar Awa III, patriarch of the Assyrian Church of the East, also born in Chicago, gave Pope Leo a Cubs jersey.
Mar Awa III, in red cassock, smiles as he gives the jersey to Leo, who looks as though he's been given a bomb to hold
October 28, 2025 at 2:27 AM
mcawmcmillan.bsky.social
As tough as giving up $1.5 million in funding must have been it’s good to see the PSF making the right decision to stick to values
python.org Python Software Foundation @python.org · 23d
TLDR; The PSF has made the decision to put our community and our shared diversity, equity, and inclusion values ahead of seeking $1.5M in new revenue. Please read and share. pyfound.blogspot.com/2025/10/NSF-...
🧵
The official home of the Python Programming Language
www.python.org
October 28, 2025 at 1:50 AM
Reposted by Andy McMillan
catacalypto.bsky.social
I think about this LeGuin essay a lot. (link in next post; you should read it too.)
Its technology is how a society copes with physical reality: how people get and keep and cook food, how they clothe themselves, what their power sources are (animal? human? water? wind? electricity? other?) what they build with and what they build, their medicine — and so on and on. Perhaps very ethereal people aren’t interested in these mundane, bodily matters, but I’m fascinated by them, and I think most of my readers are too. Technology is the active human interface with the material world. But the word is consistently misused to mean only the enormously complex and specialised technologies of the past few decades, supported by massive exploitation both of natural and human resources. This is not an acceptable use of the word. “Technology” and “hi tech” are not synonymous, and a technology that isn't “hi,” isn’t necessarily '“low” in any meaningful sense. We have been so desensitized by a hundred and fifty years of ceaselessly expanding technical prowess that we think nothing less complex and showy than a computer or a jet bomber deserves to be called “technology” at all. As if linen were the same thing as flax — as if paper, ink, wheels, knives, clocks, chairs, aspirin pills, were natural objects, born with us like our teeth and fingers — as if steel saucepans with copper bottoms and fleece vests spun from recycled glass grew on trees, and we just picked them when they were ripe... One way to illustrate that most technologies are, in fact, pretty “hi,” is to ask yourself of any manmade object, Do I know how to make one?
October 27, 2025 at 10:26 PM
mcawmcmillan.bsky.social
One thing I appreciated about my PhD advisor was his familiarity with older literature and ability to bring it into the context of our current work
gierschner.bsky.social Johannes Gierschner @gierschner.bsky.social · 24d
🤨No & No again! 👉 "Stale Citations" are an integral part of science: to give credit to crucial works of the past, avoiding 'reinventions', being a plague in research, e.g. in #chemsky #pisky

Your biased AI Tool to keep "research fresh" is a tombstone of science. Spooky indeed 😱 #researchintegrity
cactusglobal.bsky.social Cactus Communications @cactusglobal.bsky.social · 26d
Check 18 of 26: citations older than a mummy’s wrap.

Paperpal Preflight for Editorial Desk highlights outdated references, ensuring research stays fresh, relevant and current.

Stale citations belong in history, not in peer review.

#ResearchIntegrity #Halloween
October 25, 2025 at 7:55 PM