@flaskandquill
Environmental microbiologist + science writer. Researcher @ Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster University 🧫🧬🌱🏞️ Previously: UC Berkeley, MIT, Science News, UCSD. She/her, opinions my own, likes/saves aren't endorsements. sarahlschwartz.com
Purple and white crocuses on a lawn in front of the Gatehouse of Lancaster Castle.
Purple crocuses and yellow daffodils underneath bare trees next to Lancaster Castle. A white stone block memorial reading “Witches 400” is visible at front right.
Spring is on its way in the North. 😮💨🌷
A little qPCR ASMR. 😜 Stay warm out there 🧪
A picture of the Lorax and his catchphrase "I speak for the trees"
Me, fixing a batch file for the sixth time: I hate phylogenetics
Me, talking to literally anybody about phylogenetics:
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Just a reminder: Many PFAS are well-known to be associated with neurological, immune, developmental, and reproductive problems, and cancers. Even types of PFAS that are designed or thought to be "safer" usually have some level of associated toxicity/carcinogenicity. 3/3 🧪
PFAS are industrially profitable, and by now, pretty difficult to avoid. They're in many of the products we use, and they accumulate in our bodies. Without intervention (or sometimes, even with our best attempts at degradation), PFAS stick around in the environment for ages. 2/3 🧪
No new PFAS restrictions in CA cookware, food packaging, dental floss, children's playpens and strollers, and other everyday products. 1/3 🧪
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/14/c...
MIT rejects "compact" proposed by the Trump administration.
MIT prez wrote: it "would restrict freedom of expression and our independence as an institution" and "is inconsistent with our core belief that scientific funding should be based on scientific merit alone."
orgchart.mit.edu/letters/rega...
Please be extra patient with your friends and colleagues in the Bay Area today. Most of us were up at 3 am for the earthquake, and to make matters worse, the Earth DIDN'T finish the job and swallow us whole
😳
Small joys: The Campanile today, singing the song of angry men.
Because PFAS stick around in the environment, and pose health risks even at very, very low concentrations, delaying regulation or research is an accumulative risk...and for the same reasons, this problem is going to be with us for a while. There will be a lot more to learn. (8/8) 🧪
These 6 PFAS are a minuscule fraction of the PFAS in our environment and economy. There are *thousands* (>14,000) of PFAS species with varying toxicity, utility, and chemistry. So we definitely don't have a full picture of PFAS's human and environmental health risks yet. (7/8) 🧪
The 4 PFAS that are now unrestricted in drinking water have been associated with risks of developmental, reproductive, and immunological problems, DNA damage, and/or cancer...and more. (6/8) 🧪
Some of these other PFAS were made to replace PFOA or PFOS, once the research revealed that those two PFAS were so toxic. These other PFAS may not be as extensively-studied or famous...but we have already learned a lot about their risks. Spoiler alert: They're ALSO toxic. (5/8) 🧪
The 4 PFAS compounds that will have limits removed are less famous. They're nicknamed PFNA, GenX, PFBA, and PFHxS. (Their full names are a doozy... "hexafluoropropylene oxide dimer acid" doesn't really roll off the tongue.) (4/8) 🧪
The 2 upheld drinking water limits are for PFOA and PFOS, probably the most (in)famous PFAS. They're well-studied and have serious health risks. They've been limited in the US for decades, but are still in some products...and other PFAS can turn into PFOA/PFOS in the environment. (3/8) 🧪
For those unfamiliar with PFAS: These compounds are full of fluorine-carbon bonds, which give great stability and very useful properties (e.g. nonstick, waterproofing, flame suppression). This stability also makes PFAS linger in the environment, hence the term "forever chemicals." (2/8) 🧪
Last week, the EPA rolled back regulations on 4 of 6 per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) that were strictly regulated in drinking water under the previous administration. (1/8) 🧪
tinyurl.com/y3bdhbkz
If you give a plant some silicon...it might make a pest-killing goo?
Many thanks to the experts who told me about the complex science of silica supplementation. www.sciencenews.org/article/sili...
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I can’t believe this needs to be said.
TransGENIC mice
are not
TransGENDER mice
New writing! For @sciam.bsky.social, I talk about misleading memes.
If you understand evolution enough to know this already, great! But memes/youtubes/etc reach folks with no biology background. Science has been twisted to justify bad things, such as eugenics, before. NOT IN CRABS' NAME.
🦀🧪🦑⚒️
If you also feel like displaying the NSF's "banned words" wherever you go, you can get them on a t-shirt, tote, or mug. The proceeds are donated to various science and research nonprofits in the US. www.bonfire.com/store/nerd-b... 🧪
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I work in a group studying PFAS. These compounds are nearly everywhere on Earth now, are EXTREMELY hard to clean up or break down, and have been repeatedly linked to a ton of health risks--cancers, heart issues, immune/ neuro/ hormonal effects, etc. Not what you want in your water. 🧪
So, which necessary and seemingly-benign scientific entities have gradually become your sworn enemies? I'll go first:
1. Pure glycerol
2. Conda environments
3. eRA. Commons.
🧪 🦠 😒
On a dark road in Massachusetts last night. Absolutely incredible. 🧪
A cardboard box labeled "RUSH...RUSH. TEMPERATURE-SENSITIVE"
When someone asks me how I would describe myself 🧪
A dropdown menu of languages, with English (American), English (Europe), and Danish.
The SDS for a chemical I just received is offered in two forms of English. What are the chances that the European version lists exposure hazards entirely in Cockney rhyming slang? 🧪
A picture of four former presidents--Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, and George W. Bush
Imagine if "peers" were more literal, and THIS had to be the whole jury
