Today I decided that I will no longer be reviewing for journals that are not publishing or do not have concrete plans to make public their author diversity data.

If they don't care about equity and inclusion enough to publish these data, then they don't deserve my free labor. As a positive example, I will highlight the work that @RoySocChem has been doing and the joint commitment that they have created:
rsc.org/new-perspectiv…

As I’ve dealt with bullying / harassment from a peer in my research field, I’ve often been told “he’s just jealous of your success.”

This is so unhelpful. WTF am I supposed to do with this…try to be less successful?

His actions are what need to change, not mine. Reading the comments, I realize it’s important to add that I have reported him. Almost two years ago. Others have also reported him. We’re told that little can be done because he’s tenured. I’m getting close to pursuing this: sciencemag.org/news/2021/06/n…

Chem Bio friends! Canceled summer conferences are a big loss for faculty coming up for tenure soon. With support from @ACSPublications we’ve created a virtual series to showcase the work of these members of our community. Applications open until April 15! docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAI… If you're a faculty member in Chem Bio (broadly defined) and planning to submit your tenure package this year or next, we encourage you to apply. Please also share with friends!

Scientific studies have shown that it’s possible to get reinfected with COVID-19, but also that immunity could last for years. How can that be and what does it mean for the hope we’re putting in vaccines? The answer is that it’s complicated…but potentially promising. A thread. Let’s start with reinfection. It may sound simple to diagnose, but it’s actually kind of tricky because there is a high bar for proving that someone has actually been infected twice.

Faculty in the US, election day is coming up in just 6 weeks and the stakes are high. Now is a great time to think about how you can empower your students to participate and make a difference, through voting and beyond. A thread. For students who are eligible to vote, you can provide information on how to check their registration status, vote early, or request an absentee ballot. But, that is not the only option for involvement.

Conference cancellations are hitting extra hard for early-career researchers who were counting on the networking opportunities. While nothing can replace in-person interactions, there are still some options for networking. A thread. One thing I frequently suggest is to reach out to faculty who you were hoping to meet at the conference and say something like "I was looking forward to meeting you at X event, and was wondering if you would still be willing to find a time to talk virtually."

You are not your publications.
You are not your awards.
You are not your grants.

You are not your CV.
You are a human being. Your work is important and it’s great to want to be outstanding at the work you do. But, the numbers on your CV are not a good place to look to in defining your self-worth.

If you’re following the news on COVID-19 testing, you may have heard the debate about RT-PCR testing and Ct values leading to false positive results. You may be wondering “How does PCR work, what makes it RT, and what the heck is a Ct value?” A #SciCommSunday primer. I’m actually going to start by making things a bit more complicated, but stay with me – this will help in the long run. The “RT-PCR” test is really an RT-qPCR test, and the “q” is what is at the center of the debate.

You may have heard about the massive number of COVID-19 tests being run as colleges try to bring students back to campus. These “rapid” antigen tests provide results in 15 min, but how does that work and is it as good as the RT-PCR test? A #SciCommSunday thread. Let’s start by taking a look at the structure of the SARS-CoV-2 virus – that’s the virus that causes COVID-19. The virus has an outer shell made up of different proteins and that surrounds a molecule called RNA.

You’ve heard that it’s important to #WearAMask. That’s true – masks save lives. But, you might not have heard that some masks are better than others. And, new research shows that some masks might even be counterproductive. Wondering how masks work and why this matters? A thread. So, how do masks offer protection? You can think of a mask as a filter, and the smaller the holes in the filter, the fewer things can pass through. But, the coronavirus is tiny – it has a diameter of 125 nanometers, or nm for short. Here’s a picture of it under a microscope.

Vaccines usually take over 10 years to develop, test, and mass produce. But, scientists predict we could have an effective vaccine for Covid-19 by early 2021. How is this possible? They’re betting on a new vaccine strategy. If successful, it could be transformative. A thread. Before we dive into how this vaccine is different, let’s talk about how vaccines work. Getting a vaccine is like teaching your immune system how to ride a bike, but with the training wheels still on. For more details, check out this thread:

https://twitter.com/jenheemstra/status/1289636342108954624

As scientists race toward a vaccine for Covid-19, you may be wondering how it’s going to be possible to develop an effective vaccine for this virus when the flu shot is only partly effective and we’ve never had a vaccine for the common cold. A thread. Are scientists just holding out on us because they enjoy seeing people sniffle their way through the winter? Absolutely not. The reason why you need a flu shot every year and we can’t even make a “cold shot” has to do with the structure of the viruses.

One of the biggest mysteries of Covid-19 has been why some people become very ill, while a large number of people who are infected show no symptoms at all. It turns out that this protection may be linked to the most mundane of illnesses…the common cold. A thread. That’s right – the week you spent cursing your sore throat and runny nose because you caught a cold may end up helping your body fight off a Covid infection. It all has to do with the shape and structure of viruses.

Last night I posted about my graduate school providing letters to students who needed to drive home from work after curfew. I was angered and saddened at the injustice that puts Black students at disproportionately higher danger when driving home, especially after curfew. I missed the bigger picture that students should not feel required to or pressured to work right now if they do not feel safe driving home, and that no letter can protect them from the systematic violence of police toward Black women and men.

Thank you @angew_chem for investigating what happened yesterday. I hope that you decide to make your investigation transparent and that it leads to action and accountability. If you are looking for an immediate action to make your journal more inclusive, I have a suggestion. I know this was not intentional, but it was also not lost on me that your apology appeared directly above yet another montage honoring white and Asian men. I know that this is not your award, but it still sends a message.

You’ve probably seen the horrendous @angew_chem article stating that diversity is bad for science. This would be outrageous if it were an isolated incident. But sadly it’s not. It’s a sign of a toxic culture created by some in our field and a journal that perpetuates it. A thread This is the culture of those with privilege who see academic positions as a prize to be doled out to the few. A culture that views students and postdocs as gears in a machine with a sole purpose of growing the fame of the faculty member.

It’s important for us to call out instances of racism, but that cannot be a substitute for doing the hard work of dismantling the systems of racism. If you’re white, look around your workplace and notice the policies and practices that make it easier for white people to be successful. Change those so that they provide everyone with an equal opportunity to be successful.

@MikeMMolnar @ZJAyres Happy to! Here's a thread with the latest ones: @MikeMMolnar @ZJAyres

https://twitter.com/cenmag/status/1109878812953772034

The data are in and remdesivir seems to have some effect in treating #COVID19, but it’s not the magic bullet we were hoping for. Tons of attention is now turning to antibody therapeutics. Wondering what these are, how they work, and how promising they might be? A thread. Let’s start by talking about what antibodies are. Antibodies are protein molecules that your body makes to fight off infection. They’re shaped like a ‘Y’ and the parts of the protein molecule at the tips of the Y are different in every antibody.

A year ago, if you read about government funding being used to measure the velocity of a sneeze, it would have been tempting to call it “wasteful spending.” But, much of this seemingly wasteful research is now saving lives. Why do we need government funding for science? A thread. First I’ll tackle what is behind the term “government funding.” You’ve probably heard of the National Institutes of Health, or NIH. They are the government agency responsible for promoting and protecting human health in the US.

You've no doubt seen talk about "reopening" the country. In Georgia, it's even happening. Is this a good idea? We say that we need more testing in order to know. We definitely need more testing, but even that has limitations in preventing the spread of #COVID19. Why?

A thread. A super important thing to know up front is that when we talk about the “COVID test” we are really talking about a set of different tests that have varying ability to detect a current or past infection. I wrote a thread about that here:

https://twitter.com/jenheemstra/status/1244043096301731845