Patrick Walter

Cambridge

News editor @ChemistryWorld. Tea drinker. #chemistry #science DMs open - send me your story tips/pitches. Views my own, but of course

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Articles

They break it, we all pay for it

1 month ago | chemistryworld.com | Patrick Walter

One of GK Chesterton’s most beloved legacies is his Father Brown detective stories featuring the titular priest as its apparently naïve but fiercely intelligent hero. His other enduring legacy is his fence. Chesterton’s fence is the principle that anyone looking to reform a system should understand why this ‘fence’ is there before they attempt to alter or remove it.
Putting research on the chopping block risks mortgaging countries’ futures

2 months ago | chemistryworld.com | Patrick Walter

Lean times are ahead for research and universities around the world. Few countries in the global north have escaped growing pessimism in the science sector as university leaders talk of ‘belt tightening’ and the need to ‘make savings’. Meanwhile, funding agencies find their budgets squeezed as countries struggle to deal with stagnating economies. Ottoline Leyser, the outgoing head of UKRI, the main UK research funder, has warned that research budgets ‘will be tight’ for the foreseeable future.
On the brutal cycle of forgetting

Jan 20, 2025 | medium.com | Patrick Walter

Patrick Walter·FollowPublished inOn Writing, Work, And The World·4 min read·--I once told a district instructor I felt like I forgot how to run a classroom every year. This was while we stood in the middle of said classroom, watching my students:Chat when they should be silentSit next to friends they weren’t supposed toAnd goof around on their computersIf that sounds bad, well, that’s because it was.
Materials strategy for UK needs chemistry to succeed and create new industries

Jan 15, 2025 | chemistryworld.com | Patrick Walter

Chemistry and the chemical sector will be ‘absolutely critical’ to driving the UK’s materials industry and meeting major challenges such as net zero and a circular economy, as outlined in a new national materials innovation strategy. Speaking at the launch of the strategy, David Knowles, chief executive of the UK’s advanced materials centre the Henry Royce Institute which oversaw the work, said that it presents a ‘vision for an economy that’s transformed by materials innovation’.
On trust

Jan 6, 2025 | medium.com | Patrick Walter

Patrick Walter·FollowPublished inOn Writing, Work, And The World·5 min read·--Put your hand on a hot stove, and it’s going to hurt. Leave it there long enough, and you’ll cause some serious damage. Take your hand away, and it feels better. This may take some time (and possibly a trip to the hospital), but you and your hand will recover. I don’t often put my hand on stoves, hot or not, and hopefully, you don’t, either. But I do work with and lead people.
On puzzles

Dec 9, 2024 | medium.com | Patrick Walter

Patrick Walter·FollowPublished inOn Writing, Work, And The World·3 min read·--My first puzzle wasn’t even mine — it was my family’s. I don’t remember how often we worked on that 1,000-piece monster spread across our dining room table like the remains of a crumbled castle wall, but I remember what it looked like when we were done. Deep blue ocean water filled with fish of all colors, in particular, a large yellow one. Unfortunately, to say “we” finished the puzzle is a bit of a stretch, though.
On letting difficulty exist

Dec 2, 2024 | medium.com | Patrick Walter

Patrick Walter·FollowPublished inOn Writing, Work, And The World·5 min read·--Back when I was a teacher, I helped coach high school boys’ soccer (football for Europeans) for one year. Admittedly, I didn’t do much, but I pitched in where I could. I even came up with a pre-game ritual I was pretty proud of and the boys looked forward to. I also kind of got thrown out of a game once, but that’s a story for another day.
On fooling yourself into not being real with yourself

Nov 25, 2024 | medium.com | Patrick Walter

Patrick Walter·FollowPublished inOn Writing, Work, And The World·4 min read·--I struggle with impostor syndrome as much as anyone. Quick side note: I also struggle with spelling “impostor” as “imposter” sometimes. Both are supposedly correct, but it’s easy to forget this, and I like to pick one version of a word and stick with it. But more than impostor syndrome, I struggle with the doubt that creates it and various other issues we humans struggle with.
Public inquiry into Novichok poisonings hopes to shed light on murky events

Oct 28, 2024 | chemistryworld.com | Patrick Walter

Six years ago, Charlie Rowley discovered his partner, Dawn Sturgess, foaming at the mouth and convulsing in the bath of their flat in Amesbury in Wiltshire. Sturgess was rushed to hospital in Salisbury seven miles away but died a week later. Rowley became ill too but later recovered.
The 2024 Nobel prize in chemistry as it happens - live

Oct 8, 2024 | chemistryworld.com | Patrick Walter

This is an old set of predictions from former avid chemistry Nobel prize watcher Paul Bracher, also known by his nom de plume of ChemBark, but still one of the best in my opinion. He really knows his stuff! Bracher put out this set of odds for the chemistry prize in 2022 and it’s notable that several have won since.