Helen MC

@crystallised-cricket

Follow for the crystal structures, stay for the cricket (or vice versa) Interests brought to you by the letter ‘C’, cryominerals 🥶, woman’s cricket 🏏 and cookbooks 🥘 Lives on Dharug and Gandangarra country (Blue Mountains, Australia)

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Helen MC@crystallised-cricket· 17d

I didn’t choose the Chux life, the Chux life chose me.

Image of a Chux scourer packet which is ripped open

Helen MC@crystallised-cricket· Jun 30

Work has been crazy, but I got time out to see my fave wombat, so there’s that

Image of a wombat, which is curled up asleep next to a fenced tree.

Helen MC@crystallised-cricket· Jun 18

Said Neutron in a lab coat- so good! @illneutrons.bsky.social was this commissioned from an artist?

A cartoon depicting a neutron (a subatomic particle) in a lab coat looking down a microscope. The neutron is a deep shade of blue and the lab coat is white. It has stick arms that it is using to examine the material

Helen MC@crystallised-cricket· Jun 13

Saturday night done right watching the proper World Cup 😂 GO SCOTLAND #T20WorldCup

Image of a tv with the flags of Scotland and Ireland - in the coffee table in the foreground is a bottle of bubbles and some prawns

Helen MC@crystallised-cricket· Jun 10

Nice publication out that used #NeutronScattering in Australia and the US - showing that a promising photoanode can be tuned with chemical and mechanical control. pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...

Graphical abstract image that has an image of a pressure cell surrounded by two crystal structure figures. It is to show that these can be transformed and recovered in the cell, and the associated paper shows that different elements need different pressures to transform

Helen MC@crystallised-cricket· May 27

I just got some sad news from Scotland, Millie the bedlington passed peacefully yesterday (my Sister and Brother- in Law’s dog) - she was a lovely wee bit of floof who rocked a selfie.

Image of a woman holding a coffee cup and a fluffy wee dog. They are both grinning

Helen MC@crystallised-cricket· May 14

I'm also concerned that the reviewers didn't pick this up... how does 'crashing with a spaceship' count as a Traffic Accident? 😂

Picture of text from the paper being discussed, with part of it highlighted which reads:
'Category 5. Traffic accidents. Killed in exotic events like crashing with a spaceship on the asteroid in Armageddon (1998)'

The whole text reads:
'The manner of geologist movie deaths
The manners of geologist deaths fall into eight categories (Fig. 3), described below:
Category 1: Murder. A good example is the fatal elimination of ‘baddies’ by heroes such as James Bond, such as in the movie Dr No (1962), where ‘007’ kills the evil petrologist, Prof. Dent.
Category 2: Work related. Typical examples are being hit by a volcanic bomb, falling into a crater or an opening fault, drowning in quicksand or lahar, and incineration in an oil pit. Grim stuff.
Category 3: Killed by or because of Extra-Terrestrial encounters. That is, being killed directly by aliens or assimilation by aliens and consequently killed by former colleagues, such as the geologist in Prometheus (2012).
Category 4. Miscellaneous accidents. Such as being crushed by falling crates as in Deep Star Six (1989).
Category 5. Traffic accidents. Killed in exotic events like crashing with a spaceship on the asteroid in Armageddon (1998).
Category 6. Health issues. Such as heart attack suffered by the geologist in Equinox (1970).
Category 7. Suicide. Where it all gets too much, as in Walkabout (1971).
Category 8. Unknown. A good example is the fate of the geologist in Gold (2016): suicide, or did he fake his death?'

Helen MC@crystallised-cricket· May 1

A sunny day in Sydney to venture forth with a new sketch book.

Helen MC@crystallised-cricket· Apr 29

Calling all crafty crystallographers! Are you going to #IUCr2026? Would you like to have a craft meet up in Calgary? Laura Folkers (at @stoenews.bsky.social) and I are looking to organise a gathering, all crafts welcome! Please fill in the EOI form so we can include you forms.gle/wpTpe4WVsdtY...

$Image of a knitted square with the pattern in homage to 'Photo 51' the seminal diffraction image of DNA taken by Roslin Franklin$

Helen MC@crystallised-cricket· Apr 3

On holibobs in NZ, of course I am watching cricket. Amazing day for it at the basin reserve #NZvSA

Image of a cricket game in progress, there is a green hill behind the ground.

Helen MC@crystallised-cricket· Apr 1

Writing instructions for a C70 structure from our Crystal Explorer kits. Australians... am I ok to say that the result 'will be closer to a footy ball than a soccer ball' (translating from my UK raised brain footy=oval ball) #BraggYourPattern

A model of a C70 molecule, made of plastic atoms and bonds. Those representing carbon are black and are joined by grey bonds. The structure is oval overall

Helen MC@crystallised-cricket· Mar 21

Good representation of @leaguetees.bsky.social tees at the #WNCL final

Four people wearing cricket inspired t-shirts

Helen MC@crystallised-cricket· Mar 21

One last time Healy takes to field for NSW #WNCL, they need 333 to retain the Ruth Preddey Cup #NSWvQLD

Players taking to a cricket ground, two batters in blue and a fielding team in maroon

Helen MC@crystallised-cricket· Mar 19

Growing crystals seems to be quite the salve for current times, recommend.

Image of a glass with a crystal growing experiment taking place in it. There are two strings with a number of small crystal lines attached

Helen MC@crystallised-cricket· Mar 18

Grow my pretties 🧙‍♀️

A glass with liquid in it, two threads are suspended in the glass and have small crystals attached

Helen MC@crystallised-cricket· Mar 7

Argh! I was doing some background reading this morning… sounds like little has changed at the BCCI

Photo of the book ‘the fire burns blue, a history of Indian women’s cricket’

Helen MC@crystallised-cricket· Mar 7

Beth Mooney is still out of this world to me #AusvInd @leaguetees.bsky.social

Woman standing in front of the WACA scoreboard

Helen MC@crystallised-cricket· Mar 6

Early highlight of my trip out west was seeing Nic give his PhD completion seminar. He did himself proud showing all the awesome work he has done extending Titan Mineralogy

A person in a lecture theatre standing in from of a presentation board. The slide up has a picture of Saturn and it’s moon Titan

Helen MC@crystallised-cricket· Mar 4

Done with work and time to get excited about the #AusVInd test! Thanks to @leaguetees.bsky.social I have four days of outfits planned!

A picture of four laid out (slightly crumpled) t-shirts. One has ‘Alana King from the Warne End’ written on it and is green. The next is white and has a styled picture of a women holding a bat with ‘Mel Jones’ written on it. The next t-shirt is yellow and has the text ‘c. Healy, b. Perry forever’. The last t-shirt is white has a styled picture of a woman with a cricket back and ufos abs states ‘Mooney out of this world’

Helen MC@crystallised-cricket· Feb 5

Back at Cricket Central for the 2nd #WNCL match #NSWvQLD - suns out and Queensland won the toss and decided to bat

Players in blue running out to a cricket field, with batters in maroon following. There is a white picket fence around the ground and trees in the other side. The sky is clear and blue

Helen MC@crystallised-cricket· Feb 3

Overcast day for a top of the table clash between #NSWvQLD in round 5 of the #WNCL. QLD won the toss and put NSW into bat who are building a steady innings despite a tick down of wickets

Image of a cricket match with a team in blue batting and a team in maroon fielding. The pitch is very green and the sky is grey

Helen MC@crystallised-cricket· Feb 2

Benefits of working in Australia #243 - the lunchtime visitors are very cute

Image of a small Echidna on a patio, the Echidna is facing the camera such that you can see it's snout. It has spines that are dark and light brown. In the background and picnic tables.

Helen MC@crystallised-cricket· Jan 29

Yes I'm the weirdo that goes to the beach for the patterns #BraggYourPattern

Image of patterns in the sand in the intertidal zone. The sandscape fills the image, and there are regular wave patterns in it. For a sense of scale there are two white shells in one of the divots in the sand.

Helen MC@crystallised-cricket· Jan 26

Get yourself a work-wife who challenges you to do silly things! Great morning out at the Wollongong Aquathon - chuffed I finished despite a bit of a niggling injury.

The start line of a swim/run event on the beach, there are two large flags with a queue of people behind two people are starting and running towards the water, one is in blue the other dressed in green. They both have orange swim caps on

Helen MC@crystallised-cricket· Jan 22

Perhaps the wildest part of today's #WNCL match #QLDvSA was that Laura Harris HAD A BOWL! Questionable given the state of the game at the time, but after her own sister denied that she could even bowl it was entertaining to see.

Screenshot from the cricket australia live stream app. Laura Harris (notable batter, not notable bowler) is delivering a ball to a waiting Darcy Brown. At this point in the game South Australia needed 2 runs to win, but only had one wicket to defend.

Helen MC@crystallised-cricket· Jan 21

Back at AB Field for the second #QLDvSA #WNCL match, SA won the toss and put QLD into bat, they’ve already got the big wicket of captain Redmayne gone for 11 runs.

Helen MC@crystallised-cricket· Jan 20

In ACT a couple of legends have taken to the #WNCL field

Screenshot from cricket Australia app showing that Alyssa Healy and Ellyse Perry are batting together in the WNCL for the first time since 2019

Helen MC@crystallised-cricket· Jan 20

Continuing my tour of the #WNCL hosting grounds, today in Queensland at AB field for #QLDvSA. SA fielding a super-charged bowling attack with McGrath, Schutt AND Brown! Plus it’s humid so the ball is moving 👀

Cricket ground with players on the field, fielding team in red and batting team in maroon. There are some fluffy clouds.

Helen MC@crystallised-cricket· Jan 12

First proper week at work for 2026, and I’m in Japan! Here for a committee meeting but squeezed in a visit to the high-pressure ice lab at U Tokyo, and the PLANET instrument at J-Parc. Lots of science inspo 😄

A selfie of a woman in frond of an avenue of trees

Image of scientific equipment, there is a screen that is projecting an image of a crystal under pressure that is being measured

Keys for interlocking a neutron instrument, they all have small models of sushi attached

A view of the high pressure press ‘atashumi’ - is is very yellow, with 6 anvils that it supports

Helen MC@crystallised-cricket· Jan 7

Day 7 of January CricketPalooza (last day of holibobs) back to Philip Oval for second match of #ACTvVIC of the #WNCL - gonna be a hot one out there, Vic won the toss and put the Meteors in to bat.