Dan Winterfeld

retired chemistry and physics teacher

[Dan Winterfeld @dan_winterfeld]

A chemistry teacher is a bunch of atoms explaining atoms to bunches of atoms.

[Dan Winterfeld @dan_winterfeld]

At the height of summer, the upper Midwest fields produce more oxygen through photosynthesis than the Amazon rainforest.

[UberFacts @UberFacts]

Your brain treats handwriting and typing completely differently

A 2024 study found that handwriting triggers widespread connectivity across the entire brain, while typing barely engages the same pathways

This is why people who take notes by hand retain concepts longer than those who type

[World of Engineering @engineers_feed]

Your GPS "just works."
Behind it: atomic clocks, relativistic corrections, two-frequency physics, constellation geometry, and signal processing.

Every time you navigate, you're using Einstein, Newton, and 30 years of engineering in your pocket.

[Dan Winterfeld @dan_winterfeld]

Sorry for anything this mistake in the textbook did to interfere your career success.

[World of Engineering @engineers_feed]

Gallium has a melting point of 29.8°C. It liquefies in your palm.

For 150 years, scientists couldn't explain its unusual atomic structure, its bonds don't behave like any other metal.

On July 9 2026, researchers finally cracked it: gallium's atomic bonds actively re-form at high temperatures, contradicting decades of accepted theory.

The chemistry textbooks on gallium were wrong.
They're being rewritten now.

[Jake Johnson @JakeJohnsonMN]

BIG NEWS: Today, I'm releasing my Taxpayer Protection Pledge, which is my seven-part plan to crack down on fraud, runaway debt, and self-dealing politicians. It's built on a simple premise: taxpayer money belongs to the taxpayers.

[World of Engineering @engineers_feed]

Anything can be a UFO if you’re bad enough at identifying stuff.

[Dan Winterfeld @dan_winterfeld]

@engineers_feed Following that trend, whatever is next should take about 16 months

[World of Engineering @engineers_feed]

For decades, converting CO₂ into methanol (a useable fuel) required a catalyst that did two things simultaneously:

1. Activate the CO₂
2. Hydrogenate it into methanol

The problem: these two steps interfere with each other at the same active site.
Optimising for one degraded the other. This is called a selectivity-activity trade-off, and it's been the wall stopping CO₂-to-fuel from scaling.

On June 14, 2026, researchers announced a new catalyst design that separates the two steps onto different active sites within the same material.

Result: methanol production tripled compared to the best previous catalysts.

Why this matters:

Methanol is a direct fuel for shipping engines, fuel cells, and chemical production.
The shipping industry (responsible for 3% of global CO₂ emissions) is actively looking for drop-in fuels that work in existing engines.

CO₂ captured from industrial stacks + this catalyst + renewable hydrogen = carbon-neutral methanol.
In theory, it closes the carbon loop entirely.

The engineering gap between laboratory performance and industrial scale remains.
But triple efficiency is the kind of jump that makes scaling economics viable.

The best energy solution isn't always a new source.
Sometimes it's a better reaction.

[Jackson County Central Education Foundation @jcc_ed_found]

Look for us near the registration table at the JCC high school.

[Wonder of Science @wonderofscience]

The incredible speed of glass shattering revealed in a race against a bullet captured in slow motion.

📽: The Slow Mo Guys

[Dan Winterfeld @dan_winterfeld]

This is the crap that will be attempted in MN at some point too. I’d prefer to continue to live in the “Land of Sky-Blue Waters” but corporate interests will try to lobby that out of existence. Be vigilant.

[Dan Winterfeld @dan_winterfeld]

Evidence about technology in schools.
@JCCschool2895

https://t.co/xfvNmElq1u via @YouTube

[Dan Winterfeld @dan_winterfeld]

@FixingEducation Sure, but the medical community is working on every one of those issues. What’s being done to help teachers?

[Jackson County Central Education Foundation @jcc_ed_found]

Thanks to the Jackson County Pilot and Lakefield Standard for their article about this spring’s foundation grants to local teachers.

[Fixing Education @FixingEducation]

Serious Question:

Why do neighboring school districts each need their own full team of central office administrators?

For example, do we really need 4 separate math curriculum consultants across 4 nearby districts?

Wouldn’t SOME shared services save districts tons of money?

[Fixing Education @FixingEducation]

Is your school still letting kids keep their phones in class?

Bold choice. Either the school’s missing a spine or a brain.

[Jackson County Central Education Foundation @jcc_ed_found]

Another recent JCC teacher request fulfilled by funding form the JCC Education Foundation.

[Dan Winterfeld @dan_winterfeld]

Press & politicians were exposed to gun violence at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. Too bad they weren’t trained in correct procedures in such moments like K-12 students are.

Now, maybe that can go to work figuring out solutions so students no longer need such training.

[Dan Winterfeld @dan_winterfeld]

Maybe we can solve several issues with one catalyst.
1. Lower-energy fertilizer production
2. A use for the CO2 in pipelines
3. Lower-cost fertilizer for farmers.

AI identifies catalyst 'sweet spot' for greener urea - https://t.co/SRWWs3ADyt https://t.co/UPTOoOZCMK