Jacob Aron
@jjaron.bsky.social
News editor at New Scientist. I read a lot of books, and recommend the best ones to you
I just read Lena by qntm again and damn if it isn't just perfect, as I've said before
November 9, 2025 at 8:30 PM
I just read Lena by qntm again and damn if it isn't just perfect, as I've said before
This should not be revelatory!! www.ft.com/content/a27b...
November 9, 2025 at 11:48 AM
This should not be revelatory!! www.ft.com/content/a27b...
Mad that this stuff just took up an entire corner of the living room
November 9, 2025 at 11:41 AM
Mad that this stuff just took up an entire corner of the living room
I'm reminded of this quote from this excellent piece by @stokel.bsky.social www.newscientist.com/article/2451...
November 6, 2025 at 11:00 PM
I'm reminded of this quote from this excellent piece by @stokel.bsky.social www.newscientist.com/article/2451...
I'm pretty sure Musk is not going to get his trillion dollars
November 6, 2025 at 10:33 PM
I'm pretty sure Musk is not going to get his trillion dollars
This simply incredible quote does not suggest to me an organisation that is fully across the issues
November 4, 2025 at 2:35 PM
This simply incredible quote does not suggest to me an organisation that is fully across the issues
These new motivational messages could use a little work
November 4, 2025 at 9:09 AM
These new motivational messages could use a little work
These platforms are the same!
November 3, 2025 at 6:50 AM
These platforms are the same!
This from the NYT seems pretty dumb. Don't Khan and Mamdani have fairly similar politics? It's just the US is generally more right wing, so our centre is their extreme left www.nytimes.com/2025/11/01/w...
November 3, 2025 at 6:48 AM
This from the NYT seems pretty dumb. Don't Khan and Mamdani have fairly similar politics? It's just the US is generally more right wing, so our centre is their extreme left www.nytimes.com/2025/11/01/w...
This is all sorts of weird
November 1, 2025 at 8:55 PM
This is all sorts of weird
Somehow, it's November, which means I've got more book recommendations, but just one this month:
The Deluge by Stephen Markley
A decades-spanning epic follows an interconnected collection of climate campaigners, from mainstream politicians to activists to eco-terrorists. Gripping and terrifying
The Deluge by Stephen Markley
A decades-spanning epic follows an interconnected collection of climate campaigners, from mainstream politicians to activists to eco-terrorists. Gripping and terrifying
November 1, 2025 at 8:03 AM
Somehow, it's November, which means I've got more book recommendations, but just one this month:
The Deluge by Stephen Markley
A decades-spanning epic follows an interconnected collection of climate campaigners, from mainstream politicians to activists to eco-terrorists. Gripping and terrifying
The Deluge by Stephen Markley
A decades-spanning epic follows an interconnected collection of climate campaigners, from mainstream politicians to activists to eco-terrorists. Gripping and terrifying
Really interesting analysis - you don't have to be big to make money on Substack, which unlike so many other platforms is not winner-takes-all components.news/the-desire-d...
October 31, 2025 at 12:50 PM
Really interesting analysis - you don't have to be big to make money on Substack, which unlike so many other platforms is not winner-takes-all components.news/the-desire-d...
Here's a 1999 rec.arts.books.tolkien post that references the long-running argument over Balrog wings. I'm sure you could find earlier references. I wonder if this is the longest-running argument in fandom (if we exclude, like, The Bible) groups.google.com/g/rec.arts.b...
October 29, 2025 at 7:30 PM
Here's a 1999 rec.arts.books.tolkien post that references the long-running argument over Balrog wings. I'm sure you could find earlier references. I wonder if this is the longest-running argument in fandom (if we exclude, like, The Bible) groups.google.com/g/rec.arts.b...
Milo? Microsoft, stop trying to make me talk to the computer
October 23, 2025 at 6:37 PM
Milo? Microsoft, stop trying to make me talk to the computer
The economic argument doesn't even add up if you consider externalities
October 23, 2025 at 7:27 AM
The economic argument doesn't even add up if you consider externalities
Great business to be in if you are the ones getting paid, though
October 21, 2025 at 7:49 AM
Great business to be in if you are the ones getting paid, though
My GP just messaged me to say it has a new online service to let my book appointments, yay!
Oh, but to use it I have to hand over my medical data to a private company which may then pass it on to others? Medical data cannot be anonymised, only pseudonymised. Not great.
Oh, but to use it I have to hand over my medical data to a private company which may then pass it on to others? Medical data cannot be anonymised, only pseudonymised. Not great.
October 20, 2025 at 7:24 AM
My GP just messaged me to say it has a new online service to let my book appointments, yay!
Oh, but to use it I have to hand over my medical data to a private company which may then pass it on to others? Medical data cannot be anonymised, only pseudonymised. Not great.
Oh, but to use it I have to hand over my medical data to a private company which may then pass it on to others? Medical data cannot be anonymised, only pseudonymised. Not great.
The Russians have not been chasing quantum supremacy! Russian quantum computing research is basically non-existent
October 19, 2025 at 8:30 AM
The Russians have not been chasing quantum supremacy! Russian quantum computing research is basically non-existent
If the 2015 claim a few dozen pages back were true, then this wouldn't be! You can't have both!
October 19, 2025 at 7:52 AM
If the 2015 claim a few dozen pages back were true, then this wouldn't be! You can't have both!
Argh it's very weird to be reading this book and figuring out which browser tabs the author had open www.newscientist.com/article/2161...
October 19, 2025 at 6:26 AM
Argh it's very weird to be reading this book and figuring out which browser tabs the author had open www.newscientist.com/article/2161...
Oh dear, I shouldn't get annoyed, but here we are. This is from Quantum of Menace by Vaseem Khan. I don't mind fiction authors portraying quantum computing as essentially magic, but if you're going to reference a very specific piece of research then you should really get it right - this is nonsense
October 19, 2025 at 6:17 AM
Oh dear, I shouldn't get annoyed, but here we are. This is from Quantum of Menace by Vaseem Khan. I don't mind fiction authors portraying quantum computing as essentially magic, but if you're going to reference a very specific piece of research then you should really get it right - this is nonsense
Many seem to have forgotten that signing a bit of paper is the easy bit - you actually have to *do* something afterwards
October 15, 2025 at 5:11 PM
Many seem to have forgotten that signing a bit of paper is the easy bit - you actually have to *do* something afterwards
I just imagined David Bowie on celebrity Traitors and I feel like we've been robbed of what would be some incredible television
October 11, 2025 at 9:01 PM
I just imagined David Bowie on celebrity Traitors and I feel like we've been robbed of what would be some incredible television