Matthew Sparkes
@sparkes.bsky.social
Reporter at New Scientist magazine. Got a story? Email: matthew.sparkes@newscientist.com
Great paper on arXiv today for anyone who doesn't find musical theory complex enough already. Very pretty.
arxiv.org/pdf/2509.21428
arxiv.org/pdf/2509.21428
September 29, 2025 at 10:05 AM
Great paper on arXiv today for anyone who doesn't find musical theory complex enough already. Very pretty.
arxiv.org/pdf/2509.21428
arxiv.org/pdf/2509.21428
After many, many interviews I'm sitting down to write up a long feature today.
My cat has taken that as a cue to be sick on my keyboard, rendering it not only gross but also, somehow, entirely broken.
Tiny laptop keyboard it is, then.
My cat has taken that as a cue to be sick on my keyboard, rendering it not only gross but also, somehow, entirely broken.
Tiny laptop keyboard it is, then.
September 16, 2025 at 9:46 AM
After many, many interviews I'm sitting down to write up a long feature today.
My cat has taken that as a cue to be sick on my keyboard, rendering it not only gross but also, somehow, entirely broken.
Tiny laptop keyboard it is, then.
My cat has taken that as a cue to be sick on my keyboard, rendering it not only gross but also, somehow, entirely broken.
Tiny laptop keyboard it is, then.
And a very obviously blank but slightly-scrumpled bit of A4 here. Results day photo opps are very tricky without props, aren't they?
August 14, 2025 at 11:18 AM
And a very obviously blank but slightly-scrumpled bit of A4 here. Results day photo opps are very tricky without props, aren't they?
A sort of yellow one here.
August 14, 2025 at 11:17 AM
A sort of yellow one here.
My niece just smashed her A-levels and got into her first choice uni, but rather than talking about that we're currently obsessed with the fact that her college doesn't do paper results but its social media seems full of people holding random bits of paper.
August 14, 2025 at 11:16 AM
My niece just smashed her A-levels and got into her first choice uni, but rather than talking about that we're currently obsessed with the fact that her college doesn't do paper results but its social media seems full of people holding random bits of paper.
Today PornHub introduced mandatory age verification for UK users - as demanded by the Government's new Online Safety Act.
In other news, searches for "VPN" in the UK just went through the roof.
In other news, searches for "VPN" in the UK just went through the roof.
July 25, 2025 at 8:10 AM
Today PornHub introduced mandatory age verification for UK users - as demanded by the Government's new Online Safety Act.
In other news, searches for "VPN" in the UK just went through the roof.
In other news, searches for "VPN" in the UK just went through the roof.
Thanks to the Online Safety Act I now have to prove how old I am in order to access DMs on BlueSky.
Or I can just switch my apparent location using my free VPN, which requires no age verification or credit card to set up. Then I don't.
What's the Online Safety Act going to achieve?
Or I can just switch my apparent location using my free VPN, which requires no age verification or credit card to set up. Then I don't.
What's the Online Safety Act going to achieve?
July 24, 2025 at 12:02 PM
Thanks to the Online Safety Act I now have to prove how old I am in order to access DMs on BlueSky.
Or I can just switch my apparent location using my free VPN, which requires no age verification or credit card to set up. Then I don't.
What's the Online Safety Act going to achieve?
Or I can just switch my apparent location using my free VPN, which requires no age verification or credit card to set up. Then I don't.
What's the Online Safety Act going to achieve?
Out of the office and in the workshop yesterday, making some progress on fitting the neck. Only taken 6 years to get this far. In another 6 I might have a playable but mediocre guitar.
July 16, 2025 at 11:55 AM
Out of the office and in the workshop yesterday, making some progress on fitting the neck. Only taken 6 years to get this far. In another 6 I might have a playable but mediocre guitar.
It's been a while since I've been able to get to the pond with tadpoles in because it's surrounded by an impenetrable raspberry wall, but it seems like they're doing OK.
July 6, 2025 at 4:53 PM
It's been a while since I've been able to get to the pond with tadpoles in because it's surrounded by an impenetrable raspberry wall, but it seems like they're doing OK.
And another one in the local park. Catford is stag beetle central right now.
bsky.app/profile/spar...
bsky.app/profile/spar...
June 10, 2025 at 8:33 AM
And another one in the local park. Catford is stag beetle central right now.
bsky.app/profile/spar...
bsky.app/profile/spar...
Stag beetle found on deck. Relocated to log pile at the bottom of the garden.
June 8, 2025 at 5:31 PM
Stag beetle found on deck. Relocated to log pile at the bottom of the garden.
You know a bumble bee is loud when you can hear him over the background rumble of Catford.
June 4, 2025 at 8:31 AM
You know a bumble bee is loud when you can hear him over the background rumble of Catford.
Damselflies making more damselflies
May 16, 2025 at 11:13 AM
Damselflies making more damselflies
Ladybirds (Bishy Barnabees where I'm from) in the lavender. Which is handy, because I have plenty of aphids for them.
May 14, 2025 at 8:18 AM
Ladybirds (Bishy Barnabees where I'm from) in the lavender. Which is handy, because I have plenty of aphids for them.
This frog was absolutely livid that I was topping-up the water in his home. Hopped out until I'd finished, hopped back in straight after.
May 13, 2025 at 1:30 PM
This frog was absolutely livid that I was topping-up the water in his home. Hopped out until I'd finished, hopped back in straight after.
Can anyone identify this caterpillar on a blackcurrant bush? Browsed the usual suspects but can't find a match. It'll be left to stay and munch as much as it needs, of course.
May 12, 2025 at 3:40 PM
Can anyone identify this caterpillar on a blackcurrant bush? Browsed the usual suspects but can't find a match. It'll be left to stay and munch as much as it needs, of course.
Spotted this number plate while riding through Soho last night. Having just "1" is quite the flex.
May 9, 2025 at 8:06 AM
Spotted this number plate while riding through Soho last night. Having just "1" is quite the flex.
Damselfly larvae leaving the pond and abandoning their skin on the flag iris.
May 5, 2025 at 12:15 PM
Damselfly larvae leaving the pond and abandoning their skin on the flag iris.
Sunny cycle to work with a glorious swim in Hyde Park on the way, getting changed under a blossoming horse chestnut.
London is wild: you can slog through AWFUL traffic and fumes for miles and miles, dodging lunatic drivers, but then get an amazing sliver of wildlife and faux countryside.
London is wild: you can slog through AWFUL traffic and fumes for miles and miles, dodging lunatic drivers, but then get an amazing sliver of wildlife and faux countryside.
May 1, 2025 at 10:50 AM
Sunny cycle to work with a glorious swim in Hyde Park on the way, getting changed under a blossoming horse chestnut.
London is wild: you can slog through AWFUL traffic and fumes for miles and miles, dodging lunatic drivers, but then get an amazing sliver of wildlife and faux countryside.
London is wild: you can slog through AWFUL traffic and fumes for miles and miles, dodging lunatic drivers, but then get an amazing sliver of wildlife and faux countryside.
Interesting theory about the Loch Ness monster that appeared in the pages of @newscientist.com four decades ago, according to this copy of Arthur C. Clarke's Mysterious World I found in a charity shop.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_...
April 14, 2025 at 7:27 AM
Interesting theory about the Loch Ness monster that appeared in the pages of @newscientist.com four decades ago, according to this copy of Arthur C. Clarke's Mysterious World I found in a charity shop.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_...
Frogspawn in the garden are growing fast and gobbling algae.
April 11, 2025 at 1:30 PM
Frogspawn in the garden are growing fast and gobbling algae.
Caught this hoverfly on a tulip while eating lunch.
April 7, 2025 at 12:59 PM
Caught this hoverfly on a tulip while eating lunch.
The Daily Telegraph seems to be running paid ads (on @ecosiasearch.bsky.social at least) pointing out that the FTSE 100 is at a record high. It's currently 10.9% down over last five days...
April 7, 2025 at 9:23 AM
The Daily Telegraph seems to be running paid ads (on @ecosiasearch.bsky.social at least) pointing out that the FTSE 100 is at a record high. It's currently 10.9% down over last five days...
I spent several years on the economics/City desk at The Daily Telegraph and we'd have daily debates about descriptions of stock market movements for headlines: how many points is a "plummet", how much movement constitutes a "freefall" etc. What an utter omnishambles this is.
April 3, 2025 at 2:50 PM
I spent several years on the economics/City desk at The Daily Telegraph and we'd have daily debates about descriptions of stock market movements for headlines: how many points is a "plummet", how much movement constitutes a "freefall" etc. What an utter omnishambles this is.
Plum blossom, tulips, cherry blossom. Every day something different in the garden at the moment.
March 31, 2025 at 8:22 AM
Plum blossom, tulips, cherry blossom. Every day something different in the garden at the moment.