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Matthew Sparkes @sparkes.bsky.social · 8d

Very strange story. Police seem to be saying it takes longer to review CCTV to spot moment of bike theft as the length of time the bike was left there increases. Surely you jump to midpoint of footage then, if bike is there, jump to midpoint of second half, etc etc?

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Bike thefts at stations 'decriminalised'

The British Transport Police will not investigate many categories of bicycle theft, the BBC learns.

www.bbc.co.uk

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Matthew Sparkes @sparkes.bsky.social · 11d

Great paper on arXiv today for anyone who doesn't find musical theory complex enough already. Very pretty.

arxiv.org/pdf/2509.21428

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Matthew Sparkes @sparkes.bsky.social · 24d

Yep. It's a classic old mechanical one too. Going to have to go down a rabbit-hole of nonsense researching how to get another clicky-clacky one at some point.

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Matthew Sparkes @sparkes.bsky.social · 24d

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.

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Matthew Sparkes @sparkes.bsky.social · 24d

Small modular nuclear reactors sound great, but they won't be ready any time soon.

”This is very rich men giving a few crumbs off the table to this technology they’ve always loved the idea of, without really looking too carefully,” says one expert.

www.newscientist.com/article/2496...

Modular nuclear reactors sound great, but won't be ready any time soon

The UK government has announced a raft of tiny nuclear power projects, while Russia, China and a host of tech giants are also betting big on small nuclear reactor designs. Does the idea make sense and...

www.newscientist.com

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Reposted by Matthew Sparkes

Jacob Aron @jjaron.bsky.social · 29d

An important part of this story (which I am not expecting the NASA live stream to mention) is that the sample return mission that could potentially answer the question of life on Mars is being threatened by budget cuts from the Trump administration www.newscientist.com/article/2495...

NASA hasn't found life on Mars yet – but signs are promising

A rock found last year on the surface of Mars offered tantalising evidence that life once existed on the Red Planet. Now scientists have found yet more evidence that could point to the existence of an...

www.newscientist.com

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Matthew Sparkes @sparkes.bsky.social · 29d

Gravitational waves have finally proven Stephen Hawking's 50-year-old black hole theorem.

This research was made possible because of increasingly sensitive gravitational wave detectors, but also an extremely loud signal.

www.newscientist.com/article/2495...

Gravitational waves finally prove Stephen Hawking's black hole theorem

An exceptionally loud collision between two black holes has been detected by the LIGO gravitational wave observatory, enabling physicists to test a theorem postulated by Stephen Hawking in 1971

www.newscientist.com

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Matthew Sparkes @sparkes.bsky.social · 29d

NASA hasn't found life on Mars yet – but the signs are promising. More evidence stacking up.

We have multiple rock samples that need to be analysed further back on Earth. But the mission to bring them home is in budget jeopardy.

www.newscientist.com/article/2495...

NASA hasn't found life on Mars yet – but signs are promising

A rock found last year on the surface of Mars offered tantalising evidence that life once existed on the Red Planet. Now scientists have found yet more evidence that could point to the existence of an...

www.newscientist.com

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Matthew Sparkes @sparkes.bsky.social · Sep 9

Huge if true.

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Matthew Sparkes @sparkes.bsky.social · Sep 8

TRAPPIST-1e might have an atmosphere that could host life. But we're going to need to scan it over a dozen more times to find out.

www.newscientist.com/article/2495...

Exoplanet 40 light years from Earth may have right conditions for life

The planet TRAPPIST-1e lies in its star’s Goldilocks zone, where water remains liquid – and an analysis suggests it might have a nitrogen-rich atmosphere like Earth’s

www.newscientist.com

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Matthew Sparkes @sparkes.bsky.social · Sep 1

Asteroid 2025 QD8 will buzz Earth this week at 218,000km - 57% of the average distance from Earth to our moon.

Totally safe. No danger. But a reasonably close one.

www.virtualtelescope.eu/2025/09/01/n...

Near-Earth Asteroid 2025 QD8 very close encounter: online observation - 2 Sept. 2025. - The Virtual Telescope Project 2.0

See near-Earth asteroid 2025 QD8 live, safely coming very close to us from the comfort of your home, next 2 Sept. 2025.

www.virtualtelescope.eu

Matthew Sparkes @sparkes.bsky.social · Sep 1

Every embassy in the UK has a different code for diplomatic number plates.

Today I learned that Joint European Torus staff are extended the same privilege: if you see a car plated with three numbers then "D 931" it might be on important fusion business.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...

List of country codes on British diplomatic vehicle registration plates - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

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Reposted by Matthew Sparkes

New Scientist @newscientist.com · Aug 31

Weather apps regularly differ in their predictions for the same location – why is it so hard to predict local forecasts, and where can we get the best weather information?

Why are weather forecasting apps so terrible?

Weather apps regularly differ in their predictions for the same location – why is it so hard to predict local forecasts, and where can we get the best weather information?

www.newscientist.com

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Matthew Sparkes @sparkes.bsky.social · Aug 29

Weather apps regularly differ in their predictions for the same location – why is it so hard to make local forecasts, and where can we get the best weather information?

www.newscientist.com/article/2494...

Why are weather forecasting apps so terrible?

Weather apps regularly differ in their predictions for the same location – why is it so hard to predict local forecasts, and where can we get the best weather information?

www.newscientist.com

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Matthew Sparkes @sparkes.bsky.social · Aug 27

Glad that @mjflepage.bsky.social is shining a light on these claims.

bsky.app/profile/mjfl...

Michael Le Page @mjflepage.bsky.social · Aug 27

The claim is the glowing plants 💡🌵 pictured below have "unprecedented brightness". But they were created by injecting phosphors into the leaves of normal plants 🧪

That's cheating and I absolutely hate this idea

www.newscientist.com/article/2494...

Glow-in-the-dark plants to replace streetlights? Forget it

The brightest and most colourful glowing plants yet have been created by injecting phosphorescent chemicals directly into the leaves, but it is little more than a cheap gimmick

www.newscientist.com

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Matthew Sparkes @sparkes.bsky.social · Aug 27

We had trams all over Catford and Lewisham at one point but they were ripped out.

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Matthew Sparkes @sparkes.bsky.social · Aug 27

In a very narrow way, out in the suburbs. It doesn't help me much here. Cycling is the only efficient way to get around SE London - but it's also quite scary, unfortunately, because there's virtually no infrastructure.

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Matthew Sparkes @sparkes.bsky.social · Aug 27

There aren't rail options. But sure.

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Matthew Sparkes @sparkes.bsky.social · Aug 27

CPR doesn't work in space, because people have no weight. So NASA recommends that you wedge yourself and the patient between two hard objects, handstand on their chest and push with your feet. It's not ideal. Now there's a better way.

www.newscientist.com/article/2493...

CPR in space could be made easier by chest compression machines

Performing CPR on a space station in microgravity involves doing a handstand on a person's chest and pushing against the walls with your legs – but now researchers say there is a better way

www.newscientist.com

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Matthew Sparkes @sparkes.bsky.social · Aug 27

The buses are awful though. Every time I take one in SE London I end up regretting it. So, so, slow.

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Reposted by Matthew Sparkes

New Scientist @newscientist.com · Aug 21

Inveterate cyclist Matt Sparkes, who has been knocked off his bike by human-driven cars several times, wonders if the arrival of driverless cars in London is a good thing - or a bad one

I'm a cyclist. Will the arrival of robotaxis make my journeys safer?

Inveterate cyclist Matt Sparkes, who has been knocked off his bike by human-driven cars several times, wonders if the arrival of driverless cars in London is a good thing - or a bad one

www.newscientist.com

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Reposted by Matthew Sparkes

Greenpeace EU @greenpeace.eu · Aug 21

Across 142 routes in Europe, trains are on average twice as expensive as flights

On some routes, they are 26 times the price

Low-cost airlines profit from unfair tax exemptions, but trains are burdened with VAT, energy taxes and high track fees

Governments and the EU must stop rewarding polluters

Low-cost flights up to 26 times cheaper than trains - Greenpeace European Unit

Brussels, 21 August 2025 – A new Europe-wide Greenpeace study shows that climate-damaging flying is still cheaper than taking the train on a majority of  cross-border routes – even though…

www.greenpeace.org

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Matthew Sparkes @sparkes.bsky.social · Aug 21

What's the plan for all these vast GPU data centres when the AI bubble bursts, and recedes back to a sane level?

Please don't say bitcoin.

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Matthew Sparkes @sparkes.bsky.social · Aug 21

Maybe, yeah.

www.standard.co.uk/news/transpo...

www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/c...

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home...

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Cyclist dies five days after being severely injured on 'dangerous' Wanstead Flats

Grieving family call for speed cameras after death of ‘fit and healthy’ father

www.standard.co.uk

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Matthew Sparkes @sparkes.bsky.social · Aug 20

Driverless taxis are on their way to London. As a cyclist, a Londoner and a journalist who's spent years covering AI’s pratfalls, I am a tad nervous. Yet, given how often I've been hit by inattentive human drivers in London, part of me is cautiously optimistic.

www.newscientist.com/article/mg26...

I'm a cyclist. Will the arrival of robotaxis make my journeys safer?

Inveterate cyclist Matt Sparkes, who has been knocked off his bike by human-driven cars several times, wonders if the arrival of driverless cars in London is a good thing - or a bad one

www.newscientist.com

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