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Dr Matt L Tompkins @mattltompkins.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

SoMA September Newsletter: Conference Announcement + Science of Magic News scienceofmagicassoc.substack.com/p/soma-newsl...

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Reposted by Dr Matt L Tompkins

Efram Sera-Shriar @dreframss.bsky.social · 23/03/2026

I'm delighted to share my latest article: 'A Spirited Challenge Accepted.' If you're interested in spirit photos and print media, this is the article for you! Special thanks to @emmamerkling.bsky.social who digitized so much of the archival material for me. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

tandfonline.com

A Spirited Challenge Accepted: William Marriott, the Crisis of Evidence, and the Sunday Express Photographic Test from 1921

During the opening decades of the twentieth century, William Hope was championed by British spiritualists as a leading psychic photographer within their community. He was said to be able to capture...

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Dr Matt L Tompkins @mattltompkins.bsky.social · 13/01/2026

New Book Announcement! My latest releases this week- Full info on how to order here: www.curiouspublications.com/portfolio-1/...

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Kate Devlin @drkatedevlin.bsky.social · 23/12/2025

In case you need any last minute Christmas gift ideas. Give it to anyone who either believes or refuses to believe that people can fall for a robot or an AI companion.

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Dr Matt L Tompkins @mattltompkins.bsky.social · 13/12/2025

New SoMA Newsletter: Glad Lucia! A digital advent calendar + new papers and books open.substack.com/pub/scienceo...

open.substack.com

Glad Lucia from SoMA

+ SoM News: Digital Advent Calendar, Papers, and Books

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Dr Matt L Tompkins @mattltompkins.bsky.social · 10/12/2025

Open PhD Position at Lund University that could accommodate a Science of Magic Project (Deadline Dec 20) open.substack.com/pub/scienceo...

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Dr Matt L Tompkins @mattltompkins.bsky.social · 02/07/2025

Nice write up of my event @kingscollegelondon.bsky.social w/@drkatedevlin.bsky.social, where we discussed how the science of magic/illusion can be applied to psychological research on AI and neurotechnology www.kcl.ac.uk/news/digital...

kcl.ac.uk

Digital Futures Institute explores AI's impact on literature and connection to magic

The Digital Futures Institute presented two panels at the King’s Festival of Artificial Intelligence.

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Dr Matt L Tompkins @mattltompkins.bsky.social · 17/04/2025

New SoMA Newsletter: Happy Maundy Thursday! Ft. Witches, Tarot Exhibits, New Publications, A Book Review, Podcasts, and Philosophy Debates: open.substack.com/pub/scienceo...

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Dr Matt L Tompkins @mattltompkins.bsky.social · 24/03/2025

My review of 'Conjuring The Spirit World: Art, Magic, and Mediums' is live on @spr1882.bsky.social (w/thanks to @nemomorck.bsky.social for inviting me to write this) spr.ac.uk/node/19583

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Karla Holmboe @karlaholmboe.bsky.social · 01/03/2025

I currently have two fully-funded PhD opportunities in my lab - both providing a chance to work on the incredible LEAF data set that we have been collecting the last couple of years (220 children followed longitudinally from 10-30 months on measures of attention and early EF). Please share!

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Dr Matt L Tompkins @mattltompkins.bsky.social · 05/01/2025

Science of Magic Association January Newsletter open.substack.com/pub/scienceo...

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Dr Matt L Tompkins @mattltompkins.bsky.social · 16/12/2024

New SoMA Newsletter: Post Conference Updates and Eyeball Gouging Celebrations open.substack.com/pub/scienceo...

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Anthony Barnhart @magictony.bsky.social · 12/11/2024

And we're off! The Science of Magic Conference has begun. @mattltompkins.bsky.social leads off with a historical overview of interaction between science and magic. #SoMA24

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Anthony Barnhart @magictony.bsky.social · 13/11/2024

I was too distracted to make social media posts yesterday. It was an amazing first day of the Science of Magic Conference! Here's some documentation. #SoMA24

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Rik Worth 👻 @rikworth.bsky.social · 20/10/2024

I was trying to think of my favourite HP page. It could be this. It discusses infrasound creating visual distortions, we use the Herman grid illusion to create said visual distortions, the effect is entirely tied into the medium and it has this elegant (if I do say so), spooky astronaut sequence.

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Dr Matt L Tompkins @mattltompkins.bsky.social · 05/09/2024

SoMA September Newsletter: Conference Updates, New Books, a Paper, and a Podcast open.substack.com/pub/scienceo...

open.substack.com

SoMA September Newsletter

Conference Updates, New Books, a Paper, & a Podcast

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Dr Matt L Tompkins @mattltompkins.bsky.social · 21/08/2024

Delighted to debut the new poster for our upcoming conference: scienceofmagicassoc.org/home#confere... (Art created by the amazing Kyla Moffatt kylamoffatt.com)

A poster announcing The Science of Magic Association Conference in Las Vegas that takes place in Las Vegas from 12-13 November 2024. The image is in the style of a Golden Age magic poster, featuring a stylized Las Vegas skyline- depicting the High Roller, The 'Fabulous' Las Vegas sign, the Luxor pyramid the Eiffel Tower, The Strat, The Golden Nugget, and the Vegas Sphere, which is drawn to look like a human brain. A giant white gloved hand grasps the brain sphere between it's first finger and thumb. Four red imps surround the hand. One imp is springing cards between it's hands, another is taking notes on an old-fashioned school slate, a third imp in a lab coat and googles examines a test tube, and fourth imp presents three linking rings.

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Anthony Barnhart @magictony.bsky.social · 14/08/2024

Cognition folks: I REALLY love teaching about the mental imagery debate. Even though I tend to live on the propositional code side of the debate, much of my discussion is about analog code. I've never found a reading that focuses on propositional code and that's accessible to undergrads. Any help?

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Dr Matt L Tompkins @mattltompkins.bsky.social · 13/08/2024

Reminder about the Early Registration Deadline for SoMA 2024 + A Preview of Coming Attractions (i.e. all confirmed presenter abstracts) You have until August 17 to take advantage of the discount! t.co/Aw2DnQJKsQ

t.co

Reminder about the Early Registration Deadline for SoMA 2024 + A Preview of Coming Attractions

Hi all,

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Dr Matt L Tompkins @mattltompkins.bsky.social · 10/07/2024

DEADLINE Reminder: SoMA 2024 Conference Presentation Proposals Due July 14! open.substack.com/pub/scienceo...

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Dr Matt L Tompkins @mattltompkins.bsky.social · 02/07/2024

SoMA Newsletter July 2024: Deadlines for Conference Abstracts, New Interview Series, & Two New Stories HT @annamerlan.bsky.social @magictony.bsky.social open.substack.com/pub/scienceo...

open.substack.com

SoMA Newsletter July 2024

Deadline reminder, an interview series, and new articles on magic

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Anna Merlan @annamerlan.bsky.social · 24/06/2024

Today in delightful: I got to write about John Gaughan, a legendary magic builder and inventor who has a semi-secret museum of magic history in the back of his shop. www.altaonline.com/dispatches/a...

altaonline.com

A Magical Mystery Tour in L.A.

After a lifetime of building illusions for the world’s greatest sleight-of-hand performers—and curating a museum full of priceless automata—John Gaughan takes a modest bow.

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Efram Sera-Shriar @dreframss.bsky.social · 16/04/2024

Sent to me by a colleague. Funny stuff.

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Princeton University Press @princetonupress.bsky.social · 15/04/2024

Philosopher, Helen De Cruz, explores the transformative role of wonder and awe in an uncertain world, and why we practice magic. press.princeton.edu/ideas/why-we... #Philosophy #philosopher

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Dr Matt L Tompkins @mattltompkins.bsky.social · 15/04/2024

New SoMA Newsletter: A Call for Abstracts, Book Recommendation, New Neuroscience Study, and A Breaking-ish (simultaneously very old) Story About Magic & Tech open.substack.com/pub/scienceo...

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Dr Matt L Tompkins @mattltompkins.bsky.social · 29/02/2024

Happy Leap Day from The Science of Magic Association! scienceofmagicassoc.substack.com/p/happy-leap...

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Dr Matt L Tompkins @mattltompkins.bsky.social · 19/01/2024

Had an excellent first gig of the year at “Ringar på vattnet–En varm kväll för Ukraina” in Åland. Was a privilege to share the stage with amazing artists, including the Lviv women's choir, to help raise money for Ukrainian medical aid. (Pics by Daniel Eriksson) www.alandstidningen.ax/nyheter/gala...

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Dr Matt L Tompkins @mattltompkins.bsky.social · 12/12/2023

My talk "Seeing through magic," presented at Forskning & Framsteg's 'Brain Day 2023 in Stockholm, is now up online (in English). Great venue/crowd and was a pleasure to share the stage with some excellent speakers urplay.se/program/2353...

urplay.se

Hjärndagen 2023: Att se igenom magi | UR Play

Matthew L Tompkins är forskaren som är trollkarl och guldmedaljör i 2022 års Forskar Grand Prix. För Hjärndagens besökare visar han hur bedrägliga våra sinnen är, genom illusioner och snillr...

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Dr Matt L Tompkins @mattltompkins.bsky.social · 31/10/2023

SoMA Halloween Newsletter: Some of the latest science of magic-related news including graduate degrees in witchcraft, prizes, wellbeing books, spirit photos, hallucinated coins, and my own formative experience with an allegedly cursed Ouija board. t.co/pWIzlklyLJ

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SoMA Newsletter Fall 2023

Happy Halloween from SoMA!

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