Deborah Bloomfield

Long before the first members of the Homo genus appeared on Earth, a group of ancient ape-like hominins called Australopithecines may have already developed the manual dexterity to use tools. Until now, anthropologists had assumed that these long-extinct creatures lacked the right hand shape for such complex tasks, yet a new analysis suggests that they […]

Bridges can be long, and bridges can be high, but did you know that they can also be circular? At least, that’s the case for Laguna Garzón Bridge in Uruguay, an all-round great example of why circular bridges should be more of a thing. Though this bridge is circular, this isn’t a roundabout we’re talking […]

Sometimes, nature just doesn’t know what it wants to be. There’s no greater example of that than the worm lizards, and a brand-new species of these has just been identified in a mountainous region of Brazil. The new species was identified during environmental work being carried out on behalf of the mining company Bahia Mineração […]

A team of astronomers have taken a close look at the “Taurid swarm” or “Halloween Fireballs” in order to determine whether they pose any threat to Earth. Every year, the Earth is treated to several meteor showers as we cross into their orbit, or they cross into ours. They are spectacular to see, but given […]

A coronal mass ejection from the Sun may end up ruining one of the most anticipated astronomical events of the year. It’s been a tense few months for astronomy fans hoping to see Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan–ATLAS) coming up to its closest approach to Earth on October 12. Back in July, analysis by one astronomer […]

The 2024 State of the Climate Report makes for some damning reading. Along with highlighting how our planet has been pushed to the brink of disaster due to reckless human activity, the report highlights the many ways in which the world is already starting to feel the burn of climate change. In the annual report […]

It’s not every day you see the words “beaver” and “legal battle” in the same sentence. Then again, a situation that involves a rescued beaver named Nibi, a court case between a Massachusetts wildlife rescue center and the state’s wildlife division, and intervention from politicians, is far from “every day”. Advertisement The story begins in […]

Evolution is often portrayed as an achingly long process, taking generations upon generations of small changes accumulating over a timeline too long to appreciate in a single, puny human lifetime. In certain extreme circumstances, however, it’s possible to see the impacts of natural selection in just a few years – for example, throughout the 1980s […]

The winners of the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physics are John Hopfield and Geoffrey Hinton, with the Nobel Committee awarding them the prestigious prize “for foundational discoveries and inventions that enable machine learning with artificial neural networks.” Their work has been crucial to the development of artificial intelligence. The prize is worth 11 million Swedish […]

The proliferation of images generated by artificial intelligence (AI) is problematic in multiple ways. AI models have faced allegations of being trained using stolen art, then there is their exorbitant use of water and alarming carbon footprint. There is also the threat – both political and otherwise – of increased misinformation, with the creation of […]

Thunderstorms increased radiation at a mountaintop measuring site far in excess of background levels from cosmic rays. Observations included electrons moving close enough to the speed of light that relativistic effects need to be considered. Peaks in gamma rays and neutrons were also detected. Advertisement Since its foundation, the Space Environmental Center on top of […]

A chance observation has led to an astonishing discovery for a group of scientists studying the comb jelly, Mnemiopsis leidyi. When injured, it appears these curious ctenophores can fuse together to form one individual and even share some bodily functions. Advertisement The team was keeping a population of comb jellies in a seawater tank when […]

Exposure to so called “forever chemicals” may cause sleep disturbances and reduced quality of sleep, new research suggests. Advertisement Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a group of synthetic chemicals used in various consumer products and industries across the world. Since the 1950s, these chemicals have been exploited for their resistance to water, heat, grease, […]

The spread of highly pathogenic H5 avian influenza (HPAIV) – otherwise known as bird flu – has been closely watched by global health experts since 2021, when the first of two major waves of disease decimated wild and domestic bird populations. Since then, we’ve seen unprecedented spread of the virus into a number of mammals, […]

The year 2023 quickly became an environmental record-breaker in all the worst ways, and now, a new report from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has added yet another one to the list – 2023 was also the driest year for global rivers in 33 years. Advertisement The WMO report, State of Global Water Resources 2023, found […]

Astronomers have found that our galaxy, the Milky Way, may be a tiny part of an even larger local structure than we thought. The research, if confirmed by further observations and studies, may be evidence that we haven’t quite nailed down our model of the evolution of the universe. Advertisement As we study the universe […]

A flood of medical advances has extended the lives of people in most wealthy countries. However, a new paper argues that talk of living forever, or even to 150, is highly improbable, and not consistent with the trends we have seen. Moreover, even if our lives are extended, we cannot assume the past extension of […]

A treasure hunt that began over 30 years ago has now ended, with the buried 10-kilogram (22-pound) diamond-encrusted “Golden Owl” finally being located. Advertisement In 1993, Régis Hauser and Michel Becker created the treasure hunt, burying the owl, estimated to be worth around €150,000 (~164,000 USD) somewhere in France. There are published clues to the […]

Ever wondered what it takes to join the ranks of the rich lists? We don’t need to tell you that it’s a lot of money, nor that Elon Musk definitely qualifies. But, in the case of the list of America’s richest people, it turns out that there’s actually a minimum figure – and it’s gone up […]

Deep in the Arctic Ocean, a portion of seafloor covered in craters larger than football fields is challenging assumptions about the workings of the icy waters of the planet’s far north.  Advertisement In the Canadian Beaufort Sea, scientists have previously discovered the presence of gaping craters on the seabed that are covered in mounds of […]