Deborah Bloomfield

When you think about Neanderthals, “master crafters” probably isn’t the term that comes to mind. But our ancestral cousins are nothing if not surprising – and, according to a new study out of the University of Wollongong, their ability to finely hone stone tools is just one of many things we’ve got wrong. Go back […]

The Parthenon is probably one of the most iconic examples of Greek architecture. This ancient temple, once dedicated to the goddess Athena, sits atop the hill of the Acropolis at Athens and has mystified scholars and tourists alike for centuries. Today, visitors will see the bones of this ruined temple, but in its day it […]

Symmetry is very important in nature, as it underlies conservation laws. So, when symmetry is broken, there is always something exciting to be found. Researchers have now employed a new microscopy technique to study how symmetry breaks in a special material that was not previously known to have such properties. This particular symmetry break is […]

Critically endangered species often exist in small fragmented populations. These can be separated by oceans or mountain ranges, or even just distance. One of the world’s rarest reptiles, the Belalanda chameleon, exists in an area of just 4 square kilometers (1.5 square miles). The Belalanda chameleon (Furcifer belalandaensis) is endemic to Madagascar but almost all […]

Of all the major branches of the tree of life, amphibians are probably in the most trouble today. One of the first signs that something has gone wrong with an ecosystem is when the frog calls vanish. And yet somehow they made it through not only the global catastrophe that was the asteroid impact that […]

A man from Cape Coral, Florida, has been gored by a bison in Yellowstone National Park. The 47-year-old was injured by the animal after he approached too close to it. Thankfully, he only sustained minor injuries from the encounter and has been treated by emergency medical personnel. Bison have lived in Yellowstone National Park since […]

A new study has borrowed a few tricks from palaeontological science to estimate whether or not the Rancor from Star Wars could really have chomped a femur in half. It found that, actually, yes – the Rancor’s bite comes in at a bone-crushing force of 44,000 Newtons, which about puts it on par with a […]

The incredible buzz of cicadas has been wielded by science like never before as a team working at the University of Tsukuba in Japan has found a way of stimulating the insects so that they performed Pachelbel’s Canon in D. Using electrodes comparable to human muscle-toning devices, the cyborg speakers buzzed their hearts out to […]

Over 100 scientists and conservationists have come together to compile a report on the 25 most endangered primate species in the world, and the conservation action points needed to improve their current bleak outlook.  The report began in 2000 and has been updated each year since to reflect the world’s most critically endangered primate species. […]

There are a lot of asteroids around us this weekend, and the biggest of them all is known as asteroid 612356 (2002 JX8). As space rocks go it is a very dangerous one, because it would cause widespread devastation if it were to hit. Luckily, it flew by farther out than the Moon, so we […]

Losing weight is, for most of us, both painful and difficult to the point of impossibility. It’s either an exercise in self-denial, counting calories or hours until your regimen says you can eat again, or else it’s a laundry-list of side effects from some drug or supplement that you’re potentially tied to for life. Wouldn’t […]

A fast-moving Antarctic glacier has been observed by satellites to be stealing ice from a neighbor. Glaciologists were aware this could occur, but thought it took centuries or millennia. Instead, they have spotted the process taking place in just 18 years. As well as being a likely consequence of global heating, the event offers an […]

Researchers behind a new study have concluded that the COVID-19 pandemic was sparked by wildlife trade in China, similar to the circumstances that led to the SARS outbreak in 2002. The results undermine the widely circulated (and much contested) view that the virus was manufactured in a lab. The analysis shows that the ancestor of […]

Heart attack, cardiac arrest – they’re basically the same thing, right? Nope – while they both involve the heart, they are in fact two very different things, with a variety of different causes, symptoms, and treatments. One simple way to think about the difference between the two, as we’ll explain below, is as a matter […]

Elon Musk, the CEO of SpaceX and man “in charge” of DOGE according to President Donald Trump, has outlined the reasons why he wants to get humanity to Mars so badly. Musk has spoken previously about having Mars as a backup planet for humanity, in case of an existential threat such as World War III. […]

The Soviet Union’s failed Kosmos 482 Venus spacecraft is set to make a somewhat delayed reappearance as it slams into the Earth in the next few days. Between 1961 and 1984, the Soviet Union launched a series of space probes in order to study the second-closest planet to the Sun. The overall program was a […]

Stars are not solid objects, but turbulent spheres of plasma. The internal motions can be measured as waves pass through them, and those waves – beyond making beautiful sounds – can tell us a lot about the properties of the stars. This is the field of asteroseismology, and researchers were able to apply it to […]

Zookeepers have recorded a remarkable mix of sounds produced by reuniting Zoos Victoria elephants. The recording not only demonstrates the breadth of elephant’s sonic capacity, but includes sounds the keepers say they have never heard elephants make before over decades of care. Many zoos have transformed themselves from places where animals were driven mad in […]

Elevators; we’ve all been in them. While some are fancy glass elevators allowing you to see the outside world, the majority are small, enclosed boxes with mirrors placed on the walls. But why is that? It turns out that there are a few reasons why manufacturers place mirrors inside, largely relating to safety and user […]

Cuttlefish cause their tentacles to undulate in ways that appear to carry specific meanings, at least to other cuttlefish, a new study reveals. Moreover, these messages can be conveyed not only by sight, but by sensing the movement they produce in water. Bivalves aside, most animals have ways to communicate, such as a threatening roar […]