Deborah Bloomfield

Chemicals in furniture and children’s toys could impact the quality of your sleep. New research shows that chemicals hidden in plastics can interfere with the circadian rhythm, delaying the internal body clock by up to 17 minutes. This, in turn, may increase the risk of developing sleep disorders and health problems, such as diabetes and […]

There was a significant drop in the number of babies hospitalized with RSV this year; a positive news story that can be attributed to the effectiveness of two new products. Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is the number one cause of hospitalizations among infants in the US, with two to three of every 100 babies under […]

It’s a chore many dread but the science suggests most of us should be washing our bedding more often. Experts advise changing the sheets once a week – or once every two weeks at the very most.   The average person spends a third of their life sleeping (or attempting to), so needless to say […]

What’s the youngest language in the world? This might sound like a straightforward question, but as with all seemingly simple questions, the answer kind of depends on what you mean. What makes a language can be somewhat subjective, depending on how you differentiate a language from a dialect or a creole (a language that developed […]

There’s a huge volcano in northwest US territory, and all signs say it’s about to blow. The result is set to be a massive eruption, with lava reaching up to 40 kilometers (25 miles) in any direction, huge and deafening implosions, and massive disruption to the surrounding ecology. Wait, what? Yellow… stone? No, never heard […]

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Deers are among the most diverse and adaptable families of mammals, existing in habitats as diverse as the frigid tundras of Svalbard and the rainforests of Borneo. There are 47 known species worldwide, including the muntjac deer (with its downright alien-like flaring scent glands) and the recently discovered Pudella carlae – but which is the […]

The common house spider – you may look at it and think “Oh, what a beauty, my lovely house companion!” Or if you are not like me and you have arachnophobia, you may run away screaming. For one group of scientists, they looked at this spider and thought of innovation and the future – and […]

This week, new research suggests 99.999 percent of the deep ocean has never been observed by humans, a new species of “accordion worm” can squish down to one-fifth of its original size, and the title of a burnt Herculaneum scroll has finally been identified after 2,000 years. Finally, we spoke to Liz Bonnin, presenter of […]

Say hello to Juracanthocephalus daohugouensis, a parasite that lived way back in the Jurassic, but one that’s been scrambling the brains of modern-day scientists. It’s an award-worthy fossil in many ways, being the oldest-known specimen of a thorny-headed worm and a new-to-science species, but perhaps most impressive of all is how it was found: on […]

Physicists may say time is the universal constant, but the rest of us know the truth: time is about as far from “constant” as it’s possible to be. Eight hours of sleep can pass in a wink, for example. Spend an hour playing your favorite game, and you’ll be astonished when it’s over; ten minutes […]

Salmon live absolutely wild lives. An unfortunate portion will end up in the jaws of a bear or sliced up in a sushi restaurant, but many will spend their existence embarking on one of the most ambitious animal migrations in the natural world. This is because they are anadromous. Anadromous fish are those that migrate […]

In Albury, Surrey, England, there is a church that you are not allowed to enter. Not yet, anyway. Built in 1839, the church is not due to be reopened until the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. The church was commissioned by Henry Drummond, a biologist, member of parliament, and evangelist of the Catholic Apostolic Church. […]

In terms of ancient, indecipherable books, no manuscript matches the sheer mystery of the Voynich manuscript. This ancient text, filled with strange and fantastical illustrations of unidentified plants and odd astrological symbols, has defied explanation for centuries. But it has also always defied translation from anybody who has attempted to decode it. “Research on the […]

All good things, they say, must come to an end – and like woolly mammoths, Tasmanian tigers, and the CW’s Supernatural, one day, humanity’s time will run out for good.  In fact, much as we hate to think about it, eventually, everything on Earth will end. But when will that be? Well, believe it or […]

In 2013, a camera trap in Quang Nam province, Vietnam, snapped a photo of a rare and elusive animal. Known as the Asian unicorn, it lives in forests across Vietnam and Laos. At least, we think it does, but nobody’s seen one since. The Asian unicorn (Pseudoryx nghetinhensis) or saola is up there as one […]

The world’s oldest wooden spears were probably made by Neanderthals around 200,000 years ago and used to annihilate entire families of wild horses, according to a new study. First discovered at the world-famous site of Schöningen in Germany in 1994, the iconic weapons were once thought to have been 400,000 years old, yet fresh analysis […]

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 […]