Deborah Bloomfield

Have you ever wondered why oranges are often sold in those strange red net bags? Well, it’s a sneaky trick used by food producers and supermarkets to fool your senses and (hopefully) make you buy more fruit.  Advertisement A red or orange plastic net around the fruit helps to give the impression that the orange […]

New species are discovered all the time – from those that blend in so well with their surroundings that they are hard to spot, to those hiding in the most remote places on Earth waiting to be discovered. Now, in new research, scientists have discovered a new tarantula species in a case of mistaken identity. […]

Who doesn’t love a solid, reliable elephant? A favorite of children’s storybooks, endearing for their supposed fear of mice, and endlessly entertaining with those funky trunks. Now, new research has delved deeper into the mouthparts of elephants, helping us to understand more about how they feed and the whiskers they possess.  Advertisement The three species […]

With the recent declaration by the World Health Organization (WHO) that the clade I mpox outbreak originating in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has become a Public Health Emergency of International Concern, it’s easy to get a spooky feeling of déjà-vu. Just over four years ago, the same agency was describing COVID-19 as the […]

To hear older generations tell it, everything was better in the past. Gas cost a few cents a gallon; children respected their elders; toilet paper came with 650 sheets to a roll, and the only thing you had to worry about was the constant existential threat of nuclear apocalypse looming over your head. Advertisement Now, […]

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The last several years have shown that there is a lot more to understand about Venus, both present and past. As worlds go, Venus is hellish. A surface temperature high enough to melt lead and a surface pressure like being a kilometer underwater don’t make it homely, plus the clouds that cover the whole planet […]

A fisherman has been hospitalized after coming face-to-tail with a whale in the waters south of Brisbane, Australia. Advertisement The accident took place about a kilometer (0.6 miles) away from the Tweed Heads bar at around 8:40 am on Sunday, August 18. At the time, the man was fishing with a friend on a small […]

Wind farms pumped out more electricity than coal-fired power stations in the US across March and April 2024, signifying a clear milestone in the declining fortunes of fossil fuels and the rise of renewables.  Advertisement Data from the US Energy Information Administration (IEA) shows that March and April were the first two consecutive months in […]

Over 6,000 sheep are planned to be unleashed onto eight solar plants in Texas, acting as wooly gardeners by nibbling away at vegetation over more than 10,100 acres (4,087 hectares) of land. This will be the largest solar grazing agreement in the US to date, says renewable energy operator Enel North America, who are partnering […]

The European Space Agency’s Gaia observatory has produced the most accurate map of the Milky Way, with the position and motion of almost 2 billion stars being used to better understand our galaxy’s present and past. However, teams are now looking at the future. One of them aims to conduct a follow-up mission that can […]

Contrary to what many of us thought, great white sharks are not made up of a single species but are actually separated into three distinct populations that inhabit different parts of the world’s oceans. The results raise concerns for conservationists, as it seems these distinct populations rarely interbreed. Advertisement The discovery was made by an […]

Archaeologists have been furiously digging to unearth a stunning mastodon skeleton in Iowa. It’s the first time that well-preserved remains of the prehistoric beast have been scientifically excavated in the state – and what a beauty it is. Advertisement Researchers at the University of Iowa Office of the State Archaeologist were first contacted in the […]

Hydrated metals have been detected on the surface of the asteroid Psyche. The observations, made with JWST, raise some big questions for the mission named after the asteroid, which hopefully will be settled when the spacecraft reaches its target. Advertisement At 222 kilometers (178 miles) wide, 16 Psyche is the 16th largest member of the asteroid belt […]

The Dodo (Raphus cucullatus), arguably the most famous extinct animal, is comparatively poorly understood. Endemic to the island of Mauritius, the doomed flightless bird is the subject of myriad myths and misconceptions, not least of all its scientific name and the number of species that make it up. In the most comprehensive review of the […]

Hurricane Ernesto battered homes and businesses across North Carolina, Bermuda, and the Bahamas as strong winds and swells caused damage along the islands and east coast of the USA. In Rodanthe in Dare County, North Carolina, one beach home was even swept completely out to sea. Advertisement On Friday, August 16, a house at 23214 […]

The story of our species begins in Africa, although our ability to tell that story is based on patchy evidence that has been steadily vanishing for the past 2 million years. Much of what’s left comes from the famous East African Rift System (EARS) – often referred to as the Cradle of Humankind – although […]

A detailed analysis of five recently discovered microscopic eukaryotes has identified one that appears to have dispensed entirely with its mitochondria. If that is the case, Skoliomonas litria will join a highly exclusive club, becoming the first free-living eukaryote ever discovered to have lost its mitochondria. Advertisement “Mitochondria are the powerhouse of the cell!” You […]

The ever-growing menace of plastic pollution and the plight of polar bears has been starkly captured in this shortlisted image for an upcoming photography competition.  Advertisement The image was recently picked as a finalist for the Ocean Photographer of the Year 2024 award along with a selection of other incredible wildlife shots depicting Godzilla-like iguanas, […]

The European Space Agency’s Juice mission is on its way to explore Jupiter’s icy moons, arriving in a few years, but to get there it’s stealing some orbital velocity from Earth, Venus, and – for the first time – the Moon. These gravitational assist maneuvers are standard to slingshot missions about the Solar System but […]