Deborah Bloomfield

For evidence of evolution’s sheer barminess, look no further than the humble octopus. It’s boneless, beaked, and many-brained; it has blue blood, three hearts, and eight arms; it can change color and shape at will, and comes equipped with an ink sac for defense (or, presumably, calligraphy).  It is, in total, so weird that people […]

Greenland, the world’s largest island, is shrinking and shape-shifting. Since the peak of the last Ice Age about 20,000 years ago, the melting of its ice sheets has been easing pressure on the landmass, causing its tectonic plate and deep bedrock to deform. The rest of this article is behind a paywall. Please sign in […]

Scientists have confirmed the existence of over 6,100 planets beyond the Solar System in the Milky Way. Something that has become clear pretty much from the very beginning of the search for exoplanets is that there are truly some oddballs when it comes to worlds beyond the Solar System. Newly discovered TOI-4507 b is proudly […]

Rocks from Canada, Greenland, and Hawai’i have less of the already rare isotope potassium-40 than those from the rest of the Earth. The scientists who discovered this fact consider it evidence that these rocks are formed from material that existed on Earth before the collision that led to the Moon’s formation. One collision, early in […]

The solar maximum might be behind us, but the Sun continues to show off its power. Multiple coronal mass ejections (CMEs) have occurred in the last few days, and they are all aimed at Earth. They are unlikely to combine themselves into a single cannibal one, but they are still expected to produce a moderate […]

A paralyzed man in his 40s is now able to feel and use objects through the hands of another person, after receiving a brain implant that connects him to a “human avatar”.  The rest of this article is behind a paywall. Please sign in or subscribe to access the full content. Keith Thomas became paralyzed […]

In a world-first breakthrough, scientists have shown that 10 weeks of brain exercises using a game-like app are enough to significantly upregulate the production of vital chemical acetylcholine, something that no prior treatment has ever been able to do. “The training restored cholinergic health to levels typically seen in someone 10 years younger,” said senior […]

The first almost complete set of hand bones from the ancient human relative Paranthropus boisei has been found, revealing a strong grip and potential for tool use. The find raises the possibility that one of the most significant styles of tools, dating back millions of years, could have been made by Paranthropus, rather than members of […]

Not too long ago, Swiss cheese was on the brink. Its iconic hole-ridden body was filling in: the caverns that had for so many centuries dotted the alpine mainstay were shrinking, or worse – disappearing altogether.  A solution was needed – but the problem was deeper than it first seemed. Before scientists could figure out […]

If you have spent a little too long on the Internet, or have a keen interest in Illinois landmarks, you may already be aware of the infamous “Chicago rat hole”. In January 2024, X user WinslowDumaine posted an image of a sidewalk on West Roscoe Street in Chicago, Illinois. Known locally for around 20 years, […]

In 2025, diggers returned to Dewars Farm near Bicester, UK, in search of the footprints of giants. Known as Oxfordshire’s “dinosaur highway”, the site is home to hundreds of footprints dating back 166 million years. The rest of this article is behind a paywall. Please sign in or subscribe to access the full content. Now, […]

Do spiders dream? It’s strange to imagine, but there is evidence to suggest that at least some species might. We know that spiders enter a sleep-like state. This deep rest state enables them to keep healthy, and despite being all eight legs and lots of eyes, they share a surprising number of similarities to human […]

IFLScience was recently at the Open Day of the European Space Research and Technology Centre, which is seen as the technical heart of the European Space Agency (ESA). There, we had the opportunity to interview ESA astronaut Rosemary Coogan, who is part of the recently graduated Hopper class of astronauts. The name refers to their […]

The Big Bang and the age of the universe have plenty of evidence behind them, from the temperature of the cosmic microwave background to the measured expansion of the universe. Through a lot of work over the last century, we now believe the universe to be around 13.8 billion years old. But it would not […]

One too many bottles of red wine will leave most humans with a throbbing skull the following morning. However, a few unfortunate souls will develop a nasty headache after just consuming a small tipple of red wine, while other alcoholic beverages leave them feeling fine (if not pleasantly numbed).  There are a few ideas as […]

It’s been a bumper year for the manta ray with a brand new species added to the roster, and they’ve even been seen being used as scratching posts by Galapagos sharks. But the fun does not stop there, as new research has revealed that they are diving deeper than anyone thought. To learn more about […]

English physicist and science communicator Brian Cox has given some of his thoughts on comet 3I/ATLAS, the interstellar visitor currently hurtling its way through the Solar System. On July 1, 2025, astronomers at the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) spotted an object moving through the Solar System. That’s no surprise, given the name. What […]

How do you spot pregnant individuals in the archaeological record? With great difficulty, it turns out. But that could be about to change, as a test capable of identifying hormones in skeletons breaks new ground in our understanding of ancient pregnancy. For the first time, estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone have been detected in multiple human […]

While snooping around one of the world’s most remarkable archaeological sites, researchers peeled away layers of dusty earth to reveal a large, stony human face staring back at them. With further digging, archaeologists realized they had uncovered the first human face carved onto a T-shaped obelisk ever found at this magnificent site. The rest of […]

Adult women with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) receive their diagnosis on average five years later than men do, even when their symptoms arose at the same age and despite the fact that women’s symptoms tend to have a more negative impact on their wellbeing. New research looked at a sample of 900 adults with ADHD receiving […]