Deborah Bloomfield

Even one of the world’s rarest freshwater dolphins is not safe from the scourge of plastic pollution. For the first time, researchers have discovered microplastics inside the stomachs of endangered Indus River dolphins. The Indus River dolphin (Platanista minor) is a freshwater species found mainly in Pakistan with a small population in India. Wonderfully adapted […]

Venus probably shares its orbit with numerous asteroids with unstable orbits, and these could represent one of the most unpredictable threats to Earth from space. We’ve only found a few of these objects, but a new study notes that given how hard it is to find them, the sample we have indicates there must be […]

A giant structure around 9.2 billion light-years from Earth and measuring around 1.3 billion light-years across is raising huge questions about our understanding of the universe. If the structure persists with continued observations and analysis, it could shake up the cosmological principle, and the idea that the universe is the same in all directions. The […]

We humans love putting things in boxes. Assigning simple categories makes us feel comfortable – but all too often, biology comes along to ruin the fun. Sex is often described in simplistic, binary terms: male and female. The reality, however, contains a lot more shades of gray, and now a new study is showing that […]

The Nikon Small World in Motion 2025 winners have been announced, and oh boy are they a delight for the eyes. The competition features the very best in movie or digital time-lapse photography and they are all taken through a microscope.  The rest of this article is behind a paywall. Please sign in or subscribe […]

If you’re planning a trip to Bolivia’s Salar de Uyuni, be sure to take your camera. Not only does the relentless uniformity of the landscape provide endless opportunities for trick photography by distorting the sense of perspective, but the thin layer of water that accumulates on the surface also converts this colossal salt flat into […]

Everything is stranger in Australia, at least when it comes to wildlife. Case in point: in a quiet corner of the country, the hills gurgle and slurp with the sounds of giant earthworms that are longer than a pool table. The giant Gippsland earthworm (Megascolides australis) averages around 1 meter (3.3 feet) in length with […]

One of the world’s rarest mammals can be found in America. Known as red wolves, they are among the rarest in the world, but there was a time when their range reached from southeastern Texas to central Pennsylvania. However, as of August 2025, the Wolf Conservation Center reports there are just 18 known to remain […]

Two diamonds from South Africa’s Voorspoed mine provide a rare direct insight into the chemistry of Earth’s mantle. Although diamonds can be formed in multiple ways, the findings add to evidence natural diamonds are most often formed deep in the mantle at depths where pressures are 9-16 billion pascals and temperatures are around 1,600°C (2,900°F). […]

NASA has selected its next round of astronaut candidates, or ASCANs, from a pool of 8,000 candidates. The final selection of six women and four men will endure two years of notoriously intense training before being eligible for flight missions, which could take them to low-Earth orbit, the Moon, or even Mars. The selection, NASA’s […]

The Trump administration just announced a program of actions to tackle the so-called “autism epidemic”, a term that is disputed by many within the autistic community. As well as seeking Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for a new drug treatment, safety label changes are being pursued for acetaminophen (paracetamol) due to a “potential association” […]

Just like their human neighbors, the rats of New York City have their own distinctive vocalizations, or “accent”, something akin to an urban dialect shaped by the chaos of noisy subways, busy sidewalks, and an abundance of dropped pizza slices. Likewise, these city-slicking rodents have a unique social life that’s significantly different from their lab-living […]

The JWST has found “dark beads” and unexpected structures inside the atmosphere of Saturn – strange features never seen before in the Solar System. On November 24, 2024, the JWST turned to observe Saturn for 10 hours, seeing the gas giant in unprecedented detail in the near-infrared spectrum. An international team looking at the data […]

The human brain is a hefty thing. Weighing well over a kilo, its an electrified lump that’s been compared by neuroscientists to the texture of silken tofu, and yet within its innumerous connections is coded everything that we are.  That wasn’t always the case, however. In fact, among the earliest lifeforms, eyes actually evolved before […]

If you believe certain, odder, corners of the Internet, scientists are either too arrogant to investigate the possibility of alien life visiting Earth, or actively involved in a cover-up.  But what do scientists really think about UFOs, and aliens more generally? Are they interested in the phenomenon, and do they think it worthy of further […]

A new species of predatory dinosaur has been described from fossils found in South America, and to say they are intimidating is an understatement. With a thumb claw that makes the human hand look puny, it’s safe to say that Joaquinraptor casali would’ve been much feared in its ecosystem, back when it was munching crocodiles around […]

Imagine the situation: you walk into an interview, and they hit you with an unexpected question. Which number is bigger, they ask: 3.14π, or π3.14? Now, other than being annoyed that this is being asked for an entry-level job at a gas station, what’s the answer? Don’t worry, we don’t expect you to work it […]

There are two great mysteries at the heart of console gaming: Why are there people out there who don’t invert their controllers? And why on Earth would the makers of such games label this perverse layout as “normal”? For those of you who aren’t gamers, a brief explanation. The so-called normal layout of a controller […]

We all love a mathematical brainteaser here at IFLS. Monty Hall? Done it mate. Two circles shoved into a quadrilateral of unknown size? Been there, solved that. Some Singaporean kids’ seemingly impossible homework? Debunked it, found the real answer. It’s kind of our thing. So, when we saw a new probability puzzle making the rounds […]

It’s beginning to look a lot like fall, and with the crisp sound of a crunchy leaf underfoot and the smell of pumpkin spice in the air, it’s time to tackle some of the more unwanted aspects of the third season. What can we do about the spiders? The rest of this article is behind […]