Deborah Bloomfield

US national parks are famed for their biodiversity, but even the most well-studied of places can still throw us a surprise or two. In 2024, Big Bend National Park in Texas presented a particularly rare one – the first new plant genus and species to have been discovered in a US national park since 1976. […]

A nearby supernova that peppered the Earth with cosmic rays 2-3 million years ago has been blamed for an upsurge in viruses in an African Lake at the time. The connection remains fairly speculative, but if confirmed, it may change how we see the drivers of new species, and not just at the viral scale. […]

While we’re often told of the importance of water and drinking enough of it, like anything else that’s meant to be good for us, too much of it can be just as much a problem as too little. Guzzling down too much water can lead to water intoxication – and that can have some pretty […]

Penile fractures – now those are two words that cause many people to wince and cover their eyes while shouting “No, No, No!”. Unfortunately, this is an injury that is frequently heralded by an audible crack followed by severe pain for the recipient – and it happens a bit more often than people may think. […]

A team of scientists from two universities in China have synthesized a material harder than diamond in the laboratory. ADVERTISEMENT GO AD FREE When carbon is subjected to extreme heat and pressure within the Earth, it can crystalize to form diamonds; the hardest (though not necessarily the toughest) natural mineral on the planet. In diamond, […]

Are you feeling sleepy? You’re in good company if so: at last count, nearly three in five US adults report that they’d feel better for a good night’s kip. But there’s more to sleep than sheer hours put in: the quality of your slumber is at least as important, if not more so, than the […]

The chances of asteroid 2024 YR4 colliding with Earth in 2032 have risen again (again), making it the most dangerous near-Earth object (NEO) since astronomers began tracking them.  ADVERTISEMENT GO AD FREE The odds of the asteroid striking Earth on December 22, 2032, are currently at 1 in 32, or 3.1 percent, rising from 2.6 […]

The tomb of King Thutmose II has finally been discovered in Egypt, more than a hundred years after the Pharaoh’s mummified body was found elsewhere. The last of the lost tombs belonging to the kings of the 18th Dynasty, Thutmose II’s burial site is also the first royal tomb to be found in Egypt since […]

The weather’s miserable and you crave something cheerful. You have bananas, flour, sugar, butter, all the makings of a soon-to-be-delicious loaf but lo and behold, you’re fresh out of eggs. What if I were to tell you that the solution could be sitting in your pantry, and that it is small, grey, and looks a […]

There’s an old joke, that goes a little something like this: a thermos can keep hot things hot and cold things cold. But how does it know? ADVERTISEMENT GO AD FREE The joke is that the teller doesn’t know how a thermos works, but it’s a fairly common question and there’s no shame in not […]

Let’s try something – sit down on the floor with your knees locked and your legs straight out. Keeping your back straight, are you able to lean forward and touch your toes? Nope? You’re not the only one – but why is it that some people can touch their toes while others can’t? Flexibility is […]

Astronauts on board the International Space Station (ISS) get some pretty spectacular views and the giddy feelings that come with constantly falling toward the Earth, so it’s hard to feel too sorry for their sleeping arrangements.  ADVERTISEMENT GO AD FREE But, as advanced and impressive as the ISS is, the sleeping arrangements are essentially a […]

The first zoo in London was not a zoo per se, but rather a royal menagerie that was established at the Tower of London. A whole range of exotic animals were kept at this famous building for over 600 years (not the same animals, of course), where they were exhibited to different audiences and sometimes […]

Saffron, an Arabian Camel at Werribee Open Range Zoo, has a new lease on life since a soft tissue specialist has been giving her remedial massages for her arthritis. Saffron is just one of the large animals getting the luxury treatment, but the zoo considers her impressive recovery particularly noteworthy. ADVERTISEMENT GO AD FREE Zoos […]

Sleep – we all need it, but how much? Turns out it’s not as clear-cut as it might often seem. ADVERTISEMENT GO AD FREE Most of the recommendations out there for how many hours of sleep we need for optimal health are given based on age. That makes sense considering that our health needs change […]

Over the weekend, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) accidentally fired several employees who were working on the federal government’s response to the H5N1 bird flu outbreak. The USDA are now backpaddling in order to rehire these workers at a time when bird flu is ravaging the US poultry population and contributing to the rise […]

We often think the brain is like a muscle – we say things like “use it or lose it!”, and we talk about exercising or “training” our brains. In reality, actual brain tissue looks pretty much nothing like muscle. For one thing, it’s probably a lot wetter. However, intriguing new findings suggest that deep down, […]

More than 150 cetaceans have been stranded near the north-western tip of Tasmania, and the Marine Conservation Program thinks even those currently still alive are unlikely to be saved. ADVERTISEMENT GO AD FREE The stranding occurred on a beach near Arthur River, a village with a population of just 32. Nearby towns such as Marrawah […]

Sunita “Suni” Williams and Barry “Butch” Wilmore departed for the International Space Station on June 5 2024, the third and final test of Boeing’s new Starliner capsule, and its first launch with a crew. The mission was only expected to last for eight days before the two returned to Earth, but due to problems with […]

Nokia’s Lunar Surface Communication System, or “LSCS”, has been successfully integrated with Intuitive Machines‘ second mission lander, Athena. Athena is expected to launch next week and its main goal is to measure the presence of lunar water ice. It will have multiple vehicles on board and some of them will use the LSCS to communicate […]