Deborah Bloomfield

The ongoing troubles of the Boeing Starliner capsule are affecting the schedule of launches to the International Space Station (ISS). The starship is on its first crewed flight test and it has been a partial success. While it flew to orbit with no issues, it experienced delays and once on approach, thrusters malfunctioned. Since then, […]

In recent months, many people will have experimented with a chatbot like ChatGPT. Useful though they can be, there’s also no shortage of examples of them producing, ahem, erroneous information. Now, a group of scientists from the University of Oxford are asking: is there a legal pathway by which we could require these chatbots to […]

In 1947, a covert Soviet test facility carried out experiments into sleep. The researchers took several test subjects – prison inmates – and sealed them in an airtight space that was then filled with an experimental stimulant gas designed to prevent sleep. Over the next few weeks, the researchers planned to observe their hapless test […]

Just three years ago, researchers discovered a new geomagnetic phenomenon. Dubbed “space hurricanes”, scientists saw huge swirling arms of plasma in the Earth’s magnetosphere hundreds of kilometers long around a calm “eye of the storm”, just like in a regular hurricane. These events can disrupt satellites in low-Earth orbit and even cause aurorae closer to […]

Archaeology and outer space may not sound like they should mix outside of science fiction – but on board the International Space Station (ISS), the first-ever archaeological survey in space has been carried out. Advertisement The ISS is the largest and most intensely inhabited space station to exist so far, boasting over 270 visitors from […]

Pet cam footage released by the fire department in Tulsa, Oklahoma, has shown the moment a house caught on fire after the owner’s dog chewed into a lithium-ion power bank. Advertisement According to a statement from the fire department posted to social media, firefighters responded to the house fire back in May. Though the building […]

Yet another study has poured cold water on the sensational claims surrounding Homo naledi, an extinct human relative with a puny brain that has been claimed to have buried its dead. Advertisement In 2023, archaeologists working at the Rising Star Cave system in South Africa claimed they had found evidence that Homo naledi intentionally buried their […]

If you ask citizens of wealthy English-speaking countries which moral values they consider most important, their answers vary by the time of year, according to a new study. Naturally, the variation is not enormous, or people would have noticed it before, but it is large and surprisingly consistent over many years and may shape choices […]

Learning more about inaccessible places is often time-consuming, expensive, and comes with a multitude of other challenges. While technologies can be adapted to explore Earth’s more remote environments, researchers in Australia have found a perfectly adapted ready-made tool to help them learn more about the ocean floor: sea lions.   Advertisement “Using animal-borne video and […]

The piles of old smartphones, obsolete computers, and broken laptops that are piling up in junkyards are hiding mini mountains of gold, and a new project in the UK is hoping to exploit the invisible riches.  Advertisement The Royal Mint, the UK’s official maker of British coins, has signed an agreement with Canadian clean tech […]

A cataclysmic comet impact 13,000 years ago may have sparked the rise of civilization, according to the authors of a new study. The event – which many scientists believe never happened – may even be documented at the world-famous site of Göbekli Tepe, forming part of a series of carvings that the researchers say represent […]

David Lynch, co-creator of the hit TV show Twin Peaks and director of iconic and often surreal movies like Blue Velvet and Eraserhead, has announced that he has emphysema. Lynch referred to the diagnosis in a recent magazine interview and confirmed the news in a post on X. Advertisement ⓘ IFLScience is not responsible for content shared from […]

There are few problems in math as stubborn as the Riemann hypothesis. First proposed in 1859, there have been dozens of attempts at solving it, by some of the sharpest mathematical minds around – but all have come up short.  Results on the hypothesis, therefore, when they do come, tend to be a bit… sideways. […]

The first Spanish city to be founded on the American mainland lasted just 14 years before it was burned to the ground amidst an Indigenous uprising. During its short existence, the settlement witnessed more than its fair share of drama and tragedy, as revealed by the findings of the first ever mapping study at the […]

Three new fossils, including part of a humerus, have been found at Mata Menge on the Indonesian island of Flores. They indicate that Homo floresiensis, popularly known as Hobbits, were descended from Homo erectus, and became small relatively soon after arriving on Flores. Indeed, it seems at least some Hobbits from 700,000 years ago were […]

Recently, the mission team behind NASA’s Perseverance announced the detection of an exciting rock formation. Nicknamed Cheyava Falls, the arrowhead-shaped rock is the most promising find in the search for ancient life on Mars yet. There are structures visible in the rock that are consistent with being modified by microorganisms – it doesn’t mean that […]

Stumble upon a certain kind of beetle in South-East Asia’s tropical forests, and you’d be forgiven for wondering why there was a prehistoric ocean creature lurking in the leaves. But fear not, someone hasn’t been Jurassic Park-ing – it’s a trilobite beetle, and its bizarreness goes beyond looking like its namesake.  Advertisement What are trilobite […]

Ever had someone make you jump and find yourself clutching your chest? It’s like something just zapped behind your sternum, you feel a little shaky even. You lean against the wall as you recover, wondering why your friend is such a jerk, and why you can physically feel it in your chest when you get […]

Nutty Putty Cave has become synonymous with the tragic death of a caver who became trapped in its narrow tunnels in 2009. But while many people have learned about the cave through this accident, they are less familiar with the cave’s longer history. Advertisement For decades prior to the incident, the cave system was a […]

The bright purple athletics track at the Paris Olympics has fast become one of the Games’ most recognizable features (besides Muffin Man, that is) – but there’s far more to it than a pleasing appearance. Not only is it thought to be the fastest Olympic track ever, but it’s also got a surprise ingredient: shells. […]