Deborah Bloomfield

Which word captures the spirit of 2024: “brain rot” or “enshittification”? Both have been highlighted by separate dictionary publishers as words that reflect the zeitgeist of the past year – and both show how online culture continues to shape the way we communicate with each other (for better or worse). “Brain rot” has been awarded […]

It may not always be obvious from reading certain social media comment sections, but we humans have really big brains for our body size. Growing a large brain takes a whole lot of energy, so it’s long been wondered exactly how evolution ended up sending us down this path. A new study is proposing an […]

Antarctica’s Lake Enigma has become slightly less enigmatic. It was once assumed the faraway lake was frozen solid from top to bottom, but scientists have now discovered a massive hidden body of unfrozen water beneath its chunky ice surface. Here, amid the frosty waters, they found a unique ecosystem teeming with life. Lake Enigma is […]

The Solar System has a new confirmed comet, after repeated observations of candidate 456P/PANSTARRS showed it is an active, icy body. The object, discovered in 2021 and given the temporary name 2021 L4, orbits between Mars and Jupiter in the main asteroid belt, taking 3,956 days (10.83 years) to do so. When it was first […]

A team of scientists have created a new kind of wood that glows in the dark thanks to the presence of a fungus that exhibits bioluminescence. It sounds like a building material fresh out of Avatar, but this ghostly glow is seen in nature as what’s known as “foxfire” – a phenomenon that inspired the […]

The International Astronomical Union (IAU) is getting close to announcing the official name of (164207) 2004 GU9, one of Earth’s quasi-moons. Members of the public have proposed multiple names for it, and now the public has once again been called upon to help, with the chance to pick the winning one among seven selected by […]

Efforts to build a global treaty to combat plastic pollution fell apart over the weekend. While international agreements are rarely straightforward, many believe powerful forces were working to undermine the talks: big oil and countries hellbent on fossil fuel production. Almost 200 nations recently met in Busan, South Korea, for the fifth session of the […]

The Arctic Ocean could have a period effectively devoid of ice as soon as summer 2027, new research shows. The exact date is not a prediction; there is enough annual variation and uncertainty that the near complete absence of ice may take many years longer. One way or another, however, we are heading for summers […]

For the first time in half a century, scientists have hit on a new treatment for asthma attacks. Clinical trial results have shown that a drug called benralizumab is effective at treating acute attacks of both asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and it works better than the current standard steroid treatment. Asthma is […]

There are plenty of great tree mysteries out there, from the beech tree masting mystery to why all Cook pine trees lean toward the equator no matter where they are on Earth. But before you check out those, let’s start with some plant basics; where do they get their mass from, or the matter that […]

The Fountain of the Lions in the Alhambra has amazed people for centuries. It’s a beautiful, ornamental water feature sitting preeminently at the center of the now-infamous Court of the Lions. Twelve lions hold a basin, and from their mouths, water spouts into a 12-sided canal that spreads in four channels across the courtyard. Twelve […]

The world’s first urban wind turbine designed to be tailored to the various wind conditions of specific geographic areas has been unveiled, created by a joint team of AI design specialists and precision metal fabricators. The “Birmingham Blade” has been designed by EvoPhase and KwikFab to address a substantial problem for green energy production – […]

It sounds like the plot of a modern crime drama, but it’s very real. In 2015, contractors working off Florida’s Treasure Coast as salvage operators for a company hunting for lost historical artifacts once contained in sunken Spanish fleets made a remarkable discovery: 101 gold coins. But rather than report the whole discovery, the operators […]

A drug that has recently been approved for the treatment of schizophrenia could one day be prescribed to Alzheimer’s patients. Researchers are trialing Cobenfy to see if it effectively treats Alzheimer’s-induced psychosis. However, there is still a fair way to go before we see if it will be approved as a treatment option for this […]

In 2020, during the height of the pandemic, 350 African elephants died suddenly and mysteriously in northeastern Botswana. Many theories have been put forward to explain what exactly caused this mass die-off. Now, research not only confirms the statements put forward by officials closer to the time but highlights the tragic effect of climate change […]

Earlier this year, a little gray cat called Rayne Beau (pronounced rainbow) embarked on an epic adventure, traveling 1,448 kilometers (900 miles) from Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming back home to California. The fearless feline got lost in America’s oldest national park while visiting with his family during a camping trip. Against all the odds, […]

Kids have always loved fingerpainting, and you could probably count on one hand the number of preschoolers who don’t enjoy slapping their colorful palm prints onto paper – or better yet, walls. Amazingly, new research suggests that this universal artistic craze pre-dates our own species, with evidence pointing the finger at Neanderthals as the instigators […]

It’s not been a great year for salad lovers; both the US and the UK have seen significant outbreaks of foodborne illness linked back to salad vegetables. But what is it about our favorite crisp and fresh ingredients that can make them a potential source of such unpleasantness? How often do these outbreaks happen? The […]

Researchers have announced that they have constructed the current best map of the background of gravitational waves across the universe. They did so using the incredible MeerKAT radio telescopes in South Africa. But this map has an unexpected feature: there is a possible anomaly in the gravitational waves washing across our galaxy, linked to the […]

A provocative study is claiming that biology textbooks are going to need some major revisions – although not everyone is convinced. The axons of a neuron – the arm-like structures that stretch out and exchange signals with other brain cells like wires – are often depicted as sausage-like cylindrical tubes, but new imaging suggests they […]