Deborah Bloomfield

On Earth today, there is only one species of humans. Us. Homo sapiens to use our scientific term. But this was not always the case – multiple species of humans existed at the same time for most of the last several hundred thousand years. Then, they all disappeared, leaving us as the only extant member […]

A team of researchers believe they may have a way of testing the hypothesis that consciousness in humans arises from entanglement within our brains. To do so would involve creating interfaces between human brains and quantum computers, and attempting to measure any resulting changes in consciousness. Consciousness is something we all have, but know surprisingly […]

A new-to-science moray eel has been discovered lurking in the dim river mouths of the Central Indo-Pacific, inspiring a species name that’s a hat-tip to the ruler of the underworld, Hades. With a name that means “the unseen one,” Hades seems fitting for an eel whose dark coloration means it blends seamlessly into mud. Its […]

Cutting-edge astronomy is always a balance between the most incredible breakthroughs and realizing those breakthroughs have not just provided answers, but have also raised questions – some old and some new. This last year did not buck the trend. Astronomy discoveries were delivered aplenty, leading to crucial new insights. Still, new mysteries and old challenges […]

The Sun is currently experiencing its solar maximum and we have seen its effects across the months with intense solar flares, extreme geomagnetic storms, and auroral displays at lower latitudes than usual. This week is clearly not an exception – an eruption of plasma, known as a coronal mass ejection (CME), has been released from […]

Around 200 million years ago, Earth’s last supercontinent Pangea began to break apart, with plate tectonics slowly moving the continents into the world we recognize today.    Plate tectonics was only discovered relatively recently. Though German meteorologist Alfred Wegner first proposed continental drift in 1912 – and hypothesized that the continents were once joined in […]

Stare deep into the eyes of a sheep and you’ll probably upset a farmer, but before the guns start waving you might notice something strange. Rather than a bouncy round pupil like our own, sheep have a rectangular black blob in the middle of their eyes. So, what gives? These ruminant mammals sit alongside deer […]

The top 10 hottest years since the temperature record began have all happened in the last ten years, and scientists have already said that 2024 is “effectively certain” to be the hottest year on record. With governments across the world dillydallying as the consequences of the climate crisis become more serious every day, UN Secretary-General […]

The mystery surrounding one of the largest megalithic monuments in the Middle East has deepened significantly, as new research has just shattered the popular theory that the circular Rujm el-Hiri in the Golan Heights functioned as an astronomical observatory. Also known as the Wheel of Ghosts and the Levantine Stonehenge, this enigmatic labyrinthine structure is […]

To be with a loved one when it’s their time to go is a special comfort to a lot of people, but there are some aspects to the process of dying that can be uncomfortable and even upsetting to witness. Perhaps the most famous of these is the “death rattle,” a symptom with a name […]

A new metadata analysis into the presence of microplastic concentrations in humans has highlighted multiple links with tissue damage and other health conditions. Over the course of the last 70 years, plastic has become an increasingly significant global commodity, impacting nearly every aspect of human life. During the 1950s, plastic production was around 1.5 million […]

As we wind toward the year’s end we often find ourselves thinking about the future, but sometimes it takes a rare nugget from the past to make strides in academia. Take fossils, a dizzying diversity of really, really old stuff that somehow defied decay and decomposition to linger on in a record we can dive […]

Oh, America. You do so confuse the rest of the world, with your “pounds per square inch” and “cups”, instead of sensible measurements like Pascals and liters. And part and parcel of that is your stubborn refusal to drop Fahrenheit in favor of Celsius.  Of course, we admit that Fahrenheit does have some advantages. But […]

Some years seem to zip by in the blink of an eye, while others seem to drag on for far longer. But some, like leap years, can last a little longer than usual. And then there’s 46 BCE, which lasted 445 days, 80 days more than we are used to.  So, why did the year […]

A new study examining stick and leaf insect species has found evidence of convergent evolution, with all of the insects evolving similar characteristics despite diverging long ago. Convergent evolution is when similar features that have a similar form or function evolve in species from different periods or regions, despite the last common ancestor of the […]

Have you ever bought a bottle of vinegar with a claim on the label that it contains the “mother”? Once you bring it home and peer more closely into the bottle you’ll see a slimy blob at the bottom – this is the mother of vinegar. What is vinegar? Vinegar has been around for thousands […]

A new video from xkcd cartoonist, science communicator, and author Randall Munroe has posed the age old question; what if we put a pool on the Moon? While splashing around in water on Earth is enjoyable, it turns out that if NASA got their asses in gear it could be a whole lot more fun.  […]

In the shadow of the worst nuclear disaster in history, a population of dogs in Chernobyl, Ukraine, have become genetically different from canines in the rest of the world. The reasons for this have always been something of a mystery, but things just got even more perplexing as new research reveals that increased mutation likely […]

Health departments are warning people to take precautions against norovirus after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported a surge in cases in some parts of the US. Recent figures show that 91 outbreaks of the virus were reported during the week of December 5, an increase of 22 from the previous week.  […]

A submarine volcano near Oregon looks like it could erupt at any time, and scientists have stuck their necks out by predicting that the event will occur before the end of 2025.  Forecasting volcanic eruptions with more than a few hours’ notice is currently a huge challenge, yet researchers have identified an undersea volcano called […]