Deborah Bloomfield

While snapping photos of the surface of Mars in 2011, the HiRISE instrument aboard the robotic Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spotted a very unusual feature. Advertisement On Pavonis Mons – a large shield volcano in the Tharsis region of volcanic mountains – the camera saw a giant hole, appearing to lead into a large underground cavern. […]

Lurking in the snow and frost of Greenland’s ice sheet, mysterious giant viruses has been discovered. They share the ice with an abundance of algae, which means this is the first time these viruses – about which we know relatively little – have been found in such a habitat. But it’s not bad news (unless […]

A pair of bronze cauldrons from Mongolia were used to collect the blood of animals around 2,700 years ago, new research has found. According to the study authors, the blood was probably processed into sausages that may have resembled black pudding or morcela, which continue to both delight and disgust diners around the world today. […]

SARS-CoV-2, the virus whose name we all wish we didn’t know, can hang around in sperm for 110 days after infection according to a new study. There’s long been a suggestion that COVID-19 could have a negative impact on sperm, but the authors believe their study is the first to show just how long the […]

The curious case of Florida’s sawfish is continuing to evade explanation. Researchers have been working hard to find the reason why sawfish in the Florida Keys are erratically spinning around and dying en-masse, but their tests have yet to uncover a culprit. Advertisement Since the fall of 2023, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission […]

Black holes are weird. Predicted as a result of Einstein’s general theory of relativity, they contain an outer region known as the event horizon – from which nothing, even light can escape. As well as this, they are predicted to have an infinitely dense point where our understanding of physics breaks down, and nothing makes […]

On June 5 at 10:52 am ET, Boeing’s Starliner Calypso took to the sky carrying NASA astronauts Barry Wilmore and Sunita Williams to the International Space Station (ISS). This was the third and final test for the commercial vehicle and its first crewed test to demonstrate that Starliner is a safe way to ferry astronauts […]

R/P FLIP, the FLoating Instrument Platform, was a true one-of-a-kind, but it now lies in pieces at a undisclosed scrapyard. Advertisement Measuring 108 meters (355 feet) long, FLIP was an oceanic research platform designed to be towed out to sea horizontally, just like any conventional seafaring vessel. Upon command, it would be partially flooded and […]

A whopping great spider of an invasive species is believed to be on its way to New York, which is bad news for arachnophobes but really not that big of a deal for everybody else. The joro spider is a regular in the news for its United States tour, but despite its impressive size, it’s […]

A titan arum (Amorphophallus titanum) specimen at Kew Gardens, London, England, has bloomed for the first time in years, releasing its trademark almighty stench.  Advertisement The plant was first described in 1878 by Italian botanist Odoardo Beccari, who found it in Sumatra, Indonesia. Beccari sent seeds to several botanical gardens, including Kew, where these strange […]

Going for a family hike might not be everyone’s idea of a good time, but for three children in North Dakota, their outing led them to discover a juvenile T. rex skeleton, which is now on display at a museum.  Advertisement Jessin and Liam Fisher, their dad, Sam Fisher, and their cousin, Kaiden Madsen were […]

Many scientists believe that sperm counts across the world are on a general decline, with potentially serious ramifications for fertility and male health – but what if they’re wrong? A new study from researchers in the UK, Canada, and Denmark suggests the true situation may not be so straightforward, and that sperm quality, rather than […]

An infamous koala nicknamed “Claude” has conducted a broad-daylight heist on the Eastern Forest Nursery in South Gundurimba, New South Wales, Australia. Last year, workers at the nursery – which grows eucalyptus trees for a koala habitat – noticed that a number of their plants appeared to have been chewed on. Advertisement “One morning we […]

Neutron stars are the end product of certain supernovae. Massive stars collapse on themselves and then explode, leaving behind a dense object which in many cases is spinning very fast, emitting pulses of radio waves. Some of these objects spin hundreds times per second. Now, researchers report the discovery of a radio-emitting neutron star that […]

While hunting for submerged fossils off the coast of Florida, a 29-year-old man discovered the huge tusk of a mastodon, a distant cousin of the woolly mammoth and modern-day elephants. Advertisement Alex Lundberg recovered the 1.2-meter (4-foot) tusk in April 2024 while exploring the waters off Venice Beach in the Gulf of Mexico. Upon diving, […]

On May 31, the Hubble Space Telescope automatically entered safe mode due to one of its three gyroscopes giving faulty telemetry readings. These instruments allow the telescope to point consistently in the right direction, and they are key to the functioning of the space observatory. Advertisement NASA has now announced a press conference  to update […]

Some of the largest and most enigmatic rock art in the world can be found along South America’s Orinoco River, featuring a zig-zagging snake that stretches for more than 40 meters (131 feet) along with human figures and giant Amazonian centipedes. Advertisement In a new study, archaeologists have mapped the 14 sites that comprise this […]

NASA’s rovers on Mars do not have feelings– which is probably a good thing, given that they are living on a planet populated entirely by robots, with nothing but a barren landscape to explore alone. But every now and then, one of the rovers will pick up a companion. The latest to join Perseverance on […]

During an expedition to survey the biodiversity of northeast India’s Siang Valley, entomologists have stumbled upon a brand-new species of teeny-tiny ant with a rare appearance: it’s a dazzling metallic blue. Being so shiny appears to have done it a favor when it comes to being found – the team noticed something glistening whilst searching […]

Eating too much meat is bad for you, bad for the environment, and fatal for the animals involved. Those are straight facts, indisputable and proven through years of study. But counterpoint: have you considered that vegans are annoying? Advertisement If the comments section under just about any media promoting a vegetarian or vegan diet is […]