Deborah Bloomfield

A hydrothermal explosion in the Biscuit Basin thermal area of Yellowstone National Park that sent visitors running has been captured on video. The area has been temporarily closed, and damaged boardwalks need repair, but no injuries have been reported. More importantly, the explosion is unlikely to be a forerunner of anything bigger, with other activity […]

Changes in temperatures in the Eastern Pacific, known as El Niños and La Niñas, ripple around the world, causing droughts and floods in different locations. New evidence suggests there is another such phenomenon, whose effects are felt across the Southern Hemisphere and have not previously been noticed – and it all starts in a surprisingly […]

Joby Aviation has tested a first-of-its-kind hydrogen-electric air taxi, and it went record-breakingly well. The aircraft is a modified electric vehicle with six rotors that already has thousands of miles under its belt. The latest demonstration has shown that it can go even farther, flying 840 kilometers (523 miles) over California. And since it used […]

Theoretical dark matter particles could explain how supermassive black holes (SMBHs) at the heart of galaxies merge. The idea could also make sense of some unexplained features of dark matter behavior on vastly larger scales. Advertisement SMBHs are key to understanding many of the most important features of the universe, from the light of astonishingly […]

A clay tablet engraved with what appears to be one of the world’s oldest known sales receipts has been discovered by archaeologists in southern Türkiye. Written in cuneiform, the ancient document dates back to the 15th century BCE and records the purchase of large quantities of wooden furniture. Announcing the discovery, Turkish Minister of Culture […]

Megalodon was slightly faster than a great white according to a new study that looked at sharks’ denticles as an indicator of their hunting speed. Despite the significant difference between the enormous estimated size of megalodon and its comparatively smaller extant relative, both were estimated to hunt at a pace comparable to that of an […]

A breakthrough HIV drug, touted as the “closest thing we have to a vaccine”, could be produced for 1,000 times less than its current cost, according to new research. Right now, a full first-year course of the treatment costs an eye-watering $42,250 per patient, but one analysis suggests that could be slashed to just $40. […]

The JWST has allowed astronomers to peer back further into the past than any other infrared or optical telescope, seeing infrared light that was emitted by distant galaxies just 300 million years after the Big Bang. Advertisement With the infrared telescope, we were hoping to learn more about the formation of galaxies, as well as […]

If you’ve ever glanced skywards and seen groups of birds flying in beautifully organized V formations have you ever stopped to wonder how and why they are doing that? While the V formation is famous for a number of reasons, it is actually the less common formation for birds to travel in and is largely […]

Competition in the Tour de France is extreme. Riders complete over 80 hours on the bike over 3 weeks, yet the first place finish was cumulatively only around 6 minutes faster than second place. During the event, the training and lifestyle factors that can give athletes a competitive edge are under the spotlight. This year, […]

China has created the first large-scale nuclear power station that is apparently resistant to meltdowns. Although this design cannot be fitted to existing nuclear reactors, it provides a model that can be used for any future constructions. Advertisement How are nuclear reactors cooled? Existing nuclear power reactors require powered cooling systems to operate. The nature […]

The Grand Canyon is a spectacular sight to behold in and of itself, but did you know the surrounding national park is also home to a wealth of prehistoric rock art? Don’t be disappointed if you didn’t – the exact whereabouts of the vast majority of it remains a closely guarded secret. Advertisement Take Shamans’ […]

Ever been crossing a bridge and found yourself faced with hundreds – or even hundreds of thousands – of padlocks? The cultural phenomenon can be seen across the globe, and has even caught on to the point of becoming dangerous in some places, so what’s the deal with all these pointless padlocks? Love Lock Bridge […]

The Statue of Liberty – gifted to the USA by France in 1884 – is one of the most recognizable monuments in the world. Advertisement Picture it, and you probably see its distinctive shade of green (though it hasn’t always been so), the torch symbolizing enlightenment, and the distinctive diadem placed upon her head. You […]

Running to the toilet to pee what seems like every five minutes, only to be greeted with a burning sensation when you do is enough to get many people reaching for the cranberry juice. Downing a glass is perhaps one of the most widely believed “cures” for urinary tract infections (UTIs), but is it backed […]

Rare-earth elements have some fantastic magnetic properties. The strongest magnets we know are based on rare-earths. They are found in many devices, including computing components such as hard disks. And still, tweaking the magnetic properties has not been a straightforward road. Scientists now have found a way to tweak them right at the subatomic level. […]

Power lines are a great place to look if you are in need of birds or shoes. It’s not unusual to see a group of small birds, or a larger bird, apparently relaxing on wires used to transfer electricity over long distances to consumers. So why do they do this, and how come they don’t […]

When you look up at the 200 billion trillion (ish) stars, you probably don’t think about adding another – but NASA aims to launch an artificial “star” over the USA before the end of the decade. Advertisement From Earth, stars appear to have variable brightness based on a number of factors, including how distant they […]

A scientific report has been published on the archaeological significance of the Juukan 2 rock shelter, four years after it was destroyed to make way for mining. We will never know what treasures were remaining to be found at the shelter, but the study of the items extracted previously gives some idea of how much […]

On June 28, 2009, theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking sat alone in a college at the University of Cambridge and waited patiently for party guests to arrive. Then he sent out invites. Advertisement Hawking was doing a (presumably, quite tongue-in-cheek) experiment to see if time travel is possible. The idea was that if he sent the […]