Deborah Bloomfield

A new analysis has found that over 100 health datasets from US government agencies were “substantially altered” in the two months after the beginning of the new administration earlier this year, in many cases switching the word “gender” to “sex”. Only a small number of the changes were logged, something the authors behind the analysis […]

Famous for its colossal stone heads – or moai – Easter Island is the scene of one of the great archaeological mysteries, as a unique monolithic ritual culture emerged and then vanished here – all for reasons unknown. Until now, it was widely believed that this rise and fall occurred in isolation from the outside […]

The discovery that birds are dinosaurs shook up how we structure the tree of life, and led to a lot of jokes about chicken nuggets. However, it has made some people wonder why they’re all so diminished in size compared to the giants of the past. There were plenty of small dinosaurs pre-asteroid, but the […]

Psychologists have demonstrated a robust psychological illusion that distorts how we remember when something happened. The illusion causes a mistaken belief that repeated experiences actually occurred longer ago than they really did. How do you judge when an event occurred in the past? For big things that happened across years, we have calendar reminders; holidays, […]

We often assume our ancestors were smaller than us – and usually, it’s true. Out on the northern fringes of the Roman Empire, however, there appears to have been a small population of giants standing guard some 2,000 years ago – at least, if their shoes are anything to go by. “I think there is […]

Researchers have found that people scoring high for psychopathy have structural changes in parts of their brains related to impulse control and emotional regulation. The results further our understanding of people with these associated personality traits and behaviors and could lead to new treatments and rehabilitation strategies. Psychopathy is a tricky subject due to decades […]

This week, a 125,000-year-old Neandertal “fat factory” reveals that they gorged on energy-packed bone grease, a new study has found that there really is a link between eating cheese and having nightmares, and scientists were stunned to find a cave full of mummified, never-before-seen, eyeless invertebrates. Finally, in 2032, Earth may witness a once-in-5,000-year event […]

This week, if you looked up at the right time and with the right equipment, you may have witnessed a “V” and an “X” shape on the surface of the Moon. While your chance to see that event has passed (for now), it is possible to witness another lunar event on Friday, July 4, as […]

While studying a remote, coral-covered island in the Mediterranean, scientists were shocked to discover that it has become riddled with some of the highest levels of microplastic pollution ever recorded in the region. The discovery was made in the volcanic bay of Illa Grossa, located on the Columbretes Islands marine reserve around 50 kilometers (31 […]

This week on Break It Down: We’ve just seen our third-ever interstellar object whizzing though the Solar System, eating cheese really might give you nightmares (but so might dessert), cavers are rewarded with a treasure trove of blind, mummified invertebrates including the only known cave-adapted wasp, the Neanderthal fat factory is just as delicious as […]

An exceptional celestial finding is about to go up for auction at Sotheby’s this month. Meteorite NWA 16788 doesn’t have the catchiest name but it will soon be famous, as it is likely to become the “most valuable” meteorite in the world once it does; the estimated sale price is $2-4 million. At 24.5 kilograms […]

Surgery is always risky, and when you’re operating on an animal rather than a person, the logistics involved can be pretty serious, especially when that animal typically lives in the water. Kimalu, a beluga whale, has just become the first known beluga in the world to recover from general anesthesia after an operation to remove […]

Space, famously, is the final frontier. That makes just about everything we do there unprecedented – and sometimes, they’re un-succeeded, too. One such event – never before tried; never since repeated – was the flight of Soyuz T-15. With a crew of just two cosmonauts, featuring a Soviet space station on its last legs, and […]

A bison got into hot water in the most literal sense in Yellowstone Park on June 21, 2025. The fatal error was witnessed by visitors to the park who saw it stumble into a shallow area before disappearing into deeper water. These springs are so difficult to navigate safely that the decision has been made […]

The US Department of Defense has acknowledged that climate change is one of the biggest threats to global security currently facing the world. In a twist of irony, the biggest producer of greenhouse gas emissions of any institution on Earth is, uh, their military. Between 2010 to 2019, the US armed forces pumped out 636 […]

We’ve all been there – playing a game of “Chubby Bunny” only to find that actually, you can’t quite fit as many marshmallows in your mouth as you thought. A common European adder found itself in a similar situation on a Danish island, where it was filmed trying – and failing – to eat a […]

Spacecraft are not like the starships you see in movies. There is no endless supply of dilithium or hypermatter that lets you travel however long you want. Fuel is scarce, and you are bound by orbital mechanics. Still, we are pretty clever at traveling to space and have sent probes to many worlds, and even […]

According to the influential medical journal, The Lancet, President Trump’s decision to cut the majority of US funding for foreign humanitarian aid could result in over 14 million additional deaths by 2030. Many of those at risk of excess premature deaths would be children, the report warns. The US Agency for International Development (USAID) is […]

Among the breathless heights of the Tibetan Plateau, a fascinating hybrid animal is commonly seen lugging backpacks and showing off its horns. Its name is the dzo, or dzomo; the product of interspecies romping between a yak and a cow. The yak-cattle hybrids are known as “dzo” if they’re male and “dzomo” if they’re female. […]

In 2019, researchers with the XENON Collaboration saw something unexpected. The device is designed to find evidence of the elusive dark matter, a hypothetical substance that is believed (with good reason) to exist everywhere. Instead, it saw something weird happening to the xenon in the device. One of the atoms decayed. This was a surprise […]