Deborah Bloomfield

Humans confirmed the existence of other galaxies surprisingly late. Only 100 years ago, in fact, when Edwin Hubble found a type of star known as Cepheid variables within Andromeda, and used them to measure the galaxy’s distance. Advertisement As luck (or, in fact, proximity and gravity) would have it, astronomers soon figured out that Andromeda […]

The giant black hole at the center of our galaxy has an unexpected spin, which is likely to be the result of a merger with another large black hole. The merger almost certainly occurred with the smaller, but still technically supermassive, black hole at the heart of a galaxy that was swallowed by the Milky […]

New research shows that the overall use of cannabis across the US has been increasing since 2013, but not so much among teenagers. Advertisement Cannabis use remains a controversial topic. Approximately 200 million people use the drug worldwide, and it is the most popular psychoactive substance in the US. Over the last few decades, changes […]

Collagen is a mammal’s favorite protein, more used in the body than any other. It seems dinosaurs appreciated it too, as traces have been found in some fossils, but only now have chemists worked out how the usually fragile molecule could survive for so long. Advertisement A few decades ago, collagen was most famous for […]

Do you ever wish you had more of one particular body part? An extra pair of hands could come in well, handy, as would having another pair of eyes in the back of our heads – but what about two tongues? That might sound like the stuff of nightmares to us, but for lemurs, it’s […]

A video shared clip from the BBC’s Spy in the Ocean reveals the other-worldly POV of a robot herring diving into one of nature’s greatest spectacles: a massive school of farting fish. If you’re thinking, “Really, IFLS? Must we talk about farting?” then let me tell you, the unique swim bladder found in herring saw […]

Light pollution has a lot to answer for: wrecking our ability to study the night sky and confusing baby puffins, to name just two things. But could all this nighttime light also be harming our health? New research suggests that excessive light pollution could be a risk factor for the development of Alzheimer’s disease, particularly […]

Five years before Wuhan obtained notoriety as the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic, a four-year-old child in central China contracted polio from an unknown source. Somewhat unexpectedly, researchers in Paris have now linked this infection to a poliovirus (PV) strain that has been used for research purposes since the 1950s, and may therefore have escaped […]

After an absent-minded guest left a bag of Cheetos deep within Carlsbad Caverns, the National Park Service (NPS) responded with a stern warning. Unsightly trash and plastic pollution aren’t the only issues, they cautioned; the garbage could have had a significant impact on the wider ecosystem of the ancient cave system. Advertisement The bag of […]

As part of ongoing efforts to tackle a population of invasive hippos first introduced into the country by drug kingpin Pablo Escobar, a Colombian court has issued an order specifying that the animals can and should be hunted. Advertisement As reported by ABC News, the Administrative Court of Cundinamarca told Colombia’s Ministry of Environment that […]

The last known Tasmanian tiger died 88 years ago – but now, fossil evidence of three new species of the extinct marsupial has been discovered in Australia. Among the new species are the cursed carnivore’s earliest-known ancestor and the oldest thylacine known to date, which was the proud owner of a terrifying, bone-crushing jaw. Advertisement […]

A man browsing Google Maps whilst planning a camping trip in Quebec’s Côte-Nord region has potentially discovered the site of an ancient asteroid impact. Advertisement People have discovered all sorts of oddities while browsing through Google Maps, from “aliens” and camera-hogging cats to the answer to decades old cold cases. In the latest find, Joël […]

A person in Missouri has tested positive for bird flu, reports the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The patient, who had underlying medical conditions, was hospitalized on August 22 with the condition. This is the 14th bird flu in humans identified in the United States in 2024. Importantly, it’s the first case […]

A bottle of water is just a bottle of water, right? Wrong, according to some. Celebrities and wellness TikTokkers alike can be found recommending alkaline water to tackle all manner of problems, from “detoxing” your body to slowing down aging. When there’s money to be made from promoting a bottle of the stuff, it’s worth […]

Infectious viruses that can spread to humans are rampant throughout Chinese fur farms, a new study suggests. Researchers found over 100 viruses in mink, guinea pigs, and muskrat carcasses. The team warned that fur farms are a hub for infectious diseases.  Advertisement Since the COVID-19 pandemic was linked to live animals sold at markets in […]

Remember a few months back when more of us than usual were treated to a spectacular display of aurorae? If you’re one of the people who missed out, you could soon be in with another chance of seeing the show, thanks to a phenomenon known as the Russell-McPherron effect. Advertisement While aurora season is generally […]

Utah’s Great Salt Lake is evaporating like a giant puddle due to drought and water diversion. This evaporation is exposing the lake bed and, according to a new study, releasing dangerous dust that contains heavy metal elements such as arsenic and lead. Utah’s largest city and state capitol, Salt Lake City, is close to the […]

Sometimes, you have to fake it ‘til you make it. That’s the guiding principle behind Batesian Mimicry. In this evolutionary process, a harmless species evolves to resemble a more dangerous species, warding away potential predators.  For many predator-prey pairs, evolution is a multi-generational battle. The prey evolves a hard shell; the predator evolves shell-shredding fangs. […]

A rare physical state, previously only seen in electrons, has now been recreated in atoms frozen down to near absolute zero. In this “edge state”, the atoms travel along the borders of a given material, ignoring any obstacles placed in their way. Physicists hope that a better understanding of how edge states occur could lead […]

Back in 2016, a team of geologists deep down in a Canadian mine made quite the discovery – flowing water that, when tested, was found to be over 2.6 billion years old. It became the world’s oldest water, but it took over from a find made by the same team in the same mine three […]