Deborah Bloomfield

One of the most remote fossil sites in all of Australia has just delivered a whopper of a new species: a predatory lobe-finned fish that was armed with large fangs and bony scales. It lived 380 million years ago at a time when the mid-Devonian had plunged the planet into a period of decreased atmospheric […]

After diving into the genomes of North Atlantic blue whales, scientists have found that the population is infused with a significant amount of hybrid DNA due to interbreeding with fin whales. Furthermore, it appears that blue whales are interbreeding with the blue-fin hybrids, adding a further twist to this genetic cocktail. In the new study, […]

The last total solar eclipse over the US was pretty spectacular, as anyone who saw it will attest. Looking at the photos, it’s hard to imagine how the sight could have been improved upon in the eclipse taking place on April 8 this year. But if we are lucky and the weather is fine, we […]

Nutrition is always a hot topic, with people holding very strong opinions about the best diet plan to ensure long-term health. However, science is far from settled on how different diets can impact the immune system. To find out more, researchers from the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) took two of today’s most popular […]

Valentine’s Day is fast approaching and in amongst the romantic gestures, fancy meals, and discount chocolate boxes, it’s easy to forget that not all relationships are perfect – some people will cheat. But are there particular traits that make them do so? Are they simply walking red flags, or are there more subtle indicators that […]

NASA’s Juno conducted its 58th close encounter with Jupiter (perijove) at the weekend and its final close flyby of Io, the innermost of Jupiter’s four Galilean moons. Io is known for the volcanic activity that marks its surface, the first active volcanoes discovered beyond Earth. The latest photos have caught some of those volcanoes erupting. […]

Our galaxy has a weak – but immense – magnetic field that stretches across most of it. Although we know its broadest outline, the fine-scale detail is a mystery. Now, the magnetism or a small portion of has been revealed at finer resolution, revealing there is a lot more jumble to it than smooth models […]

Twenty years after its discovery, asteroid and quasi-moon 2002 VE 68 has been officially renamed “Zoozve” after a strange label on his 2-year-old child’s poster of the Solar System led Radiolab host Latif Nasser to investigate further. In a widely-shared X (Twitter) thread, Nasser explained that he found a mystery moon on his child’s astronomy […]

The world has warmed more since the start of the Industrial Revolution than previously acknowledged, new evidence indicates, with the world already exceeding 1.5°C (2.7°F) above pre-industrial conditions. If so, it means the limits the world agreed on in the 2015 Paris Accord have already been exceeded. However, some climate scientists have expressed skepticism about […]

The Sun is particularly active at the moment, unleashing powerful solar flares and causing radio blackouts on Earth. This is all part of an 11-year cycle that sees the Sun’s poles reverse. Sun activity increases and decreases in an 11-year cycle known as the Schwabe cycle. From 1826 to 1843, German amateur astronomer Heinrich Schwabe […]

A 34-year-old woman in the US has become the first person to receive a brain implant that treats both epilepsy and obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). Having been fitted with the device at Oregon Health and Science University in Portland, Amber Pearson says her incessant hand-washing and anxiety about contamination have now all but vanished. Measuring […]

When we’re diagnosed with a medical condition, often the first place we look to for information and advice is the internet. Online communities can be powerful support and advocacy networks, particularly for those with long-term health conditions. They can also provide important data that alerts medical researchers to a problem, as we saw with long […]

Between its oxygen-free atmosphere, exposure to radiation, and the lack of nutrients, Mars is a hostile place for human life. However, it might not be quite so unfriendly to the microbe we bring with us – including some we’d really rather didn’t flourish too much. Three years ago, astrobiologists noted the presence of sugar in […]

This article first appeared in Issue 16 of our free digital magazine CURIOUS.  The hitchhiker seen above, a female paper nautilus, is carrying precious cargo: an egg case that can house up to 170,000 eggs, which she’ll tote around until they hatch. The egg sac itself can act as a flotation device, but a jellyfish is […]

Architects and real estate developers are drawing up the plans to build the tallest skyscraper in the US; not in New York City nor Chicago, but Oklahoma City. The building plan features three towers, each rising to 105 meters (345 feet), and a fourth supertall tower called Legends Tower that will measure 581 meters (1,907 […]

A quick recap of how hit TV The Traitors works, for the uninitiated. A group of contestants enter a mansion, where they are assigned either the role of traitor or faithful. There are only three traitors to begin with (they may recruit more at a later time, if people among them are caught) with the rest […]

Scientists have now fully mapped a legendary lake in New Zealand that was once an important setting for a famous Māori love story. Their analysis reveals never-before-seen details about the deep hydrothermal systems that are concealed below its disarmingly peaceful surface.  Peaceful water and violent histories  Lake Rotorua (Te Rotorua nui ā Kahumatamomoe in Māori) […]

The age of nuclear fusion is upon us. After decades of work by thousands of scientists, this fabled tree has started bearing its fruit: it is possible to have a fusion reaction on Earth that releases more energy than what is put in. The breakthrough, announced in late 2022, has now been confirmed. Fusion breakeven […]

Hurricanes have become so gnarly over the past decade that some scientists believe we need a new category to better reflect their intensity: Category 6.  Under the current Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale, hurricanes are categorized on a scale of 1 to 5 based on their maximum sustained wind speed. A hurricane receives Category 5 status […]

We’ve reached that not-so-wonderful time of year when it seems like everywhere you go, everyone is coughing – trying to avoid catching something feels like an extreme sport. For most people unlucky enough to join the ranks, a cough might make them feel rough, but shouldn’t be too much cause for concern. However, with COVID-19 […]