Deborah Bloomfield

Indigenous Australians have long treasured Camponotus inflatus, known as honey ants or honeypot ants. The honey is valued not just for its sweet taste, but for its ability to heal wounds and sore throats. Researchers tested the golden liquid, thinking they might find something like the remarkable antimicrobial properties of Manuka honey. Instead, they found something […]

Yesterday, a US Congressional hearing gathered to hear testimony from three witnesses of Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAPs). While Former Navy Pilot Ryan Graves and Retired US Navy commander David Fravor voiced their concern for the need for a reporting system for UAP sightings, former US Air Force intelligence officer and whistleblower David Grusch detailed accounts […]

The “Snowball Earth” event has always been mysterious, but now scientists think that a ginormous volcanic eruption could have been the cause of it.  Around 717 million years ago, there was an enormous climate catastrophe. The Earth’s temperatures plunged dramatically and glaciers enveloped the globe for 57 million years; from outer space it would have […]

No place on Earth is more sun-baked than the Altiplano of the Atacama Desert in South America, according to a new study. However, sunbathers looking to catch a tan should stay clear – this otherworldly plateau has a sunlight intensity similar to Venus, the Solar System’s own fiery hellscape. Satellite data have previously suggested that […]

Famous as the first sign of spring, their association with Wales, and the surprising toxicity held within their charming exterior, daffodils are a common sight in gardens and parks in the spring. These delightful flowers come in all shapes and sizes and are remarkably easy to grow. According to Kew Gardens, there are 36 species of […]

Astronomers do not know why the solar corona, the atmosphere of the Sun, is so much hotter than its “surface”, the photosphere. The photosphere is around 5,500 °C (9,940 °F) but the corona is about 1 million °C (1.8 million °F), almost 200 times hotter. A new study proposed a mechanism to heat it up […]

Picture the scene: you’ve huffed and puffed your way to the top of the local trig point as part of your New Year’s resolution. While the view from the top is worth the effort, the summit of the footpath is also covered in loads of stacked rocks, or cairns. The word “cairn” comes from the […]

For the first time, the efficiency of an object’s absorption and emission of thermal radiation have been made not to match, thus breaking Kirchhoff’s law of thermal radiation. Scientists have suspected for a while that Kirchhoff’s law is not universal, but this is the first proof. The discovery could help us create more efficient methods […]

In 1929, a German scholar was examining documents and antiques in the Topkapi Palace library in Istanbul when he discovered something puzzling. The theologian had found a map printed on gazelle skin parchment, which was created in the early 16th century. What was remarkable was that the mysterious map shows part of South America, as […]

A new species of dinosaur has been discovered in Thailand, where it once roamed during the Late Jurassic some 145 million to 163 million years ago. Minimocursor phunoiensis, as it has now been named, was identified thanks to a remarkably well-preserved skeleton unearthed in the Phu Kradung Formation at the Phu Noi locality in Northern Thailand. […]

Ancient DNA taken from corpses at Machu Picchu has revealed that the so-called Lost City of the Incas was home to a multicultural population that hailed from across the empire and beyond. Tracing the genetic roots of 34 Machu Picchans to different regions of the Andes and Amazon rainforest, the researchers explain that those buried […]

Imagine having a spot on your tongue that just won’t go away for half a year, and when finally going to the doctor about it, it turns out to be a very rare disorder – this is what happened to a 72-year-old female patient in a new case report. The patient went into the clinic […]

The world of medicine is filled with some fascinating and sometimes horrendous surprises, and there is one in particular that will have men twitching at the sheer thought of it – the legendary “aubergine deformity”. While it may sound like a culinary mishap involving eggplants in the kitchen, it’s actually the result of a mishap […]

The record for longest gestation in a mammal – that is, how long it takes to cook up a baby – has a curious new contender, as a new study on bowhead whales has revealed their bloodwork indicates they could be pregnant for up to two years. However, whether this topples the African elephant for […]

The largest-ever pedigree constructed from ancient DNA has been pieced together, painting a picture of the lives and relationships of humans who lived 6,700 years ago. The Neolithic marked some big changes for humankind as farming took over from hunter-gathering, enabling our species to develop new social customs and a more sophisticated mating game. Keeping […]

Across the world, there are some extremely important fossil sites that have provided scientists with an array of fossil specimens that help determine all sorts of information about the way these creatures once roamed across the land and seas of ancient Earth. Now, a new specimen of an ancient turtle species has been uncovered in Germany, […]

Genetic evidence suggests that an extinct zebra-like horse was once in the Denisova Cave, a cavern in the Altai mountains of Siberia where three species of human are known to have lived: Denisovans, Neanderthals, and Homo sapiens (that’s us). This begs the question: what were extinct humans’ relationships with this strange beast and were they responsible for […]

We have been spoilt with observations of young stellar systems lately. New images and studies have provided much-needed insight. After all, there is so much we don’t know about how planets come to be. The latest observations provide the first view of large dusty clumps, which are believed to be the source of future gas […]

As South Florida’s seawater temperature reaches triple digits two days in a row, meteorologists are debating if the spike is an accurate reading. If it is, it represents a devastating new world record. At 38.3°C (101°F), it matches that of a hot bath and is above normal human body temperature. It’s a harrowing statistic but […]

Herbig-Haro 46/47 is a notorious pair of young stars. Over thousands of years, they have pulled in gas and dust left over from their formation and then spewed it out in spectacular jets. The process is far from over: they are continuing to absorb material in the disc they are buried in. The latest observations […]