Deborah Bloomfield

The strange features of quantum substances are being explored in the hope they will lead to engines more powerful and efficient than their classical counterparts. There’s still a lot we don’t understand about how the various aspects of quantum physics can help and hinder machines. A new exploration of one of quantum physics’ most distinctive […]

For millennia, humans have been able to manipulate metals. In modern times, we have learned ways to make them more resistant to environmental effects. One could assume that in the vacuum of space, metals would fare better without ways to rust or degrade, but there are other concerns in vacuum. Concerns that can have very […]

The oldest crystals in the world show evidence of exposure to both fresh and salty water during their formation, a new study reports. This indicates that the very early Earth had both oceans and land on which rainwater could collect. Although hellish in many ways, it suggests a planet far more like the one we […]

“I could just gobble them right up!” isn’t an uncommon phrase when it comes to seeing a baby, but some animals take it a bit too literally. Known as filial cannibalism, chowing down on your offspring might seem a bit heartless to us – not to mention counterintuitive when it comes to species survival – […]

It’s enough to bring you out in a cold sweat. That dreaded moment when your boss asks you to schedule a “biweekly” call, and you have no idea what they mean. Is that twice a week or once every two weeks? We know lots of people are stumped by this so, good people that we […]

Humans like to think they’re special, but at the end of the day, they’re just another primate. For proof, look no further than our DNA: we’re up to four percent Neanderthal, 99 percent chimpanzee, and 50 percent banana (the most monkey of all fruit, and you know it.) Advertisement But despite knowing all this, you […]

Phase III trial results for a new drug targeting advanced lung cancer have just been reported, with some experts calling them “unprecedented” and “off the chart”. The drug is called lorlatinib, and the trial team says it’s setting a “new benchmark for targeted therapies in cancer.” A staggering 60 percent of patients on the drug […]

China has made history on the Moon once more. It successfully landed once again on the far side of the Moon, having been the only nation to have done that before. The new mission, Chang’e 6, is going for another first. It will collect rocks and soil, bringing them back to Earth. If it does […]

Animal migrations are some of the most spectacular sights the natural world has to offer, from incredible wildebeest moving across Africa to the incredible solo journeys undertaken by bird species across planet Earth. Now, a silky shark has entered the record books with a record-breaking migration that helps highlight the vulnerability of this species. Advertisement […]

After a years-long hunt, Vermont botanists have rediscovered a floodplain-dwelling plant species that hadn’t been seen in the state since 1916. Advertisement When it comes to the search for false mermaid-weed (Floerkea proserpinacoides), it’s not exactly an understatement to say it’s like looking for a needle in a haystack. The plant is small, making it […]

An ancient Olmec monument symbolizing the entrance to the afterlife has finally been restored to its former glory and returned to its ancestral home, almost 3,000 years after it was sculpted. The enormous Portal al Inframundo (Portal to the Underworld) is thought to have been looted in the 1960s, yet was only brought back to […]

As part of efforts to shift towards “greener” urban areas, a city in Spain has begun installation of what’s to be the country’s largest urban solar farm in a somewhat unconventional location: cemeteries. Advertisement Valencia, found on the east coast of Spain, is on a mission to achieve climate neutrality by 2030. It’s in part […]

Several fossil remnants of a huge bird called Genyornis newtoni, including the first intact skull, have been described, offering insight into the lifestyle of the last of the giant thunder birds that once roamed Australia.  Advertisement If you think Australia’s existing fauna are terrifying, take a look at what used to inhabit the continent. A starring […]

An international team of astronomers has announced the detection of two of the earliest and most distant galaxies known. The light of both of them comes from just 300 million years after the Big Bang and it was possible to observe them only thanks to the power of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). Advertisement […]

North Korea launched a second wave of trash-filled balloons toward South Korea after a similar campaign just a few days earlier. It might seem like the North is simply trying to irritate their rival neighbors – and that’s no doubt a factor – but the balloons have a deep historical context in Korea. Advertisement Over […]

As a science website, it is easy to get caught up in the mysteries of vanishing stars and the crisis in cosmology, while people out there on the Internet are struggling with why flying against the planet’s rotation doesn’t decrease flight times, and why we can’t power our trucks with magnets. This week, it appears […]

During the 16th century BCE, prehistoric people in what is now Armenia placed a 3.5-meter (9.8-foot) tall basalt stone over a barrow. Buried below the stone were the remains of an adult woman and two newborn children. At first, researchers believed the babies were twins, but new analysis suggests a more complicated and remarkable relationship. […]

Earlier this year, there was a bit of a mystery at the Aquarium and Shark Lab in Hendersonville, North Carolina, after a stingray appeared to become pregnant despite no male stingrays being present. While an interesting mystery in its own right, the case drew extra attention after suggestions by the head of the aquarium that […]

A small mystery has rocked X (Twitter) over the weekend, after a junior doctor in the UK found a living goldfish on his lawn. On Saturday, junior doctor Ben Beska heard a group of birds outside, and went to investigate. Instead of the usual objects you tend to find on the grass (more grass and […]

It was back in 2019 when Elon Musk unveiled the Cybertuck, and it was an event that did not go as Musk probably envisioned. Since then, there has been disaster after disaster, and here are some hilarious and embarrassing examples. Advertisement The original d’oh moment On a brightly lit stage, the Cybertruck was unveiled: a […]