Deborah Bloomfield

Inscriptions on Mesopotamian bricks promoting the king when they were fired have helped reveal the details of a curious strengthening of the Earth’s magnetic field. Traces of this puzzling strength have been found from China to the Atlantic Ocean, and they stand out more the closer they are to what is now Iraq over a […]

Ever been watching a scary movie and wished you could shield your eyes from what’s on the Big Screen without the shame of actually having to shield your eyes? For some people, not seeing what’s in front of them is a simple case of relaxing the ciliary muscle, but not everyone can blur their vision […]

Archaeologists from Jagiellonian University, Kraków, have discovered astronomical carvings and paintings made by the Pueblo culture, one of the most advanced pre-Columbian societies in America. The ancient Puebloans, also known as the Ancestral Pueblos, first emerged at the beginning of the cultivation era and lasted until around 1600 CE in the region that spans modern […]

In the realm of human imagination, the boundaries between fiction and reality have often blurred, giving rise to remarkable technological leaps. From the futuristic visions of video calls in Star Trek becoming the cornerstone of modern communication, to the notion of voice-activated assistants akin to science fiction’s digital companions, our world has consistently drawn inspiration […]

Scientists have discovered new vulnerabilities in a protein that’s often called the “Death Star” of cancer, opening up the possibility of new drugs to target it. This could be a game-changer, as the protein – KRAS – is one of the most frequently mutated cancer proteins, often found in the deadliest cancer types. KRAS mutations […]

In the southern hemisphere, looking up to the night sky, you can see two nearby galaxies. The two fuzzy splotches of light have been called, by Western scientists, the Large and Small Magellanic Cloud. But what you are not seeing is that the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) looks like it is made of two smaller […]

How and when humans arrived in North America has been hotly contested. The latest study to throw its hat into the ring suggests that the first settlers to arrive on the continent may have done so via a “sea ice highway”, which allowed them to traverse the frozen winter coast from Beringia, up to 24,000 […]

Dogs are not called our best friends for no reason. Throughout human history, our lives have been intertwined with those of our canine companions – they protect us, work for us, and just keep us company. By combining modern genomics techniques with the knowledge of Indigenous communities, science just gained a new insight into a […]

What’s the opposite of a night owl? According to new research, it’s not a morning lark, but a Neanderthal. “By analyzing the bits of Neanderthal DNA that remain in modern human genomes we discovered a striking trend,” said John Capra, associate professor in epidemiology and biostatistics at the University of California, San Francisco, and lead […]

“Mind reading” may be about to become a reality – and in the most literal sense possible, as a new breakthrough from researchers at the University of Technology Sydney’s GrapheneX-UTS Human-centric Artificial Intelligence Centre sees thoughts transformed into words on a screen. “This research represents a pioneering effort in translating raw EEG waves directly into […]

The JWST has confirmed the results of lesser telescopes as to how fast the universe is expanding. Instead of settling physics debates, this makes things worse, because the previous measurements contradict what astronomers think should be happening, based on the echoes of the Big Bang. This (probably) doesn’t mean we need to throw out most of […]

Around 600,000 years ago, humanity split in two. One group stayed in Africa, evolving into us. The other struck out overland, into Asia, then Europe, becoming Homo neanderthalensis – the Neanderthals. They weren’t our ancestors, but a sister species, evolving in parallel. Neanderthals fascinate us because of what they tell us about ourselves – who […]

Extinction is becoming a real threat faced by countless creatures across the animal kingdom. Famously, there are an estimated just 10 vaquitas remaining in the Gulf of California, Mexico. Now, the International Whaling Commission (IWC) has issued the first-ever extinction alert in its 70-year history, to spur action to help the world’s tiniest and most endangered marine […]

It’s that time of year with Christmas parties abound, and also the time of year when many people will be standing in line for a club, meeting the eyes of bouncers, and suddenly realizing they may have had one free drink too many. Whilst there are folk remedies galore for sobering yourself up enough to […]

The fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of King Solomon’s temple, one of the Old Testament’s most significant events, has been marked by the announcement of archaeological discoveries from the site. Digging on Mount Zion has uncovered ash from the fires that burned much of the city, arrows of the invaders, and an earring left […]

Without seasons, the Earth would be very different – and it’s quite likely we would not be around. If the Earth’s axis was much more tilted than it is, making seasons more extreme, civilization probably could not exist. The same might also be true if our seasons were more erratic (sorry George RR Martin), as […]

If one of us humans was found having a cheeky nap, there probably wouldn’t be a whole scientific study on it. But for sharks, getting caught snoozing is an entirely different matter, especially when some species need to keep moving in order to keep breathing, lest they end up napping for eternity. This was thought […]

This article first appeared in Issue 17 of our free digital magazine CURIOUS. “There came wise men from the east to Jerusalem saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.” That’s how Matthew describes the “Star of Bethlehem” […]

If the idea of time traveling to the oceans of the Cretaceous has ever sounded like an appealing idea to you, you might be about to change your mind. Researchers have described a brand-new, 72-million-year-old species of mosasaur, that’s thought to have terrorized the ancient Pacific Ocean. The study describing the mosasaur came as a […]

This article first appeared in Issue 17 of our free digital magazine CURIOUS. They say no two snowflakes are alike, but, when you think about it, how could anyone possibly know that? The truth is that you can’t, for reasons we’ll dive into later, but what we can know is that your chances of getting two […]