Deborah Bloomfield

We are here thanks to photosynthesis. Light from the sun is converted to food for plants and animals, and its byproduct is oxygen. While crucial to life on Earth, the most intimate details of this chemical reaction have long eluded scientists. That’s where quantum mechanics and biology meet. And scientists are now there too. Over […]

Truffles are pretty ugly to look at, but hoo boy – do they fetch a pretty penny at auction. So why are these fungal mounds so expensive, and what exactly are they? Truffles are hard to find, store, and come with a hearty flavor that means a little can go a long way. As an […]

Is it possible to clone a dinosaur? Or could we bring back dinosaurs some other way? We ask because it’s the 30th anniversary of Jurassic Park, and we’ve got dinosaurs on the brain. In the lead-up, we decided to dive into the world of animal cloning and dinosaur husbandry by speaking to researcher Dr Susie […]

There are 100 or more “uncontacted” tribes around the globe, but the Sentinelese are undoubtedly the most isolated. Against the colossal forces of colonialism and economic globalization, they have resisted almost all attempts at contact from the outside world for thousands of years – sometimes with violence. The Sentinelese made international headlines in 2018 when […]

A new theory has arisen surrounding the cause of death of the Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamun. Speculation around the Boy King’s demise has previously suggested that a life-threatening condition topped off with a malaria infection may have been to blame, but a scientist has floated the bold idea that alcohol may have had a part to […]

Since the early 1990s, Jurassic Park, both book and movie, has been enormously influential. With the movie turning 30 this month, it’s impossible not to revisit its themes. Among them, there is a figure that may seem a bit out of place: chaotician Ian Malcolm. Why was he invited to scope out the Park? What […]

In 2016, geologists studying a Canadian mine made an incredible discovery. At a depth of about 3 kilometers (1.8 miles), they found flowing water, which tests revealed to be between 1.5 billion and 2.64 billion years old. Having been isolated for all this time, it was the oldest water that had been found on Earth.  […]

The Vatican has launched a message into space on Monday on board a “papal satellite” created by students at the Polytechnic University of Turin. The CubeSat was launched into orbit on Monday from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, on board a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. The satellite contains a tiny nanobook with a […]

Scientists have recently looked at the bones of “Lucy,” a world-famous set of early human ancestor remains, and found further evidence that she could walk upright just as effectively as modern-day Homo sapiens. Considering she wandered about Earth 3.2 million years ago, that’s a remarkable discovery that helps to illuminate one of the most important […]

Anal cancer is a rare and often overlooked form of the disease. Like with other cancers affecting the digestive system such as colon or bowel cancer, some of the symptoms can be tricky to talk about – not everyone feels comfortable with discussions around going to the toilet, even with their doctor. But it’s important […]

Rice is a staple food for billions of people in Asia and Africa. It’s also a versatile ingredient for many iconic dishes from around the world, including dolmades from Greece, risottos from Italy, paella from Spain and rice puddings from the United Kingdom. Despite its universal appeal, the question asked in every kitchen, be it […]

Diamonds come in all shapes and sizes, from impressive pink jewels to rare ancient black diamonds thought to have formed in outer space. The rarest and most prized of all these diamond types is the elusive red diamond with only 20-30 specimens thought to exist in the world. Mostly found in South Africa, Australia, and […]

The Basque language is one of the most unique languages still spoken today in Europe. Separated by millennia of evolution, the language is unrelated to any other existing language on the planet, making it a treasure trove for linguists wishing to understand the past.   Also known as Euskara, the language comes from the Basque […]

The lone star tick isn’t afraid of latching onto humans, and when it does its bite can launch a nasty and peculiar disorder known as Alpha-gal Syndrome (AGS). Its symptoms range from a cough, to nausea and breathing difficulties, but curiously it can also cause you to become allergic to meat. Anaphylaxis in AGS isn’t […]

Have you ever wondered where our ancestors, a bunch of highly specialized primates, first came from and how they managed to spread to pretty much every corner of the planet? If so, then you have entertained a question that has occupied many minds for centuries – and although various ideas have been suggested in that […]

During the first billion years or so, the universe was opaque. Starlight was absorbed by the neutral hydrogen that existed in intergalactic space. But the light of the most massive stars ripped the electrons from the hydrogen atoms, making the universe transparent. This is known as the Epoch of Reionization. Bubbles of transparent hot gas […]

Astronomers have spotted a very distant supernova, much brighter than it ought to be given how far away it is. And they did not only see it once. They saw it four times. Don’t worry, the laws of physics have not gone haywire. It is simply that the light of this event passed near the […]

After the first humans set foot on the Moon and successfully splashed back onto Earth, their mission wasn’t quite over. While it may seem a strange idea now given what we know about the lifelessness of the lunar surface, at the time there were a lot of unknowns. Upon their return,  the crew of Apollo […]

Human fossils found in Tam Pà Ling cave in northern Laos have been dated as 68-86,000 years old. The fossils’ finders are confident these came from Homo sapiens, rather than a near relative like Denisovans, making these the oldest reliable evidence of humans in East Asia and answering some big questions about humanity’s great migration […]