Deborah Bloomfield

When looking at a towel, you may have wondered a few things, such as, “Why do I have to wash my towel when I only use it when I’ve literally just been cleaned?” and, “Huh, what the hell are those lines for?” The rest of this article is behind a paywall. Please sign in or […]

Take a deep breath of air. Seems fresh, right? Unfortunately, air isn’t just oxygen and other gases. Every lungful of air contains tiny, suspended particles called aerosols. Some are harmless, but some… not so much. Thanks to advances in air sampling and filtration technology, we have techniques to detect aerosols and reduce their presence indoors, […]

What could be more exciting than finding a dinosaur egg? The tiny shells from which some of the largest animals ever to walk the Earth emerged, incredible stuff! Thing is, it’s not always easy to work out what you’re dealing with when all you have to study is the egg itself. In fact, it’s not […]

They say it takes a village to raise a child, and that village is very excited when a newborn comes into the world. Friends and relatives will flock to see the baby bearing gifts, hugs, and kisses – some of the popular ways we humans like to show our affection. Only problem is, can we […]

The total number of quasi-satellites of our planet has gone up by one. There are now 8 small asteroids going around the Sun at the same time as our planet, acting almost like moons, hence the term quasi-satellite or quasi-moon. Meet the newest entry, 2025 PN7. The rest of this article is behind a paywall. […]

Few things can make you go “ewww” like the phrase “regurgitation of digestive fluids” but that’s exactly how one spider species goes about tackling its prey.  The rest of this article is behind a paywall. Please sign in or subscribe to access the full content. Forget fancy injections of venom, the best way for a […]

In March 2024, geologists rejected the proposal that we are in a new geological era: the Anthropocene, a time dominated by human activity on the planet. And yet, the evidence of our impact on the Earth’s ecology and climate continues to mount up around us. So how could this decision make sense given everything going […]

When you think of wildfires, your mind may turn to the devastating, headline-grabbing blaze that swallowed up parts of Los Angeles at the start of this year. California in general is no stranger to occasionally going up in flames, especially since humanity has rigged the state’s fire season into more of a fire always. “The […]

With every significant breakthrough in technology, humanity has had to reckon with equally significant drawbacks – and artificial intelligence (AI) is definitely no exception. We’re all aware of many of its downsides by now: it’s bad for the environment; it’s bad for our brains; increasingly, it’s even turning deadly – and let’s face it, it’s […]

It’s been said that there are many benefits to being a marine biologist, but there is one insurmountable obstacle we humans simply can’t overcome: we are, in fact, primates. Terrestrial ones at that, meaning we don’t have the upper hand when it comes to tracking animals like whales in their natural environment. For this reason, […]

The world is set for a once-in-a-decade event as the large and potentially hazardous asteroid 2025 FA22 makes a close approach to Earth. As it does so, the object should be visible to amateur astronomers equipped with small telescopes. 2025 FA22 was discovered on March 29 this year by the Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid […]

It’s official: the animal with the highest number of chromosomes is the Atlas blue butterfly, boasting a record 229 pairs. This is a pretty unusual finding since many of its closest relatives have just 23 or 24 pairs. The Atlas blue butterfly (Polyommatus atlantica) is native to the North African mountain ranges of Morocco and […]

The LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA collaboration has decided to mark the 10th anniversary of the discovery of gravitational waves with a very special gift. They have published data on the clearest signal they have yet detected in the observatory, which allowed them to confirm Stephen Hawking’s area theorem of black holes. The event was seen on January 14, […]

An international team of researchers reports new insights into observations from NASA’s Perseverance rover. Last year, the rover sampled mudstone with peculiar mineral formations. New analysis provides further peculiarities in the sample, making the case for possible biosignatures. The rest of this article is behind a paywall. Please sign in or subscribe to access the […]

You’re lucky enough to be alive at the same time as the biggest animal to have ever inhabited the planet. At 33.5 meters (110 feet) long and weighing more than 150,000 kilograms (330,000 pounds), the blue whale takes the crown overall. If we look to land animals, you’re dealing with dinosaurs. So, given how humongous […]

A mysterious and pre-teased NASA conference from the Perseverance team has gone live and announced their findings: the “clearest sign of life that we’ve ever found on Mars”. Earlier this week, NASA pre-trailed an “exciting” announcement coming from the Perseverance rover team. The release was light on what would be announced, but now we have […]

Researchers from Stanford University have developed a brain-computer interface (BCI) that can decode users’ “inner speech” and convert it into words. The device successfully allowed four paralyzed patients to communicate and represents a massive breakthrough in this field, although its ability to tap into people’s thoughts raises a number of concerns about mind-reading and data […]

The platypus is a deeply unusual animal for a collection of reasons, not least because it is considered to be the most venomous mammal on the planet. Just a small handful of mammals can deliver a dose of venom – and the duck-billed platypus sting is often cited as the most agonizing. Platypus venom isn’t potent […]

The European wildcat Felis silvestris can breed with domestic cats (F. catus) to produce fertile offspring. Not only does this mean that pets on the loose in areas that overlap with wildcat territory could get up to hijinks, but it also means their subsequent hybrid offspring can also go on to do the same.  Why […]

While the mention of blood might conjure up images of a crimson red liquid, it turns out the animal world isn’t keen to stick to just the one color (or any color at all) when it comes to this particular body fluid. In fact, scuttling about the forests of New Guinea and the Solomon Islands […]