Deborah Bloomfield

This article first appeared in Issue 19 of our digital magazine CURIOUS.  Advertisement Fans of the David Attenborough BBC series Dynasties may remember a particularly harrowing scene in which a group of penguins got stuck in a ditch during a storm and couldn’t get out. It was a memorable episode, not only because of the desperate plight of […]

Heralded as the “missing evolutionary link” that proved modern-day birds evolved from feathered dinosaurs nearly three decades ago, the Archaeoraptor liaoningensis fossil was a discovery thought to change how the world saw evolution.  Advertisement The fossil, so-named in its unveiling, appeared to be a combination of a bird and theropod, or two-footed dinosaur. On publication, […]

Have you heard that it’s illegal to die in the cold distant reaches of Svalbard, Norway? The reasoning is that, due to the permafrost, bodies laid to rest in this Arctic territory will not decompose and so present a biological risk for future generations. However, this is not really true, especially the part about dying […]

Do you like garlic? Of course you do, and now you can enjoy everyone’s favorite ingredient without having to worry about garlic breath as a University of Queensland collaboration is trying to make black garlic happen. Black garlic was first developed in regions of Eastern Asia, and it’s created by aging garlic in controlled humidity. […]

Whether you like the idea or absolutely loathe it, some believe that a “meat tax” is almost inevitable in the near future. While it’s sure to anger die-hard carnivores with libertarian leanings, there’s decent evidence that suggests a levy of high-emission foods could have many benefits for the planet, people, and animals – although it’ll […]

It’s honestly no surprise that the first people to see platypuses thought they were fake; they look like someone woke up one day and decided to bung together a bizarre-looking mishmash of a duck, beaver, and otter. Take a peek inside a platypus, however, and they get even stranger – they don’t have a stomach. […]

According to the latest figures, there are more than 5.5 million people in the US who have more than a million dollars to hand. That sounds like a big number, until you realize it equates to about 1.65 percent of the population – or to put it another way, fewer than one in every 60 […]

The metal alloys used today in everything from smartphones to spaceships are simply the latest outputs of a metallurgic tradition that stretches all the way back to the Bronze Age, when the first metal mixtures were created. These days, metal mining and processing is a massive industry, yet the first humans to get their hands […]

Nuclear fusion has the potential to deliver an enormous amount of energy. Many challenges in creating a stable fusion reaction are being overcome, but there are other technical issues that require solutions. One of them is about shielding the reactor from the fusing plasma. A new record has now been set for a tungsten-clad tokamak. […]

US presidential candidate Robert F Kennedy Jr, known to many as RFK Jr, hit headlines this week after a decade-old deposition emerged in which he talked about “a worm that got into my brain and ate a portion of it and then died.” No prizes for guessing that brain worms are not a great thing […]

Speaking to the dead is now a reality as artificial intelligence (AI) technology has made “deadbots” and “griefbots” possible. These chatbots can simulate the language and personality of our deceased nearest and dearest, providing comfort for those who are grieving, but University of Cambridge scientists warn that griefbots could cause more harm than good, creating […]

We do not know exactly when the peak of activity for this current solar cycle is going to be, but we are really close to it – and the Sun is not disappointing with its activity. For the first time since January 2005, the NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center has issued a severe Geomagnetic Storm […]

After losing her medical license following a series of false claims about COVID-19 vaccines – amongst other bizarre comments – during testimony to state lawmakers, Ohio physician Sherri Tenpenny has reportedly had her license reinstated. Advertisement Cast your mind back to June 2021. Conspiracy theories about COVID-19 vaccines were no longer limited to the internet […]

At the University of Queensland, there is a display containing the longest-running laboratory experiment in the world. It has been running so long that two of its custodians have died before they ever saw any results. Advertisement The experiment was initiated in 1927 by Thomas Parnell, the University’s first professor of physics. Intended as a […]

SpaceX has unveiled its new Extravehicular Activity (EVA) Suit, an important development in commercial space flight. The suit is very different from what we are used to seeing from NASA and Roscosmos. It’s a lot less bulky and it is designed with flexibility and comfort in mind. Advertisement The design is based on (so very […]

Life has been around on Earth for at least 3.7 billion years, during which time it has evolved into “endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful”, in the words of Charles Darwin. Someday, however, it’s possible that planet Earth will be reduced to just one animal. It isn’t cockroaches, nor scorpions, and it certainly isn’t […]

A Japanese mission aimed at clearing up space debris has hit its first milestone, successfully maneuvering close to a piece of space trash it was tracking and returning a photo to Earth.  Advertisement Space around our planet is getting quite full. We are a messy species, and low-Earth orbit is apparently no exception to our […]

Saying hello comes with a range of possible gestures and vocalizations – from a wave of greeting to a hug as you draw closer or a shout to get the attention of your friend after you’ve got a good table at a busy pub. Now, the same can be said of the elephant world: African […]

Playing dead and spewing blood gets the job done for feinting dice snakes, who have evolved a dramatic but effective way of putting would-be predators off their meal. They’ll stop at nothing, with autohaemorrhaging, convulsive twisting, and even smearing themselves with shit all on the cards. The impressive performance comes from Natrix tessellata, a semiaquatic […]

Breastfeeding parents who use cannabis have detectable levels of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) in their milk even after abstaining from the drug for more than 12 hours, new research has found. And while it’s unclear if the cannabinoid accumulates in levels that are sufficient to affect infants’ development, the study authors warn that it may be impossible […]