Deborah Bloomfield

If you have ever dreamed of flying into a black hole, but the idea of your body getting spaghettified (yes, this is a real scientific term) into plasma is not appealing, NASA has a solution. Dive into an incredible new 360° visualization of what it would be like going around a black hole before plunging […]

You do not bet against the universe. In any isolated system, entropy – the order of the system – can never decrease. In classical systems, this is as firm a law of reality as it is possible to be. It’s the second law of thermodynamics. But when it comes to quantum mechanics, things are not […]

Here’s a question that surfaces on the Internet every now and then (and not from the usual suspects of conspiracy theorists and cranks): why are there so few photographs of Neil Armstrong on the Moon? Advertisement There are people under the belief that there are no photos of Neil Armstrong on the Moon. This is […]

Scroll through social media during the summertime and it wouldn’t be unusual to come across plenty of people enjoying the sunshine and warmth. But in the last few years, there have also been those putting out warnings that antidepressants can make you more vulnerable to the effects of heat – so how true are these […]

If you look at a current version of the periodic table, it appears complete. Since 2010, the entire seventh period has been filled, but the eighth period has not been started. It’s easy to wonder if we have discovered, or created, every element possible. Even if this is not the case, one might wonder whether […]

Like a cuckoo laying its eggs in the nest of an unsuspecting host, the ancient Greeks are said to have infiltrated the city of Troy by hiding inside an enormous wooden horse. From Homer to Hollywood, the tale of this military masterstroke has been told for thousands of years, yet there’s little evidence to suggest […]

The Earth is currently moving around the Sun at around 107,000 kilometers per hour (66,500 miles per hour), while the Sun hurtles through the galaxy at 828,000 kilometers per hour (514,500 miles per hour). Advertisement We know this through centuries of observing the planets and the stars, and observing their motion relative to our planet. […]

Among its other hellish conditions, Venus is bone dry, despite having once had plenty of water. Where did it all go? A new analysis attributes it to “dissociative recombination”, which caused a loss of hydrogen atoms at twice the rate of previous estimates. Advertisement Science fiction writers once set their works in the oceans of […]

Humans are social animals whose web of relationships is convoluted and often changing. Understanding these social networks and their changes has been the remit of different sciences and various theories. One of them was proposed in the 1940s, called social balance theory. Now, researchers have been able to corroborate it using statistical physics. Advertisement The […]

The southern Plains of the US are now in the midst of “tornado season”, but this year’s peak of violent storms has already brought with it one of the most unusual types of twister – one that spins clockwise. On the evening of April 30, a powerful thunderstorm known as a supercell made its way […]

There are plenty of venomous and poisonous species across the different habitats of Earth. Some slither, some crawl, and some fly through the sky – but one group takes the title as the most venomous species to swim in the planet’s seas. Meet the stonefish. Advertisement The name “stonefish” refers to five species in the […]

Hooray! We bring good conservation news from the world of fish biology. Devils Hole pupfish (Cyprinodon diabolis) are one of the world’s most endangered fish species, living in Death Valley National Park. Biologists have recently completed their annual spring season count and recorded the most fish seen in 25 years. Advertisement Devils Hole pupfish live […]

Around 200 million years ago, Earth’s last supercontinent Pangea began to break apart, with plate tectonics slowly moving the continents into the world we recognize today. Plate tectonics is by no means done, and there are several suggested models as to how our future world will look like. Advertisement Plate tectonics were only discovered relatively […]

We all know what happens when a meteorite breaks apart as it passes through the heavens, right? Of course we do. The parts of the celestial object that fall to Earth accumulate as a translucent gelatinous substance that evaporates soon after it appears, leaving no trace of its existence. While this may sound like a […]

If you’ve ever noticed yourself getting a headache just before a storm hits, it might not be a coincidence. In fact, weather conditions are commonly reported as a trigger for headaches and migraine attacks. Unfortunately, it’s not yet within our power to change the weather; but we can help ensure that you’re informed about why […]

Having a permanent human presence on the lunar surface requires being able to use resources found on the Moon – not everything can be brought from Earth. But it is unlikely that the base will be on the hot spot of everything it needs. Some stuff will have to be transported. Cars (well, buggies) on […]

Researchers working on a near-universal coronavirus vaccine that could stop outbreaks before they get started have reported success in mice. The vaccine confers immunity against the original SARS virus, despite it not being one of the viruses used to build it. Advertisement There’s little doubt that plenty of viruses currently circulating in animals will one […]

Certain symbols appear on temple walls at various locations in the ancient city of Dūr-Šarrukīn, where Khorsabad, Iraq, is today. At the time of their creation, the city was ruled by Sargon II, who ruled over the Assyrian kingdom from 721 to 705 BCE. The king was already middle-aged by the time he took the […]

Sometimes, things just don’t mix on their own, and that’s where emulsifiers lend a helping hand – particularly when it comes to food. However, recent chatter about ultra-processed foods and the additives involved has caused some to question whether emulsifiers might actually be harmful to our health. So what does science say? What are emulsifiers? […]

This week, the best preserved Neanderthal skeleton in over 25 years was discovered in a “funeral cave”, alpaca sex is so strange it’s never been seen in any other mammal, and we now know why a giant hole appeared in Antarctic sea ice eight years ago. Finally, we explore what Earth would be like if […]