Deborah Bloomfield

Ancient deserts were treacherous terrain for dinosaurs, as the environment had a nasty habit of burying its inhabitants. Their loss would be palaeontologists gain a few tens of millions of years down the line, as the unique fossils reveal animal behavior in a way that more scattered remains just can’t, helping us to tackle a […]

Despite his repeated attacks, public trust in scientists and science as an institution actually rose during the US presidency of Donald Trump. Although it is true that mistrust certainly increased across the US, and that views on certain topics have become deeply polarized, any modest rise in mistrust was actually offset by greater trust across […]

Here at IFLScience, we like to cover some of society’s most pressing questions about science. Should death be taught in schools? What do ultra-processed foods mean for our health? And on today’s agenda, perhaps the most important question of them all: what causes an “innie” or an “outie” belly button? What is a belly button? […]

In the hyper-arid deserts of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), water is scarce but sunshine is bountiful. The oil-rich nation currently uses a small army of cloud-seeding drones and aircraft to ease their water woes, but scientists have recently proposed another way to promote precipitation in the region: gigantic solar farms.  In a new study, […]

In the near future, astronauts and private citizens might be able to travel to space and spend time in the Orbital Reef – a private space station for long-term living and used for commerce, research, and tourism. The project, headed by Sierra Space and Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin, aims to be operational in low-Earth orbit […]

The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) has slowed substantially since the mid-90s, a new study reveals. AMOC is an essential component of the systems that keep the Earth’s regional climates in balance. Without it, Europe could suffer colder winters while the tropics could heat up even faster. Climatologists have identified AMOC as one of the […]

The dessert options available to us nowadays span a wide range of tastes, from a pint of Ben & Jerry’s to good ol’ apple crumble and custard. But how did the glorious concept of dessert begin? To find out, let’s travel back to the ancient Middle East, a region that nowadays covers countries like Turkey, […]

The nature of consciousness, how it emerges, and how it relates to the physical world has been a major philosophical and scientific topic of debate for as long as humanity has been thinking. Are mind and body separate? Some think yes, others think no, but a third camp expresses an in-between and yet more radical […]

Alarming new research has revealed that consuming reused deep-fried cooking oil may lead to higher levels of neurodegeneration in rats and their offspring. Given that the practice of re-heating the same batch of oil for multiple meals is common in homes and restaurants worldwide, the study’s findings could have major implications for human health. Deep-frying […]

Kefir, kimchi, and sauerkraut: not the best combination together, but as a part of a balanced diet, these fermented products are superfoods. Fermentation can make a piece of cabbage last months, even years, but what is the pickling power that makes it possible? What are fermented foods? Food fermentation is an example of biotechnology, which […]

After nailing its first flight, the XB-1 experimental aircraft is hoping to usher in a new era of civil supersonic air travel over 20 years after Concorde was forced into retirement. Designed and made by Boom Supersonic, XB-1 completed its maiden flight at Mojave Air & Space Port in California on Friday March 22. Advertisement […]

Universities and colleges generally present themselves as grand, well-established institutions, existing on a continuum stretching all the way back to people like Plato and Pythagoras. But the truth is, most of them are pretty young, relatively speaking, barely scratching a few centuries out of the history books.  But that makes sense, right? After all, as […]

Trekking nearly a whole day by plane to Australia might seem like a long-haul flight, but that’s got nothing on what the common swift is capable of. Lots of us get pretty restless after just a few hours, and we’re just sat on our asses. Imagine having to hold your arms out to the side […]

Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed at 01:27 am EDT (05:27 am UTC) on March 26. The Singapore-flagged container ship “Dali” collided with one of the bridge’s pillars leading to a catastrophic collapse of the whole structure. At the time, there were workers on the bridge and the Baltimore City Fire Department stated that at […]

Who needs Google Maps when you can just use your buddies’ electrifying aura? New research suggests that some electric fish may utilize their comrades’ electric fields to navigate the world in a shocking form of “collective sensing” that’s never been seen before.  Peters’s elephantnose fish, also known as the African weakly electric fish, are equipped […]

The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has warned of disruption to air travel along the path of April 8’s total solar eclipse. According to a statement released by the agency, air traffic and airports should prepare for disruption to normal proceedings before, during, and after the event, starting from 10:00 am UTC on April 7 […]

Mimicry is pretty common in the animal kingdom. It might involve species mimicking the coloration of trees to better hide from predators, or it can involve species mimicking each other to act as a defense mechanism. In some cases, predators mimic the surroundings to better ambush unsuspecting prey items. One new potential example of mimicry […]

Dogs have an innate ability to recognize nouns, forming mental representations of the objects they hear referenced with words. And while our furry friends may have kept this remarkable power hidden up to now by generally refusing to fetch items on demand, a new study on canine brain activity has given them away. Until now, […]

A display of corpses was a highlight for flâneurs passing the Paris Morgue in the 1860s. Captured by the “culture of looking”, the word “flânerie” was invented to describe aimless wandering as a way of taking in the city, and in the 19th century, that included ogling the dead. The Paris Morgue had a salle […]

Last night the Earth experienced the strongest geomagnetic storm since 2017, but it was minor compared to the one triggered by the most powerful solar storm on record in 1859, known as the Carrington Event. Now, we learn the disruption to the Earth’s magnetic field during the Carrington Event was even greater than previously estimated. […]