Deborah Bloomfield

Last week, the Sun released the strongest flare yet of this cycle and the strongest in six years. It was an X 2.8 class flare, the strongest recorded since September 10, 2017, and about 5 to 10 percent of the strongest on record from November 2003. The Sun is approaching its maximum activity for its […]

Although the human population officially reached 8 billion a little over a year ago, its growth rate is the slowest it’s been since 1950, dropping under 1 percent back in 2020. Some have even predicted this might be a sign of an impending decline in the global population. Whilst there’s no guarantee of this on a global […]

New species are found surprisingly often, and creatures with eight legs seem to be having a bit of a bumper year. In Ecuador two new species of tarantulas have been found – but they don’t seem to be very pleased, and have been given names to reflect their sassy personalities and the conservation issues they […]

When psychologists talk about “flow states”, they’re referring to that feeling of getting totally lost in a task, unaware of outside distractions. Sounds pretty great, right? Lots of research has pointed to the feelgood benefits of being in flow and how we can all achieve it, but a recent study discovered new insights into what […]

With a rise in antibiotic-resistant infections, the search for a new, effective antibiotic is as important as ever. On the hunt for such a substance, researchers believe they may well have found one, and it occurs naturally in a somewhat unexpected place: the human nose. Scientists at the University of Tübingen discovered epifadin, a member […]

Frogs might be famous for a lot of things – croaking, ending up where they shouldn’t, and even confusing the internet – but their teeth are not one of them. Most frog species barely even have them. There is a group of around 70 species, however, which has fangs. Hopping around Southeast Asia, they use their […]

You’ve probably seen the meme “Your job can wait. Tell us about your favorite dinosaur.” Luckily for us, that’s a daily chat at IFLScience, but it’s interesting to see just how often the classic childhood favorites come up: triceratops, stegosaurus, T. rex etc. Despite the resurgence of Jurassic World introducing the world to some lesser-known […]

Imagine this: you go into a vintage clothes store and buy a Victorian-era costume only to find it hides a heavily encrypted message that can’t be deciphered. We’ve all been there, right?  Well, this was actually the reality for Sara Rivers-Cofield, an archaeological curator who bought a 19th-century silk dress from an antique mall in […]

A nightclub in London, UK, has been fined after accidentally serving tequila shots with caustic soda instead of salt. On 7 December 2021, four customers at Tiger Tiger nightclub asked for tequila shots, traditionally served with salt and lime. The barman noticed there was no salt and, according to the Westminster City Council, went to […]

The inhabitants of the earliest human megasites got most of their protein from peas rather than meat, new research has revealed. Located in modern-day Ukraine and Moldova, the rural towns of the ancient Trypillia culture were founded more than 6,000 years ago and contained around 15,000 residents, making them the largest known prehistoric settlements in […]

If you’re a Brit reading this, we have some news that may shock you. No seriously – you may want to sit down for this. Many Americans have never tasted the flavor of blackcurrant. Told you it was shocking. “But what about purple sweets?!” you cry. Well… most of them are grape-flavored. Now that the […]

On December 14, China launched an experimental and reusable spaceplane into low Earth orbit, the spaceship’s third trip into space. China is keeping quiet about the purpose of the spaceplane, however, four days into the mission amateur astronomer and satellite tracker Scott Tilley noticed that trailing behind the craft were six “mysterious wingmen”, several of […]

Here’s something we haven’t come across before: some people are apparently confused why there are marine fossils at the top of Mount Everest. At the summit, there is the sedimentary rock limestone known as the “Qomolangma Limestone“. Within it are a number of fossilized marine creatures from the Ordovician Period 488.3 million-443.7 million years ago. […]

In the battle of the sexes, there’s one fight that never seems to die: who bears more pain? Childbirth is pretty much the gold standard of “this hurts” in everyday conversation – but ask someone with testicles, and they may well think that a swift kick in the balls simply must hurt more. Heck, even […]

Imagine this: it’s the summer and you’ve just been painting your garden fence when it starts to rain. At the same time, and not too far away, a friend has just finished doing the same, but their weather is far nicer, so their freshly painted fence is surrounded by dry conditions. Which fence will dry […]

During the chilly and long twilight hours of winter, reindeer make a bizarre change unique amongst daytime mammals – their eyes change color. Researchers now believe this oddity gives them specialist night vision, helping them to seek out a tasty lichen dinner. The discovery that the surface of reindeer eyes changes color from golden-orange in […]

The Dordogne region of southern France is home to some of the oldest known artworks in the world. Across the walls and ceilings of over 200 caves in the region are an array of colourful paintings created by our ancient ancestors. But despite their significant age, it is not completely clear just how old they […]

For something we’re all just toting around without a second thought, the human brain has some very impressive capabilities. So impressive, in fact, that even the most sophisticated computers cannot yet replicate all its functions. But that could be about to change. Scientists at Western Sydney University just unveiled their new supercomputer DeepSouth, the first […]

Digging a hole straight through the Earth is an extremely popular thought experiment. It can teach people about so many properties of our planet as well as some pretty cool physics. However, the process of digging such a hole is impossible, and not just because the interior of our world goes through molten and liquid […]

At 10:17 pm UTC last night, a major eruption shook Iceland. The event has been expected for a while, but that makes it no less spectacular. It started with a series of strong quakes, and about an hour later lava fountains appeared from cracks in the ground. The fissure is currently about 4 kilometers (2.5 […]