Deborah Bloomfield

On June 4, 1629, the Dutch East India Company’s flagship Batavia was lost off the coast of Western Australia. What unfolded was a tragic tale of mutiny and murder that has captured the imaginations of historians and archaeologists. Now, the findings of a five-year project have shed new light on what became of the Batavia and […]

Have you ever left the house on a warm summer’s day or a particularly cold dry winter afternoon and thought you can smell rain? Apparently, not everyone is able to nasally detect approaching bad weather – so is there any science to back it up, or is it just another myth? The claim that it […]

The Wallace Line has shaped species diversity across Asia and Australia but, the thing is, it doesn’t actually exist. It’s completely imaginary, and yet its influence on species evolution is very much real. Animals – and plants too, although less obviously – look very different on either side of the line, which might make sense […]

One of the most famous and important surviving artifacts from the Aztec Empire reveals how they expected the apocalypse to go down – but also the rather sneaky way they figured out to avoid it. If there’s only one thing you know about classical Mesoamerican apocalypse myths, it’s probably this: that the world ended in […]

Landscapers are truly impressive professionals. There are so many nuances to taking care of a piece of land, which is why many of us average homeowners trying to save on expenses struggle to keep up on our own. It can be quite fascinating when you learn about the different variables that influence the health and […]

A study of massive and very bright stars close to the center of our galaxy has found something unexpected: these stars are much less likely to be parts of binary or triple systems than those in Earth’s vicinity. Being close to many others of your kind might seem to maximize hook-up chances, but if you […]

The Apocalypse Bingo card for 2023 has so far featured a lot of monstrous blobs. First, the stinking sargassum blob came for Florida and now an invasive (and whiffy) weed is engulfing the Sonoran Desert in Arizona. The odorous carpet is made up of the aptly named “stinknet”, and it’s bad news for humans, plants, […]

Fake news is mostly shared by people with right-wing political leanings and without knowing it is false, according to a new study. The findings suggest that the issue of misinformation may not be due to malintent, but rather a failure to fully understand the shared information, highlighting that education may be the best route to […]

Jezero Crater was chosen as the target for NASA’s Perseverance for its impressive river delta. Seen from orbit, it already told a story of water flowing on the surface of ancient Mars. In the initial months of work from the rover, the picture is expanding: The river was deeper and faster moving than it was […]

Twitter CEO Elon Musk says he has found a new boss for the social media platform and that she will be starting in around six weeks. He kept quiet about who this mystery woman may be, but there’s already been some informed speculation. Musk tweeted the announcement on Thursday, May 11, saying: “Excited to announce […]

Among the many ways humans have looked to master this planet, few ideas can be considered bold and more batsh*t than plans to flood the world’s largest desert, the Sahara, and create a vast new “sea” in Africa. For centuries, this idea has been floated time and time again. Now, with the world facing a […]

Are you a mosquito magnet? It often seems the tastes of blood-sucking insects favor certain flavors of human over others, but now new research has uncovered that certain soaps can greatly increase and decrease your chances of being bitten by a mosquito. “It’s remarkable that the same individual that is extremely attractive to mosquitoes when […]

Two new studies have highlighted that the use of cannabis by teenagers may greatly increase the risk of developing schizophrenia and other psychiatric disorders, particularly in young boys. While currently only correlational, the studies suggest that the scale of the issue may be larger than previously thought, supporting previous research into how cannabis may be […]

John Cleese, the British comedian, once summed up the idea of the Dunning–Kruger effect as, “If you are really, really stupid, then it’s impossible for you to know you are really, really stupid.” A quick search of the news brings up dozens of headlines connecting the Dunning–Kruger effect to everything from work to empathy and […]

In 1993, a strange sight was found in a cave in Altamura, southern Italy. Inside the Lamalunga cave – created by a sinkhole – was a virtually complete fossilized skeleton of a human, embedded within a rock. As well as that, the remains were covered with “cave popcorn”; tiny spot-like marks all over the bones. […]

Over five years of observation have resulted in an incredible infrared atlas of stellar nurseries, the vast clouds of gas and dust from which stars are born. These mosaics provide insights into stars in the making as well as fledgling stars and their motions. A truly remarkable achievement. In the work, researchers piece together over […]

Scientists have been trying to find ways for dreamers to communicate with the waking world for decades, but to date, their efforts have been largely unsuccessful. However, a team of sleep experts think they may have found a way for lucid dreamers to “talk” while they sleep.  The term “lucid dreaming” was first coined in […]

If you’ve been on Twitter today, you may have come across a tweet that made you tense your butthole as tight as it is possible to go.  If you haven’t, here are the basics: Twitter user BradiusZero shared a scan which appears to show a butt plug embedded within someone’s body far higher than a […]

A large study has found that there is not enough evidence to suggest antidepressants are effective at treating chronic pain. Despite some prior evidence suggesting that antidepressants do help reduce neuropathic pain, there has never been a large meta-analysis of the papers, and now the results do not appear to be as clear.  Experts urge […]

Scary Barbie is so hot right now. In a matter of weeks, two papers by two independent groups have been published defining AT2021lwx, also known as ZTF20abrbeie. Probably more famous for its nickname “Scary Barbie”, it’s the largest cosmic explosion ever detected.  A study published last week suggested it was a star being ripped apart […]