Deborah Bloomfield

Is there life beyond Earth? The question has turned out to be one of the hardest to answer in science. Despite the seemingly boundless expanse of the universe, which implies there’s potential for abundant life, the vast distances between stars render the search akin to locating a needle in a cosmic haystack. The Search for […]

A picture is worth a thousand words. And a film probably a thousand pictures. When it comes to the science of the very small and fast, for a long time what scientists got was just a snapshot of an interaction – if they could get that at all. And then over the last 36 years, […]

Just in time for the holiday season, a super-rare snow-white alligator with ice-blue eyes has just been hatched at a Florida reptile park.  Weighing in at a hefty 96 grams (3.4 ounces) and measuring 49 cm (19 inches) tip to tail, the baby gator is about as long as a newborn human, but only as […]

At our level, things remain the same color no matter the size. A gold ring is the same color as a gold crown. But at nanoscales, size matters when it comes to color. The idea of quantum effects in nanostructures was a well-established prediction even though, for decades, nobody could make those structures happen. But […]

Buried beneath the oceans surrounding continents is a naturally occurring frozen form of methane and water. Sometimes dubbed “fire-ice” as you can literally set light to it, marine methane hydrate can melt as the climate warms, uncontrollably releasing methane – a potent greenhouse gas – into the ocean and possibly the atmosphere. Colleagues and I […]

For the sushi lovers of the world, there’s nothing quite like the burn that comes from a dab of wasabi on top of your sushi roll. Except, as it turns out, most of us can’t legitimately make that comparison – because most of us have never had real wasabi. “The extent to which we’re eating […]

The Great Wall of China might’ve been able to hold off ancient enemies, but time and weather eventually come for even the sturdiest of constructions. With up to 30 percent of the Ming-era wall disappearing over the last 500 years, some have put this down to the cyanobacteria, lichen, and moss residing within the wall. […]

Quite possibly the most famous comet of them all, Halley’s Comet is about to begin its nearly 40-year-long journey back towards the Sun, passing by our planet on its way. The comet reaches its aphelion today (December 9), the point at which it’s furthest away from the Sun, taking it beyond the orbit of Neptune. […]

READER QUESTION: My understanding is that nothing comes from nothing. For something to exist, there must be material or a component available, and for them to be available, there must be something else available. Now my question: Where did the material come from that created the Big Bang, and what happened in the first instance […]

There has been increased interest in unidentified flying objects (UFOs) ever since the Pentagon’s 2021 report revealed what appears to be anomalous objects in US airspace, dubbed unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP). Fast forward to 2023, and Nasa has already formed a panel to investigate the reports and appointed a director  for UAP research. A newly […]

Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Jonathan the 191-year-old tortoise, happy birthday to you! The world’s oldest living land animal, a Seychelles giant tortoise (Aldabrachelys gigantea hololissa) named Jonathan, who has captured hearts across the world with his longevity and antics, has reached the grand old age of 191. In […]

The last meal of a Tyrannosaur has been discovered for the first time in a fossil that shows a juvenile Gorgosaurus with its stomach contents in situ. The picky eater only ate the legs of two small feathered dinosaurs that were likely a popular and abundant menu item around 75 million years ago, and the species […]

Although pork and beef are some of the most popular meats for modern humans, it’s easy to wonder if the same could be said when we couldn’t just pop to the supermarket to pick them up. Researchers previously thought that humans in the Middle Pleistocene stuck to hunting and eating large mammals – but a […]

Seeing a meteor is always an exciting experience, partly because each one is different. Faint “shooting stars” seldom have an identifiable shade – but seeing a deeply colored flash adds something extra to the good fortune of seeing a meteor that can compete with the brightest stars.  If you are lucky enough to experience a […]

While working on group projects might be the bane of every college student’s life, new research has shown that sometimes, groups can work together successfully. Greater honeyguides (Indicator indicator), a small species of African bird, are known to guide both honey badgers and humans to beehives. By studying these human-bird interactions, researchers have shown that […]

Humans of the industrialized world don’t realize how easy they have it. Sure, there’s glaring wealth disparity, rampant heart disease, prolific depression, and a ravaged ecosystem, but you know how fortunate you are to purchase a new electric toaster for just a few dollars?  While studying at London’s Royal College of Art, Thomas Thwaites set […]

Nestled along the northern Silk Road in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region stands a beautiful testament to China’s ancient Buddhist past – the Kizil Caves. Carved into the face of the ochre-hued cliffs of the Flaming Mountains, the caves are an archaeological treasure that beckons history enthusiasts and the spiritually minded alike. China’s oldest Buddhist […]

Watch any nature documentary, and something becomes quickly obvious: human babies are… kind of rubbish. Giraffes, for example, can stand up within an hour of being born – it takes humans the best part of a year to do the same – while your pet kitty is basically a teenager by the time it’s six […]