Deborah Bloomfield

It has been a bit month for M87 and its supermassive black hole (M87*). Recent observations have revealed even more about this gargantuan cosmic object and its host galaxy, and astronomers have been able to better understand the shape of this galaxy. It turns out it is shaped like a potato. When looking through a […]

A new study of mitochondrial DNA has found evidence for at least two migrations between the Americas, China, and Japan, during the last ice age and following melt period. The team traced a rare Native American founder lineage across the continents and time, looking at mitochondrial DNA passed down through females. Using 100,000 modern-day and […]

Whale hunting across the world has always been a controversial topic. Despite bans on commercial whaling, a small number of countries including Japan, Norway, and Iceland still persist in the killing of whales for meat. Now, a new report released by the Icelandic Food and Veterinary Authority (MAST) has revealed just how much suffering these […]

The remains of a Stone Age road have been discovered at the submerged Neolithic site of Soline, which sits off the coast of a Croatian island called Korčula. According to researchers, the ancient passageway once linked the island to a settlement that sat on an artificial landmass but now lies some 4 to 5 meters […]

Different places around the world are experiencing the climate crisis in different ways. Extreme weather events becoming more common, and there are also more subtle changes in terms of temperatures and precipitation that are taking place and will continue to take place. This means that certain regions of the world might have a completely different […]

An experimental Chinese spacecraft has landed back on Earth after 276 days in orbit, after testing the nation’s reusable rocket technologies. The spacecraft successfully landed at Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China and was the subject of extensive speculation during its time in space, due to its mysterious mission.  First reported by Chinese state […]

It’s an often touted piece of trivia that the monarch of the UK owns all the swans of the land. There are a few caveats to that claim, but it’s largely true – and like many traditions belonging to kings and queens, it has a bizarre and age-old backstory. Although he was only coronated on […]

The former head of Russia’s space corporation Roscosmos and renowned ranter, Dmitry Rogozin, has taken time out from the invasion of Ukraine to share some conspiracy theories about the US Moon landings.  The ever-provocative politician took to Telegram to claim he asked for official proof of the NASA Moon landings in 1969 when he was […]

Men that are higher in psychopathic traits appear to be better at pretending in order to be more attractive to women, according to a recent study. The team found that in traits such as Honesty, Emotionality, and Agreeableness, men with more psychopathic personalities were better at mimicking those prosocial traits if they knew it was […]

An Egyptologist has claimed he suffered a mystery illness that left him hallucinating and coughing up blood after opening an Ancient Egyptian tomb. Filmmaker and Egyptologist Ramy Romany told The Jordan Harbinger Show he had become ill after opening up a tomb for the Discovery Channel TV show Mummies Unwrapped in 2019. Advertisement “While we […]

A reverse-polarity sunspot has released a solar flare expected to trigger a moderate to strong geomagnetic storm on Earth either tonight or tomorrow. People in the right locations could get another treat similar to the auroras of late February and March 23. For those suitably minded, there would also be the intellectual thrill of knowing […]

The lifeless body of one of the last remaining Yangtze giant softshell turtles was found on April 21 at Đồng Mô Lake in the Vietnamese capital of Hanoi, according to Vietnamese media. It’s been widely reported that this was the last female of the species, effecting dooming the much-loved species into extinction. The deceased turtle […]

The best approach for getting a cat to interact with you has been uncovered in a new study that trialed three cat calling – in the most literal sense of the phrase – techniques. It found that a combination of audio and visual cues is the most likely to get you attention from a feline […]

A sample of almost 8,000 MRI scans has revealed differences between men’s and women’s brains, but only in countries with high measures of gender inequality. In places with less discrimination, no statistically significant distinctions could be seen between brains, at least on this measure. Being on the receiving end of gender discrimination is associated with […]

The UK government will follow EU laws to allow the use of animal testing for cosmetics for the first time in 25 years. Despite wide condemnation from makeup brands and animal rights groups, a High Court ruling concluded that the government was acting legally and aligns with a similar change within the EU.  “We are […]

Stop us if you’ve heard this one: a genius from centuries gone by, forced to hide his heretical beliefs from his peers, instead buried his ideas in a complex code, hidden in plain sight until some future scholar could decipher the truth. Is it The Da Vinci Code? No. Isaac Newton’s weirdly extensive research on […]

What’s 3 meters (10 feet) long, has huge teeth, big eyes, and hunted prey in ancient Scottish swaps over 300 million years ago? The answer: an extremely ferocious-looking crocodile-like carnivore called Crassigyrinus scoticus. Now, a team of scientists have managed to digitally reconstruct this beastie’s skull, which not only yields new insights into what it […]

Scientists in China claim to have created a brain-computer interface that allows a monkey to control a robotic arm using its mind. Just like other incarnations of this type of technology, the researchers argue it could someday help people who have lost the use of their limbs.  The research, which is yet to be peer-reviewed, […]

Fomalhaut is the brightest star in the constellation of the Southern Fish and it is the second brightest in the sky when it comes to having a planetary system around it (after Pollux). But the Fomalhaut system is still a “work in progress” – it’s unsure if it has planets but what it certainly does […]

Those Transportation Security Administration requirements are drilled into every frequent flyer’s head: You can carry on liquids that are only less than 3.4 ounces (100 milliliters) in volume each. But when the TSA recently confiscated a jar of Jif under this rule, peanut butter lovers were up in arms. Some skeptics of security may suspect […]