Deborah Bloomfield

Viagra – or if we’re going to be fancy scientific about it, sildenafil – is perhaps one of the best-known drugs in the world. Plenty will know what it treats, but what about how it works? From angina to erectile dysfunction The first clues appeared when Viagra was initially in clinical trials as a treatment […]

Red squirrels – yes, the cute ones with furry ears from children’s books – have become the first identified animal host of one of the oldest diseases in recorded history. It seems these unassuming critters were responsible for spreading leprosy to people in medieval England. Advertisement The red squirrel (Sciurus vulgaris) is now a rare […]

Thought tsunamis only happened in the ocean? Think again. Turns out lake tsunamis are a thing too, and they can be just as devastating – here’s everything you need to know about them. Advertisement What is a lake tsunami? As you may well have guessed, a lake tsunami is a tsunami that occurs in a […]

Taking turns to communicate isn’t just a thing that humans do in polite conversation – plenty of other animals also avoid overlapping each other. But not every animal “talks” – so how do those that still appear to take turns know when to do so? A new study examining the aggressive back and forth of […]

For most of us here in the 21st century, our memories of learning the times tables have become something of a running joke. “You won’t have a calculator in your pocket every day as an adult,” we were warned – well, shows what you know, Mrs Hickinbottom; these days, virtually 100 percent of us have […]

Check out the latest futuristic offering from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, otherwise known as DARPA. From the people who brought you hypersonic air-breathing weapons, submarine-detecting shrimp, and robot jazz musicians comes a massive manta ray-inspired uncrewed submarine. Constructed by Northrop Grumman, the prototype just completed its first in-water test. Advertisement The sub has […]

We live in (or at least, perceive, with various branches of string theory including up to 26 dimensions) a universe with three dimensions (plus time), and there are reasons to suspect why we find ourselves in a 3D world.  Advertisement Scientists and mathematicians have suggested universes with more than three dimensions would be unpredictable and […]

Another day, another incredibly stupid conspiracy theory resurfaces on the Internet. According to various – for want of a better word – numbskulls, the Solar System has a second sun, hiding behind our real Sun. Advertisement In the latest iteration of the conspiracy theory, posted to the Facebook group “Nibiru Followers Anonymous”, their evidence appears […]

The construction of a ballcourt in the ancient Maya city of Yaxnohcah was probably consecrated with a ritual involving chilli peppers and hallucinogenic morning glory seeds, new research has revealed. Despite decomposing centuries ago, this ceremonial offering has been identified within a layer of sediment beneath the court using environmental DNA analysis. Advertisement As in […]

Astronomers have discovered a complex molecule in a star-forming region known as the Cat’s Paw Nebula. The molecule in question is 2-methoxyethanol which on Earth is a pretty toxic chemical solvent, dangerous to health even in small doses. But in space, it might be crucial to the formation of stars and planets. Advertisement It is […]

Alpacas have weird sex lives: they are the only mammal we know of in which the penis enters the uterus to directly deposit sperm. It’s a reproductive strategy that’s never been confirmed in any other mammal before, and new research suggests it may help the kinky camelids’ chances of pregnancy. Advertisement Alpacas (Vicugna pacos) – […]

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NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) are preparing for the close approach of near-Earth object, asteroid 99942 Apophis.  Advertisement In 2029, Apophis – believed to be one of the most hazardous asteroids to Earth when it was first discovered in 2004 – will come within 32,000 kilometers (20,000 miles) of the Earth’s surface, giving […]

Fantastic news has dropped, as a first-of-its-kind review has concluded that conservation action does have a meaningful impact on biodiversity loss. The global meta-analysis uncovered how in two-thirds of cases, conservation efforts either improved the state of biodiversity or at least slowed its decline. Advertisement It’s the strongest evidence to date that nature conservation is […]

Three years after evidence emerged that the quasi-moon known as Kamo’oalewa is formed from a chunk of Earth’s one true Moon, we may know just where it comes from. Besides showing the rapid progress in knowledge about the exceptionally recent field of quasi-moons, the discovery honors a scientist who believed in the plurality of worlds. […]

The changes that our species is making to the planet are deeper than initially thought. Not only are the impacts of human activity changing the surface and climate of the Earth, but new research suggests that we have also changed the deep subsurface, a zone located hundreds of meters to several kilometers beneath where we […]

There’s a family of new COVID-19 variants in town, and at least one of them looks set to begin jostling for position at the top of the transmission stakes. They’ve been nicknamed the FLiRT variants, for reasons that will soon become clear. Here’s what we know about them so far. Advertisement If you’re thinking it’s […]

Bird flu seems to be perennially in the news at the moment, and with more and more species succumbing to the virus, concern around it is rife. While the infection normally spreads in avian species, it can also spill over into other animals, including humans, which has sparked fears of a global animal pandemic. What […]

A wild Sumatran orangutan has been seen chewing the leaves of the Akar Kuning plant and applying the juice to a wound on his cheek, the first time this has been reported. The process went on for seven minutes, until the wound was entirely covered, making clear it was deliberate, and the orangutan continued to […]

Ancient Mars is believed to have been a wet world. Possibly it was a cold world, with frosts and floods, rather than a tropical paradise. It might have had a denser carbon dioxide atmosphere too, and the composition of that atmosphere is now being called into question. That’s because chemical elements suggest that it could […]