Deborah Bloomfield

Scientists have been pondering whether intentionally drying the Earth’s stratosphere could be a way to tackle the climate crisis (other than, y’know, stop burning ridiculous amounts of fossil fuels). When people talk about greenhouse gases, you probably imagine carbon dioxide and methane, two of the most problematic emissions pumped out by human industrial activity. However, […]

If you’re in the Northern Hemisphere, March 2024 could be an exciting month for comet-watching. If you’re reading this later or elsewhere, there’ll be other opportunities later in the year or down the track. On the other hand, only the seriously hard-core tend to get excited about asteroid spotting. So, what’s the difference, and how […]

When galaxies collide, the supermassive black holes at their center can move close together, begin orbing one another, and eventually merge. Such a merger has never been seen but binary supermassive black holes have been known to exist at the core of several galaxies. And astronomers have now crowned the heaviest pair yet. These two […]

Have you ever wondered why that rich red-looking steak you bought a day or two ago has now turned grey in your fridge? For those who eat meat, you may think the color of the product is a surefire way of assessing its freshness and its quality – the redder the better, right? Well, color […]

Finding a new species can happen in all sorts of different ways from reclassifying species based on new genetic information with a little help from Will Smith, finding them hiding in the trees, or spending months looking closely at museum specimens. Scientists are always learning more about the animal species that surround us. Now a […]

The world’s first jet-suit race zoomed around the Dubai Marina this week with racers donning Iron Man-esque technology darting around floating buoys, hoping to cross the finishing line in a very noisy blaze of glory. The race on Wednesday, February 28, was organized by Gravity Industries, a UK-based aeronautical tech company that specializes in high-powered […]

If you’d told me a year ago that I’d be weeping as Adam Sandler embraced a giant arachnid in space, I’d have rolled with it because that sounds amazing – and oh boy, it is. SPACEMAN landed on Netflix on March 1, 2024, and is based on the novel Spaceman Of Bohemia by Jaroslav Kalfař. […]

Scientists believe they have evidence of the fastest-moving crack in an ice sheet ever recorded. The 10.5-kilometer (6.5-mile) crack formed through an Antarctic ice sheet at a blistering speed of 35 meters (115 feet) per second, or about 128.7 kilometers per hour (80 miles per hour). Researchers at the University of Washington observed the lightning-fast […]

X (Twitter) has a new feature that nobody was asking for: audio and video calls, following in the footsteps of social media giant Meta. The platform announced that the feature is now available to everybody, as of Wednesday. Advertisement ⓘ IFLScience is not responsible for content shared from external sites. While probably useful to somebody, not […]

If you’re wondering what it’s like to come back to Earth from space, but don’t want to put yourself through the training that astronauts do, we’ve got the next best thing. Varda Space Industries’  W-1 spacecraft successfully landed back on Earth after many months in space. And it has filmed its descent back to Earth […]

Being part of a small hunter-gatherer tribe can really limit your options when it comes to finding a mate, especially if most of the people in your clan are your own brothers and sisters. According to the results of a new genetic study, Europe’s last Stone Age foragers got around this problem by making sure […]

We’ve got a message for the dogs out there: you may no longer be the cutest animal to play fetch. Cats could be coming for your crown, as animal behavior psychologists have revealed that our feline friends also love a game of fetch – and they’re the ones dictating the rules.  Researchers from the University […]

Today is Leap Day. Every four years, an extra day is added to the Gregorian calendar (other, better calendars are available), making February 29 days long. This hasn’t always been the case, of course, as calendars have changed a lot over the years and across cultures. Before Julius Caesar introduced the Julian calendar in 45 […]

Pound for pound – or, rather, gram for gram – a short-haul flight is one of the least environmentally friendly ways to travel. Long-haul flights are barely better; domestic ones are worse by far. Which, for anybody hoping to live on a planet Earth that’s still habitable in the near future, is kind of a […]

North Atlantic right whales – a critically endangered species – are shrinking. According to new research, this reduction in body size, induced in part by stressors such as climate change, is impacting their ability to reproduce. It’s not good news for a species already at risk of extinction. Measuring up to 16 meters (52 feet) […]

A path has been sketched for how molecules needed for life could have formed on Mars in the days when it was wet. We don’t know if this happened, or that it led to life, let alone whether any survived. Nevertheless, the work suggests that anyone thinking of giving up on the prospects of a […]

There’s an old joke about homeopathy, which goes something like this: A man overdosed on homeopathic medicine. He forgot to take his pills. Homeopaths believe (mistakenly) that substances that cause specific symptoms in healthy people can be used to treat those symptoms in unhealthy patients. According to homeopathists, the more the substance is diluted, the […]

A groundbreaking bill to prohibit octopus farming could soon be passed in Washington state. If signed into law, it will be a world-first ban on the deeply controversial aquaculture practice that’s started to emerge.  The bill, HB 1153, passed the Washington State House of Representatives earlier this month and passed the Senate with a 29-20 […]

Scientists in China have successfully cloned two Tibetan goats for the very first time, according to Chinese media. It is hoped the feat will help to support wider breeding efforts of the animal breed, which is prized for its luscious cashmere wool. The pair were recently born in Qinghai, a province of northwest China that […]

Space around Earth is polluted. For 70 years, several nations around the world have been sending stuff up, caring very little about what would happen after their work was done. This space junk includes massive satellites, rocket pieces, and, for a time, even a spatula and a camera. Removing this stuff is seen as crucial […]