Deborah Bloomfield

In the northern hemisphere from October to March, you can look up and see the Pleiades, also known as the Seven Sisters. The star cluster is in the constellation of Taurus, and made up of over 1,000 stars, but the brightest of the stars are hot blue luminous stars which formed around 100 million years […]

Astronomers have discovered a very young and unusual-looking star – and named it Dracula’s Chivito, after a popular Uruguayan sandwich. The name is a nod to the most similar object we’ve seen before, the equally memorable Gomez’ Hamburger. Stars can last for billions of years, but are most interesting in the relatively brief times when […]

Last week, Oregon health officials announced that a resident had been diagnosed with bubonic plague, the state’s first human case since 2015. They believe the person was probably infected by their pet cat, who also developed symptoms. Plague, caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis, is rare in the US, with an average of seven human cases […]

The heliopause, the region where the solar wind’s influence stops and interstellar space begins, has been called a “Wall of Fire” surrounding the Solar System. The name is hyperbolic and technically inaccurate, but it does point to a remarkable discovery that was one of the major achievements for the Voyager missions.  The Voyager spacecraft have […]

A mysterious script engraved on wooden tablets from Easter Island is completely unlike any other known form of text, suggesting that it may represent an independent writing system that is unique to the island.  After radiocarbon dating several of the ancient objects, researchers have now discovered that the earliest carvings predate the arrival of Europeans, […]

Orangutans, chimpanzees, bonobos, and gorillas share many traits with humans, and now it seems we can add teasing to the list. Playful teasing, that is, the kind that emerges in human babies before they can speak and that may have been a crucial stepping stone to humor in the human lineage (not that it’s always […]

A person in Alaska has died after falling sick with a rare virus known as Alaskapox. The fatal case was an elderly man with a weakened immune system who lived in the Kenai Peninsula of Southcentral Alaska. According to a bulletin from the Alaska Department of Health, he first sought medical attention in mid-September 2023 […]

This year will be a treat for fans of gawping at space. As well as JWST casually spewing out images of spiral galaxies like you’ve never seen before, North America has an especially spectacular solar eclipse to look forward to, given that it may coincide with the solar maximum. While you wait for that, space […]

Most people are aware, through reading or looking up slightly, that the Moon is sometimes visible during the day.  This occasionally freaks out conspiracy theorists, who seem to believe that the Moon should only come out at night like in cartoons – but this is of course easily explained by the rotation of the Earth […]

Today, it is well known that the Vikings reached the shores of North America hundreds of years before Christopher Columbus even set sail. For decades, this reality was not well known outside of a few academic circles, but recent archaeological developments and media attention have helped establish the story. So what do we know about […]

Studying large carnivorous mammals is not without its challenges, especially when they live in remote locations. While footprints have been used previously, using GPS collars combined with cameras has given researchers the opportunity to  learn more about how polar bears (Ursus maritimus) are using land to hunt, and the impacts that this will have on […]

Meet the crab spiders, some of the world’s coolest-looking mashed-up animals (not to be confused with spider crabs). While they are technically spiders and not scary crab-spider hybrids, you can definitely see where the name comes from when you look at them. Overview Crab spiders typically belong to the family Thomisidae, which consists of around […]

Let’s do a thought experiment. Tomorrow you wake up and you feel like Dr Manhattan and say “I’m tired of Earth. These People.” The only option is to relocate yourself to space. The Moon is right there. Or you could build a space station. Or you might have grander aspirations and create a settlement on […]

A single species of eyelash viper already sounds cool – the prominent spiny scales above their eyes give them a distinctive and, dare we say it, iconic look. Now, after a decade-long study, the number of species is about to multiply, as researchers have discovered that what was thought to be one species of eyelash […]

Water is common across our planet and it’s crucial to life but it is always a rare commodity elsewhere in the inner Solar System. The discovery of ice in the craters of the Moon or buried in deposits on Mars is extremely intriguing. Researchers have looked further now, at the asteroid belt, and investigated if […]

A cannabis extract called PHEC-66 possesses what researchers are calling “remarkable” anti-cancer effects, according to a new study from Australian researchers. In in-vitro trials, the extract was shown not only to slow the growth rates of melanoma cancer cells, but to also prompt their death. The results “suggest that PHEC-66 triggers apoptosis in these melanoma […]

There’s a bit of a mystery going on at the Aquarium and Shark Lab in Hendersonville, North Carolina, after a stingray became pregnant despite no male stingrays being present. While an interesting mystery in its own right, the case has drawn extra attention after suggestions by the head of the aquarium that the stingray could […]

Many people will be familiar with the Mediterranean diet – your doctor might even have recommended you try it out. Inspired by the traditional cuisine of regions along the Mediterranean coast, the combination of lean meat, seafood, nuts and seeds, olive oil, and plenty of fruits and vegetables has been associated with many health benefits. […]

Until relatively recently, there was a bold plan to replenish the shrinking Dead Sea by connecting it to the Red Sea through a pipeline stretching for 177 kilometers (110 miles) through the Middle East.  The engineering megaproject was shelved in 2021 amid mounting tensions between Israel, Palestine, and Jordan. Now, with relations in the Middle […]

Worried about AI-generated voices being used to con you or your loved ones over the phone? The United States Federal Communications Commission (FCC) ruled on February 8, effective immediately, that robocalls using AI voices fall under restrictions on “artificial or prerecorded voice” under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), which also restricts telemarketing calls and […]