Deborah Bloomfield

If you’re familiar with the Twitter game “flat fuck Friday”, then oh boy, do we have a treat for you. We present to you one of the flattest fellas around: the Asian giant softshell turtle (Pelochelys cantorii). And, with the help of local community knowledge, researchers have just discovered both its first-ever nesting female and […]

A post on X set the social platform ablaze recently as user @Kairo_Anatomika shared some fascinating insights into fat distribution among animals in desert environments. Beginning with the camel whose fat humps are famous, the second post in the thread delivered a sucker punch in the form of the round rear-ends of fat-tailed sheep. This […]

Sharks evolved around 450 million years ago, which means they’ve hitched a lift on planet Earth around the galaxy twice. If that’s not yet given you a fact-induced headache, it may tip you over to hear that it also means sharks were on Earth before trees, at a time when Saturn didn’t have rings yet. […]

Germany has just become the latest to join a select group of countries that have legalized cannabis use. Today, February 23, 2024, the Bundestag passed a law that is due to come into effect from April 1, permitting recreational use of the drug for over-18s in both public and private spaces, with some restrictions. News […]

The golden records carried by the Voyager missions have become famous as an effort for humanity to explain ourselves to any aliens who might find them. As well as being our introduction to the universe, they were also a sort of love letter to Earth, a reminder to humanity of what is precious about ourselves […]

It is hard to know the details surrounding the lives of prehistoric people, especially when their remains are recovered in unusual places – and especially when they died under mysterious circumstances. One example is the so-called “Vittrup Man”, a partial skeleton recovered from a peat bog in northern Denmark during the early 20th century.  For […]

Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS) has become a global issue, affecting pig farms since around the 1980s. A new type of gene editing hopes to tackle the fatal disease by creating CRISPR pigs that are immune – and it’s expected they could reach the market within two years. Also known as “blue-ear pig disease,” […]

Scientists in South Korea have announced a step forward in the development of semi-transparent perovskite solar cells that could someday allow windows to generate energy. In the latest tests, the semi-transparent perovskite solar cells achieved an efficiency of over 21 percent, which the researchers claim is a record for this type of technology. Furthermore, over […]

Sometimes, science is about discovering new life, curing the incurable, or sending humanity to the stars. Sometimes, it’s about finding the ideal shape for a vaginally insertable plastic penis. Today, friends, is one of those days. A new study has asked the question that’s secretly been on all of our minds: does size really matter […]

Phubbing. Depending on who you ask, it’s either the scourge of modern society or really not that big of a deal. It’s been linked to all sorts, from loneliness, to relationship woes. But one recent study produced a surprising result – contrary to every depiction of family life that you’ve ever seen on 21st-century television, […]

The remains of a 240-million-year-old marine reptile with an uncanny resemblance to a mythical Chinese dragon have been pierced together by paleontologists for the first time. Known as Dinocephalosaurus orientalis, the 5-metre (16-foot) long beast was a native of southwestern China during the Triassic period. While the species was first identified in 2003, its appearance […]

“What we can confirm, without a doubt, is our equipment is on the surface of the Moon and we are transmitting.” Those were the words from flight director Tim Crain yesterday, as private company Intuitive Machines confirmed its lander Odysseus successfully touched down on the lunar surface, making history in the process. It marks the […]

The supernova 1987a left behind a neutron star, and the JWST has finally found it, offering astronomers their best chance to examine the early days of this astronomical phenomenon. Although older supernova remnants within our own galaxy provide much closer opportunities to study matter in its most extreme form, this helps build a picture of […]

The elementary charge is a fundamental constant of the universe. We call it simply e. Protons have a value of +e and electrons are -e. Depending on how familiar you are with physics, you might have heard that the quarks that make protons have a fractional charge, but we do not worry about that because […]

You may think of granite as little more than a fancy material for making kitchen countertops out of, and that’s… not wrong, exactly. But it’s not the whole story. Granite is born in the Earth’s molten mantle, and turns up just about everywhere on the planet. It’s hard and durable, so good for building; it […]

Over on Reddit, one user has an unusual question about their vision: why is it improved by looking through the holes in Country Cheese crackers? “I was just in bed eating crackers and decided to look at the TV through the holes in the cracker,” the Redditor explained in the AskScience subreddit, “low and behold […]

A new study has identified a protein that, when it persists, appears to be linked to the symptoms of long COVID. As a result, it could represent an easier way to diagnose the condition and potentially even a new avenue for treatment. Researchers first recruited 55 patients with long COVID, all of whom were experiencing […]

There have been a number of ancient fossil dolphins discovered over the years that are famous mostly for their big teeth, though one species lost theirs to slurp up squid. Most believe the teeth of these ancient dolphin species were used for thrusting forwards towards large prey; however, a newly described dolphin called Aureia rerehua […]

Three and a half billion years ago life had not only found a way, but diversified, so that all these years later we can observe differences in what was left behind. The Earth has undergone so many cycles of geologic uplift and destruction that there is very little left of the rocks from the time […]

Working in a zoo presents challenges of all kinds, from working to engage the public with conservation issues to making sure every animal has the highest standard of care and welfare. Over at Houston Zoo, the team is doing just that – down to some of the smallest residents. In the Bug House, a Peruvian jumping […]