Deborah Bloomfield

Are you scared of clowns? You are not alone. Coulrophobia, or the fear of clowns, is a widely acknowledged phenomenon. Studies indicate this fear is present among both adults and children in many different cultures. Yet it is not well understood due to a lack of focused research. While numerous possible explanations of the phobia […]

Late on Saturday March 4, 2023, United Nations (UN) member states finally agreed the legal framework for a treaty designed to protect the high seas. This development was nearly 20 years in the making and represents an important step towards reversing biodiversity loss and ensuring sustainable development. However, it is only the first step in […]

Africa is slowly but surely tearing in two. Like anything in geology, it’s an extremely long process that will take millions of years, but it will eventually see part of East Africa chip off from the rest of the continent, likely resulting in a new ocean arising between the two land masses. The colossal breakup […]

With pages that wouldn’t look out of place in a J. R. R. Tolkien novel, the Voynich manuscript is a roughly 500-year-old book filled with puzzling illustrations and writing in a seemingly indecipherable language. Named after Wilfrid Voynich, an antique bookseller who purchased the manuscript in 1912, the meaning behind the approximately 240 pages remains […]

A new high-speed train line from Las Vegas to Southern California was announced recently, marking the first bullet train in the US to begin development. The track will run 352 kilometers (218 miles) along Interstate 15, establishing an important connection between the two regions.  “The High-Speed Rail Labor Coalition is proud to be in partnership […]

The Curiosity rover is not just studying Martian rocks, sometimes it finds time to look at the sky. This has allowed it to capture images of the rare Martian clouds, expanding our knowledge about the Red Planet’s atmosphere. On February 2, it was rewarded with the image above, the clearest image ever taken of sun […]

A study has looked into human penis size as depicted in paintings throughout the centuries, finding that the appendage has grown significantly over the last seven centuries, particularly in the 20th century. The team wanted to assess the ideal penis size throughout the ages, and how the male ideal has been altered by cultural differences. […]

A new study has detailed the unusual case of an unborn twin that was discovered in the brain of a 1-year-old girl in China. While this case is extraordinarily rare, it’s not the first time it’s been reported in the medical literature. Doctors at Fudan University in Shangai explained that the young girl presented with […]

When you’ve had one too many, staying on your feet can feel like an impossible task. In a new study, mice under the influence of alcohol were able to recover their balance and coordination thanks to the effects of the hormone fibroblast growth factor 21 (FGF21). Mice, just like humans and other animals that consume […]

At last count, there are 118 confirmed elements in the periodic table – yet, out of that huge number, you’re more than nine times more likely to come into contact with just five than the other 113. That’s because, out of all of the dozens of elements found in the Earth’s crust, it’s those five […]

The Japanese government has recently announced controversial plans to release over a million tons of water from the remains of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. While the move has raised concerns and anger from local fishing communities and neighboring countries, how safe is this decision? On 11 March, it will have been 12 years […]

Fossilized dinosaur bones are always an incredible discovery, but it’s a true treat when scientists manage to unearth hints of soft tissue that have somehow managed to remain intact until the present day.  A few years ago, scientists from North Carolina State University discovered blood vessel-like structures in the 80 million-year-old fossil of a hadrosaur […]

Wild waterways in Canada are under siege from a fleet of giant wild goldfish that have been introduced as invasive species, often by humans looking to get rid of pets. Goldfish may look pretty innocuous, but as hardy animals they can grow to enormous sizes in their surprisingly long lives. There are many breeds of […]

In David Attenborough’s TV career he has ventured to the heart of Papua New Guinea in search of birds-of-paradise. He’s sailed through the treetops in Croatia to admire some of Earth’s most impressive botanical species, and even plunged into the deep in submersibles to explore coral reefs. For all that distance and ambition, however, he’s […]

A Florida man digging for shellfish on a beach was surprised to discover an abnormally large clam – and it turns out the clam is thought to be over 200 years old. Discovered on Alligator Point in Florida, USA, by Blaine Parker, the clam is a species known as the ocean quahog (Arctica islandica). In a […]

Florida’s shorelines will likely be covered in dead fish for the foreseeable, as a toxic “red tide” returns. The environmental disaster that’s becoming a near-annual tradition is deadly to marine life, but it can also bring on unpleasant symptoms in humans walking along the shore. The harmful algal bloom is known as a “red tide” […]

Is our universe all there is, or could there be more? Is our universe just one of a countless multitude, all together in an all-encompassing multiverse? And if there are other universes, what would they be like? Could they be habitable? Advertisement This might feel like speculation heaped upon speculation, but it’s not as crazy […]

Research by data analytics firm YouGov has found that nearly half of respondents don’t believe oral sex counts as “having sex”. YouGov asked respondents whether a variety of sexual acts counted as having sex, from fingering to blow jobs. Hand jobs and fingering were generally not seen as counting as having sex, with 52 percent […]

A study of images taken by the Hubble Space Telescope finds that more than one in 40 are crossed by satellite trails. In some cases these interfere with the science, wasting the exceptionally valuable time spent taking the image. Although the affected proportion is small, it’s growing, refuting the claim we can solve the problems […]

Folks in North America should keep their heads to the skies this morning as the full “Worm Moon” will soon reach its fullest. If clouds are well-behaved, the full moon will be its fullest and most visible Tuesday morning, March 7, 2023, appearing opposite the Sun in Earth-based longitude at 7:40 AM EST, according to […]