Deborah Bloomfield

A while back we brought you the absolute worst ways to die according to science, including a notorious diving bell accident and people’s heads shattering after the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. Well since then we’ve found a lot more terrible ways to die, so that you might try to avoid them. Enjoy. Advertisement Hisashi Ouchi […]

Deep in a protected ancient forest in southern Chile sits an enormous tree that has existed for thousands of years. Now the “Great Grandfather” tree could soon be recognized as the world’s oldest tree. The Great Grandfather (Gran Abuelo), or Alerce Milenario, is a remarkable specimen. It is an alerce tree, a Patagonian Cypress tree […]

Summer is on its way, and as those with annual hay fever across the land reach for their antihistamines and tissue supplies, parts of the world may also experience “pollen bombs” that make their symptoms even worse. But there is also a lesser-known form of allergy that may add to some people’s frustrations. Pollen food […]

When the first repeating Fast Radio Burst (FRB) was discovered in 2016, astronomers thought it might be a coincidence or an anomaly. A further 24 had been reported prior to this week, ruling both those scenarios out. Now, a single paper has doubled the total to 50 thanks to the efforts of the Canadian Hydrogen […]

Harriet Cole’s body was taken to the Hahnemann Medical School’s anatomy department in 1888, where it’s believed that Rubus B Weaver then carried out a delicate and lengthy procedure to create a complete dissection of the human cerebro-spinal nervous system. It was celebrated within the academic community as an achievement for the insights it yielded […]

Standing at 1,675 m (5,495 ft) tall, Mount Thor’s height is not particularly impressive for Canada’s mountains, but how it reaches that height is what makes Mount Thor so imposing – it has the world’s largest vertical drop. At 1,250 m (4,100 ft), its cliff face in Auyuittuq National Park plummets straight downwards, a sheer […]

What would you do if you encountered a shimmering white ghost on a moonlit night? Would you instantly run, or would the shock of such a scene freeze you to the spot as you struggled to make sense of such a thing? Well, if your answer is the second response then you have something in […]

More pandemics are coming, and the UK is woefully underprepared: that’s the stark warning from top scientists as the world continues to feel the impact of COVID-19. We’ve always known that it was not a one-off event, but there is a fear that lessons are not being learned and that the next pandemic could be […]

The question of why some galaxies have quasars at their core, and most do not, has finally been largely answered. The explanation indicates that in the far distant future, the Milky Way may host a quasar, with big implications for its development. The discovery of immensely bright objects in the distant universe caused great consternation […]

Tobacco pipes were one of the first mass-produced, disposable objects in Britain. Through contact with indigenous peoples of the Americas, tobacco pipes and tobacco were introduced to Europe as early as the 16th century, but had been used in the Americas for centuries before this. Pipes were adapted for European tastes using European materials, and […]

A cave in southern Spain has been continuously visited by humans for over 40,000 years, new research has revealed. After analyzing charcoal and soot left by the torches that have lit the cavern since time immemorial, the study authors confirmed that the spot saw more prehistoric incursions than any cave other in Europe. Located in […]

The Hakuto-R Mission 1 Moon lander, which aimed to be the first private lander on the Moon, has likely crashed into the Moon’s surface, according to its creators. The lander began its four month journey in December 2022, being launched by the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. Without the annoyance of having to keep astronauts alive, […]

If you’ve spent far too much time on the Internet, you may have stumbled across the story of Sergei Ponomarenko, a supposed time traveler who showed up in Kyiv, Ukraine, in 2006. According to the story, a man was found wandering the streets of Kyiv, wearing a strange outfit for the time and carrying an […]

Besides having an orbit that could cause it to hit Earth far in the future, asteroid 3200 Phaethon is primarily known for having that most unasteroid-like thing, a tail. Astronomers initially thought the tail was dust blasted off the surface by the extreme heat Phaethon experiences, but experimental evidence now supports an alternative hypothesis, that […]

If you go down to the intertidal shrimp pond today, you’re sure of a big surprise – which is certainly what researchers in Hong Kong received when they discovered a completely unknown species of box jellyfish, the first species of box jelly ever to be found in Chinese waters.  The class Cubozoa, most commonly known […]

Every now and then on the Internet, people discover something about food that you thought everyone already knew. Hey, we’re all learning, right? Last month it was the turn of paprika and all spice, but now it’s our old friend Parmesan cheese under the spotlight. “Today years old when I found out Parmesan cheese is […]

In recent years we have learned a lot about various efforts to limit the spread of diseases, such as COVID-19, through global vaccination efforts, but did you know immunization has a long and fascinating history?  Far from being a modern technique, the principle of vaccination has been utilized for several centuries, and there is evidence […]

The first image ever taken of a black hole’s shadow was recently sharpened by AI. That made for a pretty picture, but the bigger story was still to come. Refinements of images taken five years ago have now, for the first time, allowed us to see the jets expelled by the black hole at the […]

Researchers have discovered a gene that they believe could be driving anxiety symptoms, potentially opening up a new therapeutic avenue. When the team modified the gene, they managed to reduce anxiety levels in animal models, suggesting the gene could be closely tied to the complex condition.  Anxiety disorders are a set of complex conditions involving […]