Deborah Bloomfield

Dragons are probably among the most recognizable and ubiquitous fantasy beasties in history. Across the world, from Europe to China, as well as the Americas and Australia, ancient and completely independent cultures have depicted and described similar creatures in their stories, art, folklore, and mythologies. Given the widespread appearance of these iconic creatures across enormous […]

Valentine’s Day is almost upon us and this year, it comes with a potentially hazardous asteroid. Do not worry, it is not gonna ruin anyone’s plans with country destruction but if you need an excuse to get out of some plans, saying that you are watching an asteroid is a pretty good one in our […]

After solving some of the scientific hurdles associated with commercial octopus aquaculture, a Spanish seafood company has set their sights on building the world’s first octopus farm. However, the plan is meeting waves and waves of resistance from animal rights groups that argue it will be a disaster for animal welfare. Nueva Pescanova plans to […]

If you thought humans were going to be the first species invaded by mushrooms (thanks to The Last of Us for that recurring nightmare), we’re sorry to tell you that our amphibious friends appear to have pipped us to the post. In what’s thought to be the first documented case, researchers have discovered a live frog with […]

COVID-19 and long COVID could be detrimental to women’s sex lives. New research suggests that infection with coronavirus may be linked to sexual dysfunction in cisgender women – with levels of desire, arousal, lubrication, and satisfaction all appearing to be negatively affected. Plenty of studies have highlighted the impact that COVID can have on our […]

First introduced in 1945, the practice of adding fluoride to public water supplies has since become a common practice in many places around the world. It doesn’t come without controversy, however – and though unfounded, it’s not unusual to come across concerns about its safety. But why is it put into water in the first […]

The UK has long been considered to have some of the strongest animal welfare laws in the world. Beginning with Martin’s act on the cruel treatment of cattle, through to the Animal Welfare Act 2006 and then Finn’s law to protect service animals, UK animal welfare laws have sought to reduce harm and cruelty to […]

If living in the future has taught us anything, it’s this: that no matter how smart you think you are, you’re always just one well-placed social media post away from having your mind blown by some completely basic life skill or fact that has somehow passed you by. In the last year alone, for example, […]

February 7, 1984. That’s when astronaut Bruce McCandless II performed the first-ever untethered spacewalk. This iconic moment in history was thankfully captured in a set of equally iconic photographs which, 40 years later, remind us just how extraordinary (and mildly terrifying) a feat this mission was. The “cherry-picker” Bruce McCandless attached to the “cherry picker”. […]

Life in a lake can be challenging at the best of times, but with winter comes another hurdle – ice. With the surface of lakes freezing over, light and oxygen suddenly become a lot more limited. That could be a potential threat, but thankfully, lake-dwelling organisms have come up some cool ways to survive. Metabolic […]

Cars are generally a convenient way to get us from A to B, but unfortunately, they’re also no stranger to going wrong from time to time. Sometimes it’s difficult to tell what the problem is, but there can be clues to look out for. One of these is white smoke coming from the exhaust – […]

We now know the Earth is around 4.5 billion years old, while the planet’s core is about two years younger than that thanks to the time-dilating effects of gravity. But how did we figure that out?  Early attempts at calculating the age of the Earth using science came up a little short. In 1844, physicist William Thomson (aka Lord […]

The meat industry is, to put it bluntly, unfathomably cruel. Every day, billions of animals across the USA survive in horrific conditions: barely able to move, living in constant pain, and often never even glimpsing the outside world before they are herded, scared and struggling, to their slow, premature deaths. As for those “ethically sourced” or “humane” labels – according to figures from […]

The odds of getting hit by lightning in the US in any given year are around 1 in 1.2 million. That goes down to 1 in 15,300 over your lifetime, assuming you live to 80, according to the US National Weather Service.  While still very unlikely, you might want to know how others have survived […]

In the Mojave desert lives a creosote bush ring called “King Clone”, thought to be one of the oldest living organisms on Earth. The clonal colony – a group of genetically identical plants that all originate from a single ancestor – is thought to have begun growing 11,700 years ago, around the time human agriculture […]

Finding diamonds is notoriously difficult, but a new discovery may have just made it that little bit easier. Research has shown that a much less sought-after gem contains clues that can tell us if diamonds are likely to be nearby, and it could speed up the process of finding them. “Diamond producers sometimes wish they […]

Here’s a spot of happy Friday news for you: the Steinhart Aquarium in San Francisco, California, has recently seen a bounty of African penguin chicks hatching – and, predictably, they are 100 percent adorable. Between November 2022 and January this year, a total of 10 African penguin chicks have hatched at the aquarium, which is […]

A grade eight student from Ontario, Canada has helped to settle a long-standing historical debate by proving that a so-called “death ray” designed by the Ancient Greek polymath Archimedes could really have worked. The weapon – which supposedly harnessed the sun’s rays in order to incinerate enemy ships – is reported to have been deployed […]