Deborah Bloomfield

The words “sabertooth cat” might conjure up images of large-fanged felines prowling around the ancient world, but did these big predatory pussy cats roar or purr? New research has revealed that the answer could be hidden in just a few little bones beneath the throat. Vocalization in extant cat species is driven primarily by the […]

Our hopes for finding life on Mars have been downgraded significantly over the years, from the 1870s when many believed we’d find a complex system of canals up there (and presumably a creature intelligent enough to have invented barge holidays to build them too).  Now, we are on the hunt for microbial life on the […]

A team of geologists has recently found a way to locate where diamonds, one of the most expensive gemstones in the world, could form.  Diamonds, the hardest naturally occurring material we have found, can only be created at the immense pressure and high temperatures found deep within the Earth. We know that they are – […]

There’s no shortage of impressive examples of camouflage in the animal world. Whether it’s hiding on a branch, blending in with bird poop, or straight-up pretending to be someone else, nature has gifted us all manner of masters of disguise. Luckily for us, though, a group of scientists was recently able to spot the wood […]

Do you love cilantro, or do you hate it? The common kitchen herb, also known as coriander, is a staple in parts of the globe – and yet some people think it tastes like soap. Fresh cilantro is the leafy part of the Coriandrum sativum plant, which is entirely edible. As well as fresh leaves, […]

In a concerted effort to tackle the climate crisis, humans are turning to offshore wind farms (OWFs) as a source of renewable energy – how does this affect the surrounding sea life? OWFs are, quite literally, one of the biggest forms of renewable energy. The world’s largest covers an area of 462 square kilometers (around […]

Mysterious blobs are the ocean’s bread and butter, as anyone who’s lived near a beach will tell you. All kinds of suspicious lumps can wash ashore, but among them, one of the most peculiar is sea pork, a porcine-like blob that’s meaty, but probably not all that appetizing. Sea pork refers to several species of […]

You might already be aware that the name “strawberry” is a misnomer, as strawberries aren’t really berries at all. Well, it seems strawberries are full of surprises, or rather covered in them because those seedy-looking white dots aren’t actually seeds. The strawberries’ pitted accessories are called achenes, and they are in fact the plant’s fruit, with each […]

The size of the human brain has roughly tripled over the past four million years of hominid evolution, yet the factors driving this encephalic expansion are not fully understood. Attempting to solve this conundrum, a very brainy biologist has devised a computer model that recreates the development of our cognitive contraption, revealing that the human […]

The humble honeybee could become the newest recruit in the fight against a growing global health threat. In a new study, researchers enlisted honeybees, using them to keep track of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in the environment. AMR is the result of bacteria, viruses, and other pathogens evolving to the point where they are no longer […]

Two new dinosaur species have been described by scientists in Morocco, dating back to the period just before an asteroid wiped out 90 percent of life on Earth 66 million years ago. They were primitive cousins of the famous Tyrannosaurus rex, only with bulldog snouts and even tinier arms. Bless. Dating back to the end […]

India’s Chandrayaan-3 mission has made a world (or moon) first: measuring the temperature of the soil at the lunar south pole. Last week, the Chandrayaan-3 lander and rover successfully touched down on the lunar surface, making India the fourth nation on Earth to land successfully on the Moon, and the first to land near the […]

The world map was not always as complete as it is today and for centuries explorers spent time, money, and, sometimes, their lives, traveling the planet to fill in the gaps. Relying on a mix of observation, hypothesis, and pure myth-testing, these explorers searched for landmasses and peoples both real and imagined.  As you can […]

For years, people have claimed that ships and aircraft that pass over the Bermuda Triangle – a loosely defined area between Florida, Bermuda, and Puerto Rico – tend to go missing or get wrecked at a higher rate than elsewhere on the planet. Pushing through the Bermuda Triangle is the Sargasso Sea, which some claim […]

As I wait, shuffling nervously between the cramped shelves of Spiritualism for my psychic, Paula, to materialize from her sanctuary (the basement), I half-read the almost comically specific inscriptions of the “supernatural stones” the shop sells. “Bloodstone – A stone to overcome influences such as electromagnetic stress”. “Bronzite – known to protect against curses”. “Amethyst […]

For the first time, the distinctive double peaks in emission lines detected from the heart of a galaxy have given us a chance to explore the edges of the bright disk surrounding the central black hole. This has not only confirmed many things we suspected about the region around supermassive black holes, but also allowed […]

For some reason, 2023 was the year that people decided that the Loch Ness Monster has been fannying around for too long and it’s time to show its face. A huge hunt took place over the weekend for Nessie, the beast first “photographed” 89 years ago and which occasionally turns out to be a fish. […]

A new case report describes how a brain-dead woman was able to carry a fetus almost to term before the healthy baby was eventually delivered by cesarean section. Though similar incidents are rare, a recent systematic review uncovered 35 examples of pregnant women becoming brain-dead, 27 of which ended with a live birth, including three […]

A revolutionary blended wing body (BWB) aircraft could take to the skies in as little as four years after the US Air Force selected JetZero to head up the next phase of its development program. This will be a seriously futuristic-looking craft, but the idea of rethinking airplane design in this way is nothing new. […]

Your hands reveal a lot about the state of your health. This is something that has been recognised since at least the time of Hippocrates – the father of modern medicine. The ancient Greek physician first described “clubbing” in a patient with empyema (where pus fills the space between the lungs and the membrane around […]