Deborah Bloomfield

Two spotted salamanders seemingly holding hands as they bob in a carnivorous pitcher plant jacuzzi at matching stages of decay have scooped the Close-Up Photographer Of The Year (CUPOTY) Competition for Canadian photographer Samantha Stephens. Her winning shot, taken in Algonquin Provincial Park, won Stephens the £2,500 (~ US$3,000) cash prize and the CUPOTY 04 […]

Predicting the future is a risky business in science, but if we are looking at the long-term evolution of the Solar System, astronomers and planetary scientists have a reasonable idea of how that will pan out. It’s not like we know what will happen at 10:04 pm on November 12 in the year 88,000,001,955. But […]

The Russian space agency, Roscomos, has confirmed that the Soyuz MS-22 will have to leave the International Space Station empty following the leak to its coolant.  The leak happened last December 14, possibly caused by a micrometeorite hitting it just right. A review was initiated to work out if it was still safe for cosmonauts […]

Friday the 13th is considered an unlucky day in western superstition. Theories on why it has become known as unlucky range from there being 13 people present at the last supper according to the Bible to Loki being the secret 13th secret guest at a dinner party for the Norse gods before generally causing all […]

Trinidad and Tobago in the Caribbean is home to one of the world’s weirdest lakes. Not only is Pitch Lake brimming with bizarre microbial life, but its “waters” are also such an odd consistency that you can walk across it.  Found near La Brea on the southwestern tip of Trinidad, Pitch Lake is around 40 […]

No rhinos in the Kaziranga National Park were lost to poaching in 2022, marking a first for the protected nature reserve since 1977. The reserve is the world’s largest for the great one-horned rhinoceros (Rhinoceros unicornis) and is home to around 2,200 of them, making up the majority of their global population. The park, in […]

The vast majority of people use one hand or the other for most things – and for nearly 90% of the human population this is the right hand. Some 10% to 13% of humans are left-handed, with men being three times more likely to be left-handed than women, though very few people are ambidextrous. Until […]

Fossil hunter Mary Anning not only helped find the first intact ichthyosaur fossil and the first pterosaur outside Germany, but was the first to identify coprolites as fossilized poop. At a time when both women and the working class were largely excluded from practicing science, her capacity to break through both barriers was remarkable – […]

The largest saltwater lake in the Western Hemisphere could vanish within five years if emergency water conservation measures are not imposed immediately. According to a new report, Utah’s Great Salt Lake is currently 3 meters (10 feet) below its minimum healthy level, and its disappearance could expose millions of people to toxic dust containing particles […]

After Andromeda and the Milky Way, the Triangulum galaxy is the largest galaxy in our local group of galaxies. And it might take the title of the weirdest based on a new analysis conducted by astronomers. It appears that the younger and older stellar populations are segregated by age creating a unique distribution but also […]

The remains of a luxurious home in the ancient Roman town of Pompeii have been opened up to the public after years of refurbishment. The Archaeological Park of Pompeii officially unveiled the refurbed property on Tuesday – and what a beautiful sight it is. Known as La Casa Dei Vettii, the house was originally excavated […]

Most of our galaxy’s stars were formed from the ashes of not one but two previous generations, making the rare survivors from the galaxy’s earliest days precious sources of insights into our origins. One of the Milky Way’s oldest known stars is named SMSS1605-1443. A new analysis of its light using the world’s largest optical […]

Recent years have shown a huge increase in interest in the so-called “FIRE” (Financial Independence, Retire Early) movement, in which people work hard to save sufficient money to retire early and enjoy a settled retirement of golfing and walks on the beach. However, new research suggests it may not be the dream many claim it […]

When you die on Earth, you generally know what will happen to your body, even if you’d rather not. But what happens to it if you die in space, on Mars, or on the way to Mars? First off, there aren’t really any official protocols in place for what happens to your body when you […]

It’s a trope almost universally acknowledged that men with a penchant for fast cars are overcompensating for being a little less well-endowed. Just a stereotype, you may think, and an unflattering one at that. Well, what if we told you that a group of psychologists has not only investigated this scientifically, but may have actually […]

It’s an adage that many of us would swear by: that being drunk loosens our tongues such that we air our deepest-held thoughts and grievances, where usually our inhibitions would prevent us from doing so. But is it really the case that, as the saying suggests, in wine there is truth? Alcohol and the brain […]

In 1974, farmers stumbled across one of the most important archaeological discoveries of all time in an unassuming field in the Shaanxi province of China. While digging, they found fragments of a human figure made out of clay. This was just the tip of the iceberg. Archaeological excavations revealed the field was sitting above a […]

A new study has promised hope for severe alcoholics by showing that the majority of those that manage to go sober have significant cognitive improvements after just weeks. Deficits in cognition, such as memory loss and attention, were improved in 63 percent of the study sample after just 18 days of sobriety, showing that a […]