Deborah Bloomfield

The Salton Sea is a complex body of water that, having been declared an environmental catastrophe in the past, might just be sitting on a tidy billion. The lake itself is the largest in the state of California, but that’s not what scientists are interested in. In a recent report from researchers at Lawrence Berkeley […]

It may be odd to think about, but the strangest of the strange creatures, octopuses, may hold information related to Antarctica’s ice sheets. In a new study, scientists have examined the genes of one species of tentacular cephalopods that live in this cold environment, and they have reached some worrying conclusions. According to the paper, […]

Some incredibly old written multiplication formulas have been unearthed at a mausoleum in central China. While excavating the Qinjiazui site in Hubei Province, archaeologists came across strips of bamboo inscribed with mathematical tables, which are likely to have been recorded more than 2,300 years ago. Announcing the discovery at a press conference, China’s National Cultural […]

Just because something is a classic, doesn’t mean everybody has heard of it. You might want to give the cowgirl position a spin in the bedroom (though please dismount before you do) but aren’t quite sure how to get started; you might want an explanation that doesn’t require clicking an “I am over 18” button; […]

There’s a gap between the way scientists usually describe astronomical distances, and the units that make sense to non-astronomers. Space, as Douglas Adams so authoritatively told us, is really big. This means we need big units to describe it. You can measure the distance from Earth to the Andromeda Galaxy in centimeters if you really […]

Hunting and gathering are two subsistence roles that describe how humans used to get their food, with females typically being associated with passive gathering, while the aggressive ancient men folk were considered to have gone off and done the active hunting. Not so, says a growing body of research that shows there’s both archaeological and […]

By burning plants from Australia, researchers have discovered that some molecules found in asteroids and meteorites formed long before the Sun, in the cold environment of interstellar space. Three years ago, Hayabusa-2 brought back to Earth samples from the surface and below the surface of Asteroid Ryugu, and within them, many interesting molecules have been […]

“Do your own research” has become a popular slogan among many conspiracy theorists in recent years. From flat earthers to anti-vaxxers, the phrase will often be issued as an attempted wake-up call to their doubters and detractors. Yet the idea of “research”, investigating something to learn more, seems like something that should limit the spread […]

Snake species come in all shapes and sizes, from enormous pythons to horned snakes slithering through the desert. In the snake world, it can be especially difficult to tell a new species from existing ones – many members of the same species can look physically very different, with variations in colors along their bodies. However, […]

Massive clusters of galaxies warp space-time to such a degree that they act like a lens. The light of galaxies even further away is distorted and magnified, giving astronomers a chance to see details further than usually possible. The case of galaxy MRG-M0138 is particularly exciting, as this was seen by Hubble having had a […]

This week the first in-human trials began for a hormone-free male birth control pill, “impossible” worlds seem to be popping up everywhere, and some old fossils have just rewritten the story of human evolution. Finally, we take a look at some of the most peculiar animal news of 2023. Subscribe to the IFLScience newsletter for […]

An icon from the age of the dinosaurs, Tyrannosaurus rex has featured in everything from blockbuster movies to the shape of chicken nuggets. As a creature to be feared for its bone-crushing bite or ridiculed for its inability to give a high five, T rex has captured the imagination of children and adults alike. One […]

The reality of bringing living, breathing velociraptors back to life is, thankfully, most likely destined to remain in the Jurassic Park universe. However, that doesn’t stop the speedy dinosaurs from serving as a source of inspiration, with scientists from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) building a raptor-like robot that can reach a […]

During the holiday season, many of us will be tucking into delicious meals which may well include a whole host of meats. But have you ever thought about going meat-free this time of year? With concerns over the impact of meat consumption on the planet, thoughts are turning to the future of the industry and […]

Lazy students the world over may have just got the loophole they were waiting for when it comes to using ChatGPT for their math homework: it turns out, even the researchers at Google do it. And the really impressive part? It looks like the artificial intelligence (AI) might have outperformed its creators. What is the […]

A fossil whale jaw found on the banks of Australia’s Murray River is much larger than was considered possible for such an old fossil. Together with other surprisingly big southern fossil whales, the find suggests whales started growing in the Southern Hemisphere long before they did in the North. It also suggests the baleen whales, […]

It’s just coming up to 1,000 years since the death of Sven Estridsen, the last Viking king of Denmark, and legends that have stood for the majority of the past millennium are now being re-written. According to the official narrative, Sven was buried opposite his mother, yet genetic analyses have revealed that the woman was […]

In the last three decades, we went from not knowing if planets existed beyond the Solar System to finding so many that we now suspect almost every star has one. So far, over 5,000 planets have been confirmed. Astronomers have discovered some stuff that has truly challenged our understanding of what planets are like. There’s […]

Hold onto your hats, the zoology world hasn’t finished for the holidays just yet. Instead, intrepid researchers have been out and about in the forests of Vietnam and northern Sumatra and have discovered two new species of downright adorable furry hedgehogs. While their prickly cousins might be more well known, furry hedgehogs, or gymnures, are […]

Gamma rays are the most powerful type of light, extremely dangerous to life forms. They can form in nuclear reactions, as well as in and around powerful astronomical events and bodies, such as black holes, pulsars, and supernovae. Studying the universe in gamma rays opens a window on these extremes and NASA’s Fermi has been […]