Deborah Bloomfield

If you want evidence of evolution by natural selection, look no further than your own body.  Whether it’s your tailbone, goosebumps, or a weird little tendon on your inner wrist, the human body is covered with parts that don’t serve any purpose to us anymore. Yet they’re still there as a genetic relic from our […]

JWST has been the star (pun intended) of this year in science, wowing the world with the beauty of its images and forming the basis of an astonishing number of abundant scientific papers, published in record time. When looking at some of the highlights, it’s important to remember it’s only been in orbit for just […]

Look, we get it, it’s been too weird of a year (like the year before it, and the year before that, and the year before that) to keep track of everything weird that took place. Fortunately, we have been keeping track of all the strange developments as well as odd things we’ve come across in […]

William of Ockham, the 14th-century Franciscan friar and Catholic theologian, probably never expected his name to become synonymous with a scientific principle lasting 800 years after his death.  That makes sense, since Ockham’s Razor, as we now know the maxim, was around long before William made it popular – John Duns Scotus got there before […]

The Bering Land Bridge was a strip of land that once connected Asia to Alaska. Now, scientists have discovered that it emerged around 35,700 years ago, later than once previously thought. The Earth is constantly changing, and in the past, there have been many ice age cycles. Ice ages come with the large formation of […]

Defined by limited emotional range, inability to empathize with others, and self-centered manipulativeness, psychopaths aren’t exactly fairytale lovers. Yet as Bonnie and Clyde proved, even those with the darkest personalities can become romantic icons. Still, when your relationship is based on a common interest in murder, it’s debatable whether or not it counts as true […]

It probably hasn’t escaped your attention that in 2022, Queen Elizabeth II died, and was buried. During the funeral arrangements, there were a number of strange traditions (for example, the Informing of the Bees). However, one odd fact stood out: her coffin weighed a surprising amount, given how small she was in life. This is […]

The bones of ancient people laid to rest in the Chincha Valley of southern Peru can often be found covered in an unusual brick-red pigment. The reason behind the colored bones is often debated by modern-day researchers, but a team of archaeologists who recently studied the specimens argues they are a clear reflection of how […]

A new biomarker that can be used to identify neurodegeneration associated with Alzheimer’s disease in the blood has been identified. The discovery could one day lead to a diagnostic blood test for the disease, eliminating the need for invasive and costly procedures. As senior study author Thomas Karikari of the University of Pittsburgh said in […]

A study by psychologists at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology claims to have found the most effective flirting techniques for men and women. The researchers, who published their findings in the journal Evolutionary Psychology, looked at college students in the US and Norway, all of whom were heterosexual. The volunteer participants were sent questionnaires, […]

You’d think after centuries of cracking open humans and taking a poke around inside we’d have discovered every organ there is to be found in there, but you’d be wrong. In fact, they seem to be popping up all the time.   In 2018, researchers discovered the largest organ in the body, interconnected fluid-filled sacs that run through the collagen and […]

In 1963, a man in the Nevşehir Province of Turkey knocked down a wall in his basement and ended up discovering a gigantic underground city.  The man (not named in reports from the time) sledgehammered his wall and found a tunnel behind it, and beyond that, more tunnels. Exploration would later reveal it was an underground city up to […]

Ants stacking up their dead on Trix cereal surprised and delighted social media users over Christmas back in 2021. The peculiar incident was brought to the attention of The Internet by user OctopusCaveman, whose son owned an ant farm.   “My son put some Trix in his ant farm. Instead of eating them, the ants […]

If you’re a radio fan, or have merely been stuck in a car as day transitions into night, you may have noticed that you don’t get quite as clear signal in the hours of darkness.  Before you assume that it’s a plot by reverse vampires (possibly in conjunction with the saucer people) in order to […]

Scientists love a good rock formation – just ask geologists. From the bizarre crack of Al Naslaa to the hoodoos that haunt Bryce Canyon National Park, they can’t get enough. But there’s nothing quite like a good balancing rock. Today, our favorite is Kummakivi.  The giant boulder known locally as the “strange stone” can be found in Ruokolahti in southeastern Finland. As the scale schnauzer in the […]

Marine archeologists have taken the plunge into the icy waters of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago to explore one of the most famous ships of the 19th century, HMS Erebus. The ship was part of the daring – and doomed – 1845 Franklin Expedition that sought to traverse the last unnavigated sections of the Northwest Passage […]

Late last year, everyone’s favorite search engine (and all its other services such as Google Maps) was knocked off the top spot of the Earth’s most popular website domain. According to Cloudflare Radar‘s popularity ranking, the tech giant was knocked down to the second most popular domain by a surprise (relative) newcomer. TikTok, which remains […]

Single men are stinkier than guys in relationships, according to the results of a sniff test. However, while pungent body odor (BO) and singleness might seem like they go hand-in-hand, the study authors say that a strong whiff may actually help unattached men signal their availability to women. Previous research has shown that single males […]

Endometriosis is a condition that involves endometrial tissue, similar to the lining of the womb, growing in other pelvic organs, such as the ovaries and fallopian tubes. The tissue thickens and bleeds just like it would in the uterus during the menstrual cycle. It’s a painful and long-term condition that can have a significant impact, […]

Penguins may have joined the small roster of animals that have passed the mirror test, believed to be the benchmark for a sense of self. Until now, the only animals to have passed have included a few mammals and fish – but now, a preprint paper suggests that wild Adélie penguins may have passed the mirror test, possibly […]