Deborah Bloomfield

The euthanasia of Pole Pole, the last elephant at the UK’s London Zoo, inspired the creation of Born Free, an organization that’s long held a principled position on animals in captivity. It’s been 40 years since Pole Pole’s death, and this November, Born Free is inviting the public to explore whether we can deliver greater […]

Have you ever heard of a moose with so-called “Devil’s Antlers”? Although it may conjure images of some monstrous misshapen animal lurking in the wilderness, the term actually appears to refer to a real phenomenon that further demonstrates how cool antlers are. How to make antlers If you look for this term online, you will […]

The formation of Libyan desert glass (LDG) has been at the center of a big debate in planetary science. Lighting, weird geological processes, and even volcanos on the Moon have been suggested as possible sources. Over the last 25 years, researchers have been focusing on two scenarios: either it was created by a meteor slamming […]

Men are hunters: they are biologically superior, and stronger and so on, right? Well this myth has a long-enduring history and is still common among many people. But it is not true, despite the force with which some people hold onto it. There are uncontroversial average biological differences between the sexes, and while ones favored […]

The designs for future Mars helicopters are currently being tested, and for the first time, researchers are using tests on two worlds to design the necessary improvements for the next generation of flying explorers. On Earth, new blade materials are being rotated to close to the speed of sound. And on Mars, Ingenuity is going […]

The world’s biggest iceberg – larger than the state of Rhode Island – is on the move for the first time in over three decades.  Measuring 4,000 square kilometers (1,500 square miles) and some 400 meters (1,312 feet) thick, the city-sized iceberg A23a was created in August 1986 when it was calved from the Antarctic […]

If you cruise high above the US and peer down, you might catch a glimpse of giant barcode-like symbols embossed into a panel of tarmac. Rest assured, these are not QR codes for aliens to keep tabs on Earth, nor the long-lost relics of an ancient civilization. The strange symbols were used in the 20th […]

Found in the rivers and coasts of South and Southeast Asia, the undeniably adorable Irrawaddy dolphin is a unique sight for those lucky enough to see it. Its rarity doesn’t come from shyness alone, however – years of human activity have seen the population dwindle, to the point that the species is now classed as […]

There are some dreams that almost everyone seems to have: turning up for an exam having completely forgotten to study for it, or being chased by some bad-intentioned assailant, to name just a couple. However, one of the most enigmatic, yet surprisingly common, nightmares involves losing one’s teeth, although science may have an explanation for […]

The mission to resurrect the dodo from extinction has just been given a boost thanks to a new partnership between Colossal Biosciences, a genetic engineering and de-extinction company, and the Mauritian Wildlife Foundation, a nonprofit conservation organization that works closely with the Mauritian government. The de-extinction of the dodo is one of the central interests […]

This week the world’s oldest weapon factory reveals some pretty nasty munitions, the secret of why gold explodes purple is solved, and we discovered what made a curious double crater on the Moon last year but the mystery doesn’t end there. Plus, did you know the universe has an average color, and it sounds delicious?  […]

What’s the secret to living past 100? You may think the answer is something to do with healthy eating and regular exercise – but a new study from researchers in Madrid suggests there’s something more at play: your personality.  “Considering that happier people are likely to live longer, we asked ourselves whether healthy centenarians share […]

Every now and then a conspiracy theorist asks the question, “If dinosaurs actually existed, wouldn’t their bones be everywhere?” While it’s odd critical thinking to disregard all the evidence we have that dinosaurs existed because we haven’t found even more evidence that they exist, it is nevertheless a fun question, and one that has been […]

The earliest known factory for the production of standardized war weaponry may have been established during the early Copper Age in modern-day Israel. Based on an analysis of hundreds of stone projectiles recovered from two archaeological sites, researchers have concluded that the items were mass-produced, indicating the highly organized arming of warriors in preparation for […]

Superb film has been obtained of dolphins stealing bait from crab traps and escaping to tell the tale to their fellow pod members in what may be a unique behavior caught on film for the first time. Moreover, when crab fishers tried to make the traps dolphin-proof, their first efforts didn’t succeed for long. It […]

Last year, Artemis I successfully flew around the Moon putting the Orion capsule that will one day carry humans to the test. The first human-grade capsule to go into deep space in 50 years needs to be as safe as possible, so since coming back to Earth in one piece NASA has been looking at […]

And the winner of the Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards 2023 goes to… Jason Moore for his timeless photo “Air Guitar Roo” showing a kangaroo rocking out.  Jason captured the image (below) of the female Western grey kangaroo in the outer suburbs of Perth. He was out with his camera in the early morning, hoping to […]

The material purple bronze has a never-before-seen capacity to change between electrical states, becoming an insulator or a conductor depending on small shifts in physical conditions. Purple bronze sounds like a contradiction in terms – isn’t part of what defines the mix of copper and tin it’s distinctly non-purple color? More confusingly still, the compound […]

Seychelles is a dream holiday location for many, but early in the 20th century, it was a popular hunting ground for whalers. Luckily, in 1978, the Republic of Seychelles successfully lobbied to protect the Indian Ocean from whaling. Until now, it was unknown if blue whales even came back to this area, but scientists have […]

The World Health Organization (WHO) is looking for more information about a reported cluster of outbreaks of respiratory illnesses and undiagnosed pneumonia among children in northern China. News of the surge in illness first came to light on November 13 when officials from the Chinese National Health Commission reported an increase in the number of […]