Deborah Bloomfield

A pair of identical twins who were raised in separate countries have displayed unexpectedly large disparities in cognitive abilities while exhibiting highly similar personality traits. A comparison of the monozygotic sibling’s characteristics sheds new light on the age-old nature/nurture debate. Born in Seoul, South Korea, in 1974, the sisters became separated at the age of […]

Watermelon snow, also known as glacier blood, is a curiously pink-tinged phenomenon found In frozen parts of the planet. And, like yellow snow, you do not want to eat it. It’s the result of a type of algae present in the snow, and only gets its characteristic pink coloration when the sun is out. Curiously, […]

NASA’s Perseverance has dropped the first of the canisters containing the backup samples collected by the rover during the first part of its mission. The canisters will be delivered to Earth in 2033 by the Mars Sample Return mission. These samples will be analyzed in ways that our excellent robotic explorers simply can’t do. Perseverance […]

The Black Death of the 1300s would have been an undeniably sucky time to live, the year 563 CE was pretty dire, and the first half of the 20th century saw more than its fair share of misery. However, when looking at terrible times to be a human, the dreadfulness of the 17th century is often underappreciated. Wealth […]

A new health survey has found that the top COVID symptoms are still continually changing, with an altered sense of smell now reaching the top 10 symptoms most people will experience.   ZOE, a company that has continually polled COVID-19 patients to understand the disease and guide policy, has released their monthly Health Study as of […]

After the roof of the cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris burned down in 2019, major work took place around the iconic church. During that undertaking, two sarcophagi were discovered, which intrigued archeologists to no end. The coffins were made of lead, so special precautions had to be taken to open them. They were opened […]

Tensions on Earth have had an impact in space, with the July announcement that Russia will cease involvement with the International Space Station (ISS) after 2024. In the meantime, however, cooperation continues, and when the Soyuz spacecraft docked to the ISS sprang a leak last week, astronauts from all nations on board went to work […]

Glitter: the product that is essential in many sparkly Christmas decorations, children’s artwork, horrendous pranks, and the bane of many hoovers. It is a substance that gets everywhere and is almost impossible to remove. However, the time of the glitter era may be coming to an end, as there is rumor that we are currently […]

The Wizard of Oz got a hat tip from scientists poking around in an ancient and underwater volcano chain in the Pacific Ocean, as they discovered what looked like a “yellow brick road”. The natural brickwork was actually the result of volcanic geology which has fractured the rock in a curiously uniform way. E/V Nautilus […]

The people of Early Neolithic Britain, whose descendants went on to build Stonehenge, might not be who you thought they were. Some 6,000 years ago, a wave of farmers from the Aegean coast in what is now modern-day Turkey traveled across mainland Europe, mingled around in the Mediterranean for some time, then made their way […]

2022 has seen its fair share of newsworthy science. Who could forget JWST’s images of the universe or the success of the Artemis I mission? But it’s not just space that had all the fun – plenty of groundbreaking stories came from the fields of health and medicine too. From the US ending 50 years […]

Unlike us humans and our two-way esophaguses, horses can’t vomit. The ability to throw up can be life saving for some animals, including humans, so how come horses have to keep everything down? The reason why horses can’t vomit is to do with the way in which their digestive tract has evolved to be a […]

Rivers are channels of water that effectively drain water inland out to sea. They flow downhill with gravity, meaning that most of the time they have a predictable direction. However, some extreme and rare scenarios can cause them to flow backwards. A video on Twitter went viral in 2022 showing what it claimed to be […]

Anosmia is the loss of the sense of smell – and since the start of the pandemic, it has been one of the main known symptoms of COVID-19. The reason behind this mechanism is unknown… until now, that is. The lack of smell is very vexing and frustrating to a lot of people who have […]

Bob Dorough believed that three is a magic number – but if astronomers were to pick one, they probably would choose 21. Not just any 21, but 21 centimeters (8.27 inches): a specific wavelength of light that can tell us much about alien life, the universe, and everything. This type of light is in the […]

NASA’s InSight has sent its final communication home. We knew the end was coming for this incredible lander but it’s still sad to say goodbye. The robotic explorer revolutionized our knowledge of the Red Planet, allowing for a detailed understanding of the interior of Mars. After almost 1,500 Martian days of work, more than double […]

Do you love dogs? No but seriously, do you love them? If so, we’ve got some great news for you as January 2023 is getting a fluffy injection from the BBC as they dive into the world of dogs, exploring these animals’ wider, wild families. Dogs In the Wild: Meet The Family is the first […]

There have been many weird and wonderful noises from the ocean that have stumped scientists over the years. One of these noises was the mysterious “bloop” sound, first heard by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in 1997. It was a freak loud, ultra-low frequency sound that blasted through the south Pacific Ocean. Advertisement […]

In a video captured by the US Navy, an unidentified flying object is seen dancing across the screen before crashing into the ocean, capturing the imagination of UFO hunters everywhere. There is currently little information about the object except that the Pentagon has confirmed the footage is authentic, and the video has now been made […]