Deborah Bloomfield

With the recent news that hackers stole data from around 6.9 million users of the genetic testing company 23andMe, it’s understandable that some might have concerns as to what someone could do with that information.  Whilst no DNA records were reported stolen, it does beg the question of the potential consequences if they had been. […]

As Sun Tzu said, you should know your enemy – and there aren’t many more formidable foes than El Niño, the sort-of random climate phenomenon that can devastate everything from natural wonders like marine biodiversity to made-up human concepts like “the economy”.  Unfortunately, our knowledge of this weather pattern has always been spotty at best: […]

Tis the season to deck the halls in lights, bells, and festive decorations. If you suddenly catch yourself feeling under the weather with a stuffy runny nose and scratchy throat, it might not necessarily be a seasonal cold just in time for the holiday season – there’s a good chance it could be Christmas tree […]

As the Sun approaches the solar maximum – the height of its activity during its 11-year cycle – two studies have come out suggesting that we do not currently have the systems in place to study solar storms properly, or ones that large  Solar storms are a pretty common occurrence – a moderate storm was […]

A brain implant that could help restore cognitive function after a traumatic brain injury (TBI) has been shown to be safe in a small clinical trial. The treatment delivers stimulation to key circuits deep within the brain, and produced promising results for the five participants in the trial without any serious side-effects. According to the […]

With COP28 underway, campaigners have a message for wide-eyed observers: beware of “Blood Carbon”. The warning relates to carbon credits, which they believe are muddying the issue rather than seriously addressing the real causes of the deepening climate crisis. World leaders, big business, and the media have flocked to Dubai this week for the COP28 […]

There’s a lot we don’t know about life in the oceans of our planet. Rare species inhabit deep waters and new areas are discovered all the time, but sometimes, the only clues for understanding what lies beneath the waves are when they wash up on our shores. In the Dipaculao, Aurora region of the Philippines, […]

Music plays an important role in our lives, but have you ever wondered what your musical tastes say about you? Well, new research has suggested a potential link between the music we listen to and our moral compass. Music is one of the most fundamental forms of expression. As Victor Hugo, the French politician and […]

The Earth isn’t perfectly round IT’S FLAT. Ok not really, but it isn’t as perfectly round as you’d expect from lessons in primary school or glancing briefly at a globe, either. First of all, why are planets round(ish)? This one is relatively simple: our old friend (and dastardly nemesis) gravity is the culprit. Planets are […]

Glaring artificial lights caused the death of nearly 1,000 birds after they accidentally slammed into a brightly lit building in Chicago. These types of accidents are becoming increasingly common and it’s leaving scientists to wonder whether we need to seriously reconsider our relationship with artificial lighting. Some 960 migratory birds were recovered from the land […]

Originally developed as a test of consciousness in different species, the mirror test has since become an indicator that a creature recognizes its reflection as itself. Now, researchers have potentially welcomed a new member to the self-recognition club: mice. Placing a dollop of black or white ink on the foreheads of black-furred mice, a team […]

A model for a predecessor of life can protect proteins against radiation when it includes manganese ions –without these ions, the radiation degrades any life-forming potential. Although there is no proof that actual predecessors of life had this form of protection, the findings from this model provide the first possible explanation for how this specific […]

Researchers have reconstructed the face of an unknown pre-Hispanic individual from Bolivia who had a rare congenital defect known as craniosynostosis. Affecting the formation and fusion of cranial bones, the condition causes the skull to become misshapen and often leads to cognitive deficits, impaired vision, and other debilitating symptoms. The ancient Andean face was recreated […]

Ever heard of the Krebs cycle? How about the citric acid or tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle? If the answer’s no, you’re not on your own. The process is essential for keeping us, and all other aerobic organisms, alive, and yet relatively few of us actually know the ins and outs of what it is and […]

Over a century ago, two theories were put forward to explain all of reality: quantum mechanics and general relativity. Both have been refined and improved over decades and extensively tested. They are solid theories. But ultimately, alone, they can’t explain everything – and together they don’t seem to work. For decades, physicists have been looking […]

It’s fair to say that the Ancient Egyptians subscribed to a lot of ideas that seem strange in the modern era. There’s not an internet-friendly word count in the world that could cover all of them in one fell swoop, so today we’re focusing on mummified frogs. Mummified frogs have been found in the tombs […]

A never-before-seen virus has been reported in Peru that causes a disease similar to dengue fever, malaria, and other tropical infectious diseases common in this region. While the infection was a one-off, the novel virus is still likely to be circulating in the jungles of South America somewhere, undetected.  A single case of the mystery […]

Communication is key. That’s true on Earth and it’s true in space. But in space, you need to contend with a crucial fact of life. The speed of light is finite and distances between worlds are pretty big; between star systems they are enormous. A new analysis, yet to be peer-reviewed, envisions what it would […]

At the center of our galaxy, the Milky Way, there is a supermassive black hole. We call it Sagittarius A* and it weighs the equivalent of 4.3 million Suns. It is orbited by a bunch of stars with a period of years or longer. New evidence suggests that there is something else orbiting it much […]

In August, India became the fourth nation to touch down on the Moon, and the first to land near (but definitely not on) the lunar south pole. The mission was an overwhelming success, with the lander and rover conducting experiments to measure the temperature at the landing site and analyze the composition of the lunar […]