Deborah Bloomfield

Identical twins, or to use their proper name, monozygotic twins, are generally thought to be indistinguishable aside from their fingerprints (although research has found this to be untrue – even among these siblings there can be some differences).  This type of twin occurs when a single egg, fertilized by a single sperm, splits into two. As a […]

The comet 12P/Pons-Brooks is known for its regular explosions where it develops an odd shape and increases sharply in brightness. After one such outburst three months ago, Pons-Brooks is brightening again, and this time it’s tens of millions of kilometers closer. If sky-watchers are lucky, 2024 could be known as the year of the two […]

The calendar you’re used to hasn’t been around forever. For example, people in 5 BCE weren’t standing around wondering who this “Christ” bloke was who they were all counting down towards. Calendars have changed for political reasons, as well as to better reflect our understanding of the year.  In 1582, Pope Gregory XIII introduced the […]

In its four-year mission on Mars, NASA’s InSight has measured a wide range of quakes shaking the Red Planet. Tremors big and small slowly revealed what the interior of Mars is like and the activity within. It also measured meteor strikes, with cosmic rocks hitting Mars and making it ring like a bell. The largest […]

Experts say don’t get rid of those fallen leaves on your lawn this time of year, as if you remove them you will be missing out on lots of free vitamins for your soil. Leaves are full of important nutrients including nitrogen, carbon, phosphorus, and potassium. This natural fertilizer is great for your lawn and […]

The warriors of a pre-Columbian powerhouse were able to distinguish battlefield friends from foes based on their deliberately misshapen skulls, according to the authors of a new study on artificial cranial deformation (ACD). Documenting the role of this grotesque practice within the ancient city of Tiwanaku, Bolivia, the researchers say that differences in head shape […]

Out across the plains of South Dakota, over 1,500 bison (Bison bison bison) were rounded up recently as part of efforts to protect the species and maintain the health of the herd. Every year, the Custer State Park holds this annual health check to make sure the bison are thriving and help to vaccinate the […]

Researchers in northern France have been examining a Bronze Age rock and its mysterious markings in the hope it will point to similar ancient discoveries. It may sound like something from an Indiana Jones plot or Tomb Raider game (though presumably with less violence), but this ancient slab may turn out to be a veritable […]

Do you need to wash a washing machine? Its job is just… clean, so how is it getting dirty? If you’ve been forgoing the washing machine on cleaning days then it’s with a heavy heart we must tell you that yes, you should be washing the washing machine – and no, we don’t think that’s […]

Unique algal balls found only in cold lakes are under threat from rising water temperatures, according to new research. Led by researchers from Kobe University, Japan, it found that the balls – known as marimo – decompose faster than they grow in warm water, making them very fragile. Marimo look like moss balls but they […]

Here’s a fun way to think about the timescales involved in evolution: sharks have been around so long that they have likely been around the Milky Way twice. Just as the Earth rotates around the Sun, the Sun (with all the planets in tow) rotates around the center of the galaxy. We’re moving at around […]

Scientists and philosophers have collaborated to present what they argue is a new law of nature: complex systems evolve in similar ways whether or not they involve life. These systems not only become more complex with time, but also achieve greater diversity and patterning. With confidence some may see as hubris, the authors place this […]

Over 500 years after it was painted, analysis of Leonardo da Vinci’s painting of Italian noblewoman Lisa del Giocondo is still revealing its secrets.  Earlier this year, one Italian researcher claimed to have identified where the Mona Lisa was painted after identifying the bridge as the Romito Etruscan-Roman bridge in the municipality of Laterina, in the […]

Plasma waves that chirp and whistle like the dawn chorus have been found around the innermost planet. The discovery provides insights into the weak magnetic field of Mercury and gives us a preview of what the BepiColombo spacecraft will be able to study once it is in orbit around the planet. These observations come from […]

Mummies have been found on every continent on Earth (if you include the penguin mummies of Antarctica). You’ll no doubt be aware of the intentionally prepared mummies made by ancient civilizations to honor their dead, but it’s also possible for mummification to occur under extreme natural circumstances.  The key is to disrupt the natural stages […]

High in the atmosphere of WASP-17b are clouds of tiny quartz particles, like minuscule grains of sand. The discovery is proof of the capacity of the JWST to probe the composition of distant planets – in this case, one 1,300 light years away. It’s also a great reminder of how good we have it on […]

The plight of plastic pollution has reached the insects. For the first time, scientists have documented ants becoming entangled in plastic fibers. The impact and extent of the phenomenon aren’t immediately clear, but it marks another milestone in the planet’s deepening problem with plastic pollution. Armand Rausell-Moreno from the National Museum of Natural Sciences in […]

Space tourism firm Space Perspective has unveiled designs for a “space spa” to be fitted in their Spaceship Neptune capsules, which they hope to begin launching in 2024. During the early days of the Apollo missions, NASA didn’t think about peeing and pooping too much. When the first American man – Alan Shepard – went […]

What’s your favorite food? And what foods make you turn up your nose in disgust? These are probably easy questions to answer, but have you ever stopped to wonder how you know what flavors you love and what flavors you hate?  You’ve probably seen that diagram of a tongue split into zones for five different tastes, […]

Museums, far from dusty remnants of the past, are a hotbed of discovery for the general public and researchers alike. In fact, a fossil exhibit in Luxembourg’s National Museum of Natural History (MNHN) has revealed a brand-new genus of pliosaur and with it, changed what we know about the ocean predators’ emergence. The fossil was […]