Deborah Bloomfield

Humanity’s relationship with telling time began before the first written word, making it a challenge today to investigate the origin of many timekeeping units. However, some time measurement units that derive from astronomical phenomena are quite easy to explain and likely were independently observed in many different cultures across the world. For example, measuring how […]

In 1815, the volcano Mount Tambora in Indonesia exploded in what was probably the largest eruption of the last 1,500 years. The event caused millions of tons of ash, dust, and sulfur dioxide to be released into the atmosphere, casting a temporary chill across the planet as it blocked out the sunlight for months on […]

Archaeologists have discovered 25 large pits dotted around the English countryside in what has become a nationally important prehistoric find.  The pits were discovered in Linmere, Bedfordshire, during two digs that took place in 2019 and 2021, respectively. According to radiocarbon dating, these odd features were created between 8,500 and 7,700 years ago – squarely […]

This week we spoke exclusively to the astronomers behind a curious phosphene detection deep in Venus’s atmosphere, archaeologists have uncovered a “passage to the underworld” beneath a church in Mexico, scientists are baffled by a 407-milllion-year-old fossilized plant that doesn’t follow the Fibonacci sequence, and we investigate how the very real Antikythera mechanism inspired Indiana […]

Space junk is a problem and it’s only set to get worse. In 2018, there were over 2,000 satellites in orbit. Now, thanks to mega-constellations like Starlink, there are 9,000 satellites, and by the end of the decade, this number is expected to reach 60,000. A crowded space environment runs the risk of Kessler Syndrome, […]

In the past few weeks, climate records have shattered across the globe. July 4 was the hottest global average day on record, breaking the new record set the previous day. Average sea surface temperatures have been the highest ever recorded and Antarctic sea ice extent the lowest on record. Also on July 4, the World […]

Three years ago astronomers announced they had found the molecule phosphine in the clouds of Venus. On Earth, phosphine is linked to biological activity, aka life. Astronomers were not expecting it and its presence coudn’t be explained. What followed was a flurry of excitement and then debate on whether the molecule had really been found. […]

A study of the world’s oldest rocks provides evidence that the recycling driven by plate tectonics may not have begun until several hundred years after the Earth formed. The authors admit their findings are not conclusive, but if they’re right, it would have big implications for what it takes to get life going. The fact […]

Ever glanced at your partner and done a double take because you thought you were looking in a mirror? Okay, maybe not – but perhaps you’ve noticed certain similarities between your facial features. If so, you certainly aren’t alone, and a new study might be able to explain why, in some cases at least, opposites […]

A fresh analysis of a high-status skeleton discovered in an ancient tomb in modern-day Spain has revealed that the individual was not a male, as previously assumed, but a female.  The tomb was first discovered in 2008 near Valencina, a small town just west of Seville in Spain. Along with a skeleton, early excavations revealed […]

How hot is too hot for humans? The question was asked and answered in a recent report from Professor Lewis Halsey and his team at the University of Roehampton, UK, whose ongoing research has identified an upper critical limit. The point at which things start to get seriously dangerous when it comes to human heat […]

An astonishing fossil has ticked off a few world records for tunicate remains, being the first ever to be discovered with soft tissues preserved, and the oldest of its kind at a modest 500 million years old. Named Megasiphon thylakos, it has revealed new insights into the origins of these truly peculiar animals, demonstrating that […]

Astronomers have announced the discovery of the most distant active supermassive black hole yet. The object is in a galaxy called CEERS 1019 and its light comes to us 570 million years after the Big Bang. It weighs much less than previously detected active supermassive black holes at very high distances from us – just […]

The world of botany is usually pretty good at following certain rules. It was previously thought that because the Fibonacci sequence is present in the structure of so many extant plant species, it must have evolved in some of the earliest living plant species. However, an ancient species, one of the first examples of a […]

A gene that was carried by both Neanderthals and Denisovans causes mice to develop larger heads, twisted ribs, and shortened spines, according to the results of a yet-to-be-published study. Researchers used CRISPR gene editing technology to insert the ancient genetic code into rodents in order to understand how it might have contributed to the body […]

Rarely is a creature so beguiling as Earth’s largest living land carnivore: the polar bear. From popular culture appearances in movies to unusual and impressive behaviors recorded by scientists, polar bears continue to fascinate. Unfortunately, they are also synonymous with climate change, tied to their dependence on sea ice to hunt their prey and raise […]

It may have crossed your mind while at the beach or in a desert that you don’t really know what you’d reach if you kept digging. Would you find sand, rock, soil, or just piles of treasure guarded by the genie Jafar? The answer, of course, varies based on where you are. Some sand dunes, […]

Stars form in large molecular clouds, where the gas gets cool enough for it to contract and then, under gravity, to collapse into stars. But as these stars start to shine they heat up the gas, forming large bubbles, or superbubbles, that can be spotted by astronomers. And now you can see the first detailed […]

A giant planet twice the mass of Jupiter has been detected after previous searches failed to find it. The planet was predicted to explain swirling arms within the protoplanetary disk around a very young star, but was missed because its light is at unexpectedly long wavelengths. Just as the planet’s discovery solves the spiral arms […]

Harry Houdini led what you’d call a busy life, debunking spiritualists, starring in movies, and escaping from handcuffs, straitjackets, and water torture cells.  One feat he performed on the side, as if his CV wasn’t quite varied enough, was to allow people to punch him as hard as they could in the stomach. According to […]