Deborah Bloomfield

What happens when you faint? Until very recently, the scientific answer to that was, “We’re not totally sure.” A new study has shed some light on this mystery by identifying, for the first time, the genetic pathway between the brain and heart that’s responsible for fainting. Fainting – or, to use the more science-y term, […]

There have only been just over 600 people in orbit around the planet and only three – cosmonauts Georgy Dobrovolsky, Vladislav Volkov, and Viktor Patsayev – have lost their lives above the Kármán line, the edge of space. But fascination with what would happen if your body was exposed to the vacuum of space has […]

While the fuzz you find on peaches may seem like a random (and frankly quite adorable) evolutionary trait of this humble fruit, it does, in fact, serve a very specific purpose. The peaches’ fuzzy surface is actually used as a defence mechanism and deterrent against the pesky bugs that want to chow down on and […]

Animal intelligence researchers are just starting to discover the capabilities of many species. Perhaps more than any other birds, corvids – including ravens, crows, jays, and Northern Hemisphere magpies – have proven astoundingly smart, and challenged ideas about the biological basis for intelligence. If you doubt that crows are smart, take a look at some […]

Quantum mechanics affects the small and tiny usually, but at extremely low temperatures quantum behavior can become macroscopic. This is the case of helium, which can be a superfluid: a liquid that flows without losing any kinetic energy. An interesting consequence of that is that a superfluid in an open container will crawl up its […]

Wildlife rescue efforts might be as simple as removing that spider from your bedroom back into the garden, or helping an animal caught in a snare. But how do you go about saving some of the largest animals on Earth when they get into trouble, especially if they’re in the sea? Fortunately for one juvenile […]

New research has signaled that smartphones may impact the sperm quality of young men. Fear not, though. While researchers in the field have praised the robustness of the study, they have added that the findings shouldn’t spark panic and the cause of humanity’s “spermageddon” remains elusive.  It’s been widely suggested that sperm count and quality […]

When Artemis III lands near the South Pole of the Moon in a few years, the astronauts will be equipped with a brand-new camera for images and even videos. The prototype currently being tested is made from off-the-shelf camera parts, high-quality lenses, and NASA’s bespoke modifications to make it Moon-proof. It can operate in temperatures […]

Crickets – not the game, but the insects – are slowly creeping into the consumer market as a new food source. But is it a fad or could it be the next superfood? It is expected that by 2050 the world population will have reached 9 billion. This is a scary thought as we are […]

For the first time ever, the mitochondrial genome of a European woolly rhinoceros has been reconstructed. The now-extinct animals’ DNA was extracted from fossilized cave hyena poop found in Germany, revealing fresh insight into both species. The woolly rhino (Coelodonta antiquitatis) roamed Eurasia in the Pleistocene until its extinction around 10,000 years ago. Several specimens […]

The Moon formed in a catastrophic impact between the proto-Earth (Gaia) and a Mars-sized object we call Theia. The collision happened around 4.5 billion years ago but its effects are still with us. And not just on the Moon, but also in structures buried deep in the Earth’s mantle. The traditional scenario sees Gaia being […]

When it comes to starfish, scientists have finally answered Basement Jaxx’s most famous question – their head is all over their body, to the point where their body is essentially, well, a head. “It’s as if the sea star is completely missing a trunk, and is best described as just a head crawling along the […]

When our ancient Homo sapiens ancestors first left Africa for Eurasia some 60,000 years ago, they encountered and mated with some of the other human species that inhabited their new, colder home. Among these were the now-extinct Denisovans, who endowed modern humans with genes that might have helped us adapt to the cold while at […]

As science progresses we are constantly learning new things about the human body, from finding differences in voice prints between people who have diabetes and the general population, to noticing whole new organs inside the human head. Add to that list a new sense of touch, which we weren’t aware of before. Humans sense touch […]

For the first time, female chimpanzees have been seen surviving long after they have ceased to be able to reproduce – they had gone through menopause. Until recently, menopause was thought to be a uniquely human phenomenon, not seen even in our closest relatives. The discovery not only disproves that and raises the possibility menopause […]

In this universe, nothing lasts forever, but black holes are the objects that will try their darndest to stay alive the longest. Long after the last star has stopped shining and the last planet has turned to dust, black holes will still be there. But they are not immortal. Many black holes form in spectacular […]

In September, India became the fourth nation to successfully land on the surface of the Moon and reached the southernmost location yet. The Vikram lander and the Pragyan rover worked for a whole lunar day, providing some fantastic insights into the composition of the Moon, but something interesting was spotted from far above them too. […]

The taxonomical world of fruits, vegetables, and berries can get pretty confusing. Grapefruits and pumpkins, for example, are technically berries, while the humble strawberry isn’t a berry at all. In fact, it seems strawberries are full of surprises, or rather covered in them, because those seedy-looking white dots also aren’t seeds. The pitted accessories found across […]

Researchers from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) believe they have made an unusual and surprising discovery: Light appears to be capable of evaporating water without the involvement of heat. The team were interested in making desalination – removing salts and minerals from water by evaporating it and then cooling down the vapor into liquid once […]

If you’ve always wanted to save the world, but don’t have the right skills to invent a carbon-free energy source or antiviral drug, now might be your chance. Astronomers have created a system where almost anyone can help them spot near-Earth asteroids, and this month scored their first success. It’s a little surprising that in […]