Deborah Bloomfield

The natural world is full of useful materials and organisms that inspire these designs. Scientists have always been interested in the amazing properties of spider silk, and have now successfully produced it from another species, the humble silkworm. Previously, synthetic materials have often had to compromise between high tensile strength and toughness – tensile strength […]

Along the icy shores of Antarctica, scientists stumbled across the ancient preserved remains of penguins that have remained remarkably fresh thanks to the chilly conditions. Some of these penguin mummies may date as far back as 5,000 years ago, centuries before the Ancient Egyptians started to perform mummification using embalming. Several ancient penguin boneyards were […]

We don’t want to come across as some sort of conspiracy theorist raging about how they’re putting 5G in birds, but did you know that they (farmers) are putting magnets in cows? Known as cow magnets, the devices are placed inside cattle to deal with “hardware disease”, or traumatic reticuloperitonitis. Cows, like myself at an […]

Pop a pill (of the legal variety, of course) and you’ll most likely be left with a nasty, bitter taste in your mouth. Trivial as it may seem, this is a pretty substantial problem in medicine, but one that exists for good reason. Why do medicines taste so bad? As explained by the American Chemical […]

One of the great joys as a child is learning about magnets, the seemingly magic objects that make metal fly away from the floor. Modern magnets are commonly manufactured by taking ferromagnetic materials such as iron or nickel, heating it before subjecting it to a strong magnetic field, aligning the magnetic field in a uniform […]

Over the last few hundred years, the human population of Earth has seen an increase, taking us from an estimated 1 billion in 1804 to 7 billion in 2017. Throughout this time, concerns have been raised that our numbers may outgrow our ability to produce food, leading to widespread famine.  Some – the Malthusians – […]

A program that uses easily available data and no more than 10 seconds of speech is capable of identifying whether someone has diabetes seven times out of eight, a study has found. Better still, it should soon be possible to get it as an app on any smartphone, providing a cheap and accessible option for […]

If you had to choose between your favorite food or your favorite toy (we’re talking PlayStation or phone if your mind was in the gutter), which would you pick? If you said food, then you’re not alone in the animal kingdom – a new study has found that dogs show a preference for their favorite […]

Adults with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are almost three times more likely to develop dementia than those without the condition, according to a new study. It highlights the need for more attention to be paid to a group that has historically been excluded from this kind of research. For many years, ADHD was considered […]

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 […]