Deborah Bloomfield

Between plagues, wars, and freakishly cold weather, the early modern period was not the best time to be a human in England. For women in particular, there was another ever-present threat to contend with: allegations of witchcraft. But why were so many more women than men accused of practicing the dark arts? A new study […]

Physicists suspect the universe contains magnetic monopoles – north or south poles without their counterpart. They’ve yet to find them, but new data from the world’s most powerful particle collider has allowed them to tighten the limits on where in energy-space they may lie. Every magnet we know, from the Earth itself down to tiny […]

You’ve probably been told at some point that oil is made from dinosaurs, thinking that when you are at a gas station you are pumping refined velociraptor directly into your Volvo. As widespread as the belief is, it’s not true. Oil is not made from the decomposed bodies of ancient dinosaurs.  “For some strange reason, […]

We’re only three-quarters through this year, but scientists in China are already forecasting that 2023 is likely to see the hottest global surface temperatures in recorded history. Moreover, there’s a good chance we’ll see record-smashing temperatures in 2024 too if current trajectories are anything to go by. There are a few factors driving this trend. […]

In a step towards a Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs-esque future, 3D-printed vegan salmon can now be found on the shelves of Austrian supermarkets. The alternative fish fillet, dubbed “THE FILET – Inspired By Salmon” by its creator, the food tech startup Revo Foods, is thought to be the first 3D-printed food to reach […]

There are few things more sinister than a parasite that hijacks the brains of infected ants and effectively turns them into zombies. But new research has shown that these tiny worms are even more sophisticated than we gave them credit for, altering the behavior of their unwitting hosts in response to temperature to maximize their […]

Teeth, claws, enormous silhouettes: that’s what a lot of us see when we imagine the prehistoric planet. However, there was a whole host of animals living it up before the rise of the dinosaurs that saw them dominate the Earth until Chicxulub crashed the party. The same dino fever that led some people to think […]

Archaeologists have uncovered 14 arrowheads that are changing our understanding of how bows and arrows were developed and used in pre-Hispanic South America. The research not only provides new insights into how these tools for hunting and warfare were used, but also helps uncover their symbolic significance for the surrounding region. A unique find  The […]

With scarcely any living relatives and a lineage dating to the age of the dinosaurs, the Wollemi pine (Wollemia nobilis) has been described by many as a “living fossil”. Botanists have now sequenced the genome of the Wollemi pine, revealing how the plant has remained relatively unchanged for millions upon millions of years.   It […]

The JWST has turned its attention to Saturn, and captured images of a season we’ve never observed there before: the end of the northern hemisphere’s summer. This means the space telescope is able to see what has been one of the highlights of the ringed planet in recent years, the enormous polar vortex, for what […]

Despite it happening year after year, and attempts in the US to establish a permanent time zone, changing the clocks twice a year remains an annoyance to morning people, night owls, and anyone with a circadian rhythm. But what if there was a place where you can select which time zone you are in, perhaps […]

Untold millions of years ago, a meteorite fell from the sky and hit a mountain range in northeastern China, causing it to split into two peaks. New research claims reveal the structure of the impact site for the first time. The crater is located in Jilin province, near China’s border with North Korea. The impact […]

As a young kid, you were no doubt told by your teachers how many continents there are on Earth. However, the answer you were given most likely depends on where (and when) you were taught. In the US, students are generally told that there are seven continents: North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, […]

It’s mid-September, which means the amount of sea ice surrounding Antarctica should be reaching a healthy level as it hits its annual maximum extent. However, according to satellite readings from the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC), the quantity of ice is currently way below anything that has ever been seen before at this […]

One of the few asteroids that humanity has visited might one day visit us. Unfortunately, while we delicately (with a little help from Queen’s Brian May) landed on the asteroid and scooped up samples to return home, a visit from Bennu to Earth would involve it slamming into the planet with the force of 22 […]

The US military is appealing to the public to help them find a missing plane after a pilot ejected from an F-35B Lightning II jet. The “mishap” forced an unnamed pilot to eject from the plane – one of the US military’s most expensive at around $135.8 million – as they were flying near Joint Base […]

The Moon has no flowing water, but has plenty of the substance trapped in minerals and even ice. Most of it is created by the effect of the solar wind, the stream of charged particles that comes from the Sun. Hydrogen ions in the solar wind slam into the lunar soil and interact with oxygen […]

A study of the active supermassive black hole (SMBH) at the heart of a relatively nearby galaxy has confirmed the suspicion that these objects can change the distribution of molecules far from the galactic core. Although we don’t yet know what part the SMBH at the heart of our own galaxy played, the discovery raises […]

Representatives of NASA discuss what their strategy is going forward regarding UAPs and how they plan to disclose new information to the public. Advertisement Below are the statements regarding Unidentified Aerial Phenomena from Former Navy Pilot Ryan Graves, Former US Air Force intelligence officer David Grusch, and Retired US Navy commander David Fravor, given on […]