Deborah Bloomfield

If you go down to the forests of the Democratic Republic of São Tomé and Príncipe, you might just be lucky enough to hear the distinct short “tuu” note of the islands’ newest species. The Principe Scops-Owl, or Otus bikegila, has just been formally described, though local people have suggested its presence since as far […]

A NASCAR driver used a desperate, last-minute physics trick in order to beat several other cars to the finish line. The risky move saw Ross Chastain move up five places by – and we can’t stress enough that we are not messing with you here – driving the car along the wall like he was […]

Even when humans don’t drive animals to extinction, our footprint on this planet is so deep we often change the species around us. The latest example is the rhinoceros. Several species and subspecies teeter on the brink of annihilation. Others are doing better, but they’re less well-endowed in the horn department than their ancestors, possibly […]

Alan Turing was one of the greatest minds to have ever lived, and is widely regarded as the father of modern computing. Known for being part of the team that cracked the Enigma code using an early computer, as well as extensive computational work that was way ahead of his time, Turing was at the […]

The earliest humans to inhabit South America harbored genetic material from several extinct Eurasian hominid species, new research has revealed. In addition to carrying Neanderthal and Denisovan DNA, these ancient migrants also possessed genes from as far away as Australia and Papua New Guinea, all of which raises a number of intriguing questions about early […]

Should “pet detectives” be a real thing and not just a film that has aged particularly badly? That’s the question Flinders University researchers are exploring by trying to get human DNA off cats. Ultimately, the work may provide forensics teams with an additional route to capturing criminals when all other efforts to place a suspect […]

With Elon Musk continuing to make headlines, as ever, an old clip from a 1999 documentary has resurfaced showing the multi-billionaire when he was a mere millionaire.  The segment opens with Musk and then-fiancé Justine Wilson awaiting the arrival of his new car, a million-dollar McLaren F1, which he’d just bought with money earned from […]

Nikola Tesla is often hailed as one of the brightest minds of the past two centuries, best known for his visionary engineering ideas and the design of the modern alternating current electricity supply system. Like many aspects of his eccentric life, it’s apparent the prophetic inventor was obsessive about his diet. Through much of his […]

In Le Flore County near Heavner, landlocked Oklahoma, there is a large piece of sandstone covered with runic markings that some believe date back to 600-800 CE, and were left there by Vikings. In the 1920s, a local to Heavner, Gloria Farley of the Smithsonian, was made aware of the giant sandstone. From then on […]

A man from the eastern coastal province of Zhejiang in China showed up to hospital with severe abdominal and back pain, and a small medical mystery in tow. It was soon solved when his wife remembered that he had eaten a live crab in order to avenge his daughter. Lu, 39, was found to have […]

A new study has a solution to the Fermi paradox, but (as usual) you probably aren’t going to like it. If you haven’t heard of the Fermi Paradox, here it is in a nutshell: Given the high probability that alien life exists out there (bearing in mind the vastness of space and that we keep […]

When Mick Jagger’s youngest child, Deveraux Octavian Basil Jagger (seriously), was born in 2016, the aging rocker was already a septuagenarian. That’s notable, because – and bear with us, we know this is controversial – having babies in your 70s is weird. We’re not making a moral judgment here: at more than six standard deviations […]

Cannabis, methamphetamine, cocaine, and opiate use are associated with a significant increase in atrial fibrillation (an irregular heartbeat), according to a new observational study by the American Heart Association. The research suggests the substances could increase the risk of long-term heart conditions.  “To my knowledge, this is the first study to look at marijuana use […]

The face of a man suspected of being a vampire in the 19th century has been digitally reconstructed. Furthermore, the work may have pinned down the identity of this mysterious man using DNA submitted to genealogy websites.  Parabon NanoLabs and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory worked together to produce the reconstruction, which was revealed […]

An unusual looking species of bee has been discovered in bushland in Perth, Western Australia, with a wide dog-like snout. Given its canine protrusion, the species has been named Leioproctus zephyr, after study author Dr Kit Prendergast of Curtin University’s own pet dog Zephyr. The new discovery belongs to the highly diverse genus Leioproctus, which […]

Whales swimming off the coast of California gulp down up to 10 million pieces of microplastic every single day, according to a new study. Clearly, plastic is not part of a well-balanced diet for a whale and the researchers arre concerned that this literal junk food is taking its toll on their health.  The study […]

Alarming new research from the University of Queensland has found that SARS-CoV-2, the virus behind COVID-19, activates the same inflammatory processes in the brain as those observed in dementia-related diseases such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. The findings might serve as a potential risk indicator for neurodegenerative disorders in people who have had COVID-19 but could […]

Having a baby is a big undertaking, and as such, it comes with a whole set of responsibilities and sacrifices. That in itself may not be surprising news – but what you might not have realized is that many of them actually begin well before your tiny half-clone ever sees the light of day. From […]

In the decades that humanity has actively looked for life beyond our planet, many have wondered how the initial contact between us and another intelligent civilization might take place. A new feature-length BBC drama-documentary, First Contact: An Alien Encounter, goes right to the heart of the matter, mixing interviews with world-leading experts and clever fictional […]

New research suggests that vaping may cause specific, harmful cardiovascular effects, with the authors pointing out that it is not the harmless alternative to smoking that marketing may have you believe. In addition, due to the unique airway irritation and cardiovascular damage that both smoking and vaping cause, the findings suggest that switching between the […]