Deborah Bloomfield

Cache Valley virus – a mosquito-borne infection that primarily affects sheep – may be more of a threat to humans in the US than previously thought, health officials report, possibly infecting up to 18 percent of the population. In findings presented at the American Society of Tropical Medicine & Hygiene meeting, which have not yet […]

Everybody knows (or should do, at least) that ancient Egyptian King Tutankhamun had a dagger containing iron from a meteorite. The dagger, found in the pharaoh’s tomb, was examined through portable x-ray fluorescence spectrometry and found to have a composition that closely matches iron meteorites.  Further analysis of how the blade was forged, as well […]

Life on Earth wouldn’t exist without the Sun. Its light is the energy that powers so much of our planet, from photosynthesis to changes in the atmosphere. However, like everything else in the universe, the Sun is not static – it changes. Its better-known cycle lasts around 11 years and is marked by a period […]

Interspecies breeding is creating a slippery problem in Florida’s conflict with invasive pythons. A few years ago, scientists discovered that a significant number of the giant snakes stalking the Everglades are hybrids created as a result of breeding between two different species: Burmese pythons (Python bivittatus) and Indian pythons (P. molurus). Remarkably, these hybrids appear […]

We talk a lot about eating insects but not so much about insects eating. However, a new study is set to change that as it puts to bed an enduring mystery surrounding cicada’s dietary habits. “Do adult cicadas eat?” is the question at the center of the long-standing scientific debate – and, as it turns out, […]

Ceres is the only dwarf planet in the inner Solar System and it was visited by the Dawn mission last decade. NASA’s spacecraft revealed that the world hosts complex organics, possible volcanism where salt erupted, and plenty of water ice. The origin of organics was not fully understood: were they native to Ceres or were […]

Who is ready for some duck-based confusion? As we dive into the world of duck breeding and hybrids, get ready to meet the mallard, the moulard, and the mulard. Try saying those five times fast! The mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) is what we would call the true wild duck species, found worldwide in parks and ponds, […]

Ancient Maya know-how for providing clean drinking water to vast numbers of people could provide a solution to future water shortages, according to a new study. Outlining the steps taken by the pre-Hispanic civilization to keep people hydrated, study author Lisa Lucero says well-managed reservoirs acted in much the same way as modern constructed wetlands, […]

It seems such a simple idea it’s surprising no one has done it before: plot everything from subatomic particles to superclusters on a chart of mass and radius. Now that someone has, the results raise some very intriguing, and possibly a little disturbing, questions. The chart is the work of Dr Charles Lineweaver and graduate […]

One of the most iconic Pharaohs ever to rule Ancient Egypt has been resurrected in digital form, as both a middle-aged powerhouse and an ailing elderly king. Using Computed Tomography (CT) scans of his mummy, researchers have reconstructed the face of Ramesses II as it would have appeared at the age of 45, when he […]

Helium-3 is a strange and rare isotope. The gas, most of which formed during the Big Bang, is, aside from protium, the only stable isotope of any element that contains more protons than neutrons. As well as intriguing, due to its potential for use in fusion reactors, it is also highly sought after. We know […]

Astronomers have announced the discovery of a fast radio burst (FRB) from a galaxy 8 billion light-years away. The event, called FRB 20220610A, is the most ancient FRB ever recorded and it is also among the most energetic, exceeding the theoretical maximum for the population by a factor of 3.5. It truly was a record-breaker. […]

The Ruki River is half a kilometer (around a third of a mile) wide at its mouth and has an average discharge far greater than the Rhine, but few people outside Africa would even have heard of it. To those who live by its banks its color no doubt seems very normal, but researchers from […]

Living for over 100 years isn’t within the grasp of many animals, but for rockfish, it’s on the cards. This group, made up of several species, bucks the trend of size corresponding to age, with some of the most monstrous specimens (the biggest can be a quarter ton) only clocking lifespans of a few decades, […]

Many of the ocean’s great whales were almost hunted to extinction in the 19th century at the hands of the commercial whaling industry. Unbeknownst to many, this multi-million-dollar industry was not driven by demand for meat, but by a strange commodity that became integral to the Industrial Revolution. Whale oil is sourced from the blubber of […]

What if we told you there was a way to go back to the year 2016, before all [gestures vaguely at the past seven years] this happened? You could just hop on a plane and find yourself in 2016, ready to warn the world about something terrible, like COVID or Elon Musk’s Twitter acquisition.  Well, […]

More than 90 meters (295 feet) below the surface of the Indian Ocean, global warming has made its mark, with scientists discovering the deepest known evidence of coral reef bleaching. We generally think of deep-sea corals as being relatively safe from the clutches of climate change, so when a team of scientists from the University […]

In the southwestern Indian Ocean, the volcanic island of Anjouan is home to a strange geological mystery. On the island, residents and geologists keep finding a type of rock that shouldn’t be there. The island formed on an ocean basin, when tectonic plates shifted away from each other and magma moved up and cooled to […]

On TV and in movies, relationship breakdowns tend to come with a hefty side order of tears, ice cream, and questionable haircuts. Out here in the real world, things can be a little less black-and-white. A breakup isn’t always the worst thing, and sometimes it can actually leave you feeling better – so why is […]

It’s a daily battle each time we’re rudely awoken by our alarms – do we drag ourselves out of bed, or do we hit snooze and remain a cozy little cinnamon bun for another 5 (let’s be honest, more like 25) minutes? It’s easy to feel guilty for the latter – but according to new […]