Deborah Bloomfield

What links black-eyed peas and cancer? The cowpea mosaic virus (CPMV), which researchers believe could pave the way for a low-cost but effective new treatment option for cancer patients.    Immunotherapy is an exciting area of medicine that exploits the patient’s immune system to treat cancer. Several viruses are being investigated as contenders for immunotherapy […]

At some point, you have probably heard somewhere that oil comes from dinosaurs, as if every time you fill up at the gas station, you are pumping refined velociraptor into your Volvo. It’s a vivid image, but it’s not true. Despite how widespread the belief is, oil isn’t made from decomposed dinosaurs. “For some strange […]

Motty remains the only confirmed hybrid between an African elephant (Loxodonta africana) and an Asian elephant (Elephas maximus). Although the calf tragically died just days after birth, his unique descent earned him the rare distinction of being named the “world’s rarest elephant” by Guinness World Records. Motty was born on July 11, 1978, at Chester […]

This week, a Cretaceous-era trackway in Canada provides the first evidence of a dinosaur herd combining two species, scientists walked back on the claims that 10,000 is the optimal number of steps per day, and the so-called “entropy catastrophe” has been bypassed after researchers superheated gold to 14 times its melting point. Finally, we explore […]

Mirrors that focus sunlight to produce electricity have been vastly outpaced by photovoltaic panels, but one scientist thinks they could have a second application, spotting asteroids at night. Solar thermal power has a great advantage over solar panels on roofs or in most solar farms: it can continue to produce electricity after the Sun has […]

COVID-19-induced brain fog could be partly explained by the formation of plaques in the nervous system that resemble those found in the brains of Alzheimer’s disease patients. As well as helping scientists unpick the causes of lasting COVID symptoms, this new discovery could be useful for those investigating some of the most pressing medical questions […]

Snowflake was unlike any other gorilla the world had ever seen – or has seen since. With his dazzling white fur, pink skin, and piercing light eyes, he remains the only known albino gorilla in recorded history. His extraordinary journey began on October 1, 1966, deep in the jungle of Nkó, Equatorial Guinea (then known […]

Counting wildlife is a tricky business, especially when the subject of your count has a tendency to swim away every now and then. However by combining aerial imagery with modeling, researchers have counted over 41,000 giant South American river turtles, representing the largest turtle nesting site in the world.  On the Guaporé River sandbanks between […]

Scientists may have identified a new diabetes subtype in Sub-Saharan Africa and some Black American patient groups. The research shows that many children and young adults in Africa and some people in the US may have a form of Type 1 diabetes that is not caused by the immune system. The discovery could offer new […]

Neanderthals possibly had a secret ingredient in their kitchen that provided them with the fatty protein they needed to survive. Rather than feeding on lean game meat, our prehistoric sister lineage may have deliberately stored their kills until the rotting carcasses became infested with maggots, which they then gorged themselves on. This predilection for grubs […]

Scientists have determined that hexahydrocannabinol, a synthetic cannabinoid that is sometimes used in legal recreational drugs, can produce effects similar to those of the psychoactive chemicals in cannabis. The research also found that another form of the chemical has weaker psychoactive effects, suggesting that different types can produce different effects in people. Hexahydrocannabinol, otherwise known […]

In a quiet pocket of Europe lies one of the world’s most peculiar international borders. Here, a short stroll can take you in and out of a nation dozens of times. You can sip beer in one country and accidentally spill it into another. In some houses, the kitchen may be in one nation while […]

If you have heard of a dramatic celestial spectacle or an apocalyptic scenario happening next week, let us reassure you that it won’t happen. Our entire planet is not going to be plunged into darkness for 6 minutes next Saturday, despite online claims. The end of our world, engulfed by the fiery plasma of an […]

Warning: This is a grisly one. Around 850,000 years ago, a small child belonging to a now extinct human species was decapitated and processed for food, according to new archaeological finds in northern Spain. The specimen, a tiny vertebra, belonged to a two- to four-year-old member of the archaic human species known as Homo antecessor, […]

Summer nights are great for watching the sky. The best meteor shower of the year has started, most of the world will get to see a lunar eclipse soon, and even if you live in a city with light pollution, you can still catch the International Space Station (ISS) as it passes overhead. Humans have […]

How do you stop an invasive species from taking over an ecosystem and decimating the local species that live there? Well, if it’s Florida, you use a vibrating robot bunny. “These things […] may sound a little crazy,” admitted Robert McCleery, a professor at the University of Florida’s Wildlife Ecology and Conservation Department. But, he […]

You wouldn’t have noticed, unless your brain possesses an atomic clock, but Earth has been spinning unusually fast in recent weeks. On a handful of days, the days are over 1 millisecond shorter than the usual 24 hours.  Earth’s days are rarely 24 hours on the dot because numerous factors can influence the speed of […]

A portion of our genome that was once dismissed as being “junk” may actually play an important role in regulating gene expression, new research suggests. According to the work of an international team of scientists, the “junk” has actually evolved to influence how genes are turned on and off, especially during early human development. The […]

The ocean holds all sorts of differently shaped delights, from colorful starfish to life that is a little more… blobby. Now, impressive drone footage has provided a rare glimpse at one of the most triangular beings in the ocean: the wedgefish. Wildlife videographer Jake Mason was flying his drone off in Shark Bay off the […]

The universe began in an event we call the Big Bang around 13.8 billion years ago. Humanity has been able to understand a lot of what has happened since and where the universe is going, but we do not know exactly how it is going to end. A new study suggests that the cosmos might […]