Deborah Bloomfield

JWST can detect many interesting gases in the atmospheres of exoplanets. As those distant worlds pass in front of their stars, their atmospheres filter light, leaving an impression of its components that the telescope can detect. If an alien civilization has its own JWST, it would be able to do the same with Earth, and […]

The US Government is using the US District Court in Norfolk, Virginia, to attempt to block the next trip to the wreckage of the Titanic. Many shipwrecks, such as military ships that have sunk in US waters, are off-limits to explorers, tourists, and people looking to salvage booty. The Titanic, lying in international waters, is […]

A six-month-old’s eyes turned an unusual shade of blue, in what doctors believe was a rare complication from a treatment for COVID-19. The boy was first brought to doctors following the development of a cough and fever, before an antigen test confirmed that he had COVID-19. He was prescribed favipiravir by the doctors, which is […]

Forget UFOs from faraway planets – there’s an Earth-borne type of alien we might need to be worried about. According to a major new report, invasive alien species could pose a significant global threat to nature and humans alike. Alien species are organisms that humans have introduced to areas other than their natural habitat, intentionally […]

We’ve all been there. You’re stumbling home after a few drinks on a Saturday night when a moral philosopher jumps out of a bin and hits you with a sudden hypothetical moral dilemma.  Usually, you’re ready for such devious assaults, but the drink has addled your judgment and now you find yourself spouting utilitarian answers […]

For the first time, astronomers have observed a dark spot on Neptune from the ground and also discovered a bright spot companion next to it. These features have no clear origin, but the work provides new insight into how these peculiar features come to form in the first place. While spots like the Great Red […]

Vlad the Impaler was not a nice guy. You don’t earn the nickname “The Impaler” because of all your charity work. But new research suggests that, as well as possibly crying tears of blood, the figure often thought to have inspired Bram Stoker’s Dracula may have been vegetarian or vegan. Vlad, or Mr Impaler if you’d […]

Tricks to improve Wi-Fi signal can range from the sensible to the deranged (yes, aluminum hats do work – no, a Faraday cage won’t help). However, did you know that sometimes the problem can be not the router itself, but the objects you’ve placed it close to? Routers connect our devices to the Internet by […]

As much as they are a staple feature of modern pop culture, there is still much we do not know about the Northern European travelers who became known as the Vikings. In particular, until recently, scholars have struggled to identify a reason why a disparate bunch of Scandinavian farmers transformed into fierce raiders and extensive […]

The Great Wall of China warded off marauding nomadic tribes for centuries, but it wasn’t enough to stop these time-conscious builders. A small part of the Great Wall has been severely damaged by construction workers who were looking to make a shortcut through the monument.  Two people have been arrested for using machinery to create […]

We’ve all had that feeling: you wake up from an incredible dream, but as soon as you try to describe it to someone else the details start falling away, like sand running through your fingers, until you can’t remember it at all. Scientists have long been seeking ways to help dreamers communicate directly with the […]

Researchers exploring the deep ocean off the coast of Alaska recently stumbled upon a perplexing find while piloting a remotely operated vehicle (ROV). As part of the Seascape Alaska 5 expedition, they found a mysterious golden orb on the seabed, and nobody was quite sure what it was. Journeying thousands of meters below the surface […]

Comet Nishimura is slowly but inexorably approaching its perihelion, the closest point to the Sun in its long orbit. The comet will get there on September 17, before moving back outward in its four-century motion through the heavens. As it approaches the Sun it is brightening, making it more and more visible. The comet will […]

Researchers have identified two proteins that could be used to identify those at risk of developing cognitive issues, such as brain fog, post-infection with COVID-19. The findings also indicate that blood clots may be to blame. Long COVID is thought to affect between 10 to 20 percent of those infected with SARS-CoV-2, with people experiencing […]

In a tale as old as time, a TikTokker appears to have filmed themselves messing around with one of the most venomous animals known to humankind.  On X (formerly Twitter), the account “daily aquatic lovelies” posted an image of the incident, explaining how deadly the creatures are. Advertisement ⓘ IFLScience is not responsible for content shared […]

Amid news of the heavy rains turning the Burning Man festival in the Nevada desert into a flooded fiasco, social media has seen a deluge of misinformation claiming that an Ebola outbreak has hit the event, causing a lockdown and mass panic. Rest assured, there’s no evidence of Ebola at Burning Man, so where did […]

Today marks an important milestone in the history of the internet: Google’s 25th birthday. With billions of search queries submitted each day, it’s difficult to remember how we ever lived without the search engine. What was it about Google that led it to revolutionise information access? And will artificial intelligence (AI) make it obsolete, or […]

Tropical forests can help to mellow the impact of climate change by acting as a carbon sink, sucking up more carbon from the atmosphere than they pump out. However, new research has suggested that a powerful El Niño event managed to “switch off” this ability in the forests in South America, which raises some worrying […]

If you’ve been on the Internet in the last half year, there’s a good chance you’ve heard of Bryan Johnson, the multi-millionaire who has so far spent over $2 million in an attempt to de-age himself. According to Bloomberg, Johnson aims to have the “brain, heart, lungs, liver, kidneys, tendons, teeth, skin, hair, bladder, penis, […]

They say those who forget history are condemned to repeat it, a sentiment that underpins new research that’s identified three key drivers behind the collapse of the Qing Dynasty. Once an economy that was considerably wealthier in its time than modern-day China, it crumbled in 1912, and the proposed reasons behind it sound a little […]