Deborah Bloomfield

For the past century, we’ve inadvertently broadcast our presence to an estimated 75 nearby star systems. About a quarter of those stars have confirmed exoplanets orbiting in the habitable zone. A few may be harboring intelligent life capable of receiving our long-ago leaked transmissions. But what kind of emissions are seeping into space now? Could […]

Attempts to sell off parts of the Alaskan Arctic to further fossil fuel extraction have been thwarted. The Biden administration has officially canceled oil and gas leases in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge – and some Republican politicians aren’t happy about it.  The US Secretary of the Interior announced this week that the remaining seven […]

Have you ever sprayed perfume on yourself, and then later a family member comments on how strong it is, but you can’t even smell a whiff? What is this nose blindness, and why can’t we smell ourselves as well as other people can? The world is a smelly place, and we often are overcome with […]

Have you ever learned about something – be it a new product or a certain phrase – and suddenly started to notice it everywhere, all the time? If so, you may have encountered the Baader–Meinhof phenomenon, also known as the frequency illusion.  Though these sorts of terms are usually named after the person who coined […]

The sunken wreck of a schooner that sunk in Lake Michigan during its final voyage in 1881 has been discovered by a team of shipwreck hunters. Still loaded with its crew’s possessions, the shipwreck has been described as a “time capsule” from 19th-century America.  Maritime historians Brendon Baillod and Bob Jaeck located the wreck of […]

Scientists have created “complete” human embryos using stem cells in a lab and managed to grow them outside the womb for 14 days. Fear not, this is not an attempt to make a living Franken-baby in a test tube or anything of the kind. Instead, the researchers aim to provide a model that can help […]

A distinct new dialect has been emerging in certain pockets of Miami in recent times as a result of cultural intermingling between Spanish and English speakers.  The new parlance is a Spanish-influenced dialect of English being spoken in Southern Florida, a lingo-infusion born out of decades of immigration from Spanish-speaking countries, most notably Cuba since […]

A Florida man has been arrested after attempting to “run to London” across the Atlantic Ocean in a floatation device resembling a hamster wheel.  Reza Baluchi, 44, was intercepted by the US Coast Guard on August 26, 110 kilometers (70 miles) off the coast of Tybee Island, Georgia. According to officials, the man was asked […]

The biggest fish in the ocean may not like you swimming with them, according to new research that found ecotourism can have a significant and lasting impact on whale sharks. These gentle giants are a popular tourist attraction for animal lovers, but it may be that current practices surrounding swimming with whale sharks aren’t fit […]

Astronomers have observed for the first time an intermediate-mass black hole tearing chunks off a star as it repeatedly passes by it. These mouthfuls are roughly equivalent to the mass of three Earths every 25 days or so. The star in question is roughly the mass of our Sun, but the black hole is the […]

There is a common stereotype of teenagers sleeping into the afternoon but older adults getting up at the crack of dawn. It turns out that there seems to be a pinch of truth in this stereotype, and it is in fact part of the natural aging process. It is recommended by experts that people get seven or […]

The Statue of Liberty, with its big torch, blue-green color and fancy hat, is one of the most recognizable landmarks on Earth.  But when it was first constructed as a gift from France in 1885, the statue had not yet acquired this color, doing so later as the result of chemistry. The idea of returning […]

Hoping to tackle the ongoing opioid crisis, scientists are hoping they’ll be able to start human trials of heroin and fentanyl vaccines as early as 2024.  The vaccines are designed to protect people from accidental overdoses of heroin and its stronger, synthetic cousin, fentanyl. It works by prompting the body to produce fentanyl-specific antibodies that […]

While lying in the sunshine all day is some people’s idea of a perfect holiday, the reality is that cold-blooded animals such as crocodiles and lizards need the warmth of the sun to get going, while humans and other warm-blooded animals are capable of generating our own heat. We ask the question: Why are humans […]

A new study has revealed a disturbing lack of access for non-English speakers seeking advice on cancer care services from hospitals across the US. Researchers pretending to be patients calling general helplines in various hospitals were met with alarming results that highlight issues for these vulnerable patient populations.  In their experiment, researchers from the University […]

A new study has found that exposure to one of the world’s most harmful air pollutants has decreased in recent years, but also highlighted the need to reduce it even further. The researchers’ focus was on ambient fine particulate matter, or PM2.5, tiny particles that are 2.5 micrometers or smaller across that have become aerosolized. […]

There’s a brand new brain cell in town, and it’s here to stir up the world of neuroscience. Up to now, we all thought the brain consisted of two major cell families: the neurons and the glia. Now, scientists have discovered a secret third cell type, a kind of hybrid cell that bridges the gap […]

In the deep deep sea, researchers have found sea urchin spine fragments from 104 million years ago. The deep sea is a bizarre place and the probable origin of the first simple forms of life on Earth. Knowing how the number of species living on the sea floor has changed is incredibly important, as some […]

An ancient Babylonian letter from a student to his mother is being shared around TikTok at the moment, largely due to how funny it is. The letter, written by student Iddin-Sin to his mother Zinû, gives a snippet of life in 18th century BCE Mesopotamia. Iddin-Sin was away from his mother at the time of […]

Every now and then, the robots we’ve sent to Mars stumble across an interesting rock formation on their journeys across the surface. Occasionally – as you’d expect when studying the geology of a whole other planet – it is something really interesting. In June, for example, the Mars Perseverance rover snapped several images of a […]