Deborah Bloomfield

Moderna is suing Pfizer and BioNTech over alleged infringement of its mRNA vaccine technology patents used to make their COVID-19 vaccine, according to an announcement from Moderna today, Friday, August 26.  It’s alleging that Pfizer developed their mRNA COVID-19 vaccine, known as Comirnaty, using mRNA vaccine technology that was patented by Moderna before the pandemic […]

Last week, researchers in India reported that over 100 children younger than five years have fallen sick with “tomato flu” in the states of Kerala and Odisha. While details are still pretty scant, there’s increasing evidence that this mysterious outbreak is caused by the well-known virus responsible for hand, foot, and mouth disease.  The outbreak […]

Thor’s Well is among the oceans’ most perplexing natural wonders, appearing like a bottomless sinkhole that looks as though it’s draining the sea of its water. In actual fact, Thor’s Well is the remains of a sea cave, carved out by water, whose ceiling collapsed. Found in the Cape Perpetua Scenic Area along the Oregon […]

A body has been identified after being discovered due to falling water levels at Lake Mead, Nevada. The body is one of five that have been found in the lake since May, one of which was likely placed in the waters after a suspected mob hit. The Clark County coroner’s office has identified the skeletal […]

Shaquille O’Neal, beloved big man and basketball legend, has doubled down on his belief that the Earth is flat. Rest assured, however, there’s some good evidence that Shaq is just trolling here (at least we hope so).  Speaking on the Kyle & Jackie O Show, the former NBA star said the inspiration came to him […]

Vegan milk alternatives tend to contain lower amounts of four key micronutrients than cow’s milk, according to research presented this week at the fall meeting of the American Chemical Society. Conducted by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the new study indicates that levels of zinc, selenium, phosphorous, and magnesium tend to vary greatly […]

This week, cannabis arteritis causes necrosis of the fingers, the majestic “sea cow” is declared functionally extinct in China, and we find out the truth behind Netflix hit The Sandman.    Man’s Digits Turn Blue Due To Rare Side Effect Of Heavy Cannabis Use  Doctors have reported the case of a man whose fingers turned blue following […]

For thousands of years, humans lived, worked, and grew kingdoms across an area called the “Southern Arc”, spanning southeastern Europe and Western Asia – and it is thought to be the “Cradle of Western Civilisation”. Now, scientists have created a complex population history timeline of the area from the earliest farming cultures to post-medieval times, […]

We live in a society that idolizes youth for sure, but also with age comes wisdom. However, aging is not all it’s cracked up to be. Could we keep getting older without the drawbacks of being old? Other animals do it, so maybe one day it could apply to humans too. In this episode, host […]

NASA’s Perseverance has been working on the floor of Jezero Crater for over a year, collecting samples and analyzing the terrain. Some samples have been stored in special capsules to be sent back to Earth in the next decade – but researchers have already been able to obtain some exciting results about the rocks, with […]

JWST has been delivering incredible observations of faraway galaxies and nearby planets, but now it has delivered the incredible exoplanet science that many astronomers have been waiting for. The space telescope has detected the first “unequivocal” carbon dioxide in the atmosphere of a distant world, the first-ever undisputable detection like it. Described in a paper […]

A young woman buried inside a canoe in South America almost 900 years ago appears to be the earliest example of a boat burial in this part of the world. Archaeologists have recently been trying to decipher the meaning behind this unique burial, concluding that the canoe likely represents an attempt to help the spirit […]

The origins of teeth have long been debated. With some fishy ancestors exhibiting teeth-like structures on their skin, known as dermal denticles (and, by the way, some even have “teeth” on their eyeballs), researchers found themselves wondering: did teeth grow out from within? Or did they migrate from the body into the mouth? New research […]

Google has been accused of “airbrushing” the air industry’s impact on climate change after it changed the way it calculates the carbon footprint of your flights. When you search for flights on the search engine, as well as displaying times and services, Google displays the average amount of carbon emissions pumped out by those flights.  […]

An 8-year-old girl from the UK has chatted to the astronauts onboard the International Space Station (ISS) using her dad’s ham radio. Isabella Payne managed to catch a quick call to the ISS with the help of her father Matt, an amateur radio enthusiast from Kent, England.  Late in the evening on August 2, the […]

A school district in Missouri has announced it will be allowing the use of a paddle as corporal punishment in schools, so long as they have parental consent. The district covers around 1,900 students and stopped using spanking in 2001, but now has reversed the decision as a means to violently keep students in line.  […]

Dog dementia risk increases yearly for pups aged 10 or over, according to new research from the Dog Aging Project. The findings also revealed that activity can influence a dog’s likelihood of developing the condition, with inactive animals being at the highest risk. Canine Cognitive Dysfunction (CCD), as doggy dementia is more officially known, is […]

It was the size of a killer whale, with the mouth and teeth to match; it had a tail similar to that of a shark, and a body like a Komodo dragon. It sounds like a ferocious chimera from myths of old – and in a way, it is. But in a much more scientifically […]

The first placebo-controlled clinical trial of psilocybin as a treatment for alcohol use disorder (AUD) reveals that the psychedelic compound may help heavy drinkers significantly reduce their booze intake. Eight months after receiving the drug, participants’ heavy drinking was on average 83 percent lower than at the start of the study period. Writing the journal […]

A member of the European Southern Observatory (ESO) at La Silla, Chile was able to capture two elusive atmospheric phenomena in a photograph that would not be out of place among paintings in an art museum – and both events rival each other in beauty. ESO featured it as Image of the Week. On the […]