Deborah Bloomfield

Scientists have found a way to reprogram human cells so that they mimic the highly plastic embryonic stem cells that have so much promise for use in regenerative medicine. By essentially wiping the cell’s “memory”, the team have created so-called induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells, which could be used to regenerate or repair diseased tissue and […]

If you look down the back of your throat, you may be shocked to discover a small lump of hard material nestled in the folds of your tonsils. These are called tonsil stones, but what exactly are they made of? Firstly, what are tonsils? Despite what some people believe, the dangly thing at the back […]

A new gene therapy for alcohol addiction has shown impressive results in a study in monkeys. If these results translate to human trials, we could be looking at a whole new way of treating severe alcohol dependency. Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is a challenging condition to treat, with huge implications for the physical and mental […]

People are confused about the weather forecast, and finding out that the percentages given don’t mean quite what they thought they did. The latest confusion comes courtesy of the account “wild (tiktok) screenshots” on X (by which we mean “Twitter”), who lived up to their name and posted this: Advertisement ⓘ IFLScience is not responsible for […]

For the first time, neutrinos produced from nuclear reactions triggered by the Large Hadron Collider have been detected. Although physicists have been sure that the reactions occurring when particles are accelerated to close to the speed of light and crashed together produce neutrinos, capturing the evidence has been a different matter. The achievement could help […]

During an upgrade of a wastewater treatment plant in Auckland, New Zealand, contractors stumbled upon the unexpected – an ancient shell bed that has since become one of the richest fossil finds in the country.   The treasure trove of fossils was unearthed whilst excavating shafts for an upgrade to the city’s main raw sewage […]

In a move that takes sci-fi tech a step closer to reality, scientists have developed a super-thin battery that could be used to power smart contact lenses and even charge up using tears. Smart contact lenses are not just an object of spy movie fiction; they’ve been in the works for a while. Researchers have […]

Epigenetic inheritance is very important for many organisms, including plants. Now, scientists have uncovered even more about this mechanism, which could have major implications for food supply, agriculture, and the environment. It was once thought that inheritance was simply the passing along of DNA from parent to offspring. But this is not the case – […]

Off the coast of California over 6,000 octopuses have gathered, the largest conglomeration of deep-sea octopuses on Earth, and these cephalopods are all huddled around an inactive underwater volcano. Now scientists are just starting to understand why. New research has shown that these areas of warm water near the springs from the hydrothermal volcanoes have […]

The subject of conspiracy theories and why some people believe them has become increasingly popular over the last few years. However, less attention has been paid to the reasons why people will share them with others. In a new study, a team of researchers have found that the “need for chaos”, the desire to challenge […]

If you’re anything like us you’ve probably had the order of the planets in the Solar System memorized since school, with the older amongst you cursed to put Pluto in there despite it being downgraded a whole 17 years ago. So, which is the closest planet to Earth? Well if you said Venus – according […]

Some species are so widespread and common that you could be fortunate enough to spot a magpie or even an ant nearly every day. On the flipside, some species are much harder to find, and those in the deep sea can be so rare, they only make an appearance once every few years. Now, scientists […]

Lunar lovers, this is your month. The only Blue Moon of 2023 rises this week and it will be the biggest and brightest Moon of the year. We have been treated to two Full Moons this August – a regular and a Blue Moon – and both of them occurred particularly close to our planet, […]

If you think of some examples of Roman inventions, the Roman aqueduct is probably among them. These large structures successfully transported water across great distances – but how did they do it, and how were they made? What have the Romans ever done for us? Roman aqueducts were channels designed to move fresh water from […]

People are once again discussing the placebo effect, where patients appear to improve after being given a dummy treatment, such as a sugar pill, rather than conventional treatment. X (formerly Twitter) user zeta_goblin started the conversation, asking their followers about a weird aspect of it: the effect has still appeared in studies where it was […]

Despite its name, the mammoth was not the largest Pleistocene land animal. That status goes to its relative, the straight-tusked elephant (Palaeoloxodon antiquus), which, due to weighing up to 13 tonnes, was twice the size of a modern African elephant and lived across Asia and Europe until around 100,000 years ago. Anthropologists have sought evidence […]

A newly-identified ape, named Anadoluvius turkae, may challenge our origin story once more, according to a new study. The fossilized ape, found in an 8.7-million-year-old site in Türkiye, suggests that the ancestors of humans and African apes evolved in Europe before migrating to Africa between 9 and 7 million years ago. A well-preserved partial cranium, […]

It may have crossed your mind while at the beach or in a desert that you don’t really know what you’d reach if you kept digging. Would you find sand, rock, soil, or just piles of treasure guarded by the genie Jafar? The answer, of course, varies based on where you are. Some sand dunes, […]

The Batagaika Megaslump is the biggest geological feature of its kind (at least that scientists know about). It sticks out of the Siberian wilderness like a tadpole-shaped slash in the land, surrounded by the green boreal forests of rural Russia. While this so-called “Gateway to Hell” is exceptional in its size and stature, it’s not […]