Deborah Bloomfield

An accidental discovery in the ancient town of Old Dongola, Sudan, has revealed a set of medieval Christian paintings unlike any seen before. Old Dongola, in the North of Sudan, may not look like much to the untrained eye. Nestled in the eastern Sahara Desert, it’s been completely deserted since the 19th century, when its […]

Ghostly white tendrils exploding out the rear end of a sea cucumber might look like a horrible parasite infection to the uninitiated, but those trained in the ways of Holothuriidae know it’s a trap. When under threat, sea cucumbers unleash a defensive organ that’s sacrificially ejected to repel or fatally ensnare predators. Now, new research […]

Roulette is pretty much the ideal game for people who have no clue about gambling. You choose a number or a color (no need to get complicated) and the big, pretty spinning wheel chooses a number and color at random. Casinos are fans too. When the ball lands in the zero (or one of the […]

Chowing down on raw liver has recently become the in-vogue supplement for health nuts and gym bros looking to supercharge on nutrients. You’ll perhaps be aware of Liver King, a social media personality who’s gained a vast following on the basis that he eats raw organ meat every day. What a time to be alive. […]

A new species of semi-slug has been discovered in the hot lowland forests of Ulu Temburong National Park, Brunei, with the aid of citizen scientists. In case this is the first time you’re hearing of a semi-slug, sometimes called “snugs” by mollusk researchers, these slimy babies carry the halfway-house between a slug and a snail. […]

It doesn’t seem to matter how many times astrology gets debunked – many still believe that the movements of celestial bodies billions of kilometers away can dictate events here on Earth. It may be comforting to be able to blame a planet’s backwards orbit when you have a string of bad luck, or to believe […]

During the Capitanian age 260 million years ago, the oceans suffered a drastic loss of oxygen causing, or perhaps amplifying, widespread global extinctions. Then 3 million years later the same thing happened again, sediment records reveal. The findings could explain a major point of confusion about the Permian period, a time overshadowed by its catastrophic […]

Heterosexual couples who don’t follow traditional gender roles may be more likely to experience lower relationship satisfaction, and according to a recent study, this observation could at least partially be explained by the fact that while individuals may not set much store by gender norms, they’re so ingrained in our societies that it’s difficult to […]

Woollen clothing has been around for as long as humans have been wearing clothes and sheep have been domesticated. Indeed, our distant ancestors used sheep for three things: food, clothing and shelter – wool makes good insulation and helps to keep in the warmth. The UK is still one of the largest wool producers in […]

Strange, unexplained holes in the seafloor have long been an unsolved deep-sea mystery. Now, a sprinkling of unusual pits at the bottom of the Bering Sea may have an explanation. The architects of this perplexing phenomenon? Teeny tiny critters called amphipods. While studying the biodiversity of the Aleutian Trench near Alaska, a team of researchers […]

Rising temperatures are tilting the playing field very slightly in favor of batters and against pitchers in Major League Baseball, a new study finds. Although the difference global heating is making is currently small, by the end of the century it could be creating a major distortion, comparable to the steroids era and the 1920 […]

We love a semi-hypothetical hare-brained scheme. From blowing up the moon to firing a bullet through Jupiter, discovering the more out-there plans of history is always a wild ride. Now we’re adding “creating a sea in the middle of the Sahara” to the already wild list of what not to do in terms of planet-altering […]

In school, you might have learned that there are three or even four states of matter; the classical states of matter. But as our understanding of the universe has expanded, we have realized that matter can organize itself in more ways than we imagined. Although there is still disagreement as to how many states actually […]

Even in an age of rovers on Mars and probes to asteroids, meteorites provide vital information that we often can’t get anywhere else. Some of the knowledge we seek is stored magnetically, making its wiping a scientific tragedy. Yet that happens when meteorite hunters use hand magnets to discover their targets, and a new study […]

A rather picky Asian elephant at Berlin Zoo has taught herself to peel bananas but only uses her unique superpower on fruit that has started to turn brown. According to researchers, Pang Pha probably acquired a knack for skinning after observing her keepers, despite the fact that none of them ever taught her to operate […]

The sunken remains of an ancient Roman villa have been uncovered by a recent survey off the coast of Italy. Once known for its luxurious beauty, this area was a holiday spot for the rich and famous of the Roman Empire. Now, however, their beautiful villas are nothing more than sunken ruins. The discoveries were […]

The Earth rotates towards the east, so the Sun, the Moon, and all celestial bodies we can see always appear to rise from that direction and set in the west. But there is no reason for that to be the only possible case. Our planet might just as easily spin in the opposite direction, and […]

A woman who crushed up a whole black widow spider and injected it in an effort to get high in the 1990s ended up having a very bad time when the arachnid’s venom kicked in. The unpleasant trip saw her spend a few days in the intensive care unit (ICU) with breathing difficulties, muscle cramping, […]

The Earthly remains and the tomb of Queen Boudicca have never been found, although many theories of her final resting place have been suggested, ranging from Stonehenge and a McDonald’s to beneath London King’s Cross train station. Boudicca was the queen of the ancient British Iceni tribe known for leading a courageous – but ill-fated […]

There are treasures to be found among the sediments of abyssal plains for those willing to dive 3,000–6,000 meters (9,800–19,600 feet) to go searching. Here, vast fields of manganese nodules can be found, rich in metals that would have battery makers’ eyes turning to dollar signs. Sometimes referred to as deep-sea potatoes, or manganese tubers, […]