Deborah Bloomfield

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 […]

A new study of mitochondrial DNA has found evidence for at least two migrations between the Americas, China, and Japan, during the last Ice Age and following melt period. The team traced a rare Native American founder lineage across the continents and time, looking at mitochondrial DNA passed down through females. Using 100,000 modern-day and […]

The icy waters of the Arctic Ocean have become increasingly more influenced by the comparatively balmy Atlantic waters through a process called “atlantification.” It’s one of the many ways in which the fragile Arctic is being disrupted by increasing global temperatures. In a new study, scientists add to our understanding of this phenomenon by pinpointing […]

The Sun is setting on Pragyan, the history-making lunar rover that, along with the Vikram lander, was sent by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) to the surface of the Moon. The indomitable duo have completed their primary mission, delivering intriguing insights, and now, it is time to sleep. But, fingers crossed, this is just […]

Names are universal throughout human cultures and across different languages. They form a huge part of our identity and help us communicate with each other, but personal names are considered a uniquely human thing. Now, new research has suggested that wild African elephants could address each other with individual specific calls – the equivalent of […]

What happened to Amelia Earhart? This question has mystified amateur and expert investigators alike ever since the famous pilot disappeared in July 1937. The facts are few and far between, but this has not stopped people from speculating on various possibilities – some more credible than others. However, new analysis has just ruled out one […]

There may be an undiscovered Earth-like planet lurking within the solar system, according to a team of astronomers looking at the movement of objects in the Kuiper Belt.  Finding planets is no simple task, now that we’ve found the ones like Jupiter which were helpful enough to be fairly visible from Earth. When looking for […]

Epic floods have hit Black Rock City in the Nevada Desert, hitting festivalgoers at Burning Man, one of the world’s most famous artistic events. While some fled on foot, others sat back and enjoyed the unique self-sufficiency Burning Man is built on, but they will be joined by a host of bizarre organisms that can […]

In 1993, a strange sight was found in a cave in Altamura, southern Italy. Inside the Lamalunga cave – created by a sinkhole – was a virtually complete fossilized skeleton of a human, embedded within a rock. As well as that, the remains were covered with “cave popcorn”; tiny, spot-like marks all over the bones. […]