Deborah Bloomfield

Aye-ayes have specialized fingers which are incredibly long and narrow, enabling them to slip into small holes and dig out grubs for dinner. As it happens, those fingers are also very good for picking noses. Noodly-fingered aye-ayes (Daubentonia madagascariensis) are a species of strepsirrhine primate whose closest relatives are lemurs. As nocturnal primates go, they […]

The Cassini spacecraft may have burned up in Saturn’s atmosphere years ago, but its data is still being analyzed. Researchers have now completed a catalog of data from 41 solar occultations of Saturn’s rings (when the rings are in front of the Sun). The particles in the rings block part of sunlight, and this provides […]

For millennia, people have used mind-altering techniques to achieve different states of consciousness, envision spiritual figures, connect with nature, or simply for the fun of it. Psychedelic substances, in particular, have a long and controversial history. But for just as long, people have been having these experiences without drugs too, using rhythmic techniques such as […]

Many across Europe, North Africa, the Middle East, and West Asia saw a partial solar eclipse yesterday. The Moon covered a fair bit of the Sun as it orbited the Earth. The European Space Agency’s Proba-2 also saw the eclipse happening and, due to its orbit, saw it not once, but twice. The mission looks […]

What’s the difference between a coffin and a casket? To the average person, probably nothing – but to funeral directors of the past, the difference was a key part of their marketing. As human funerary practices grew more complex, we moved from the kinds of wraps seen in Egyptian mummies to baskets. However, as culture […]

Step aside, SETI. A strange figure caught in the backside of a car on Google Maps has caught the eye of alien hunters. While we doubt NASA will be too eager to follow up on this tip-off, it certainly is a strange sight.  Crystal Patterson, 45, reportedly came across the figure while searching for a local […]

NASA’s Lucy is on its way to study Jupiter’s Trojan asteroids but passed by our planet for a “hello again” and a boost. It was the first of three flybys of Earth, which are necessary to send it on the right trajectory, and it took place on October 15. As it approached, Lucy captured a […]

You are more likely to take a trip to the Moon than to see a microbe called Legendrea loyezae under a microscope. Nasa’s Apollo programme has sent a total of 24 people to the Moon between 1968 and 1972. Only four people (including us) have ever found Legendrea loyezae from its discovery in 1908 to […]

Researchers have taken musical notes to the world of pinnipeds, testing whether harbour seals can feel the rhythm in their flippers. While some evidence suggests lemurs have categorical rhythm and other apes and songbirds can be trained to recognize certain rhythms, it is a fair cry from a human ability to discriminate between rhythmic patterns. We’ve all experienced dad […]

“Seabird Invasion Hits Coastal Homes” reads the headline of the Santa Cruz Sentinel published on August 18, 1961. Accounts from that fateful day tell of thousands of birds crashing from the skies and littering streets and lawns. Curious residents who ventured out with torches to take a look were sent scurrying back into their homes, […]

After sequencing the oldest human DNA ever obtained in the UK, researchers have confirmed that at least two completely unrelated groups of people migrated to the British Isles at the end of the last Ice Age. Aside from their distinct genetic ancestries, these diverse populations also brought their own unique cultures to the region, with […]

The chance of finding life on Mars has just gone up a bit: Some bacteria can survive cold and dry conditions while being bombarded by radiation for millions of years, researchers have now discovered. The endurance of Earth-native species Deinococcus radiodurans is thanks to its incredible genetics, netting it the world record for “Most radiation-resistant […]

Elon Musk has reportedly lost more than $100 billion in less than a year. But try not to feel too sorry for this multi-billionaire; he’s still the richest human on planet Earth, maintaining over $50 billion more than the second richest human, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. Hard times, eh? Musk’s fortune fell to a mere […]

COVID-19 cases are ramping up for the winter in the Northern hemisphere once again, but this season we can expect to see the disease reveal itself through slightly different symptoms than before. Part of this is because different variants are currently doing the rounds and a different demographic of people are being infected – but […]

This article first appeared in Issue 1 of our new free digital magazine CURIOUS.  Some impulses are more dangerous than others – say, for example, the urge to ingest lava. Weird as that may sound, many half-joking posts on social media proclaim that lava looks very delicious, with users expressing curiosity as to how the blistering […]

IFLScience’s e-magazine CURIOUS Issue 3 is out now, bringing you more science highlights for the month ahead plus deep dives into intriguing topics, diary dates for events not to miss, and explanations for some of Earth’s most perplexing natural phenomena and landscapes. CURIOUS is the perfect read if you’re after a more relaxed form of […]

A virtual autopsy on a uniquely preserved body of a Renaissance-era aristocratic child has revealed a glimpse into a short life that, while privileged, was far from perfect.  For most of human history, chances of making it to adulthood were, at best, basically evens. There are a lot of reasons for that (most boiling down […]

Once every thousand years or so carbon-14 production high in the atmosphere surges spectacularly creating potentially devastating radiation storms. Astronomers have theories about what could cause this, but the most comprehensive study of these events yet appears to rule all the likely ones out, leaving the cause more mysterious than ever. High energy particles hitting […]