Deborah Bloomfield

The pandemic fuelled a rise in first-time pet owners and people adopting puppies and kittens. While even inexperienced owners expect a new puppy will need some training, people rarely think the same applies to kittens. But just like dogs, cats need support to adjust to living alongside us. Simple forms of training can be good […]

A jet of material released by the neutron star collision GW170817 is traveling at 99.97 percent of the speed of light and manages to appear as if it is breaking the laws of physics by traveling seven times faster. The jet was seen by the Hubble and Gaia space telescopes in the days shortly after […]

Picture the scene: you’re a kid, living in one of the great cities of the Mayan Classical period, and your parents shake you awake one morning. “Come on,” they tell you. “We’re going to the Midnight Terror Cave.” Doesn’t sound too inviting, does it? But don’t let the name put you off: it’s actually much […]

Everyone has heard of Pavlov, the wacky psychologist who figured out you could make dogs drool by shaking a bell at them when you give them food, then eventually just by shaking the bell.  As it’s taught in psychology, it’s only harmful on the level of pretending to throw a ball for a dog and […]

Beneath Jupiter’s icy moon Europa’s frozen crust lays a deep ocean that could be habitable. But scientists now think there is another type of water reservoir on the distant moon: lakes within the crust. These bodies of water might be responsible for eruptions happening on the surface of this icy world. New computer simulations have […]

The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has released its Living Planet Report for 2022, urging that the escalating loss of the natural world is pushing life on Earth towards “catastrophic consequences”. Preserving nature is pivotal in humans’ ability to meet global net zero goals, and yet in the last 50 years, wildlife populations have seen an […]

Monkeypox has spread across the globe this year, with 26 confirmed deaths and more than 71,000 cases as a result. However, according to reports by the World Health Organization (WHO), the variant that has rapidly spread is significantly milder than that which is responsible for a large number of deaths in the Democratic Republic of […]

Paleontologists are very confident that dinosaurs didn’t wrap their dead after removing their organs like the ancient Egyptians or Incas – nor did they attempt self-mummification, like certain monks from one Buddhist tradition.  Despite this, we have found some dinosaur fossils described as “mummified” because at least some of the skin has survived. Skin preservation is […]

Elon Musk has launched his latest business venture: a luxurious-looking perfume called “Burnt Hair”. While perhaps not as lucrative as founding a galactic empire, the world’s richest man has suggested the product earnt him over $1 million in just a few hours. Musk took to his favorite medium of mass communication, Twitter, to reveal his […]

From space travel to that Twitter debacle and a cybertruck that could “serve briefly” as a boat, there’s no denying that Elon Musk has a knack for occupying the headlines. From humble beginnings, he’s had a meteoric rise in status to one of the richest people in the world (it bounces between him and Jeff […]

The votes are finally in, and bear 747’s chunky folds have seen him officially crowned winner of Fat Bear Week 2022. Unsurprisingly, this absolute unit is a veteran champion, having won the title back in 2020. However, this victory was almost a near miss for 747, as his semi-final title was almost snatched from his […]

The winners of Nikon’s Small World Photomicrography Competition 2022 have just been announced, showcasing the most beautiful images of the tiny world that exists under a microscope. This year’s top prize was given to Grigorii Timin, supervised by Dr Michel Milinkovitch at the University of Geneva, for his stunning detailed image of a hand of […]

A case report published by urologists has detailed the case of a man who developed an allergy to his own orgasms. Yes, that’s right, you can become allergic to your own orgasms. A healthy 27-year-old man presented himself to the urology department at the Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine with an unusual complaint. […]

Fresh off the back of the cheating scandal that rocked Fat Bear Week, New Zealand’s contentious Bird of the Year Competition is already off to a suspect beginning. The two-time winner of the competition, the kākāpō, New Zealand’s famous flightless parrot, has been barred from entering.  Despite claiming the title in 2020 and 2008, the […]

A bunch of brain cells in a dish has learned to play the classic video game Pong, demonstrating that neurons lacking a body are inherently endowed with intelligence. By developing this disincarnate model of sentience, researchers expect to learn more about the fundamental nature of consciousness and open up new possibilities for studying neurological disorders.  […]

In August, we reported a breathtaking image of binary star system WR140 taken by JWST. Astronomers have now published scientific results related to that incredible object – and more.  Combining the latest space telescope and decades of observations from Earth, scientists have obtained the best understanding of what these shells are, how they are produced, […]

Alongside an unnerving number of dead bodies, droughts in the US have brought out a new mystery: how did a boat that sank by an island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean during World War II end up in a dried-up Californian reservoir? On Sunday, the Shasta-Trinity National Forest put out a number of […]

So, you want to become an Adobe wizard? Good choice. If you’re working in media, marketing, advertising or any other creative industry, Adobe knowledge is a winner for a number of reasons. Not only does it tell your future company that you are an inherently creative person, it also says that you are also the […]

This week saw the second US Indigenous Peoples’ Day, a day dedicated to recognizing and celebrating the histories and cultures of Indigenous Americans – as well as the hardship they have endured. One initiative designed to educate the world about Indigenous peoples is Native Land Digital, a brilliant interactive globe that shows the Native territories, […]

The 1999 cult classic film Office Space depicts Peter’s dreary life as a cubicle-dwelling software engineer. Every Friday, Peter tries to avoid his boss and the dreaded words: “I’m going to need you to go ahead and come in tomorrow.” This scene is still popular on the internet nearly 25 years later because it captures […]