Deborah Bloomfield

There are many methods that allow us to look back into Earth’s past and study its climate, including the collection of ice cores. Extracting ancient ice from deep inside some of the most remote glaciers can reveal how our planet has changed over millions of years. But it’s not just about the past: what is […]

Around the deep sea vents of Earth’s deepest waters, it’s possible to find colonies of bacteria that are neatly pointed toward the invisible magnetic field lines of Earth, just like a compass needle. These strange life forms are known as magnetotactic bacteria, living microorganisms capable of “sensing” magnetic fields. While their kind have been found […]

If artificial intelligence (AI) advances keep happening, it may one day be reasonable to ask “Is this machine conscious”? The Turing Test, created by renowned mathematician and computer scientist Alan Turing, looks to see if a computer can fool a human into believing that they too are an ordinary human being. As natural language models […]

The Prime Minister of Japan, Fumio Kishida, has eaten sashimi made from fish caught off the coast of Fukushima, to show that it is safe. Though there has been controversy, not least from fishermen in the area, around the release of treated water, it has been deemed safe by experts. Kishida and three of his […]

Fun fact: Insect wings, such as those on dragonflies, have tiny spikes across their surfaces called nanopillars that are handy for killing bacteria. Now scientists are taking inspiration from these little natural defenses as a new method to combat drug-resistant superbugs that threaten patients receiving implants. What are superbugs? Superbugs are on the rise. These […]

A new analysis of ancient footprints in South Africa suggests that the humans who made these tracks might have been wearing hard-soled sandals. While researchers are reluctant to shoehorn in any firm conclusions regarding the use of footwear in the distant past, the prints’ unusual characteristics may provide the oldest evidence yet that people used […]

Scientists have observed a never-before-seen form of oxygen, and its behavior could call into question what nuclear physics says about “magic numbers”. Imagine, if you will, that you could see within an atom; at its core is the nucleus, containing subatomic particles called protons and neutrons. The number of protons is what defines the element. […]

With celebrations from their historic moon landing last week still buzzing, India is now prepping to launch its first-ever mission to study the Sun this weekend. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) announced that it’s scheduled to launch its solar probe on Saturday, September 2 from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, found on the island […]

The current burst of solar activity has had some noticeable effects on Earth, but just at the moment it’s Mars that is experiencing it the most – or would be if it were populated. Following the spotting of a huge sunspot by the Perseverance rover, a huge coronal mass ejection is expected to make a […]

We know a lot about what Ancient Egypt looked like, and we can even have a pretty good guess at what its people sounded like, but have you ever stopped to wonder what it smelled like? A new project is seeking to provide a unique window into the past by recreating the scent of the […]

A large study has found patients experience better outcomes after being operated on by a female surgeon than by a male surgeon. The team, investigating if there was a link between the sex of the surgeon and outcomes, looked at data from one million patients having surgery in Ontario, Canada, between January 1, 2007, and […]

Dog talk can be quite similar to baby talk, being made up of short utterances delivered in a sing-songy voice that to the non-pet-owning bystander can make you look a little ridiculous. However, new research suggests this could be the right way to go, as it found similarities between dogs and infants in the way […]

A jellyfish invasion might not be on your Doomsday Bingo Card, but it probably should be. They’re a long way from seizing the land, but below the ocean surface, a war is already raging. Fortunately, an unlikely hero stands between our seas and a total jelly takeover: the humble sea turtle. Look inside a turtle’s […]

The Natural History Museum (NHM) in London has provided a sneak peek of their Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition, including a ghoulish sea creature and a macaque hitching a ride on a deer’s back.  Among the many impressive images, the NHM shared a heartbreaking photograph of a distressed elephant that had just been struck […]

Last week, the Chandrayaan-3 lander and rover successfully touched down on the lunar surface, making India the fourth nation on Earth to land successfully on the Moon, and the first to land near the south pole.  The mission, aimed at examining the composition of the lunar soil, has already achieved another first; measuring the temperature […]

Analysis of the Erg Chech 002 meteorite has revealed it is the oldest rock of volcanic origin ever found, far exceeding anything originating on Earth. It’s also provided evidence that some parts of the early Solar System were much richer in the isotope responsible for most of their initial heat than others, although we still […]

Saudi Arabia, for reasons that seem to boil down to “it will look cool”, has plans to build a 170-kilometer (105-mile) long mirrored skyscraper across the desert near the Suez Canal. “The Line” is to be part of a new high-tech city named NEOM. The idea is that the planned 9 million residents of the […]

Have you ever noticed that, among all the wild proposed space missions for far off in the future, they never include a plan to put astronauts on Saturn? Well, some people out there on the Internet have, and they believe it’s part of an ill-defined conspiracy. Advertisement ⓘ IFLScience is not responsible for content shared from […]

From Greenland sharks’ eyes to marine sediments, we’ve witnessed nuclear fallout crop up in all kinds of unusual ways, and now we can add boars in Germany and Austria to the list. Here, these wild, tusked pigs are free to roam, and while they may look like fair game, the levels of radioactive cesium in […]

A flowery mystery has been puzzling scientists at Shanidar Cave, a rocky outcrop located on Bradost Mountain within a long mountain range in the Kurdistan Region of northern Iraq, where a Neanderthal grave was found stuffed full of pollen. While some believed it to be evidence of cultural funerary practices among Neanderthals, others thought it […]