Deborah Bloomfield

Is there such a thing as nothing? – Reggie, aged seven, Darlington Could someone see nothing? What does nothing look like? – Maya, aged nine, Bristol Advertisement Imagine you hear a noise outside your window. You think it might be a dog barking, or maybe a child shouting. But when you get up and have […]

People’s first instinct when engaging with conspiracy believers is often to try and debunk their ideas with factual and authoritative information. However, direct confrontation rarely works. Conspiracy theories are persuasive, often playing on people’s feelings and sense of identity. Even if debunking conspiracy theories was effective, it’s difficult to keep up with how quickly they […]

A woman whose scalp was ripped off by a drill has undergone complex surgery to have it meticulously reattached. “Total scalp avulsion”, as the injury is described in a case report, is incredibly rare and the authors believe this to be one of the largest ever to have been successfully replanted, after the woman’s entire […]

The mummy of Lady Dai is in such spectacular condition she’s sometimes called China’s Sleeping Beauty. At over 2,100 years old, she might be looking good for her age, but scientific studies have shown that this noblewoman lived a lavish lifestyle that took a toll on her health.  The tomb of Lady Dai, also known […]

Fossil hunter Cody Goddard thought he’d reached the beachcombing peak when he found a whale vertebra last February. That was, until he blew the proverbial bucket list to smithereens by discovering the enormous skull of an ancient baleen whale, one of the most complete specimens of its kind ever found in the region.  What’s perhaps […]

It’s amazing how creepy the nighttime can be, so it’s perhaps no surprise that people tend to experience more paranormal activity after lights out. According to new research, an inability to sleep well could make the night appear even more alive, leading to stronger beliefs in ghosts, demons, aliens, and the afterlife. A number of […]

It’s possible to love both scientific validity and the idea of hypothetical beasts, which is exactly why our eyes went out on stalks when we spotted a new preprint that explores the theory that Loch Ness Monster sightings might actually have been European eels. The “eel hypothesis” suggests that particularly large Anguilla anguilla might be […]

When viewed from above, the Eye of the Sahara looks just like an enormous impact crater sitting in the middle of the Sahara Desert of Mauritania. Stretching 50 kilometers (30 miles) in diameter, comprised of a series of uniform ripples, this crater-esque anomaly is in fact entirely terrestrial. This spectacular ancient geological formation was used […]

What’s your favorite number? There are literally infinite options, and yet only a few which seem to stand out as more popular than others: there’s seven, obviously; 13 or 666 for the badasses among us; and √2 for anyone who just likes annoying Pythagoreans. But there’s really only one number out there that can claim to […]

Efficient cable communication uses fiber optic cables to transmit data. Light sent through them has a maximum theoretical transmission efficiency of about 92 percent. There are drawbacks to these fibers, but sending laser signals through the air cannot compete with that. However, over the last decade, researchers have started working on ways to do the […]

You might already be aware that the name “strawberry” is a misnomer, as strawberries aren’t really berries at all. Well, it seems strawberries are full of surprises, or rather covered in them, because those seedy-looking white dots aren’t actually seeds. The strawberries’ pitted accessories are called achenes, and they are in fact the plant’s fruit, […]

The longest lightning bolts on Earth can extend for hundreds of kilometers, but even the longest produced by our planet’s clouds are dwarfed by the kind of discharges the Sun can produce. NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory has caught a plasma discharge 500,000 kilometers long (which could wrap around the equator 12 and a half times) […]

A study on nearly 160,000 individuals in the UK shows that unvaccinated people that have been infected with COVID-19 have a higher risk of cardiovascular disease and death for a prolonged period of time. Compared to a cohort of uninfected individuals, their likelihood of dying was 81 times higher in the first three weeks after […]

Over half of pet owners admit to sleeping alongside their dogs. While there are many benefits to snoozing with your canine companion, some vets warn it can be a risky business, especially in the winter months.  One of the main concerns is overheating. During cold spells, dogs are more likely to snuggle in your bed […]

Having been built thousands of years before anything else we know of similar scale, Göbekli Tepe is a source of immense fascination. Speculation about its purpose is widespread – and as Astronomy.com notes, many of these propose it served an astronomical purpose, ranging from the plausible but unproven to the utterly unhinged. The world was […]

Over 20 years after the wreck was first discovered, archaeologists are about to start rebuilding the medieval Newport Ship. Named for the city in South Wales where it was discovered, the wreck is thought to be of similar historical significance to the Mary Rose – and it’s even older. Back in 2002, construction workers building a […]

Research has found that a short burst of intense exercise may improve gaming performance. The study put a group of gamers through two conditions, one in which people got active before gaming and one where they remained sedentary, and then tested their overall performance. It seems that getting your sweat on in real life may […]

This article forms part of the IFLScience exciting editorial calendar for 2023. Over the last few years, Veganuary has become more and more popular. A growing number of people are opting to spend the first month of the year chowing down on a plant-based diet – a diet that excludes all animal products, such as […]

The Atacama Skeleton continues to stir controversy and confusion. Discovered in Chile’s Atacama Desert back in 2003, the 15-centimeter (6-inch) long mummified skeleton features an unusually long skull, giant eye sockets, and only has only 20 ribs instead of 24.   What is the Atacama Skeleton? The skeleton gained the nickname “Ata.” When the images […]