Deborah Bloomfield

The Black Death ravaged Europe between 1347 and 1353, killing millions. Plague outbreaks in Europe then continued until the 19th century. One of the most commonly recited facts about plague in Europe was that it was spread by rats. In some parts of the world, the bacterium that causes plague, Yersinia pestis, maintains a long-term […]

If you, like us, have been sucked into Amazon Prime’s new show The Rig, but come away with more questions than answers about how offshore oil drilling works, then you’ve come to the right place, as we break down what goes on on an offshore oil rig. Spooky infectious fog not included. Once a deposit […]

This week, the world’s oldest runestone is found to potentially hold the key to the early development of runic writing, NASA announces plans to land humans on the Moon in 2025, and we investigate Romania’s puzzling “living rocks”. Advertisement World’s Oldest Runestone Found In Norway May Speak Of A Mysterious Woman Archaeologists believe they have […]

Roly-poly bugs, pill bugs, woodlice – whatever you call them, it seems these terrestrial crustaceans may have more charisma up their sleeves than their comical tendency to morph into a living ball. A growing body of research has found that pillbugs may be a candidate for personality, as aspects of their behavior have been shown […]

While the privacy tools we have are rapidly improving, signing onto the internet can still open the door to snoops and criminals. A HideAway VPN lifetime subscription returns control of your data to you, with an easy to use tool that’s always on. Virtual private networks cut off spying and tracking by connecting to a […]

The prosecution in the case of Ana Walshe has read out a list of Google searches allegedly made by the defendant, Brian Walshe, who is facing charges of murder and disinterring a body. Among the searches allegedly made by Brian on the morning police believe Ana went missing, there are queries such as “can you […]

There have only been five Martian meteorites that were spotted as they fell down to Earth. One of them, the Tissint meteorite, fell in Morocco in 2012, 50 kilometers (30 miles) from the town from which it takes its name. New research has revealed that this space rock is incredibly rich in organic compounds. Organic […]

In 2012, a team of doctors published the curious case report of a man who temporarily had a heart rate of 600 beats per minute (bpm) – a full 300 beats faster than the theoretical limit of 300 bpm. The case report details how a 57-year-old quadriplegic male was brought into hospital with complaints of […]

NASA’s Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) program provides exploratory funds to technological concepts that would be immensely significant if they worked, but have a long journey just to their viability. Among this year’s contenders, probably the idea with the biggest blue-sky potential is a way to get astronauts to Mars in 45 days. For comparison, it […]

The blue whale is not only the biggest animal on Earth, but it’s also the largest ever to have existed on the planet. They can reach lengths of 33 meters (108 feet), and are three times the weight of the second largest fin whales, but how did they get so be so big? New research […]

Ultraviolet (UV) nail polish dryers, typically used to cure gel manicures, could damage DNA in our hands and cause mutations, new research finds.  The dryers are a common fixture of beauty salons – but despite their widespread use and the fact that some spectrums of UV rays are known to be carcinogenic, there has never […]

Whether it’s extrasensory perception (ESP), seeing dead people, or your mom’s uncanny ability to detect shenanigans anywhere within a 30-mile radius, we’re all familiar with the concept of a fabled “sixth sense”. Much like the ability to use more than 10 percent of your brain, it’s become shorthand for superhuman powers – an extra sense, […]

Just like her tumultuous life, the death of Cleopatra VII has become the stuff of legend. So the story goes, the Queen of the Nile took her own life by forcing an asp (aka an Egyptian cobra) to bite her on either August 10 or 12, 30 BCE, after suffering a crushing defeat against the […]

Archaeologists believe they have found the world’s oldest runestone in Norway. With inscriptions dating back 2,000 years, this laptop-sized stone could shine a light on the development and use of runic writing in ancient Scandinavia.  The runestone was first discovered at an ancient grave near Tyrifjorden in eastern Norway during the autumn of 2021 by […]

The new COVID-19 variant CH.1.1, named Orthrus, may be running rampant across the UK, and could soon take over from the current most dominant variants, according to government data. Orthrus may be responsible for around 25 percent of all COVID-19 cases in the UK, but some regions may be seeing it in 100 percent of […]

Look upon a group of iguanas and words like “shambles” or “disorganized” spring to mind. These animals are usually solitary, but in one biodiverse corner of the globe they amass in great numbers, spilling over one another in a tangle of scales and tails. So, what do you call a group of iguanas? The answer […]

While a lot of research has been done investigating how electronic sensing devices can be manufactured to sniff out scents better than anything biological, nothing currently beats the power of the natural world, be it dogs or ants, in sniffing out all kinds of chemicals and even detecting diseases. Therefore, scientists have been inspired to […]

It’s increasingly difficult to find a dark sky area to indulge in a spot of star gazing already, but now scientists report further bad news regarding the visibility of stars in the night sky. A new study suggests that in general, the sky is getting brighter at a rate of 9.6 percent every year, meaning […]

It’s the day everyone feared: Boston Dynamics’ robots have moved on from fun dance parties and have started doing actual jobs. In their latest video, the Atlas robot is shown hopping around a “construction site” (a set built at Boston Dynamics’ facility) doing manual labor, throwing tool bags around, and building a little pathway for […]