Deborah Bloomfield

Legend has it that the rugged land of Patagonia in the southernmost strip of the Americas is home to a long-lost kingdom known as the City of the Caesars. Like many of the tales of mysterious ancient cities in the Americas, there’s no substantial evidence this place ever existed. With that said, new imaging technology […]

A recent tweet by author JK Rowling, suggesting that receiving transfusions of blood from donors of the opposite sex leads to poorer outcomes (and higher numbers of fatalities), has been met with criticism by several scientists and members of the medical community. “It was recently discovered that those given transfusions of blood from the opposite […]

High energy photons probably originating from the birth of a black hole briefly changed the Earth’s upper atmosphere last year, despite occurring billions of light years away. A set of papers delving into the explosion astronomers dubbed the BOAT (Brightest Of All Time) reveal it far outshone anything we’ve seen before, and was accompanied by […]

Most of us have heard the one about if you cross your arms over your chest you’re feeling defensive or if you’re fiddling with your hair while talking you feel nervous – but is there really any truth to some of these body language stereotypes? Reading body language can be a useful skill in understanding […]

An Aussie bloke armed only with a budget metal detector has come across a gigantic gold-filled rock worth a cool AU$240,000 (US$160,000). It was recently discovered in the Australian state of Victoria in an area known as the “Golden Triangle” – between Ballarat, Bendigo, and St Arnaud – by an amateur gold hunter.  He took […]

You may think you’ve heard the term “gaslighting”, but it’s actually just your mind playing tricks on you. You might even be going crazy. Better to just let us explain to you what the phenomenon really means. Those are all the kinds of things we might say if we really were trying to gaslight you […]

From measuring the number of steps you take in a day to analyzing your heartbeat and sleep patterns, fitness trackers have become increasingly popular in recent years. But what are they and why are they so useful? Physical activity has significant benefits for our bodies and our mental health. Aside from helping prevent and manage […]

When it comes to the surfaces of the other rocky worlds in the Solar System, Mars is probably the best photographed, from both orbit and by several landers and rovers that have mapped and snapped its rocky terrain from the surface. Mercury has been pretty well mapped and imaged too. However, we only have a […]

Dogs may be able to go vegan if the meatless food provided to them contains the right mix of nutrients, new research has revealed. After feeding two carefully formulated vegan diets to 12 adult dogs, the study authors found the pooches to be no less healthy than those that ate meat. In fact, those that […]

When does seemingly harmless behavior cross the line and become cheating? People in relationships will have different ideas of where the boundary lies, but the more obvious types of cheating are usually pretty easy to spot – sleeping with someone else, unless previously agreed with your partner, is going to be difficult to explain away! […]

Carnivorous plants are some of nature’s most fascinating species. From evolving to count, to winning competitions, these species have specialized in digesting everything from mammals to reptiles and insects. Now two new species of carnivorous plants have been discovered high in the mountains of Ecuador.  These particular species belong to a genus of insectivorous plants […]

At the center of the Abell 1201 cluster resides a huge elliptical galaxy, and at its center sits a supermassive black hole. Previous analysis suggested that the object was big – bigger than most known black holes. The latest one places among the biggest objects in the universe, bigger than certain galaxies. It has an […]

As the US starts to heat up due to climate change, the country can expect to endure more dangerous hail storms and killer tornadoes caused by supercells, according to a new study. The new research indicates that lethal supercells are likely to increase in the late winter and early spring months, especially in eastern parts […]

April 25, 2019 was an exciting day for different groups of astronomers. The second-ever detection of a neutron star collision was reported, being picked up by one of the two LIGO detectors. Two and a half hours later, the CHIME observatory picked up a Fast Radio Burst (FRB), a very brief powerful release of radio waves. […]

Rabies is a terrifying disease with an almost zero percent survival rate. If bitten by an animal carrying the virus, a person has just 24 hours (or 48 hours if they are vaccinated) to reach a hospital to stop it from infecting the nervous system, where the infection takes hold and begins causing symptoms. If […]

A rat that can sniff out bombs has just revealed a new party trick, as research has discovered that the African pouched rat’s genitalia is constantly transforming throughout its adult life. The unusual approach to reproductive development sees the vagina open, then seal up only to open again later. Magic. The southern African giant pouched […]

Eight more cases of the hemorrhagic disease Marburg have been confirmed by the World Health Organization (WHO) after the initial outbreak was announced on February 13, bringing the confirmed total to nine with 20 more cases likely to be Marburg. The virus that causes Marburg Virus Disease (MVD) is related to the Ebola virus and […]

Einstein has done it again. No, not that one: this time, the “einstein” that’s changed the world of math and physics is a tiny, skew-whiff polygon that’s been dubbed “the hat”. There’s no relation to the famous physicist: in this case, “einstein” comes from the German “ein Stein”, meaning “one stone”, and it’s a pretty […]

From when he was a small child, it was clear Ettore Majorana was going to be a brilliant mathematician or physicist. Born in Sicily in 1906, Majorana completed high school early, before heading to Rome to study engineering and then physics, under the supervision of Nobel Prize-winning physicist Enrico Fermi. Fermi – awarded the prize […]

If you stand on the southernmost tip of South America, you’ll be able to look out and see roughly where the Pacific Ocean meets the Atlantic Ocean. Despite what you may have seen in viral videos, there is no clear distinction between these waters, and the oceans will happily drift into one another. Nevertheless, sailors […]