Deborah Bloomfield

During excavations of a bathhouse in Ashkelon, Israel, archaeologists came across a grim discovery. Beneath the bathhouse – built in the 4th century CE and used until the 6th century CE – in the sewer, they found the bones of nearly 100 male infants, mixed in with animal bones. A study of the bones, carefully […]

Two new skeletons of men who perished at Pompeii have been uncovered, adding to the victims of the fateful Vesuvius eruption. Found crushed underneath an ancient Roman wall, it looks like this pair died as a result of the accompanying earthquakes that rocked the city as the volcanic hellstorm raged.  The latest two victims were […]

A new execution method could potentially soon be used for the first time in the US: nitrogen hypoxia. While its proponents argue it is a humane and effective means of capital punishment, its critics say there’s simply not enough evidence to justify its use. Nitrogen hypoxia involves forcing a person to breathe pure nitrogen gas, […]

When celestial objects have a strong magnetic dipolar field, as the Earth does, you end up with bands of electrically charged particles captured and held by said magnetic field. Jupiter and Saturn too have radiation belts such as this. The Sun gets them temporarily. And now astronomers have discovered the first example of radiation belts […]

We know death caps are extremely dangerous, accounting for 90 percent of the deaths caused by mushroom ingestion, but we still don’t know exactly how it is they cause such catastrophic damage in the human body. This gap in our knowledge has slowed the development of an antidote, but new research has identified a protein […]

There is a place in Honduras where something extremely unusual and miraculous happens each year, so the residents claim. In the farming town of Yoro, in the north-central part of the country, when the conditions are right, a storm of “biblical” proportions will blow through and then the impossible will happen – fish will fall […]

A trial has begun in the US for a drug that should prevent the harmful effects of radiation on the body in the event of a nuclear attack or incident. Prevention and treatment for radiation poisoning are currently extremely limited, so a drug that can effectively remove radioactive contamination from the body would be a […]

Residents of French Polynesia have higher rates of thyroid cancer than would have occurred without the 41 atmospheric nuclear tests France conducted in the region, a new study has found. The number of extra cancers is small, which may be why it has taken almost 50 years from the end of atmospheric testing to measure […]

From early Christian fears of zombie Nero to the ever-misunderstood Maya, there have been countless end-of-the-world myths throughout human history. Few, however, come close to being as iconic and renowned as that of the Vikings – the epic battle and eventual destruction of the Earth which they called Ragnarök. But while you may know the […]

A new volcano has been discovered deep in the icy waters of the Barents Sea in the Norwegian Arctic. Remarkably, it’s active and can still be seen oozing a flurry of mud, liquid, and gas. By studying this newly found volcano and its spewed contents, scientists believe they might be able to catch some insights […]

The crust of Mars, its outermost planetary layer, is much thicker than the Earth’s crust or even the crust of the Moon. This is according to the latest study that has looked at the internal properties of Mars using the quake data collected by NASA’s InSight in its over four years of activity.  The strongest […]

What makes four leaved clovers so lucky? Perhaps it’s simply because they’re so rare – by definition, finding one is proof that you’ve been graced with a little extra good fortune for the day. But how rare are they really? One commonly-heard statistic holds that only about one in 10,000 clovers have four leaves, making […]

Tom Hanks has discussed the possibility of his career continuing after he’s dead, thanks to advances in artificial intelligence (AI). Hanks, famous for films from The Green Mile to Forrest Gump, told the Adam Buxton Podcast that there are already people across the industry discussing the legal ramifications of “my face and my voice and […]

Observations of Comet Read in the Main Asteroid Belt have shown for the first time that there is water vapor around this body, confirming without doubt its cometary status. JWST results indicate that primordial water can remain mostly unscathed in the boundary between the inner and outer Solar System, where it’s expected to be too […]

Every now and then, someone on the Internet discovers a “hidden” feature of an everyday utensil – such as toasters – and minds, as they say, are blown.  Now, a viral post going around the Internet shows a use for the ridges you see at the bottom of salt shakers. According to the post, the […]

Can we regrow lost teeth? You might believe that it’s impossible and that the only options for missing or chipped teeth are caps or filler, but advances in stem cell research may someday have something to say about that.  There are currently various avenues being explored by scientists to regrow teeth, including dental stem cell […]

On Saturday, May 13, over 60 people contacted the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS) to report tremors on the Danish Baltic island of Bornholm. Residents described a deep rumbling, shaking, and change of pressure in their ears when the tremors hit, AP News reports, while the GEUS recorded tremors with a magnitude of […]

Efforts to predict when solar outbursts will affect the Earth are frustratingly imprecise, but NASA expects them to get a little better. An AI system is now processing data from satellites to warn of solar storms powerful enough to damage vital infrastructure. If you’ve ever wondered what you would do if you had a day […]

Hi everybody, as is traditional, IFLScience is here to ruin a fun Internet post with a spot of science. Today it is the turn of the so-called “magumbo hornet”, which has resurfaced on Twitter. On Sunday, Twitter user albert12798 claimed that a “bee” had just landed on his window. The post went viral for reasons […]

Ever wondered why a sudden reversal of opinion is called a “full 180”? Or why a gaming company might call their new product an “Xbox 360” to imply it can offer the full range of entertainment options? Like everything great in the world, it all comes down to math – specifically, geometry. Both of these […]