Deborah Bloomfield

Endometriosis is a condition that involves endometrial tissue, similar to the lining of the womb, growing in other pelvic organs, such as the ovaries and fallopian tubes. The tissue thickens and bleeds just like it would in the uterus during the menstrual cycle. It’s a painful and long-term condition that can have a significant impact, […]

Penguins may have joined the small roster of animals that have passed the mirror test, believed to be the benchmark for a sense of self. Until now, the only animals to have passed have included a few mammals and fish – but now, a preprint paper suggests that wild Adélie penguins may have passed the mirror test, possibly […]

Dramatic footage shows the moment an avalanche tore down a mountain in Austria in the early hours of December 26. It struck in a Trittkopf mountainous area between Zuers and Lech am Arlberg just before 1 am on Monday, according to the Austria Press Agency. A video (below) shot on a smartphone shows a huge […]

Have you ever been sitting in one position for a long time and felt a numbing sensation in the butt? Yes? Well, this is called “dead butt syndrome” (DBS) or more technically gluteal amnesia or gluteus medius tendinosis. This syndrome can range in intensity, from an occasional numb bum to a condition that is more […]

In 2003, archaeologists looking for evidence of the migration of modern humans from Asia to Australia stumbled across a small, fairly complete skeleton of an extinct human species on the Indonesian island of Flores, which came to be known as Homo floresiensis. Or, as it became more commonly known, the Hobbit, after the small, breakfast-guzzling creatures from J.R.R. […]

The core body temperatures of crab-eating macaques (Macaca fascicularis) have been reduced in warm conditions, purely by controlling their brains. The aim is to find a way to induce hibernation in monkeys, and eventually humans. Whether this justifies the suffering involved is obviously debatable, but the goal goes beyond missing the worst of winter. Instead, […]

The Ancient Pool of Siloam, a 2,700-year-old rock pool used in Jerusalem during the 8th century BCE, is set to be fully excavated and opened up to the public for the first time in modern times.  Located in the southern portion of the City of David, the Pool of Siloam was built by King Hezekiah […]

What officials have dubbed the “blizzard of the century” – a massive winter storm, bringing heavy snow and plummeting temperatures – has ravaged the US in recent days. The freezing conditions caused disruption across a number of states, but the area around Buffalo in western New York was hit particularly hard: at least 28 people […]

In February 2016, Yohannes Haile-Selassie and an international team of anthropologists found the near-complete skull of an early hominin in the dusty Godaya Valley of Woranso-Mille, Ethiopia. Reporting their findings in two papers (here and here) published in the journal Nature, the researchers show the skull dates back some 3.8 million years and belonged to an […]

Has someone ever sneezed beside you, and a few moments later you got hit with an unpleasant odor? Smelly sneezes can say a lot about a person and their health. The occasionally smelly sneeze is normal – however, some prolonged smells may be a concern for which people should head to their medical practitioner. Advertisement […]

The molecular basis for a mutation that causes some people with XY chromosomes to have wombs and vaginas has been identified, demonstrating how minor the differences can be that shape people’s sex. Swyer Syndrome (also known as 46, XY gonadal dysgenesis with female somatic phenotype) occurs in people whose sex chromosomes match most biological males, […]

It’s easy to think of Earth’s geomagnetic poles as features that are set in stone (or ice), but both poles are not stationary and remain in a permanent state of flux. Since it was first documented by scientists in the 1830s, the North Magnetic Pole has wandered some 2,250 kilometers (1,400 miles) across the upper stretches of […]

The latest issue of IFLScience’s free digital magazine CURIOUS is out now, bringing you science highlights for the month plus deep dives into intriguing topics, interviews, exclusives, diary dates, and explanations for some of Earth’s most perplexing natural phenomena and landscapes. Join us as we put curious questions to top experts, share excerpts from the […]

It’s that time of year when gift giving is important and a joy, but finding the right gift can be difficult. If you’ve got kids or know someone who has kids, then you need to find a great gift that helps them improve brain function and have fun all at the same time. Sounds difficult, […]

Rice farmers living in Sidoarjo Regency, Indonesia, awoke to a strange sight on May 29, 2006. The ground had ruptured overnight and was spewing out steam. In the following weeks, water, boiling-hot mud and natural gas were added to the mixture. When the eruption intensified, mud started to spread over the fields. Alarmed residents evacuated, […]

About 76 percent of all non-visually impaired people experience something known as “floaters”. These appear as moving structures, like little worms, that sometimes appear in your field of vision if you are staring at something bright and uniform such as the sky, snow, or a white screen.  Their scientific name is Muscae volitantes, or “flying flies” – but they are not […]

Almost all of us, if we go back far enough in our family trees, come from somewhere else. Maybe it was your mom or dad; maybe it was a distant ancestor who lived more than twelve thousand years ago, but eventually, you’re going to find someone, at some point, who left their homeland in search […]

In 1963, two teenage boys decided to do a science project where they stayed awake as long as possible and ended up in the Guinness Book of Records.  Randy Gardner and Bruce McAllister first decided they wanted to study the effects of sleep deprivation on “paranormal ability”, before abandoning this idea due to fairly apparent practical problems, […]