Deborah Bloomfield

Florida wildlife officials are turning to the public to help locate one of the state’s most elusive reptiles, the rainbow snake (Farancia erytrogramma). This distinctive, nonvenomous species has seen its population steadily decline, with only one sighting recorded since 1969, which has left biologists scrambling to piece together clues about its current whereabouts. The rest […]

A resident of El Dorado County, California, has tested positive for the plague, marking the first case in the area in five years. The rest of this article is behind a paywall. Please sign in or subscribe to access the full content. It is thought that the infected person was bitten by an infected flea […]

The star DFK 52 has thrown off 0.1-1 times the mass of the Sun over the last 4,000 years, creating a truly enormous bubble in space in a crowded star cluster. The observations are particularly intriguing because of the star’s apparent similarity to Betelgeuse. Aging giant stars, like stock markets and supporters of West Ham, […]

It’s October 1962 and the world is tense like never before. US reconnaissance planes have just discovered Soviet nuclear missile sites being built on the island nation of Cuba, just 145 kilometers (90 miles) off the coast of Florida. Although the Soviet Union claims they are part of a defensive move against the US after […]

Millions of people around the world are affected by hair loss. Experiencing hair thinning or falling out can be very upsetting, and it’s only natural that people will flock to the internet in search of a remedy. Of course, we’d always recommend seeking professional medical treatment; but in order to offer the best advice, doctors […]

In 1990, the artist Jim Sanborn created a mind-boggling sculpture that was erected on the grounds of the CIA Headquarters in Langley, Virginia. The sculpture, called Kryptos, resembles an unfolding scroll attached to a piece of upright petrified wood. The surface of the sculpture has just over 1,700 characters carved into it, which contain four […]

Neuroscientists in China have made a breakthrough in combating depression and other mental health disorders by growing dopamine neurons from human pluripotent stem cells that can target specific brain regions and repair mood-related circuits. The cells in question? A10 dopaminergic neurons. These cells are found in a part of the brain called the ventral tegmental […]

The Psyche spacecraft has been steadily making its way to its asteroid target, a fascinating metal-rich asteroid also named Psyche. This world is believed to be what remains of the metallic core of an almost-planet, but the story might be a lot more complex, as recent research suggests. The mission still has a long way […]

The states that make up the USA are no stranger to picking an animal and making it an emblem of the region. There are plenty of great animals to choose from – but why stick to living ones when you can pick a dinosaur too?  Not all of the states have an officially designated state […]

The jumping spider genus Habronattus consists of around 100 species that all diverged from each other within the last 2.5 million years. To breed, the males typically perform displays involving movement, vibrations, and ornamentation. Sometimes the males of these species will even perform successful mating displays to females of different species. By doing this, they’ve […]

With the announcement of a new moon around planet Uranus, it came to our attention that some people are shocked to find out that we do not know exactly how many moons are around the planets that exist in the Solar System. Finding moons nowadays is a lot more challenging than you might think. Mercury […]

An oxide of strontium, iron, and cobalt can absorb and release oxygen, depending on the gases passing over it, with a high number of cycles. This means it could fill a gap in our production of fuel cells that turn hydrogen into electricity, as well as a variety of other potential applications. The rest of […]

For the first time, researchers have managed to establish what looks like a causal and reciprocal relationship between the bacteria in our guts and insomnia. The work indicates that certain bacteria can increase the risk of suffering this sleep disorder, while others can help prevent it. However, the results show that insomnia itself can alter […]

Around 140,000 years ago, a Neanderthal and a modern human got it on. We know nothing about the situation that led to this interaction. We don’t know which parent came from which species, but we do know that they had a child who died around the age of five. A team of researchers from Tel […]

A resurrection ritual, the first sunrise, and a musical game are among the scenes that were painted onto the walls of a cave in Missouri by Native American communities 1,000 years ago. Known as Picture Cave, the site has been studied by archaeologists since the early 1990s, yet it is only now – and with […]

Prehistoric paintings found deep inside a perilously inaccessible cave in the French Pyrenees reveal how ancient hunter-gatherers risked their necks to conduct ritual activities in the bowels of the Earth. Known as Etxeberri Cave, the site is considered one of the most challenging caverns to have been explored by Palaeolithic humans, and may have been […]

Astronomers have for the first time tracked the transformation of a dying star for over a century. The subject in question is the so-called “spirograph” Planetary Nebula IC418, an aged star that is shedding off its outer layers, forming these beautiful patterns. The rest of this article is behind a paywall. Please sign in or […]

Pharma company Invivyd, Inc. just announced it is working with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on a pathway to rapid approval for a product it calls an “alternative” to COVID-19 vaccines. The novel monoclonal antibody-based treatment, catchily named VYD2311 for now, offers a different way of preventing COVID infections compared with the existing […]

New Jersey officials are currently investigating the origins of a malaria case in Morris County, after it was found that the person who fell ill had no recent history of international travel. A joint statement from the New Jersey Departments of Health (NJDOH) and Environmental Protection (NJDEP) released on August 18 announced the investigation, and […]

Let’s face it, the sea is full of proper freaky looking creatures, from Barbie lobsters to disco worms and everything in between. However, normally in the shark world, the species relies on sharp teeth and speed to make an impression. Well, one shark species has taken a rather different approach from stealthy gray. For the […]