Deborah Bloomfield

It’s a well-known fact that there’s a lot of interspecies mingling in the human family tree. It’s clear that modern humans have fragments of DNA from our ancient relatives, like the Neanderthals and the Denisovans, but it also appears that other mystery species live on in the genomes of some modern-day populations. In January 2019, […]

A lot has changed for humanity over the last 5,000 years. We invented writing, and built Stonehenge; we survived wave after wave of deadly plagues and even worse medical procedures; we’ve become so technologically advanced, in fact, that it’s probably going to be our own downfall before too long.   But some things are exactly […]

This article first appeared in Issue 4 of our free digital magazine CURIOUS. The Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico is unusually flat topside, but beneath its surface sit vast networks of underwater tunnels and sinkholes known as cenotes. They formed through speleogenesis (doesn’t science have fun words?) as rainwater mixed with carbon dioxide in the air […]

Can sleeping with soap really “cure” restless leg syndrome and cramps? It may seem like a bizarre question with an obvious answer (which is no, by the way, at least according to the science), but if you’re familiar with the internet’s favorite, or strangest, home remedies then you may be aware of this particular one […]

The discoveries made in the Shanidar Cave are some of the most thought-provoking and divisive Neanderthal remains ever recovered. Among the handful of skeletons found scattered within the cave, one appears to have been laid to rest alongside significant amounts of pollen.  Some have interpreted this as evidence of a grand burial ritual as if a […]

In amongst the flurry of AI news as ChatGPT takes over our entire lives, Google threw their hat in the ring and released Bard, their competitor AI. Unfortunately for them, the first demonstrations were less than optimal – a promo video for Bard showed it explaining that the JWST was the first telescope to ever […]

This week, Bing’s new chatbot claims to be both sentient and depressed, a bizarre 10-meter-long jellyfish is captured on film, and we investigate Third Man syndrome, a potentially life-saving hallucination. Scientists Have Tested The “Enjuin Mummy” To Find Out What It Really Is The Enjuin “mummy” was found in a box in a Japanese temple. […]

Caves have always been home to the weirdest and most bizarre members of the animal kingdom. Owing to their unique environmental properties of being largely dark, wet and sometimes humid, this has given rise to a whole host of funky critters, adapted to living in low light and these tricky conditions by convergent evolution. Now, […]

When you start to notice them, psychopaths seem to be everywhere. This is especially true of people in powerful places. By one estimate, as many as 20 percent of business leaders have “clinically relevant levels” of psychopathic tendencies – despite the fact as little as 1 percent of the general population are considered psychopaths. Psychopaths […]

Our Solar System is a pretty busy place. There are millions of objects moving around – everything from planets, to moons, to comets and asteroids. And each year we’re discovering more and more objects (usually small asteroids or speedy comets) that call the Solar System home. Astronomers had found all eight of the main planets […]

The original creator of the internet believes that we have gone down the wrong path and is looking to change how the entire internet works with his company, Inrupt. Sir Tim Berners-Lee states that the internet as we see it today has deviated from his original vision when he created the world wide web in […]

If we ever establish colonies on Jupiter’s four big moons, those living there will enjoy looking up. Besides the sight of Jupiter hanging in the sky from the planet-facing side of each moon, and views of every other moon, big and small, there will be beautiful aurorae to watch. Surprisingly, this is something we have […]

More than a dozen human burials, complete with sophisticated jewelry and ornaments, have been uncovered by archaeologists working in the northeastern state of Tamaulipas, Mexico. Described by those working on the site as one of the most important local discoveries in recent decades, the excavation offers a glimpse into the ancient funerary practices of the […]

Research has shown that “cat people” tend to be more intelligent than “dog people.” On top of that, the study found the pro-cat camp tends to be more creative, independent, and rebellious. However, the science suggests it isn’t all negative for dog lovers – and not all positive for feline folks either.  The findings come […]

Astronomers have cast their nets wide searching for habitable planets, and a team at the University of Georgia, Athens, argues that may be too broad to be useful. What we need, they suggest, is not simply to find planets that could support life, but to seek out those that could support the life we can […]

A video on TikTok has been circulating that claims to show how to make radiation visible to the naked eye. Although it might be tempting to conclude that this video is some sort of hoax, the phenomena being demonstrated is actually well documented using a piece of equipment called a “cloud chamber”. Not only are […]

Introverts across the world would likely understand the desire to isolate themselves for long periods of time, but a recent archaeological discovery shines light on a little-known medieval practice that would make even the most austere introvert blush. Researchers with the University of Sheffield and Oxford Archaeology have unearthed the remains of a 15th century […]

Deep beneath an unassuming corner of Tennessee, you can find America’s “Lost Sea”: the largest non-subglacial underground lake in the US, and likely the second largest in the world. Found in Craighead Caverns, this colossal body of underground water is so large that no one’s actually sure how big it is.  It’s located amidst the […]

A peculiar and mysterious yellow glass can be found in the desert of Egypt and Libya. It has been known for thousands of years and was famously used to make a scarab for the pectoral of 18th-dynasty pharaoh Tutankhamun. For a long time, people were uncertain of its origin, but researchers think they have found […]

Scientists have identified the murder weapon used to massacre 34 people in a German cave 5,000 years ago, as well as another person in Spain around the same time. To figure out how the ancient victims were slain, the researchers built and then smashed a series of fake skulls using popular Neolithic “weapon-tools”, noting the […]