Deborah Bloomfield

Orion is one of the best known constellations in the night sky. Its size and the brightness of its stars make it hard to miss, and its visibility throughout different months of the year have made it a celestial timekeeper for many civilizations. Part of the charm of this constellation is its snatched waist, made […]

A new study in China has found that smokers are at increased risk of 56 different diseases. As you might expect, several types of cancer made the list; but, there were also diseases affecting numerous other body systems, from the brain to the liver and pancreas, and even the eyes. Tobacco smoking continues to pose […]

Scientists have solved the age-old mystery of why ketchup always seems to splatter when the bottle is running low. Fortunately, their work also shows some ways to prevent this dreaded faux pas from happening. Two scientists from the University of Oxford presented their work – catchily titled “Dynamics of compressible displacement in a capillary tube” […]

Perhaps surprisingly, a horse can pump out significantly more than a single horsepower. Estimates vary, but it’s thought a horse in full gallop could produce somewhere between 12 to 14.9 horsepower. What is horsepower? Horsepower (hp) is a unit of measurement of power that describes the rate at which work is done. It’s most often […]

The nurse shark (Ginglymostoma cirratum) is a little-studied species commonly found in tropical and subtropical waters across the world. Now researchers have used underwater cameras to advance their understanding of nurse shark feeding behaviors, discovering that these elasmobranchs are basically underwater acrobats in the process. “Despite their widespread nature, we know comparatively little about nurse […]

We hate to break it to you, but wolf packs don’t actually have alpha males and females. The researcher who introduced this term tried to clear up what had happened many years ago, but thanks to pop culture and some money-hungry publishers the confusion still persists.  While most people believe that a wolf pack follows […]

Titan is the only other body in the Solar System with seas, rivers, and lakes – although they’re not made of water, but hydrocarbons, such as methane. Its unique properties are worth studying in detail, and given that the Cassini mission is no longer exploring Saturn, is up to telescopes to keep an eye on […]

This week, bats are discovered to be tiny rockstars using their larynx in a similar way to death metal singers, a quantum computer has produced the first simulation of a wormhole, and we ask why people are still on the hunt for the very-not-lost city of Atlantis? Groundbreaking HIV Vaccine Shows Success In Phase 1 […]

For as long as humans have walked this Earth, we have been using chemicals to alter our state of mind. Drugs and alcohol have been used in rituals and medication, for inspiration and escapism, as well as a way to cope with the world. Only in more recent decades have we begun to appreciate the […]

The Guinness World Record for the largest mouth gape has been awarded to USA teen Isaac Johnson. Receiving the prestigious accolade in February of this year on the set of Lo Show Dei Record in Milan, Italy, the 17-year-old’s impressive cakehole measures a whopping 10.196 centimeters (4.014 inches). In a tumultuous tug-of-war for the title, the […]

It’s all very well thinking about what Henry VIII or Tutankhamun would look like if you could yank them into the modern day – but what about going the other way? What would it look like if you hopped into a time machine and met them on their own turf? A new AI tool from […]

During the 13th and 12th centuries BCE, many of the “great ancient civilizations” fell like dominoes. Once-grand cities around the Eastern Mediterranean, North Africa, and the Near East fell into ruin; writing systems were extinguished; rebellions sprung up; wars raged; and cultures were seemingly wiped from the planet. The late Bronze Age has been described […]

Orion has just completed half of its mission and got the furthest it will ever get away from Earth. And in these last two weeks, it has brought us stunning views of the Moon – some up close and some of the whole Moon-Earth system, all of them spectacular. NASA has shared some of them […]

You may have heard of phantom limb syndrome, a particularly odd condition that 80-100 percent of people experience after going through an amputation. Amputees can experience sensations, discomfort, and pain that feels like it’s coming from a limb or appendage that is no longer there. Though common after limb amputation, the condition can also affect […]

If you ask any North American resident “what is the most fearsome, savage animal on Earth?”, you may be surprised by the answer. It’s not lions, tigers, or bears, nor is it crocodiles or 32-foot snakes. No. It’s the Canada goose.  Born in the fiery pits of hell and sent to Earth for pure chaos, […]

Most species are transitory. They go extinct, branch into new species or change over time due to random mutations and environmental shifts. A typical mammalian species can be expected to exist for a million years. Modern humans, Homo sapiens, have been around for roughly 300,000 years. So what will happen if we make it to […]

Mauna Loa erupted for the first time in nearly 40 years on the Big Island of Hawai’i on Sunday night, releasing a flurry of red-hot lava that trickled down its side. This spectacular sight has since been captured from the vantage point of low-Earth orbit by satellites.  Maxar Technologies captured the shots on Monday night […]

Falling from a cruise ship is something you might expect to be a fatal accident, and it seems even less likely that you could then survive being lost at sea overnight. In what’s being reported as a “Thanksgiving miracle”, a man cruising in the Gulf of Mexico has done just that as he was pulled […]

“Drink more water” is something that’s drilled into us as adults partial to salty food and hangovers. There’s been a lot of debate of late as to how much water you should drink – but did you know that for babies, the life elixir can be dangerous? While most people are aware that babies need […]