Deborah Bloomfield

Those landing at Gibraltar International Airport on the morning of August 24, were treated to a spectacular view of a Levanter cloud billowing over the Rock of Gibraltar. A video from the Met Office of Gibraltar’s Twitter account shows the cloud sweeping over the peak in beautiful time-lapse footage.  Gibraltar is a British Overseas Territory […]

Even the most devoted cat owners wonder at some point, perhaps waking up in a cold sweat in the middle of the night, whether their cat really loves them. Dog people like to smugly point out dogs’ long history as humankind’s best friend. But research shows cats’ reputation as a cold and aloof pet is […]

If you’ve ever had a urinary tract infection (UTI) before, you know what a pain it can be. Not just because of the physical pains it causes, but because it can also be such a pain to go to the doctor, provide a urine sample, and wait for your results. UTIs are extremely common, with […]

A goal of space exploration is in-situ resource utilization, bringing very little from Earth and using what you might find on the moon, planet, or asteroid that you are visiting. Plenty of researchers are trying to work out how to craft materials on Mars and a new study has found a way to create a […]

For the first time ever, you can watch a virus enter a cell and infect it. Scientists from Harvard Medical School captured the live footage of engineered viruses doing their thing as they bound to living cells, and later injected their genomes into them. Their findings are published in the journal PNAS. Advertisement Viruses infect […]

Most astronomical objects can be studied with a wide variety of telescopes, but the Sun is a different matter; even a brief peek would destroy the sensitive instruments on most professional telescopes. The National Solar Observatory exists to build and operate telescopes across America suited to observing our local light source. Its most powerful instrument […]

Becoming ill is never a pleasant experience. However, have you ever been ill with a viral infection and an unusual body part aches that you think really shouldn’t be aching? It may feel like your actual hair is throbbing, your skin is sensitive to the touch, or your teeth may be sore. But why may […]

A rechargeable, remote-controllable robo-bug cockroach is the latest cyborg to come shuffling out of flexible electronics. The word salad for a cybernetic creation is thought to be a novel approach to urban search and rescue in creating a recon-ready cockroach that can be powered by the Sun (others are sniffing out explosives). For a cockroach […]

Some really skilled people can quickly solve a Rubik’s cube, other people can easily juggle, and it appears that there is a subset of people that can do both at the same time. Now, an incredible record has been established for how quickly someone can solve not one but three Rubik’s cubes while juggling them. […]

According to NASA, a trip to Mars would take you about seven months and about 300 million miles, and your spacecraft would be traveling at about 24,600mph. That’s a lot of travel time and an amazing speed travel. Traveling to Mars may not be in the cards for you or your family, but we’ve got […]

The life of stars is long and slow. Supernova explosions aside, we don’t usually get to observe much change over the course of human history, but exceptions exist. A new study reveals Betelgeuse, one of our best candidates for seeing a star go boom in the next 100,000 years, entered its current red phase so […]

The Balangoda man were a prominent and populous group that inhabited parts of Sri Lanka during the late Quaternary period. The earliest evidence of this group dates back 38,000 years, where archaeological sequencing of artifacts has helped paint a detailed timeline of their settlements. With an appearance similar to that of a neanderthal – a […]

In a lot of ways, the internet is like the Wild Wild West. There’s very little regulation, it can be hard to decipher true information and it seems like there’s a bad guy — also known as malware or a dangerous ad — at every corner. You shouldn’t leave protecting yourself and your family online to […]

The first non-injected COVID-19 vaccine has been approved in China, and its manufacturers claim it provides excellent immunity against the virus after just one dose. The vaccine, called Convidecia Air and made by CanSinoBIO, is inhaled through the mouth in one breath, delivering an aerosolized version that is very similar to their injectable vaccine.  While […]

After a stunning photo of a rainbow-colored ice cave inside Mount Rainier went viral, the National Park Service (NPS) put out a stark warning: ice caves may look pretty, but they can be deadly. Nature photographer Mathew Nichols recently snapped the ice caves of Mount Rainier in Washington state (image below). When the sun hits […]

In the Large Magellanic Cloud, the Milky Way’s biggest galactic companion, there’s a well-known star-forming region called 30 Doradus or, more commonly, the Tarantula Nebula. JWST has now delivered its first observations of the cosmic region and they are outstanding. The nebula has a very primitive composition, hardly polluted by the heavy elements that make […]

It is difficult to estimate how many asteroids have hit Earth. In most cases, the craters are eroded and erased by our changing planet, unlike the surface of the Moon where many are still visible. But researchers have found a new way to confirm an impact, approaching it like a crime scene investigation. The team […]

Five and a half thousand years ago, residents of Scotland’s Outer Hebrides were eating a porridge made by mixing milk with cereals, traces on their pots suggest. Although oats subsequently came to be seen as the archetypal Scottish cereal product, at the time it appears wheat played an unexpectedly large role in the local diet. […]

Viking poop is helping to tell the story of humankind’s long and difficult relationship with one of the most prolific parasitic worms found in the world – the whipworm (Trichuris trichiura).  By creating the first in-depth and complete genetic mapping of the whipworm, researchers from the University of Copenhagen in Denmark have revealed how the […]

Brasilodon quadrangularis now takes the title of the world’s oldest (known) mammal species, thanks to investigations into its fossilized teeth. Confirmation of its mammalian status, and its emergence around 225.42 million years ago, put it 20 million years ahead of the runner-up mammal, Morganucodon. The teeth of the extinct and ancient shrew-like animal prove it […]