Deborah Bloomfield

Russian attacks on Ukraine could leave scars in the ground that remain detectable for millions of years as part of the fossil record. “Bombturbation,” as the process is known, describes how military explosives can contaminate soil with dangerous materials and chemicals and has already been demonstrated by heavy metals left behind by artillery used in […]

The Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai eruption on January 15 in the Kingdom of Tonga was an incredibly powerful explosion. It produced the loudest sound in over a century, sent a plume of material into the stratosphere, and generated a tsunami that spread across the Pacific. The height of the initial wave has now been estimated to […]

If your loyalty is to mammal-kind against rampaging reptiles, you’ve got one more reason to care about global warming. The reason reptiles, including the dinosaurs, got the jump over mammals and our ancestors has been attributed by new research to a long period of warming, not a pair of mass extinctions as previously thought. Advertisement […]

The latest image released by Hubble is a stunning reminder of just how incredible this observatory is, decades after it was sent to space and without any refurbishment since 2009. The photograph focuses on the core of globular star cluster NGC 6540 and positively sparkles. This tightly bound group of stars is 17,000 light-years from […]

Welsh legend speaks of a long-lost sunken kingdom known as Cantre’r Gwaelod, once found off the rocky shores of Cardigan Bay in the Irish Sea. While hard evidence of the “Welsh Atlantis” has been lacking, a fresh analysis of one of the oldest surviving maps of Great Britain suggests there may be an element of […]

At the start of August, scientists reported the first-ever “synthetic” mouse embryo created without the need for sperm, an egg, or even a womb. These embryos are not viable and will not fully develop into a fetus. Instead, they are incredibly early embryos containing a huge array of cells that can be differentiated into certain […]

Few things are as joyful as returning home to the affection of a pet dog, and new research indicates that the happiness of being reunited with an owner can reduce a pooch to tears. Describing their findings in the journal Current Biology, the study authors explain that dogs’ emotional response to seeing their favorite human […]

Since 1938, the University of Michigan Library has proudly displayed what they thought to be a 1609 manuscript, penned by Galileo Galilei himself. Unfortunately, following an investigation by a Georgia State University professor of history, the manuscript turns out to be an impressive forgery, created hundreds of years after Galileo’s death. Advertisement The one-page document […]

The first images of Jupiter from JWST that we have seen were from its commissioning phase and delivered incredible infrared quality. However, those images pale in comparison to the first proper scientific images of the gas giant released today. The newly publish observations have such a level of detail that not only can we see […]

NASA has prepared a shortlist of possible sites for the next Moon landing, expected to happen with the Artemis III mission which is scheduled to launch in about three years. The 13 sites are all located within six degrees of latitude from the Lunar South Pole, a region unexplored by humans. The area is rich […]

A man has been arrested after allegedly buying human body parts over Facebook. In June, a complaint to East Pennsboro Township Police in Pennsylvania alleged that human remains were being sold on the social media platform. A month later, they received a second call, with the caller reporting possible human remains inside a home basement […]

Facing their most significant drought in living memory, China is turning to cloud-seeding to bring rain to the parched reservoirs along the Yangtze River – the longest river in Asia that provides water for hundreds of millions of people. Advertisement It’s been a summer of record-breaking heatwaves in the US and parts of Europe – […]

When water gets very cold, the molecules can group together into larger structures while still remaining liquid. They can do this in two ways, leading to separate liquids with very different densities. New research has shed light on the shapes of these supermolecules and what each says about the nature of each liquid. Advertisement The […]

On October 6, 1889, a German geology professor named Hans Meyer, an Austrian mountaineer called Ludwig Purtscheller, and a group of local guides from the nearby Moshi province all made history. As they climbed the final steps to the highest peak of Kilimanjaro, a mountain never known to have been scaled before, they must have […]

Nothing is as joyous for a child as jumping into a local lake for a quick refreshing dip on a hot and sweaty day. Unfortunately, a brain-eating amoeba may be lurking underneath the surface, waiting for a chance encounter with an unsuspecting human. Advertisement There have been many summer cases over the past few years. […]

A monkey had cops scratching their heads on August 13 after they received a mysterious 911 call. After losing connection, they investigated the source, finding that the call had been made from a zoo where no keepers owned up to being the caller – but a 10-month-old capuchin had reportedly nicked a cellphone. Advertisement “We’re […]

One of the world’s largest moths has been officially reported in the US for the first time. Since Atlas moths, which have a wingspan of 25 centimeters (10 inches), are typically found in the tropical forests of Asia, entomologists are currency clueless about how the outlawed insect found itself in Washington.  Advertisement The moth was […]

Scientists have successfully adapted an atom-based radio communication system to also receive color video signals and even stream a video game from a console. This is a huge step forward for these devices, whose small size and tolerance to noise make them potential substitutes for certain environments. Plus, it passed a golden standard for tech: […]