Deborah Bloomfield

Maintaining a stable orbit around two stars is harder than one, and many planets will often get hot enough to cook any life, or cold enough to freeze it. However, a study of how planetary orbits would evolve over a billion years around different configurations of stellar pairs indicates a substantial minority probably maintain conditions […]

In a thrilling video shared to Facebook back in 2020, the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) achieved something amazing when they caught a pair of flying buttocks. It might sound like we’re talking rubbish, but this is the fun nickname given to the pigbutt worm, Chaetopterus pugaporcinus. The deep-sea pigbutt worm lives at depths […]

A large iceberg “the size of Greater London” has broken off the Brunt Ice Shelf in Antarctica. The calving event on January 22 is believed to be fully natural and a long time coming. The British Antarctic Survey (BAS) has been documenting the crack for decades, and in 2016 even made the decision to pick […]

First discovered by specialists in 1994, the world’s deepest sinkhole can be found in Fengjie County, Chongqing Municipality, China. Xiaozhai Tiankeng, or the Xiaozhai Heavenly Pit, measures roughly 537 meters (1,762 feet) in diameter and sinks between 511 and 662 meters (1,667-2,172 feet) into the Earth. With near vertical walls, the volume of this momentous […]

Forged in magma and capable of producing the sharpest blades on Earth, obsidian is without a doubt one of the most badass materials ever imagined (there’s a reason George RR Martin made it the weapon of choice to kill White Walkers). The jet-black volcanic glass is also extremely delicate and dangerous to work with, and […]

A new study has revealed that a rare and relatively unknown disorder could be more common than previously thought in the United States. Called VEXAS syndrome, the condition was a complete mystery until a study in 2020 revealed its genetic basis, and new data suggests that over 15,000 people could be living with it currently.  […]

Pterosaurs are intrinsically terrifying creatures, but a new discovery is more strange than frightening. Although possession of at least 480 teeth should probably make for nightmare fuel, the fact these resemble hair combs and were probably used to catch small crustaceans reorientates the picture. While the rest of us are pondering whether the flying reptile […]

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists has announced that the Doomsday Clock has moved forward to 90 seconds to midnight in 2023. Midnight represents “doomsday”, so the closer the clock moves to the fateful time, the closer we are to a catastrophe that could wipe out humanity. This is now the closest it has ever […]

Certain genes in the human brain are active in 12-hour cycles, a new study has demonstrated for the first time. By studying the brains of patients with schizophrenia, the researchers discovered that many of these rhythms are altered or missing in these individuals, which could help explain some of the clinical features of the condition. […]

They say Dr Dolittle could walk and talk (and squawk) with the animals, but wouldn’t it have been more believable if he’d started out with a few basic gestures? New research would certainly seem to suggest so, finding that humans can interpret the gestures of chimpanzees and bonobos. Once upon a time we humans were […]

A team of researchers has tested ChatGPT, an artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot, on its clinical reasoning skills using questions from the United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE). The team, publishing their results on preprint server medRxiv, wrote that they chose to test the generative language AI on questions from the USMLE as it was a […]

Crusty arthropods are known to be pretty gifted at regrowing lost limbs, but it was thought their regeneration capabilities didn’t extend to the body. However, new research has turned that assumption on its head, finding that after losing reproductive organs, musculature, and even their anus, sea spiders can grow functional replacements. It was thought that […]

When we think of mummies, the imagination instantly flicks to ancient civilizations preserving the deceased to ensure a smooth passage into the afterlife. However, even godless societies of the modern age have their own traditions of mummification. Chief among them are the communist regimes of the 20th century, which made many of their boldest leaders […]

If you ever spent your lunch break at school caring for a Tamagotchi then be prepared, as new research takes this concept one step further. Researchers were keen to look at people’s attitudes around care by using an interactive device like a smartwatch. Studies like these are normally done with virtual needs, such as caring […]

Two 3,000-year-old mummies found buried in the fetal position in Scotland’s Outer Hebrides turned out, upon closer inspection, to be made of six people intentionally merged together. During excavations at a Bronze Age site in Cladh Hallan on the island of South Uist in 2001, archaeologists found what looked like two well-preserved skeletons. The bodies […]

Scans have been used to digitally unwrap Ancient Egypt’s “Golden Boy” – and it’s easy to see how this privileged teen got his nickname. The mummy had 49 amulets made of gold, stone, and semiprecious stones carefully placed inside and around his body, including a golden heart scarab beetle placed inside the chest and a […]

Venus flytraps (Dionaea muscipula) can not only count, they do it better than a great many animals that can’t get past three or four. The evolutionary benefit is well understood, but how a plant achieves this feat is a mystery. Just as mice with a deactivated gene can teach us what that does for other […]

Being on a video call can be a nightmare. You want to look at the camera, but it feels unnatural to look at essentially nothing, so then you look at the screen to see the person talking, but now it looks like you are looking away. If you’re like me, you end up trying to […]

There are lots of different names given to numbers in math. There are prime numbers, obviously, and square numbers; triangle and cube numbers; perfect numbers, practical numbers, and sublime numbers. Numbers can be polite, happy, evil or odious; there are lucky numbers and fortunate numbers; they can be amicable, sociable, betrothed, or untouchable. But there’s […]

The new electric Ram Revolution truck will come with your very own little robot that charges it when you arrive home, according to a Ram presentation at CES. Shaped like a huge Roomba, the charging bot detects how much charge you need and positions itself underneath the vehicle to wirelessly charge it, allowing you to […]