Deborah Bloomfield

Experiments have shown that ChatGPT is capable of passing a theory of mind test with the ability of a 9-year-old child. The question is: is artificial intelligence (AI) truly understanding the task at hand, or are we just being tricked by some super-smart mimicry?  Theory of mind is the ability to understand the unobservable mental […]

A study looking at penis sizes from 1942 until 2021 has found that the average erect penis length has increased significantly in the last 30 years, while flaccid penis lengths remained the same. While this may sound like good, or at least neutral, news, the lead researcher says that it could be caused by factors […]

In 1921, the first effective tuberculosis (TB) vaccine was used on human subjects to help protect against this lethal disease. Yet, 100 years later in 2021, more than 1.6 million people died from TB across the world, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), making it the top killer infection once again. There is now […]

Thor’s Well is among the oceans’ most perplexing natural wonders, appearing like a bottomless sinkhole that looks as though it’s draining the sea of its water. In actual fact, Thor’s Well is the remains of a sea cave, carved out by water, whose ceiling collapsed. Found in the Cape Perpetua Scenic Area along the Oregon […]

British Olympic athlete and former American footballer Lawrence Okoye went on TikTok recently to show his followers an interesting but “nasty” symptom he’d developed. In the video, he teased, “Looks like a normal leg, right? Watch this,” then pressed down on his leg with his thumb, leaving indents that remained for the remainder of the […]

Back in the heyday of reality TV not really giving a hoot about ethics, one reality show in the UK placed 10 boys and 10 girls in separate houses to look after themselves, without adult supervision. The children, all aged 11 or 12, were provided with food, money, toys, and cleaning equipment for the “experiment”, […]

On the largest scales, the Universe is ordered into a web-like pattern: galaxies are pulled together into clusters, which are connected by filaments and separated by voids. These clusters and filaments contain dark matter, as well as regular matter like gas and galaxies. We call this the “cosmic web”, and we can see it by […]

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 […]

Astronomers have been left stunned by a perfectly spherical explosion produced by a collision between two neutron stars 140 million light-years from Earth. Known as a kilanova, the enormous radioactive fireball was first detected in 2017 and is currently being analyzed by multiple teams of scientists, yet the latest revelation about its shape challenges our […]

Embedded in a cave wall deep underneath Kentucky, archeologists found the remains of a colossal shark that cruised some 330 million years ago. The cave might be a long way from the ocean today, but the discovery shows that this part of North America was once riddled with sharks. In 2020, a field team from Maryland-National […]

The first outbreak of Marburg Virus Disease (MVD) in Equatorial Guinea was confirmed on February 13, which has been linked to a funeral in the Kie-Ntem province. Marburg virus is in the filovirus family, related to Ebola virus. MVD is defined as a “rare but severe” hemorrhagic fever by the Centers for Disease Control and […]

Astronomers have released the latest JWST deep field image showing three massive clusters of galaxies on their way to forming a “mega cluster”, and never-before-seen details of the region of space known as Pandora’s Cluster (no opening of boxes, thankfully though). Thanks to the massive combined matter of the galaxy clusters, which produces a phenomenon […]

Despite the popularity of games like the Fallout series or shows such as The 100, the understanding among UK and US populations of the threats posed by nuclear weapons and a subsequent “nuclear winter” is dangerously low. According to a new survey published by the University of Cambridge’s Centre for the Study of Existential Risks (CSER), […]

Scientists from the Kurashiki University of Science and the Arts have tested an old “mermaid mummy” to find out what it really is. The Enjuin “mummy” was found in a box at the Enjuin Temple in Asaguchi, Okayama Prefecture, Japan. A note left with the unusual object claimed that it was “a mermaid caught in […]

Rats have been found to slow down their playing of a game in order to better understand the strategies that will help them win more in the long run, despite a lesser initial reward. Once again, the rodents are showing many of us humans up though to be fair, we are the ones setting up […]

An 82-year-old woman who was recently pronounced dead at a New York nursing home was later discovered to be alive by funeral home staff. This follows a similar incident in Iowa where a 66-year-old woman with early-onset dementia was declared dead by a nurse, only to be found gasping for air when funeral home staff […]

The US military has now shot down four high-altitude objects that had entered American and Canadian airspace, raising questions about their purpose and origin. The first of these objects, a Chinese balloon, was downed by a fighter jet on 4 February. While China says it was for weather monitoring, US officials say it was being […]

Chances are you’re not going to stumble upon a vein of emeralds glistening in your back garden. But just in case you do happen to find some exciting gemstones on your next rockhounding trip, here’s what the policies say about keeping any sparkling treasure.  To start with though, what is actually classed as a gem? […]

The Grand Canyon is one of Earth’s most breathtaking natural wonders – but with great tourist attraction comes great responsibility, as the National Parks Service (NPS) asks that everyone play their part in trying to keep each other safe. Their advice is that hikers remain two meters (six feet) from the canyon’s rim at all […]