Deborah Bloomfield

READER QUESTION: I am 59 years old, and in reasonably good health. Is it possible that I will live long enough to put my brain into a computer? Richard Dixon. We often imagine that human consciousness is as simple as input and output of electrical signals within a network of processing units – therefore comparable […]

On August 21, 1986, tragedy struck Cameroon as Lake Nyos exploded killing thousands of people and wildlife for miles around. The eruption was driven by a surge of deadly gas that, having been released from the Earth’s mantle, had been building up at the bottom of the lake for hundreds of years. A rockslide within […]

Research has now shown that the main component of fluid produced by “squirting” is urine and sometimes may contain fluid from the female prostate (Skene’s glands – two glands located on either side of the urethra). Yes, there was a study on this, that was approved by the Ethics Committee of Okayama Central Hospital, and […]

When you die, what will you want to take into the afterlife with you? A beloved pet, perhaps, or a faithful steed? Your fanciest outfit? A whole-ass entourage? Or perhaps, like one woman in early medieval Bavaria, you’ll just want to pull up a deck chair, grab a steak, and chill the heck out. “It’s […]

Over 160,000 years ago a white dwarf went supernova in the nearby dwarf galaxy we call the Large Magellanic Cloud. Its light traveled through space and reached Earth around 670 years ago. That’s the new estimation that astronomers have worked out. By studying the shell of debris from this dead star, they were able to […]

Scientists have floated the idea of refreezing the North and South poles by pumping the Earth’s atmosphere with microscopic particles to block out the sunlight. This, they say, is a “feasible and remarkably cheap” way to avert some of the impacts of the climate crisis – although they admit it comes with some risks.  Setting […]

In Mexico sits the Great Pyramid of Cholula, also known as the Great Pyramid of Tepanapa, a 2,000-year-old human-made structure that went completely unnoticed by the Spanish army when they invaded in 1519. An impressive oversight when you consider that it’s the biggest pyramid on Earth. How did they miss it? Quite simply, it’s hidden […]

In a result that some immunologists are calling “revolutionary,” five cases of the severe autoimmune disease lupus have been sent into remission – and it’s all thanks to an experimental therapy previously known as a cancer treatment.  “We are very excited about these results,” said Georg Schett, a professor of rheumatology at Friedrich-Alexander University in […]

New research coming to a dog cinema near you showed a bunch of canines videos while they hung out in an MRI to see how their visual processing works. The results revealed intriguing insights into the differences between the ways that dogs and humans view the world, and there’s more to it than a positive […]

This week, just a few days after Queen Elizabth II died after a 70-year long reign and was replaced by her son as the new King of England, a meteor flew across the skies of the UK. Of course in modern times we realize that this is just a coincidence of timing, and that so […]

A virus that has the potential to cause polio-like paralysis in children has reared its ugly head in the US once again. Its name is enterovirus D68, aka EV-D68, and US health authorities are asking doctors to keep an eye out for the infection over the coming fall.  The US Centers for Disease Control and […]

NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope has released a brand new image of what seems to be two spiral galaxies overlapping with each other. However, as the team at European Space Agency (ESA) points out, the galaxies are not actually interacting, it is just a case of perfect timing and alignment that gives way to an almost […]

This summer NASA’s Perseverance has been busy studying the Jezero Crater ancient river delta on Mars and it looks like it has hit jackpot. A preliminary analysis of one of the rock samples scooped up by the rover has the team amazed: the rock has the highest abundance of organic molecules found on Mars yet. […]

Love him or loathe him – and there are plenty of reasons for both – Genghis Khan was undeniably one of the most impressive figures in world history. Born into a small nomadic tribe near Lake Baikal, Temüjin, as he was originally named, grew into the man who united Mongolia and ruled over an empire […]

The winners of the Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2022 have been announced, and as always they are spectacular. Chosen from over three thousand entries from 67 countries, Austrian photographer Gerald Rhemann has taken the top honors and the £10,000 prize with his photograph “Disconnection Event”.  The incredible image features Comet Leonard’s gas tail being […]

Did you know that your older siblings might have passed on to you more than just a bag of ill-fitting old clothes? If you’re a living human who came out of a womb, you probably have some sort of connection to microchimerism. What is microchimerism? Not to be confused with a chimera (a creature from […]

This week, people who have managed to dodge COVID-19 are needed by scientists, a 380-million-year-old heart is helping us better understand evolution, and we learn about the mysterious role of the “Stone of Destiny”.  Are You A COVID “Super-Dodger?” Then Scientists Want To Hear From You Advertisement COVID-19 has infected over 600 million people in […]

Recently, we met Ameca, a half-impressive, half absolutely terrifying robot with realistic facial expressions, designed to be a smooth interface between human and robot interaction. It’s all incredibly “Uncanny Valley”, but nonetheless a remarkable display of current technological improvements.  Well, Ameca just got an upgrade. A team of UK researchers have added the use of […]

In the 1970s and ’80s, a group of people living in the jungles of Mindanao Island in the Philippines caught the attention of both the media and anthropologists. The first time was for their discovery, and the second for alleged fraud. The Tasaday people were first “discovered” in 1971. Reports claimed that 26 people were […]