Deborah Bloomfield

Is a common parasite contributing to the global fertility decline? This worrying prospect has been raised by researchers who believes the parasite Toxoplasma gondii, which can be picked up from undercooked meat or cat feces, may decapitate human sperm when it infects male testes. Toxoplasma gondii is an incredibly pervasive parasite that can infect pretty […]

How fast could a dinosaur run? It’s a good question, one that raises another question: how on Earth do you begin trying to figure it out? One method we’ve long used involves looking at trackways and using their measurements to figure it out mathematically. A new method looked to something else pretty special that you […]

A more detailed investigation of the Nuvvuagittuq Greenstone Belt has strengthened Canada’s claim to host rocks that date back to the Hadean Eon. This would make them strong favorites to be the oldest rocks on Earth. Tectonic processes, volcanic activity, and surface erosion constantly recycle the Earth’s crust, so that little, if anything, of the […]

A newly discovered temple in the Bolivian Andes once served as ceremonial crossroads where llama caravans carrying agricultural goods and psychedelic drugs were processed by a once-powerful civilization. Known as Tiwanaku, this ancient city-state on the shore of Lake Titicaca mysteriously vanished around 1,000 years ago, and this new finding has helped researchers piece together […]

US space agency NASA has a pretty great reputation around the world for its various missions exploring the Solar System. But it can conduct some pretty unusual research too, highlighted by the time they got spiders high on street drugs and watched what happened to their webs. In 1948, Swiss pharmacologist Peter N. Witt began […]

Space influences our daily lives, whether we like it or not. From weather forecasting to GPS, it wouldn’t be easy (or even safe) to live in the modern world without it. Communicating the importance of what goes on above our heads is not always easy. Luckily, we got the chance to talk about it with […]

Most US adults believe parents should be required to have their children vaccinated against preventable diseases, according to a new Harvard survey. The results demonstrate that vaccine requirements are not as controversial as is often assumed and are actually supported by the majority of people across the political divide. The poll was conducted by Harvard […]

June has really been popping off when it comes to astronomical events, having brought us a delicious Strawberry Moon, a solstice, and an excellent opportunity to see the Milky Way’s glowing core in all its glory. But while the month might nearly be over, don’t take your eyes off the skies just yet – now’s […]

“I’ve got it!” I declare from my deathbed. “The meaning of life, it’s-“ Nuts. Popped my clogs before I could solve one of the great mysteries. If only there were a way to retrieve my memories. If only it was possible to preserve my brain in such a way that it could one day be […]

The Vera Rubin telescope has showcased this week that it is going to be a game-changing instrument. It is the world’s largest digital camera, sporting a 3,200-megapixel charge-coupled device (CCD), and among its first images, there is a view of extragalactic space that features 10 million galaxies. That’s so many that, statistically, it is pretty […]

Pieces of Mercury may have been found on Earth, potentially allowing scientists to study the Solar System’s innermost planet. While we have sent two spacecraft to Mercury – Mariner 10 and MESSENGER – we have not sent any probe down to the planet’s surface, other than in a controlled impact. A mission to do so […]

Cooling buildings in the summer months is a necessary priority to keep people safe, especially as extreme temperatures and heatwaves are becoming more common. This has led many researchers to work on different approaches to passively cool buildings without the use of air conditioning. An intriguing new approach uses a bioplastic to dramatically reduce temperatures. […]

There’s an old “fact” that is regularly passed around the internet, which says that no non-human animal (and in particular the ape) has ever asked a question. This is less clear than the internet posts make out, but there is a reasonable case for the idea that only two animals that we know of have […]

A forensic scientist crouches down on a dirty factory floor. There’s a pool of blood, and they delicately dip a swab into it before placing it carefully into a labeled sample bag. This swab will soon make its way to a sterile laboratory, where it will be processed, and from it, a face will emerge. […]

Non-melanoma skin cancers (NMSCs) are among the most commonly diagnosed cancers around the globe, with an estimated 2-3 million cases each year. Sadly, this number has been creeping up over the past few years and is projected to continue growing within Sun-exposed aging populations. Innovative technologies are increasingly being used to treat cancers, and one […]

We typically think of evolution as progressing in one direction, with a species getting “better” and “better” as it goes. But evolution is far more complex than that, as has recently been illustrated by an unusual organism: Galápagos tomatoes. These wild-growing fruits are shedding millions of years of evolution in order to reproduce long-lost chemical […]

Starfish are beautiful organisms, but if you think about it a little deeper, they’re also really strange. As echinoderms, they’re relatives of sea cucumbers and urchins, meaning at one point they shared a similarly symmetrical body plan split down the middle (like us). Now, they have a unique and bizarre fivefold symmetry. So, when did […]

From the very beginning, JWST was shown to be a revolutionary instrument for the study of exoplanets, detecting intriguing gases and evidence of photochemistry in the atmospheres of distant worlds. Now, the telescope adds a new feather to its cap: it has directly observed a brand new planet, its very first. The candidate exoplanet is […]

From wearing salmon hats to sinking yachts and some impressive marine tool use, orcas can really do it all. Now it seems that they are also taking over the dance world, with some impressive moonwalking abilities.  While dancers around the world might be surprised to learn you can moonwalk without feet, videos have emerged of […]

New research from physicists at Peking University, China, suggests that some pulsars may have massive mountains on them, measuring up to 1 centimeter (0.4 inches) tall. At the end of a giant star’s life, the core collapses and the outer layers are blown away in a supernova explosion. After this, what is left behind is […]