Deborah Bloomfield

Glitter: the product that is essential in many sparkly Christmas decorations, children’s artwork, horrendous pranks, and the bane of many hoovers. It is a substance that gets everywhere and is almost impossible to remove. However, the time of the glitter era may be coming to an end, as there is rumor that we are currently […]

The Wizard of Oz got a hat tip from scientists poking around in an ancient and underwater volcano chain in the Pacific Ocean, as they discovered what looked like a “yellow brick road”. The natural brickwork was actually the result of volcanic geology which has fractured the rock in a curiously uniform way. E/V Nautilus […]

The people of Early Neolithic Britain, whose descendants went on to build Stonehenge, might not be who you thought they were. Some 6,000 years ago, a wave of farmers from the Aegean coast in what is now modern-day Turkey traveled across mainland Europe, mingled around in the Mediterranean for some time, then made their way […]

2022 has seen its fair share of newsworthy science. Who could forget JWST’s images of the universe or the success of the Artemis I mission? But it’s not just space that had all the fun – plenty of groundbreaking stories came from the fields of health and medicine too. From the US ending 50 years […]

Unlike us humans and our two-way esophaguses, horses can’t vomit. The ability to throw up can be life saving for some animals, including humans, so how come horses have to keep everything down? The reason why horses can’t vomit is to do with the way in which their digestive tract has evolved to be a […]

Rivers are channels of water that effectively drain water inland out to sea. They flow downhill with gravity, meaning that most of the time they have a predictable direction. However, some extreme and rare scenarios can cause them to flow backwards. A video on Twitter went viral in 2022 showing what it claimed to be […]

Anosmia is the loss of the sense of smell – and since the start of the pandemic, it has been one of the main known symptoms of COVID-19. The reason behind this mechanism is unknown… until now, that is. The lack of smell is very vexing and frustrating to a lot of people who have […]

Bob Dorough believed that three is a magic number – but if astronomers were to pick one, they probably would choose 21. Not just any 21, but 21 centimeters (8.27 inches): a specific wavelength of light that can tell us much about alien life, the universe, and everything. This type of light is in the […]

NASA’s InSight has sent its final communication home. We knew the end was coming for this incredible lander but it’s still sad to say goodbye. The robotic explorer revolutionized our knowledge of the Red Planet, allowing for a detailed understanding of the interior of Mars. After almost 1,500 Martian days of work, more than double […]

Do you love dogs? No but seriously, do you love them? If so, we’ve got some great news for you as January 2023 is getting a fluffy injection from the BBC as they dive into the world of dogs, exploring these animals’ wider, wild families. Dogs In the Wild: Meet The Family is the first […]

There have been many weird and wonderful noises from the ocean that have stumped scientists over the years. One of these noises was the mysterious “bloop” sound, first heard by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in 1997. It was a freak loud, ultra-low frequency sound that blasted through the south Pacific Ocean. Advertisement […]

In a video captured by the US Navy, an unidentified flying object is seen dancing across the screen before crashing into the ocean, capturing the imagination of UFO hunters everywhere. There is currently little information about the object except that the Pentagon has confirmed the footage is authentic, and the video has now been made […]

A new study has found that married people have a lower risk of dementia and cognitive impairment when compared to single or divorced people, backing up significant other research on the benefits of companionship.   Looking at a large sample of older adults, the researchers from the Norwegian Institute of Public Health (NIPH) identified a […]

Unlike their Medieval predecessors, modern doctors have the luxury of being able to stop their patients from bleeding to death using such wonders as epinephrine, blood-clotting medications, or even the humble band-aid. In spite of this, hospitals in Switzerland continue to use an incantation from the Middle Ages known as “The Secret” to staunch blood […]

No matter where you are on the globe today, the Sun will reach its southernmost apparent position with respect to our planet. This is due to the tilt of the Earth that, as the planet orbits the Sun, makes our star look like it goes up and down between the two tropics. And today, December […]

Staggering results have emerged from routine genetic testing at Chicago’s Shedd Aquarium, where two pups were found to have been born through parthenogenesis despite there being healthy males in the tank. The Miss Independent of zebra sharks marks the second time this shunning of traditional means of procreation has been documented, challenging assumptions about the […]

A trial of the first ever topical gene therapy has produced impressive results, improving wound healing in patients with a life-threatening skin disease. The team behind the healing gel, beremagene geperpavec (B-VEC), is hoping to gain approval from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to allow more patients to access the treatment. Dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa […]

Having asked Twitter users whether he should stay on as CEO, and not gotten the result he was apparently expecting, Elon Musk has said he will abide by the outcome and step down. There is, however, a caveat, since this will only happen if Musk can find a replacement he deems suitable. How long that […]

If there are aliens flitting around our sector of the galaxy, existing gravitational wave detectors might be able to detect their spaceships, a team of physicists have claimed. Admittedly, however, their transportation device would need to be rather big. Gravitational waves are produced by the acceleration of massive bodies. Those we have detected have been […]