Deborah Bloomfield

The possibility of sending astronauts to Mars has sparked research into some under-studied spaceflight problems, like what to do if an astronaut breaks a bone or suffers a blood clot. Patching someone up in microgravity is likely to be hard enough, but harder still is having the capacity to map what needs to be done. […]

Henry Ford once said, “Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young.” So forget the facelift. Pass on the Botox. Put the derma fillers out of your mind. This Unlimited Lifetime Learning Subscription Bundle is your new fountain of youth! Well that, and perhaps some healthy […]

It turns out that SARS-CoV-2, the notorious virus that causes COVID-19, can survive on certain groceries for days at a time. Although you are still more likely to catch COVID-19 by being in contact with an infected person, the research suggests the risk of the virus is worth considering when picking up food for your […]

A medication primarily prescribed for heart problems has shown promise as a treatment for alcohol use disorder (AUD). Combining data from animal experiments with observations in humans, the authors of a new study found that the drug spironolactone reduces drinking in multiple species, with the greatest effects seen in alcohol-dependent individuals. Inspiration for the study […]

The amount of oxygen in the Earth’s atmosphere makes it a habitable planet. Twenty-one per cent of the atmosphere consists of this life-giving element. But in the deep past — as far back as the Neoarchean era 2.8 to 2.5 billion years ago — this oxygen was almost absent. Advertisement So, how did Earth’s atmosphere […]

Rather than trying to filter microplastics from wastewater, a team at Australia’s RMIT University are hoping to capture them using an absorbent powder. On its own this might leave us with nothing more than slightly larger particles to filter out. However, the authors have changed the game by making the powder magnetic. Just how damaging […]

Orion is one of the best known constellations in the night sky. Its size and the brightness of its stars make it hard to miss, and its visibility throughout different months of the year have made it a celestial timekeeper for many civilizations. Part of the charm of this constellation is its snatched waist, made […]

A new study in China has found that smokers are at increased risk of 56 different diseases. As you might expect, several types of cancer made the list; but, there were also diseases affecting numerous other body systems, from the brain to the liver and pancreas, and even the eyes. Tobacco smoking continues to pose […]

Scientists have solved the age-old mystery of why ketchup always seems to splatter when the bottle is running low. Fortunately, their work also shows some ways to prevent this dreaded faux pas from happening. Two scientists from the University of Oxford presented their work – catchily titled “Dynamics of compressible displacement in a capillary tube” […]

Perhaps surprisingly, a horse can pump out significantly more than a single horsepower. Estimates vary, but it’s thought a horse in full gallop could produce somewhere between 12 to 14.9 horsepower. What is horsepower? Horsepower (hp) is a unit of measurement of power that describes the rate at which work is done. It’s most often […]

The nurse shark (Ginglymostoma cirratum) is a little-studied species commonly found in tropical and subtropical waters across the world. Now researchers have used underwater cameras to advance their understanding of nurse shark feeding behaviors, discovering that these elasmobranchs are basically underwater acrobats in the process. “Despite their widespread nature, we know comparatively little about nurse […]

We hate to break it to you, but wolf packs don’t actually have alpha males and females. The researcher who introduced this term tried to clear up what had happened many years ago, but thanks to pop culture and some money-hungry publishers the confusion still persists.  While most people believe that a wolf pack follows […]

Titan is the only other body in the Solar System with seas, rivers, and lakes – although they’re not made of water, but hydrocarbons, such as methane. Its unique properties are worth studying in detail, and given that the Cassini mission is no longer exploring Saturn, is up to telescopes to keep an eye on […]

This week, bats are discovered to be tiny rockstars using their larynx in a similar way to death metal singers, a quantum computer has produced the first simulation of a wormhole, and we ask why people are still on the hunt for the very-not-lost city of Atlantis? Groundbreaking HIV Vaccine Shows Success In Phase 1 […]

For as long as humans have walked this Earth, we have been using chemicals to alter our state of mind. Drugs and alcohol have been used in rituals and medication, for inspiration and escapism, as well as a way to cope with the world. Only in more recent decades have we begun to appreciate the […]

The Guinness World Record for the largest mouth gape has been awarded to USA teen Isaac Johnson. Receiving the prestigious accolade in February of this year on the set of Lo Show Dei Record in Milan, Italy, the 17-year-old’s impressive cakehole measures a whopping 10.196 centimeters (4.014 inches). In a tumultuous tug-of-war for the title, the […]

It’s all very well thinking about what Henry VIII or Tutankhamun would look like if you could yank them into the modern day – but what about going the other way? What would it look like if you hopped into a time machine and met them on their own turf? A new AI tool from […]

During the 13th and 12th centuries BCE, many of the “great ancient civilizations” fell like dominoes. Once-grand cities around the Eastern Mediterranean, North Africa, and the Near East fell into ruin; writing systems were extinguished; rebellions sprung up; wars raged; and cultures were seemingly wiped from the planet. The late Bronze Age has been described […]