Deborah Bloomfield

A jawbone discovered over a century ago in the Spanish town of Banyoles may represent the earliest documented presence of modern humans in Europe. Intriguingly, however, the mandible doesn’t quite match up with that of any known human species, indicating that the fossil’s long-dead owner may have descended from a mysterious group of unknown ancient […]

Although it’s well known that COVID affects the respiratory system, it’s perhaps less well known that the virus can also affect cognitive function. Many people with COVID experience a phenomenon commonly called “brain fog”, which can include problems remembering, concentrating and performing daily tasks. Brain fog can also be a symptom of long COVID, where […]

Anyone who has ever lost a pet will known the tidal wave of grief it can bring, and yet for some reason losing a pet is often disregarded as a source of trauma. A new review is working to change that by providing counselors with new perspectives to keep in mind when working with clients […]

You may have come across a strange, walnut-sized growth on your Christmas tree at some point and either thought “is that a pine cone?”, before fetching more eggnog, or “what is that?”, before fetching more eggnog. Well, we hate to be the bearers of bad news, but if you do find these growths it’s something […]

“Skalk,” I cursed in Kelvak. It’s my favourite language to curse in – there is nothing as satisfying as the harsh consonants and default imperatives of the primary Kelvaki language. This quote is by the main character in the sci-fi novel The Widening Gyre by Michael R. Johnston. Writers like Johnston who invent alien profanity […]

You are really interested in tech, so much so that you wish you can change your career for one in this super industry. You’ve done your research, and you know that tech is the fastest growing industry with a long-term landscape that could mean you will be securely employed for many years to come. And, […]

Sixty-six million years ago, an asteroid hit the Earth with the force of 10 billion atomic bombs and changed the course of evolution. The skies darkened and plants stopped photosynthesising. The plants died, then the animals that fed on them. The food chain collapsed. Over 90% of all species vanished. When the dust settled, all […]

In recent times, thousands of dead seals have washed up on Russia’s Caspian Sea coast. Now officials are saying the most likely cause is hypoxia, or deprivation of oxygen. Around 2,500 seals or more have washed up in recent weeks, according to a top Russian environment official giving an update on Monday, according to AP. […]

It’s the Late Cretaceous and you, an ankylosaur, have been minding your own business while eating some plants. You’re famished from bashing away Tyrannosaurus rex all day – those pesky predators – and now some other ankylosaur is moving in on your patch. Time to dust off that tail, because it’s clubbing time. That’s the […]

The remains of a medieval man, found at a monastery in Poland, have revealed he had two different forms of dwarfism, the combination of which has never been reported before in the medieval period in Central Europe.  The skeleton is believed to date from between the ninth and 11th centuries CE and was discovered in […]

A mysterious structure has been revealed along Daytona Beach Shores in Volusia County, Florida, on the heels of Hurricane Nicole and Hurricane Ian. No one is quite sure yet what the object may be, but there are some interesting ideas floating around the local community, from a shipwreck to the relics of a long-lost NASCAR […]

As 2022 is drawing to a close, it’s time to find out what has been crowned Oxford Word of the Year. Without further adieu, we’re pleased, and a little surprised, to tell you, that it’s “goblin mode”. For the first time in its history, the vote was opened up to the public, and after more […]

Take a really good look at this picture. You’re seeing the inside of the Orion Capsule. But don’t just focus on the cool equipment, including a virtual assistant in the center – NASA has placed several easter eggs around the capsule for everyone to solve. The space agency doesn’t specify how many things are there […]

Covering interstellar distances in a human lifetime is far from easy. Going at 1 percent of the speed of light, it would take over 400 years to reach the closest star, and we have not been able to propel any spacecraft even close to that speed. But a new method aims to get to those […]

The creator of Gmail has made a prediction: the new chatbot ChatGPT will completely disrupt Google’s business within a year or two, eliminating the search engine result page in the process. By now, you have probably come across a number of creations from ChatGPT: an artificial intelligence (AI) based chatbot that can do everything from […]

A new artificial intelligence (AI) tool capable of seamlessly aging or de-aging people in video footage has been developed by researchers at Disney Research Studios. Dubbed face re-aging network (FRAN), the tool will be capable of making actors look older or younger for movie scenes set in the future or past with minimal post-production fiddling. […]

From beloved children’s books to Norwegian dance songs, foxes (Vulpes vulpes) are ever-present in popular culture as a symbol of woodland cunning and are widespread across most of the Northern Hemisphere. But what do you call a baby fox? Foxes are members of the family Canidae, which also includes wolves and coyotes. Twelve species fall […]

When you boil a chicken’s egg, the translucent albumen turns white as it coagulates, creating the white-with-a-yellow-center boiled egg many of us are familiar with. Do the same to a penguin egg, and you end up with a very different aesthetic. Instead of turning white, the albumen stays translucent, creating a very peculiar-looking egg in […]

The question of how memories are stored in the human brain is an age-old puzzle. Over the years, there have been plausible theories – but the experimental evidence to back these up has not always followed close behind. With diseases that affect memory posing a huge threat to public health, there is arguably a greater […]