Deborah Bloomfield

World War Two is the deadliest war in human history by a long shot (and hopefully it will remain that way). Estimates vary massively, but many agree up to 80 million people died in the global conflict as a result of armed battles, city-wide bombings, sieges, starvation, disease, genocide, massacres, and the only use of […]

High-potency cannabis alters users’ DNA in ways that weaker strains don’t, new research has revealed. In particular, ultra-strong weed appears to interfere with genes related to immunity and cellular energy production, and leaves a distinct mark on the DNA of cannabis users who go on to develop psychosis. The study authors analyzed blood samples from […]

NASA has announced that the Sun has reached its solar maximum period in the solar cycle, with more geomagnetic storms and aurora expected in the coming months. Solar activity increases and decreases over the 11-year solar cycle – also known as the Schwabe cycle, named after the astronomer who first noticed it. From 1826 to […]

A dog has recently been spotted on top of the Great Pyramid of Giza. It’s unclear how the animal reached the top of the structure, nor whether it was rescued after the footage was taken. The footage, shown below, was captured by Alex Lang on October 14 while flying over the Giza pyramid complex using […]

On Monday, the Europa Clipper blasted off on its quest to study the smallest of Jupiter’s big four moons, and hopefully collect clues about the prospect of life inside. The launch was delayed four days by Hurricane Milton, but that wait is insignificant compared to the five and a half years it will be before the […]

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Straddling the misleadingly named provinces of East and West Azerbaijan in Iran, Lake Urmia has been an icon of Middle Eastern geography since… well, pretty much since geography was a thing. It features in bronze artworks from the ninth century BCE Neo-Assyrian culture; Ptolemy talked about it in the second century CE, and today, it […]

Every now and then, we all need a little dose of something magical, and even better when that happens to be a world first. That’s the case with today’s treatment – the first-ever footage of an anoa, the world’s smallest type of wild cattle, giving birth. The footage was captured at Chester Zoo, UK, and […]

Spears work better when thrown from a height, but a surprising study finds the same does not apply to weapons launched from an atlatl (spear thrower). This could explain the apparent non-adoption of throwing devices by Neanderthals. Although there is nowhere near enough evidence to adopt such a conclusion with confidence, it’s possible that such […]

A gathering serving up bear meat in North Carolina turned grizzly last year after the undercooked meat led to what the CDC suspects was an outbreak of parasitic roundworms. As detailed in a new case study, 22 of 34 surveyed attendees reported eating undercooked bear meat at a gathering in November 2023 at an undisclosed […]

In case you hadn’t noticed, fall is in full swing – and what could be more autumnal than a story about a really big pumpkin? The stupendous squash in question is named Rudy, and has just scooped the grand prize at Half Moon Bay’s 51st Safeway World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off – a contest we’re ashamed […]

Scientists have long suspected a link between COVID-19 and diabetes, but it’s been unclear whether this association exists in children as well as adults. New research suggests that it does, by finding that kids who had COVID were consistently more likely to develop type 2 diabetes within the following six months than those who had […]

Microwaves are a pretty difficult topic to get your head around, at least compared to traditional “fire hot” methods of cooking. It turns out people still have questions about them, such as why if you put ice in a microwave with rice, the rice gets hot and the ice cube doesn’t seem to. Let’s start […]

An asteroid discovered in 2019’s orbit has been mapped, revealing it as a Trojan of Saturn, meaning an object with the same orbit, but traveling ahead or behind. The spacecraft Lucy has been sent to study the Trojan asteroids of Jupiter – bodies that follow the same orbit, but in the Lagrangian points 60 degrees […]

NASA has launched a new competition with an associated $3 million in prizes for help dealing with an old problem, as humans begin exploring the Moon again and, for the first time, Mars. On the Moon, as well as several robots, some tardigrades, a family photograph, and maybe even some dinosaur remains, you will find […]

With some species reaching 1.8 meters (5.9 feet) in height, the majestic and ancient crane family look like they belong well and truly on the ground. But these gangly creatures are actually surprisingly nimble fliers, and some species cross entire continents, high mountain ranges, and oceans while migrating thousands of miles to reach their breeding […]

For the first time, scientists have discovered animal life under the seafloor around deep hydrothermal vent systems. The new discovery challenges the old idea that only microbes inhabit the subseafloor region and suggests that much more of Earth’s crust might harbor complex lifeforms. Researchers onboard the Schmidt Ocean Institute research vessel Falkor (too) used remotely […]

Take a look at the first column of the periodic table. The elements in this group include some of the most common and useful ones on the planet – and they probably all wish they weren’t associated with francium. Sitting at the bottom of this row of chemical workhorses, this spectacularly radioactive element would be […]

The Red Deer Cave People might have been some of the most unusual and mysterious humans to walk the Earth in the past 20,000 years. Despite being around 14,000 years old – exceptionally recent in terms of human evolution – their fossils show they possessed many “archaic” human features associated with more distant relatives in […]

The European Space Agency’s (ESA’s) Mars Express has sent back new images of the south polar region of Mars, capturing features known as “cryptic terrain” emerging from beneath the Martian frost. The terrain at the Martian poles is covered in a mixture comprising mainly carbon dioxide ice, with some water ice mixed in there. In […]