Deborah Bloomfield

We are a sentimental as well as pragmatic species. When it came to sending the first missions that could travel beyond the Solar System, we equipped them with wonderful scientific instruments, but also with messages to any extraterrestrials that came across them. It was the case for Pioneer 10 and Pioneer 11, the first probes […]

After controversially firing the old team, US health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr’s new picks for the USA’s top panel of vaccine advisors are now getting down to business, and they’ve been holding some pretty key votes. One of the most notable surrounds flu vaccines, which they voted to recommend – that is, as long […]

Researchers have begun working on a new, controversial project to produce human DNA from scratch. It is believed to be the first of its kind effort which, if successful, could lead to new treatments for many diseases or open the door to things like climate-resistant crops. The subject of creating human DNA, otherwise known as […]

What’s that saying, slow and steady wins the race? Well, it seems the saying not only applies to a fictitious tortoise racing a hare but also races to the Moon. On September 18, 1968, the Soviet Union’s Zond 5 spacecraft managed to circle the Moon. The achievement beat NASA’s iconic Apollo 8 mission by a […]

Sharks are, by any definition, incredibly badass. They’re the only animals around that can claim to have chowed down on honest-to-goodness dinosaurs; they induce what is genuinely known to biologists as a “landscape of fear” in the places they inhabit – even if a “seascape” might be more accurate – and they do it all […]

This week on Break It Down: feast your eyes on the stunning first images from the world’s largest digital camera, capturing millions of galaxies and thousands of new asteroids. Why killer whales are rubbing each other luxuriously with seaweed, the world’s oldest rocks aren’t that much younger than the planet, mice born from two dads […]

Flying ant day. It’s a bit of a mare, isn’t it? But might we offer some light relief the next time you find yourself surrounded by winged insects by reminding you that there was a time when things were much, much bigger. Say hello to Titanomyrma, the biggest ants ever to have walked the Earth. […]

The planets of the Solar System are roughly on the same plane, but the fact that they are not exactly aligned means that peculiar events happen once in a while. Between Earth and Saturn, there are a few fun events to observe, including Saturn’s rings “disappearing” as the tilt of the planet produces an optical […]

Ever wondered what a trip to the dentist looks like for a bear? Luckily for you, we’ve got an answer, and it comes in the form of a brown bear named Tundra receiving a first-of-its-kind, big ol’ metal tooth cap – one that is apparently the largest veterinary crown in the world. Tundra – who, […]

There are some places spiders belong. In a cave? Sure. In your basement? Unavoidable. In the deep sea? Weird, but why not? But falling from the sky like precipitation? That’s a big fat nope, absolutely not, no way, right? Well, we’re sorry to have to inform you, but arachnid showers are not a thing of […]

In an effort to unravel the mysteries of complex speech, scientists inserted a so-called human “language gene” into mice. The genetic tweak had a striking effect on the rodents’ vocalizations, offering surprising insights into the evolution of vocal communication. Mouse pups that had the human version of the language gene showed different vocalization patterns from […]

Research into computer vision development – a field of artificial intelligence (AI) where computers learn to “see” and interpret information and images – has significantly contributed to pervasive surveillance of people and their habits. In addition, it seems this rise in surveillance has coincided with a rise in obfuscating language that either normalizes or attempts […]

According to a new study that analyzed data from over 119 million people, deaths from heart attacks have dropped by nearly 90 percent over the last five decades – but deaths from other types of heart disease are on the rise. Heart attacks, also known as myocardial infarctions, are the result of a lack of […]

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 […]