Paul Arnold

Snakes may well be one of nature's greatest predators, capable of eating whole deer or even crocodiles, but just as impressive is that they can go months, or even a whole year, without a single meal. And now an international ...

When some ancient Romans were feeling a little under the weather, they were treated with human feces. While this practice was mentioned in ancient Greco-Roman medical texts by figures such as Pliny the Elder, there was no ...

Some dogs are seemingly more talented than others. So-called gifted word learners (GWL) are rare canines that can rapidly learn the names of toys, a skill that most dogs don't possess. To understand why this is so, researchers ...

Research papers in peer-reviewed academic journals are at the heart of academic integrity. New ideas and discoveries are vetted and checked by experts in the field as the boundaries of scientific knowledge are pushed forward. ...

New evidence has emerged that sheds light on the possible first people to populate the Americas. Dating of stone and ivory tools found at an archaeological site in Alaska suggests that these early pioneers traveled through ...

Sleep loss damages the fatty insulation protecting the nerve cells in our brain, according to a paper published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The research also explains why we often feel ...

When it comes to global warming and climate change, we often hear news stories about tipping points where Earth's systems shift into a new and dangerous state. One such may have been reached in the year 2000 that caused tropical ...

For the first time, scientists have used satellite data to create a 3D map of the sun's interior magnetic field, the fundamental driver of solar activity. The research, published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, should ...

Robots are getting better at sniffing out smells thanks to improvements in electronic noses (e-noses). A comprehensive review of the state of robot olfaction, published in the journal npj Robotics, has surveyed recent advances ...

Microglia are the brain's immune cells that clean out debris, such as damaged proteins and old cell parts, to keep the organ healthy. But the very properties that make these cells so useful might also be a driving factor ...

The promise of smart wearables is often talked up, and while there have been some impressive innovations, we are still not seeing their full potential. Among the things holding them back is that the chips that operate them ...

Whether it's digging up weathered bones from a paleontological site or reexamining forgotten trays in museum and university collections, the study of dinosaurs still throws up something new.

Deforestation is having a more devastating effect on the Amazon rainforest than earlier data suggested. While cutting down large swaths of trees destroys vital habitats, it also harms the region's ability to generate its ...

A simple smart speaker may be the latest tool to help seniors with some of the mental and physical challenges of type 2 diabetes. A new study published in JAMA Network Open reports that using an Amazon Echo Dot helped reduce ...

If something exists in nature, there is most likely a very good reason for it. While there are exceptions, many features "selected" by evolution serve a purpose. Take the blue manakin, a small bird commonly found in southeastern ...