Esther Inglis-Arkell, Author at Gizmodo

There’s Good News if You’re Worried About Death-by-Hospital in July

Every year hospitals and patients worry about the “July Effect,” a rumored increase in complications and deaths in that mid-summer month. Learn why the July Effect supposedly exists, and why it may not be as bad as people fear. Every July, medical students pour into hospitals to start their life as interns. Meanwhile, last year’s…

Tech News Esther Inglis-Arkell Dec 15

This is the Last Thing A Fly Ever Sees

This forty-eight second clip tells us something about why flies stick to a frog’s tongue — and it’s almost scarier than Prometheus, with a monster lurching out of the darkness to launch an attack. German researchers took a look at the frog’s adhesive tongue and found it works a lot like the pressure-sensitive adhesives found…

Biology Esther Inglis-Arkell Dec 14

Humans Sleep a Lot Less Than Any Other Primate

Forget studies that show that we are lazy, fried cheese-fed, cubicle dwellers. Or, at least forget the “lazy” part. Out of all the primates, humans distinguish themselves by getting the least amount of sleep. Here’s a novel idea about why humans are playing with iPads while the rest of our close family is still throwing…

Tech News Esther Inglis-Arkell Dec 14

Was This the First Time Science Lost Out to “Natural Remedies”?

Worthless natural remedies, especially when they come from “exotic” locations, have always been popular. They’ve also always been big business. Here’s one of the earliest struggles on record—when the richest man in Europe went after a medieval doctor. Syphilis blindsided medieval Europe, affecting everyone from peasants to monarchs. People were desperate for a cure, and…

Tech News Esther Inglis-Arkell Dec 14

This Snail Lives Its Life Upside Down on a Bubble Raft

This snail is happily hanging upside down from what looks like a mirror, but it’s actually the surface of the sea. The violet snail spends its adult life surfing from place to place on a bubble raft. Jacnthina janthina seems to go out of its way to make life difficult for itself. Not only has…

Biology Esther Inglis-Arkell Dec 14

This Weed Takes Out Other Plants by Attacking Their “Gut Bacteria”

You need bacteria to help you digest your food and go about your day. It turns out that plants have their own version of this. And one weed is driving out the competition by attacking the gut bacteria of other species. Without bacteria, we’d need a great deal more food to get by. Although humans…

Tech News Esther Inglis-Arkell Dec 11

Badass Historical Chemists: Eugene Houdry Solved the World’s First Fuel Crisis

Do you like being able to drive in cars? Do you like the way World War I turned out? Do you not like Nazi collaboration? If your answer to all three questions is “yes,” then Eugene Houdry is your kind of guy. Eugene Houdry was born in France in 1892 – not an ideal time…

Tech News Esther Inglis-Arkell Dec 11

A Quirk of Physics Could Give Us a Fast, Cheap Way To Diagnose Diseases

Nearly all diseases take time and money to diagnose. A new test that exploits a quirk of physics could make blood tests for certain diseases faster, cheaper, and easily performed in virtually any setting. When light moves through water, or window glass, it bends slightly. This is a familiar phenomenon to nearly everyone, and it…

Tech News Esther Inglis-Arkell Dec 11

This Blast of Beads Is an Analogue for the Early Universe

A machine shoots a blast of beads at a metal target. The result is a beautiful conical structure known as a “water bell.” It’s significant because one kind of substance (granular material) changes its behavior to act like another substance entirely—and the universe has seen this kind of change before. Th water bell doesn’t behave…

Physics & Chemistry Esther Inglis-Arkell Dec 11

Would You Vote for Oliver Queen Based on This Episode of Arrow?

One notoriously be-wigged political figure has been dominating political coverage lately, so let’s turn our attention to another. Oliver Queen is running for mayor. If you had to judge from this episode, “Dark Waters,” would you vote for him? Vote Yes: He’s Both Honest and Manipulative This episode begins with twin stories: Oliver and Crew…

Television Esther Inglis-Arkell Dec 10

New Findings Might Reveal the People of Angkor Wat’s “Last Stand”

A new excavation on an iconic Cambodian temple reveals who worked there, how they lived, and how they may have been conquered. The Temple at Angkor Wat is an icon, both within Cambodia and around the world. Even people who don’t know anything about it often recognize the image. Today, the temple is a Buddhist…

Tech News Esther Inglis-Arkell Dec 9

In the Battle of Ears Vs. Eyes, Who Wins?

Two well-documented sensory biases enter. One entirely new sensory bias leaves. This is what happens when researchers pit your eyes against your ears to see which one you’ll believe. Sit a test subject down in front of a row of five speakers and play a sound in one of those speakers. Then ask the subject…

Tech News Esther Inglis-Arkell Dec 9

Watch How Particles Come Together to Jam a Hopper

It’s like the Avengers of inefficiency. Particles from different locations, having undergone vastly different journeys, all assemble, for one moment, to work as a group to jam up a hopper. This particular experiment was done in 2011 by scientists at Duke University to study the microscopic aspects of what’s known as granular flow — the…

Tech News Esther Inglis-Arkell Dec 9

How Humans Can Engineer Wilder Cities With the Help of Animals

Look around your city. You’ll see pigeons, rats, maybe a few raccoons. But the typical array of urban wildlife is about to become incredibly biodiverse, thanks to efforts from humans to make their cities wilder and more sustainable places. Right now cities are experimenting with introducing more animals into their environments. These creatures will not…

Biology Esther Inglis-Arkell Dec 9

Texan Fossil Shows That Pterosaurs Made Very Long Flights

A pterosaur fossil has been discovered in Texas. It has a relative that is close genetically but not geographically—meaning ancient pterosaurs could have made very, very long journeys. Cimoliopterus dunni lived around the Cretaceous period, in what is now Texas. Paleontologists studying it saw that it had teeth, a relatively rare feature for that part…

Tech News Esther Inglis-Arkell Dec 8

The Stinkbird’s Diet is Surprisingly Close to Our Own

Stinkbirds, otherwise known as hoatzins, have spread out across South America in part because they have something in common with humans and other mammals. The clue is in the name “stinkbird.” That’s right, the hoatzin stinks. It doesn’t secrete anything particularly noxious, nor does it have special glands that coat its feathers in a substance…

Biology Esther Inglis-Arkell Dec 8

Why Did NASA Take an Interest In the Sperm Whale’s Echolocation Organ?

The sperm whale has an internal organ that has been of much interest to scientists for decades. What’s surprising is that it’s not biologists who are interested in it. The people studying this ocean traveler are people who want to travel through space. Just behind a sperm whale’s blow hole is a weird structure that…

Biology Esther Inglis-Arkell Dec 8

Why The Victorians Thought That Lightning Worked Like a Camera Flash

When the flash on a camera goes off, we know something has made a visual record of the world. The Victorians noticed this and thought that lightning might work like a giant camera. Scientific journals and hobby magazines started mentioning the word “keraunography,” or “lightning prints,” in the late 1800s. Some felt that like the…

Tech News Esther Inglis-Arkell Dec 7

Researchers Act Like Giant Weirdos While Holding a Door Open and Expect a Thank You For It

The world at large received yet more evidence that most psychological researchers have never interacted with a human being in this bizarre study about human behavior based involving, doors, pens, surveys, and researchers hiding from each other behind pillars like Cold War counter-espionage agents. In order to conduct controlled experiments, psychologists have to create bizarre…

Tech News Esther Inglis-Arkell Dec 7

This Shipwreck Gave Doctors the First Clue Mercury Might Not Be Good for You

For centuries people with maladies of any kind could look forward to a good dose of mercury, as the medical establishment had pretty much concluded that shiny things were good for people. This shipwreck made them think again. In 1810, a Spanish ship got caught in a storm near Cadiz. Fortunately for the sailors onboard,…

Tech News Esther Inglis-Arkell Dec 7

Esther Inglis-Arkell

There’s Good News if You’re Worried About Death-by-Hospital in July

This is the Last Thing A Fly Ever Sees

Humans Sleep a Lot Less Than Any Other Primate

Was This the First Time Science Lost Out to “Natural Remedies”?

This Snail Lives Its Life Upside Down on a Bubble Raft

This Weed Takes Out Other Plants by Attacking Their “Gut Bacteria”

Badass Historical Chemists: Eugene Houdry Solved the World’s First Fuel Crisis

A Quirk of Physics Could Give Us a Fast, Cheap Way To Diagnose Diseases

This Blast of Beads Is an Analogue for the Early Universe

Would You Vote for Oliver Queen Based on This Episode of Arrow?

New Findings Might Reveal the People of Angkor Wat’s “Last Stand”

In the Battle of Ears Vs. Eyes, Who Wins?

Watch How Particles Come Together to Jam a Hopper

How Humans Can Engineer Wilder Cities With the Help of Animals

Texan Fossil Shows That Pterosaurs Made Very Long Flights

The Stinkbird’s Diet is Surprisingly Close to Our Own

Why Did NASA Take an Interest In the Sperm Whale’s Echolocation Organ?

Why The Victorians Thought That Lightning Worked Like a Camera Flash

Researchers Act Like Giant Weirdos While Holding a Door Open and Expect a Thank You For It

This Shipwreck Gave Doctors the First Clue Mercury Might Not Be Good for You

The First Trailer for ‘Godzilla Minus Zero’ Takes Terror Stateside

The Trump Phone Still Looks Like Total Trash

‘Masters of the Universe’ Really, Really Wants to Be the Next ‘Barbie’

Samsung’s Micro RGB TVs Provide So Much Color It May Be Too Much

The Crypto Bros Want to Get Their Hands on Anthropic’s ‘Super Dangerous’ Model

This Is What a Music Industry ‘Plant’ Looks Like in 2026

As Starship V3 Lags Behind, Blue Origin Prepares Third Launch of New Glenn

The New Movie From Takashi Yamazaki Could Be the New ‘Pacific Rim’

Forget Samsung Galaxy S26, Google Pixel 10 Pro Hits a Black Friday Low With No Trade-In Required

YouTube Will Stop Showing Ads If You Just Engage Hard Enough

Sony Inzone H6 Air Review: A Perfect Case for Open-Back Gaming Headsets

Anker’s EufyMake E1 Finally Brings Printers Out of the Dark Ages

The Soundboks Mix Is Going to Make You the Most Popular Guy at the Park

Asus Zenbook A16 Review: Start Considering Snapdragon on PC, for Real

Aqara Thermostat Hub W200 Review: Almost Better than My Ecobee

HP Omen Max 45L Review: 4K60 Gaming Has Never Been So Easy

Ecovacs Winbot W3 Omni Review: Window Cleaning Robots Have a Long Way to Go

AirPods Max 2 vs. Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen): Which ANC Headphones Win?

The Best Gadgets of March 2026

AirPods Max 2 Review: Still Ridiculously Expensive and Ridiculously Nice