Ari Daniel Ari Daniel is a freelance contributor to NPR's Science desk.
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Ari Daniel

Amanda Kowalski
Ari Daniel headshot
Amanda Kowalski

Ari Daniel

Ari Daniel is a freelance contributor to NPR's Science desk.

He has always been drawn to science and the natural world. As a graduate student, he trained gray seal pups (Halichoerus grypus) for his Master's degree in animal behavior at the University of St. Andrews, and helped tag wild Norwegian killer whales (Orcinus orca) for his Ph.D. in biological oceanography at MIT and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. For more than a decade, as a science reporter and multimedia producer, he has interviewed a species he's better equipped to understand — Homo sapiens.

Over the years, he has reported across six continents on science topics ranging from astronomy to zooxanthellae. His radio pieces have aired on NPR, The World, Radiolab, Here & Now, and Living on Earth. He formerly worked as a reporter for NPR's Science desk where he covered global health and development. Before that, he was the Senior Digital Producer at NOVA where he helped oversee the production of the show's digital video content. He is a co-recipient of the AAAS Kavli Science Journalism Gold Award for his radio stories on glaciers and climate change in Greenland and Iceland.

In the fifth grade, he won the "Most Contagious Smile" award.

Story Archive

Thursday

Crows can be trained to count out loud much in the way that human toddlers do, a study finds. Andreas Nieder/Universal Images Group Editorial hide caption

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Andreas Nieder/Universal Images Group Editorial

Crows can count vocally like toddlers, research shows

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Wednesday

Ancient Armadillos

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Wednesday

A macaque sits on a rock at Cayo Santiago as a rainbow stretches across the sky in February 2022. Lauren Brent hide caption

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Lauren Brent

Hurricane Maria and macaques

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Monday

Bat-a-Thon

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Friday

Paleontologist Dany Azar holds up one of his treasures that he discovered in Lebanon in a piece of amber from the early Cretaceous: The oldest mosquito ever found. Ari Daniel/For NPR hide caption

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Ari Daniel/For NPR

In Lebanon, the 'Amber Man' digs up golden time capsules from the age of the dinosaurs

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Thursday

"Beethoven" (1936). A new study suggests the German composer and pianist may have suffered from lead poisoning. The Print Collector/Getty Images hide caption

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The Print Collector/Getty Images

Beethoven was a classical and romantic composer, but his body was full of heavy metal

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Thursday

Hurricane Maria and macaques

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Thursday

Crows can count vocally like toddlers, research shows

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Monday

ANCIENT EGYPT CANCER

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A fluorescent image of a human body louse with Yersinia pestis infection — that's the cause of the plague — depicted in orange/red in the glands.
plague/National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases hide caption

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plague/National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases

Friday

Wednesday

Harlan Gough holds a recently collected tiger beetle on a tether. Lawrence Reeves hide caption

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Lawrence Reeves

To escape hungry bats, these flying beetles create an ultrasound 'illusion'

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Saturday

Beethoven may have had lead poisoning

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Wednesday

Tiger beetles might be mimicking the sounds of poisonous bugs so bats will avoid them

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Monday

Saturday

Weliton Menário Costa (center) holds a laptop while surrounded by dancers for his music video, "Kangaroo Time." From left: Faux Née Phish (Caitlin Winter), Holly Hazlewood, and Marina de Andrade. Nic Vevers/ANU hide caption

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Nic Vevers/ANU

'Dance Your Ph.D.' winner on science, art, and embracing his identity

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Friday

Tommy Trenchard picks up coins with his toes. Aurélie Marrier d'Unienville hide caption

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Aurélie Marrier d'Unienville

Those weird quirks siblings have in common? Darwin had a theory

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Monday

This ancient amber in Lebanon offers a glimpse into Earth's history

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Don't just sneeze without a tissue! That's the message of this early pandemic era graffiti in Dakar, Senegal. The World Health Organization has just issued an updated report on the way SARS-CoV-2 spreads. Take our quiz to see if you're up on your COVID terminology. Seyllou/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

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Seyllou/AFP via Getty Images

Thursday

Fossil hunters find additional remains of jawbone from a giant marine reptile

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Thursday

The science of siblings and their unusual shared quirks

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Tuesday

When Australia's black flying foxes are well-fed, they tend to be healthy. A lack of food stresses the bats — and stress causes them to shed, or release, viruses into the environment. Ko Konno/Getty Images/iStockphoto hide caption

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Ko Konno/Getty Images/iStockphoto

How do we halt the next pandemic? Be kind to critters like bats, says a new paper

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Wednesday

A cicada perches on a picnic table in front of Nolde Mansion in Cumru Township, PA in May 2021. New research shows that these insects urinate in a surprising way. Ben Hasty / MediaNews Group/Reading Eagle via Getty Images hide caption

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Ben Hasty / MediaNews Group/Reading Eagle via Getty Images

Scientists studied how cicadas pee. Their insights could shed light on fluid dynamics

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Tuesday

The unusual manner in which cicadas pee — and why the information is useful

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