Joe Paternoster

In Fresher’s week, you will meet thousands of faces you’ve never seen before. A fundamentally cosmopolitan institution, these faces will come from all around the world, and you likely won’t recognise a single one. A few may ring a bell, make you do a double take. A couple you...

What is itching? The first definition of itching was proposed in 1660 by someone called Samuel Haffenreffer as an unpleasant desire to itch. Approximately 280 million people globally have problems with itching. But why do we itch? Strangely enough itching and pain both share the same common pathways, although you...

A group of undergraduate students from the University of Nottingham are working to develop a new detection system that can “sniff out” when food packaging and preservation methods fail and allow the growth of dangerous botulinum bacteria. These bacteria can cause a type of food poisoning which may result...

The lungs of the Earth are burning. To the surprise of many, they always have been. NASA reports that, this year, the total fire activity across ‘the Amazon basin … has been close to the average in comparison to the past 15 years’. People, now, remarkably, seem to be...

Us Brits have our oddities. We irrationally enjoy queuing, apologising and discussing the weather. We have mastered sarcasm, the deadpan, passive aggression, acceptance at fear of offence, the stiff upper lip, smutty humour and commenting “not bad” when in the affirmative. You can count on us for the perfect...

When summer comes around many cannot wait to bask in the sun and get a tan, yet few know why their skin tans and the dangers that accompany doing so. When your skin tans, it is the body’s natural defence mechanism’s way to attempt to protect your body from...

Following the slew of recent mugging related incidences on campus, including one involving himself, Joe tackles the tough topic of muggings, using science to explain why someone would commit such a crime....