Birch and colleagues have developed an important and useful framework for evaluating the
evidence for sentience–namely, the capacity to experience pain, distress and suffering, in …

We outline a framework for evaluating scientific evidence of sentience, focusing on pain
experience. It includes eight neural and cognitive-behavioural criteria, with confidence …

Animals have quick-acting nociceptive reflexes that protect them from tissue damage. Some
taxa have also evolved the capacity for pain. Pain appears to be linked to long-term changes …

All animals face hazards that cause tissue damage, and most have nociceptive reflex
responses that protect them from such damage. However, some taxa have also evolved the …

The freshwater crayfish, Procambarus clarkii is an excellent aquatic animal model that is
highly adaptable and tolerant. P. clarkii is widely used as a toxicity model to study various …

The concept of native range in invasion biology is difficult to define since, in many cases, this
type of range is unknown and cannot be determined. We investigate the uncertainties …

Natural reward is an essential element of any organism's ability to adapt to environmental
variation. Its underlying circuits and mechanisms guide the learning process as they help …

Spatial learning is a complex cognitive skill and ecologically important trait scarcely studied
in crustaceans. We investigated the ability of the Pacific (Ecuadorian) hermit crab Coenobita …

Addiction is now recognized as a phenomenon with exceedingly deep evolutionary roots.
Addictive plant alkaloids, as secondary metabolites, evolved primarily to counter insect …

Results of recent work from our labs and those of others have broadened perspectives on
addiction beyond a human-specific, cognitive phenomenon. Addictive plant alkaloids are …