Thinking insects
Science Daily peeks into the mind of insects with new research that shows that fruit flies think before they act:
… Read the rest “Thinking insects”In experiments asking fruit flies to distinguish between ever closer concentrations
entomology
It really is the nicotine-based pesticide that’s killing all the bees.
The Guardian (with a little help from Harvard) confirms what folks have suspected for a while – that Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) is largely due to neonicotinoid pesticides:
… Read the rest “It really is the nicotine-based pesticide that’s killing all the bees.”In
A viral aphrodisiac. Like, literally – a virus that makes sexytime happen. Then it kills you….
Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately), as NPR reports, it only affects crickets. They get infected, then want to have more sex, spreading the virus to more hosts:
… Read the rest “A viral aphrodisiac. Like, literally – a virus that makes sexytime happen. Then it kills you….”Shelley Adamo and her team
My, madam, what a spiky member you have… in me….
Nature has published an article about a cave insect that combines the words “marathon sex session” with “the female’s spiky penis”:
… Read the rest “My, madam, what a spiky member you have… in me….”In desolate caves
Science Art: Surface of a Western honeybee’s eye, by Janice Carr and Connie Flowers.
Gaze into the eye of the bee, and the colony gazes into you. This is not honeycomb, but the individual components (ommatidia) of a bee’s compound eye.
Full credit … Read the rest “Science Art: Surface of a Western honeybee’s eye, by Janice Carr and Connie Flowers.”
Robot swarms that build. By themselves…
Nature digs up the info on the termite robots built this castle:
… Read the rest “Robot swarms that build. By themselves…”The robots all work independently. Each travels along a grid and can move, climb a step and lift and put down bricks. And they
SONG: “The Road We Wander”
SONG: “The Road We Wander.” (To download: double right-click & “Save As”)
ARTIST: grant.
SOURCE: Based on “Monarch migration may become extinct,”… Read the rest “SONG: “The Road We Wander””
Monarch migration may be over. Forever.
Laboratory Equipment has some bad news for butterflies:
… Read the rest “Monarch migration may be over. Forever.”After steep and steady declines in the previous three years, the black-and-orange butterflies now cover only 1.65 acres (0.67
Science Art: Typical chemosensory hair of the blowfly Phormia regina Meigen, from Molecular structure and functional activity of nerve cells…., 1955
An up-close look at chemoreceptors, chemical-sensing nerves, from the 1950s.
Not a flower, nor a machine, but somewhere between both. Found in the Biodiversity Heritage Library.
Science Art: Plate CCCII, Fig. A.B. Capensis, from Pieter Cramer’s De Uitlandische Kapellen, 1779
A plate of geometrically arranged capensis moths, as recorded by Pieter Cramer, a fabric merchant and butterfly fan.
The whole book is charming. From the Biological Diversity Library … Read the rest “Science Art: Plate CCCII, Fig. A.B. Capensis, from Pieter Cramer’s De Uitlandische Kapellen, 1779”
Living gears found in little bug’s legs.
This was all over Reddit and ScienceDaily today, because it’s cool. Biologists have found the first example of machine-like gears in a living organism, a critter called an adolescent… Read the rest “Living gears found in little bug’s legs.”
Mosquitos *taste* heat.
Science Daily has more on the strange, previously unknown sensory organ in insects:
… Read the rest “Mosquitos *taste* heat.”Notice how mosquitoes always seem to bite where there is the most blood? That is because those areas are
You don’t get bitten because you’re so sweet. Well, not exactly….
Smithsonian explains summer’s great mystery – why mosquitoes find some victims sweeter:
… Read the rest “You don’t get bitten because you’re so sweet. Well, not exactly….”An estimated 20 percent of people, it turns out, are especially delicious for mosquitoes,
Science Art: The periodical cicada (”Magicicada septendecim”), Plate 7, from Insects, their way and means of living, by R. E. Snodgrass.
It’s the year of magic. Or, well, the Magicicada septendecim – the 17-year magic cicada.
Have you heard?
They come back every 17 years, black-winged and red-eyed… Read the rest “Science Art: The periodical cicada (”Magicicada septendecim”), Plate 7, from Insects, their way and means of living, by R. E. Snodgrass.”