FORT COLLINS, Colo. — There’s an old joke that mosquitoes are like family: They are annoying, but they carry your blood. Mosquito season is starting to rev up across much of the United States. And that means bug bites. When a mosquito bites you, it pierces the skin using a mouthpart called a proboscis to … Read more
Much like an unexpected free dinner will distract you from the leftovers sitting in your fridge, this summer’s cicada emergence will turn predators away from their usual prey. During the 2021 Brood X emergence, Zoe Getman-Pickering, a scientist in Lill’s research group, found that as birds swooped in on cicadas, caterpillar populations exploded. Spared from … Read more
Scientists have shared the first-ever photographs of a newly discovered species of beetle that was almost mistaken for bird poo. A team of researchers from the University of Queensland discovered a remarkable new genus of fluffy beetle during a chance sighting while camping on a recent expedition to the rainforests of Australia’s Gold Coast. However, … Read more
RIO DE JANEIRO — The small team of state public health workers slalomed between auto parts strewn across a Rio de Janeiro junkyard, looking for standing water where mosquitoes might have laid their eggs. They were part of nationwide efforts to curtail a surge in Brazil of the mosquito-borne illness of dengue fever during the … Read more
French photographer Emilie Talpin did not pick up her first camera until 2018 but within just a few years, she became both an OM SYSTEM Ambassador and a highly respected photo educator best known for her favorite photography genres: macro and nature. Full disclosure: This article was brought to you by OM SYSTEM Cameras At … Read more
Scientists took over 11,000 photos of ants to reveal how the different patterns and textures on their faces could be the secret behind their survival as a species. Entomologist Clint Penick and his students at Kennesaw State University in Georgia, U.S. spent the COVID-19 pandemic taking and studying thousands of photos of ants’ faces. The … Read more
One of the world’s most peculiar test beds stretches above Princeton, New Jersey. It’s a fiber optic cable strung between three utility poles that then runs underground before feeding into an “interrogator.” This device fires a laser through the cable and analyzes the light that bounces back. It can pick up tiny perturbations in that … Read more
COLORADO: Climate change is threatening the survival of plants and animals around the globe as temperatures rise and habitats change. Some species have been able to meet the challenge with rapid evolutionary adaptation and other changes in behaviour or physiology. Dark-coloured dragonflies are getting paler in order to reduce the amount of heat they absorb … Read more
TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras — For decades, preventing dengue fever in Honduras has meant teaching people to fear mosquitoes and avoid their bites. Now, Hondurans are being educated about a potentially more effective way to control the disease — and it goes against everything they’ve learned. Which explains why a dozen people cheered last month as Tegucigalpa … Read more
TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras — For decades, preventing dengue fever in Honduras has meant teaching people to fear mosquitoes and avoid their bites. Now, Hondurans are being educated about a potentially more effective way to control the disease — and it goes against everything they’ve learned. Which explains why a dozen people cheered last month as Tegucigalpa … Read more