Insects and Spiders
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Anti-Gravity Machine for Levitating Fruit Flies
A powerful magnetic field counteracted Earth's gravity and disrupted gene expression during development
February 14, 2012 |
By Greg Laden
Some Spiders Have Brains in Their Legs
Just one more reason it's not nice to pull the appendages off of creepy crawlies
December 15, 2011 |
By Sarah Zielinski
The Columbines and Their Pollinators: An Evolutionary Tale
New research provides insight into an evolutionary concept introduced by Charles Darwin
December 02, 2011 |
By Sarah Zielinski
Lying For Sex, Spider Style
Male nursery web spiders aren't necessarily punished for giving false gifts
November 16, 2011 |
By Sarah Zielinski
Top 10 Real-Life Body Snatchers
Parasites and zombies are not science fiction; they infest rats, crickets, ants, moths and other creatures, sucking the life out of them
October 24, 2011 |
By Megan Gambino
Who Can Identify the World's Rarest Butterfly
Two scientists are in a grim contest to document some of the animal kingdom's most endangered species
October 07, 2011 |
By Rob Dunn
14 Fun Facts About Dragonflies
#12: Hundreds of dragonflies of different species will gather in swarms, either for feeding or migration
October 05, 2011 |
By Sarah Zielinski
The Millipede That Glows In The Dark
The blind, nocturnal arthropod produces a deadly toxin when disturbed
September 28, 2011 |
By Sarah Zielinski
The Evolution of the Orchid and the Orchid Bee
Which came first--the plant or its pollinator?
September 23, 2011 |
By Sarah Zielinski
Wild Things: Tarantulas, Jellyfish and More...
Hummingbirds, attacking bears, ancient hominids and other news updates in wildlife research
August 2011 |
By T.A. Frail, Megan Gambino, Laura Helmuth, Erin Wayman and Sarah Zielinski
14 Not-So-Fun Facts About Mosquitoes
Number 7: Mosquitoes are attracted to the carbon dioxide, lactic acid and octenol found in our breath and sweat. They may have a preference for beer drinkers
July 27, 2011 |
By Sarah Zielinski
The Insect That Creates Its Own Lightshow
There are about 2,000 species of fireflies, a type of beetle that lights up its abdomen with a chemical reaction to attract a mate
July 01, 2011 |
By Sarah Zielinski
Wicked Bugs (and Spiders and Worms and Other Creepy Crawlies)
Let's face it, we don't like bugs. Sure, they do plenty of good---such as keeping their naughty brethren in check, contributing to the world of medicine, providing key roles in the food webs that are essential to healthy ecosystems---but we can't help but focus on the bad. And so does Amy Stewart i...
May 03, 2011 |
By Sarah Zielinski
The Gold and Silver Beetles of Costa Rica
Imagine you're a conquistador in the 1500s. You've spent many weeks on a boat to get to Central America and many days hacking away through the jungle, dressed in hot and heavy armor, swatting at mosquitoes, desperately trying to find that fortune you were promised back home. Then you glimpse a bit ...
April 29, 2011 |
By Sarah Zielinski
Wild Things: Mongooses, Bladderworts and More...
Fairy-wrens, wasps, and a nearly 3,000 year old big toe
April 2011 |
By T.A. Frail, Megan Gambino, Laura Helmuth, Jesse Rhodes and Sarah Zielinski
Male and Female Butterflies Take Turns at Courting
When it comes to butterflies, males are usually the pretty ones. They have to be, since they're also usually the ones that do the courting. But male and female squinting bush brown butterflies (Bicyclus anynana) that live in central Africa look alike, at least to us. Both are equally beautiful in ...
January 10, 2011 |
By Sarah Zielinski
North American Bumblebees on the Decline
"The bees are disappearing." It's such a well-known fact that it even became a key plot point in season 4 of Doctor Who (with the explanation that the bees were aliens simply returning to their home planet). Most of the concern has centered on honeybees and the problem now known as colony collapse ...
January 04, 2011 |
By Sarah Zielinski
Dryer Sheets as Bug Repellant?
It's a modern old-wives tale: put a Bounce dryer sheet in your pocket while gardening and it'll keep away the mosquitoes or gnats. This may seem a bit far-fetched to those of us who have never tried it, but researchers have now found that there could be some truth in it, when it comes to gnats, any...
December 20, 2010 |
By Sarah Zielinski
Zoom in on a Daddy Longlegs
This psychedelic photo is a depth color-coded projection of a confocal microscope image of the eyes of a daddy longlegs (Phalangium opilio). The image, by Igor Siwanowicz of the Max Planck Institute for Neurobiology in Munich, Germany, was awarded first place in the Olympus BioScapes International ...
November 19, 2010 |
By Sarah Zielinski
Inside a Mosquito's Heart
What does a mosquito's heart look like? I would never have expected that it would look like this, a fluorescent image taken by Jonas King, a student at Vanderbilt University, which won first place in the Nikon Small World photography competition.King, working in the lab of biologist Julián Hillyer,...
October 22, 2010 |
By Sarah Zielinski
