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Insects

Silkworm cocoons

New Research

Feeding Silkworms Carbon Nanotubes and Graphene Makes Super-Tough Silk

A diet rich in graphene or carbon nanotubes causes the creatures to produce a fiber twice as strong as normal silk

Could your next teacher be a bumblebee?

New Research

Bumblebees Are Tiny Teachers

The fuzzy, buzzy creatures are capable of more than you might think

Hello, I am goat.

What Living Like Goats and Badgers Can Teach Us About Ourselves

Two Englishmen won the Ig Nobel Prize for eating grass, earthworms and worse in the name of science

Trending Today

Mexican Police Raid Sawmills to Protect Monarch Butterfly Habitat

Federal authorities closed down seven illegal logging operations near the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve in Michoacán

"Hey guys this sugar is great, but where can we find some morphine?"

Addict Ants Show That Insects Can Get Hooked on Drugs, Too

How researchers got a non-mammal hooked on drugs for the first time

Will Knight of Knight's Spider Web Farm in Vermont

This Farm Harvests Spider Webs for Art

Knight’s Spider Web Farm is Vermont’s original “web site”

Euploea butterflies gather in force in valleys around the country.

Where to See Thousands of Fluttering Butterflies in Taiwan

There’s a reason Taiwan is known as the “butterfly kingdom”

Trending Today

Mosquito Sprayers Accidentally “Nuke” Millions of Bees in South Carolina

After reports of four new Zika cases, Dorchester County aerial sprayed insecticide, destroying several beekeeping operations

These glow-in-the-dark roaches have the goods.

I Am Officially in Love With Cockroaches

And after you read this, you will be too

Researcher release bumblebees in a greenhouse at the Cambridge University Botanic Gardens

New Research

This Deadly Plant Virus Attracts Bees

The cucumber mosaic virus alters the scent of tomato plants to attract more bees to their ailing hosts

A silverfish

New Research

Richer Homes Are Also Richer in Biodiversity

Scientists find that wealthier neighborhoods sport a greater diversity of bugs

The "Bee and Bee" at the Fairmont Waterfront in Vancouver, Canada is made from materials gathered from urban gardens across the city and woven together with found pieces of ivy, wool, and leaves.

Cool Finds

Forget the Hive, Now Wild Bees Can Check in to These Swanky Hotels

Don’t six-legged guests also deserve the best bang for their buzz?

New anti-Zika measures go way beyond bug spray.

All the Extremely Absurd Ways People Are Fighting Zika at the Rio Olympics

Donning facial masks, wearing Zika-proof uniforms and freezing sperm: Does any of this stuff actually work?

Maratus bubo

Cool Finds

Stunning Images Capture Peacock Spiders’ Flashy Colors

Beautiful and acrobatic, these tiny, vibrant creatures shake their tail fuzz in elaborate mating dances

Being a blood fluke is more popular than you might expect.

How Parasites Became So Popular

A new study finds that parasitism evolved independently 223 times. But that number is actually surprisingly low

Tiny nurse ants tending to white ant larvae are dwarfed by the queen ant in the upper right. All the ants feed upon protein-rich food produced by a white-grey fungus that they cultivate underground.

Were Ants the World’s First Farmers?

A new study shows that a group of ants have been conducting a subsistence type of farming since shortly after the dinosaurs died out

Do Insects Have Consciousness?

A new theory has scientists buzzing

Screwworm Fly larva

Cool Finds

Researchers Studying “Teen Sex” and Flesh-Eating Maggots Win 2016 Golden Goose Awards

Both quirky and important, these studies went against the grain

This pesky pest has a tendency to alter world history.

How the Lowly Mosquito Helped America Win Independence

The blood-sucking insect has played a leading role in the rise and fall of empires throughout history

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