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1932

Entomology

Photograph shows a close-up of an Aedes aegypti mosquito perched on a leaf.
Health & Disease

Beating back the Aedes aegypti mosquito

Scientists are taking a multipronged approach to tackle this dangerous carrier of dengue, yellow fever and other noxious viruses

Photo of a handsome stripy frog sitting upright on what looks like some moss.
Living World

Animals that eat poisons and don’t die

Critters consuming species that contain deadly toxins have evolved a suite of clever strategies to keep out of harm’s way

Insects crawl on, and mushrooms sprout from, a dead tree on the forest floor
Living World

The teeming life of dead trees

Rotting logs turn out to be vital to forest biodiversity and recycling organic matter

A bristly, vivid green caterpillar sits on a piece of wood.
Living World

The caterpillars that can kill you

Some species make venoms that are deadly. With more research, those toxic compounds could yield useful medicines.

A brightly colored butterfly sits on a flower, feeding.
Living World

The secrets of butterfly migration, written in pollen

Trillions of insects move around the globe each year. Scientists are working on new ways to map those long-distance journeys.

Photograph of a female earwig carefully grooming a cluster of pale eggs.
Living World

She ain’t scary, she’s my mother

Elaborate courtship, devoted parenthood, gregarious nature (and occasional cannibalism) — earwigs have a lot going for them

Photograph of a dead house fly infected with Entomophthora muscae with elevated wings and a black and white striped appearance to its abdomen. It has dark, ruby-red eyes and is placed on a flat surface and photographed on a dark background.
Living World

Night of the zombie insects

A parasitic fungus takes over the brains of flies and controls them for its own sinister ends. Here’s the science behind the horror.

Photograph of a flying bee heading toward a mustard plant with yellow blossoms. In the background are grey clouds and blue sky.
Food & Environment

Air pollution makes it harder for bees to smell flowers

Contaminants can alter plant odors and warp insects’ senses, disrupting the process of pollination

Photo shows a large wasp in flight, with a black body, yellow legs and a brown face.
Food & Environment

The hornet has landed: Scientists combat new honeybee killer in US

An invasive yellow-legged wasp has been decimating beehives in Europe — and bedeviling Georgia since last summer. Researchers are working nest by nest to limit the threat while developing better eradication methods.

Photo of a brown wasp with narrow, ruby red eyes and long antenna leaned over sticking a long stinger into the surface beneath it.
Living World

The wasps that tamed viruses

To protect and rear their young, some insects have transformed wild viruses into tiny biological weapons

An underwater spider approaches a bubble.
Living World

They swim and they spin: Meet the aquatic spiders

Some make nests inside seashells, others tote bubbles of air on their backs. The spiders that went back to water evolved lots of slick survival strategies.

Photo shows a colorful collection of more than a dozen different sized insects atop a white background.
Living World

Why are there so many beetle species?

Diet played a key role in the evolution of the vast beetle family tree

Photograph shows many dark brown bed bugs clustered together.
Health & Disease

Getting rid of bed bugs: Trickier than ever

The blood-sucking insects now show up in two varieties and are resistant to many pesticides. New eradication strategies include fungal spores and nasty human odors.

Photograph shows landscape of dead conifer trees with mountains behind them.
Food & Environment

Forests are under attack from invasive species

OPINION: International commerce and travel bring ecological destruction to the world’s most cherished natural places. We need to do more to stop the assault.

Women and men, some with baskets of berries on their heads, harvest coffee from lush rows of trees, taller shade trees are visible in the background.
Food & Environment

How shade coffee lends conservation a hand

When managed in the right way, the farms that provide our morning brew can be a refuge for plant and animal biodiversity

Photograph of many ants.
Living World

Division of labor in ants, wasps, bees — and us

Social insects and humans share the trait of divvying up tasks, as do some fish. Researchers find that it emerges naturally, and it often doesn’t take a boss to keep things in order.

Photograph of a cuttlefish
Living World

Do spiders dream? What about cuttlefish? Bearded dragons?

Researchers are finding signs of multiple phases of sleep all over the animal kingdom. The ‘active’ sleep phases look very much like REM.

A colorful songbird perched on a branch holds a caterpillar in its beak.
Food & Environment

To help birds and insects, cultivate native gardens

Entomologist Doug Tallamy explains how filling our yards with local plants can provide our feathered friends with a caterpillar buffet

Photograph of a bumblebee on small orange flowers.
Food & Environment

The underappreciated benefits of wild bees

Native pollinators are key to both ecology and agriculture, but have yet to get their due

A photograph of zoologist Charles Henry Turner surrounded by a collage of some arthropods he studied, including spiders, bees, ants and moths.
Living World

Charles Henry Turner’s insights into animal behavior were a century ahead of their time

Researchers are rediscovering the forgotten legacy of a pioneering Black scientist who conducted trailblazing research on the cognitive traits of bees, spiders and more

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