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Robobugs: Just Because You’re Paranoid Doesn’t Mean…
…they’re after you? Are we being spied upon by bug-like robots? There have been three independent sightings according to the Washington Post: Vanessa Alarcon saw them while working at an antiwar rally...
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About That Mutations-Are-Always-Bad Creationist Idiocy…
…the Chikungunya virus might have something to say about that (if it could speak). From PLoS Pathogens: Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) is an emerging arbovirus associated with several recent large-scale...
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The Epidemiology of Bee Colony Collapse
Consider this a public service announcement. The NY Times has a very good op-ed piece explaining how mathematical epidemiology can be used to better understand bee colony collapse. The good news is...
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Oldest Bug EVAH! Discovered
(Jodi Hilton/Tufts University) In North Attleborough, MA, paleontologists have discovered the oldest insect fossil: The exquisitely-detailed fossil has been identified as the imprint left 310 million...
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About That Fruit Fly Research…
…it’s applied research. As far as I can tell, the McCain campaign is referring to a study of olive fruit flies which are an agricultural pest. From the congressman who wrote the earmark: “The Olive...
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Hannity and Carlson’s War on Entomology
Right wing TV bloviators oppose scientific research. And in other news, dog bites man. By way of Bug Girl, I came across this story about Sean Hannity and Tucker Carlson opposing the use of $187,632 of...
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Ramblin’ Hercules Beetle Style
From the Insect Zoo at the Smithsonian’s Natural History Museum, we bring you this speedy Hercules Beetle: Well, speedy is a relative term…
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Neonicotinoids, Colony Collapse Disorder, and ‘Bee Medical Research’
Peter Dorman, who writes one of my favorite economics blogs, raises two problems with Carl Zimmer’s recent NYT article about neonicotinoid pesticides and their possible link to colony collapse disorder...
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Say Hello to My Little Friend
No, it’s not a gun. It’s a butterfly from the National Museum of Natural History which has landed on my jacket collar: Here’s a big-ass moth (“big-ass moth” is not a common species name…) Mealtime And...
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Praying on Exeter Street
Or perhaps I mean…preying (BWAHHAHAH!!!). Observed on Exeter Street, Back Bay, Boston: My experience has been that six-inch long insects are a rare occurrence around these parts.
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Butterflies of the Week
Observed at the Smithsonian’s Natural History Museum: I tried them all and they taste great! (I kid–I didn’t eat the butterflies…)
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Things We All Know, Yet Are Not True: The Colony Collapse Disorder Edition
You’ve probably heard of Colony Collapse Disorder (‘CCD’), where workers from a bee colony suddenly disappear (SPACE ALIENZ?!?). Given the importance of pollination by bees to agriculture (while birds...
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Some Good Citizen Science: Calbug
Calbug, which attempts to harness the general public to improve nine Californian insect and spider collections, came across the transom: Calbug is an effort to digitize terrestrial arthropod-specimen...
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Be Very, Very Quiet, I’m Hunting…
…elm bark beetles. Observed at the corner of Exeter Street and Commonwealth Ave.: According to the Boston Parks Department: The traps consist of 18.5″x 28″ green plywood boxes mounted approximately 15...
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Moving Day
For some ants, that is: (observed in Cambridge) So what’s the ant equivalent of leaving a ratty old sofa out on the curb?
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Crazy Ants and the Hidden Collapse of Scientific Infrastructure
One of the ridiculous things about many depictions of science in TV and movies is the notion that there’s this huge infrastructure: shiny labs (which are always neat and spacious), high-tech this and...
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Phabulous Phasmids
Observed at the Insect Zoo at the Natural History Museum, Washington D.C.–can you find the two members of Phobaeticus serratipes, the Giant Malaysian Stick Insect? Each of them was about fourteen...
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The Cost of Misunderstanding How Money Works: So Long Invertebrate House
Like most people–and I’ve been a supporter of the National Zoo in Washington DC for nearly a quarter century–I was shocked to learn that the Invertebrate House will be shuttered for good this Sunday,...
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Need a Belated Christmas Gift For That Special Toddler?
File this under ‘When web scraping goes horribly wrong‘: Probably not the best gift idea… (tip o’the hat to Alex Wild)
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The Unlovely Necessity of Public Health Spending
Public health efforts face a very difficult problem: they’re like car insurance. You hate paying it…until you get into an accident, then you’re really glad you have it. With that for prelude, we bring...
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