306 Items Tagged

Insects

Researchers at Flinders University in Australia use sound to study soil health.

How Can You Tell If Soil Is Healthy? Just Listen to It.

Ground-breaking "ecoacoustics" use underground critter concerts to monitor a hidden ecosystem.

Ayurella Horn-Muller September 9, 2024

A cricket peers through a leaf hole in South Africa.

Small Crickets Amplify Their Sounds With Savvy Engineering

A little leaf hack helps their chirps reach more females.

Cara Giaimo August 16, 2024

Marlborough, New Hampshire

The Caterpillar Lab

This curious and colorful space invites visitors to delve into the hidden and often mind-boggling world of caterpillars.

Helensburgh Glowworm Tunnel.

25 Places to Learn to Love Creepy, Crawly Critters

From the art of spiders and glow of blue fireflies to bugs you can ride and insects you can eat.

Roxanne Hoorn July 19, 2024

Upsala, Ontario

Mosquito Carrying A Man

A giant metal mosquito prepares to feast.

This Iowa Summer Camp Is Abuzz With Mosquitoes

But not in the way you're thinking.

Katherine R. Bruna May 27, 2024

Karrebæksminde, Denmark

Græshoppebroen (Grasshopper Bridge)

This distinctive bug-like bridge is made of recycled horseshoes.

A female small-winged stick mantis (<em>Brunneria subaptera</em>).

The Mystery of Uruguay's Ferocious, All-Female Cannibal Insects

The small-winged stick mantis is found throughout South America's grasslands. But in Uruguay, the population is entirely female.

James Hall April 26, 2024

An adult cicada from Brood X.

You've Heard of Cicadas, But Have You Heard of the Magicicada?

Cicada scientists share the secrets of this spring's rare double brood emergence. The last time it happened, Thomas Jefferson was president.

John Cooley and Chris Simon April 22, 2024

St. Augustine, Florida

Disease Vector Education Center

The United States' only educational center specializing in disease vectors and mosquitoes.

The pink fairy armadillo is so rarely spotted that scientists know very little about the Argentinian species.

A Year of Spectacular, Adorable, Sometimes a Little Scary Animals

From cute death omens to post-nuclear-disaster predators, these animals captivated us in 2023.

Danielle Hallock December 27, 2023

Pöschel (left) and Schmelzer, with the mite-cheese monument in Würchwitz.

The Biology Teacher Resurrecting Germany's 500-Year-Old Mite Cheese

At this charming farm, quirk meets quark to make a unique cheese.

Susannah Edelbaum November 13, 2023

The deathwatch beetle found in the United Kingdom, <em>Xestobium rufovillosum</em>, was once considered an omen of death.

The Truth Behind the Deathwatch Beetle's Creepy Tap-Tap-Tapping

In the United Kingdom, the insects were once considered omens of death—they're actually much more destructive.

Roxanne Hoorn October 11, 2023

Scientists estimate there are some 4,000 bees native to the United States alone—but many of them are struggling to survive in our warming, pesticide-ridden world.

To Save America's Native Bees, the Oregon Bee Project Is Mapping Every Single One

The project aims to make a complete 'bee atlas,' detailing every single local pollinator.

Kate Raphael September 22, 2023

These industrious beetles can live up to a few years without food, and rarely need water, making them unfortunately easy pets.

objects of intrigue

The Living, Breathing Brooches of the Yucatán

The live, jewel-encrusted beetles called maquechs are tied to an ancient legend, but some worry for their future.

Roxanne Hoorn September 7, 2023

Monteverde, Costa Rica

Reserva Curi Cancha

This wildlife refuge is home to more than 200 species of birds, as well as monkeys, lizards, and other wildlife.

Thousand-Armed Insect Goddess of Mercy

A bizarre statue of a Buddhist goddess made from 20,000 insects.

Spotted skunks perform impressive handstands to appear twice their size and ward off would-be predators.

10 Tales of the World’s Quirkiest Animals

A celebration of curious, overlooked, and misunderstood creatures.

April White August 25, 2023