January 20, 2008 – 4:58 pm
From ScienceDaily.
Throughout the tropics, ants and Acacia trees live together in intricate interdependent relationships that have long fascinated scientists.
Now researchers are reporting that in Africa, this plant-insect teamwork depends on the very antagonist it is intended to ward off: Africa’s big browsing mammals.
Researchers report that elephants, giraffes and other large plant-eaters spur Acacias to “hire” [...]
December 6, 2007 – 12:42 am
View at National Geographic.
Found only on the islands of Oahu, Molokai, Maui, and Hawaii, the happy face spider, such as this one guarding its eggs on a leaf in Maui, is known for the unique patterns that decorate its pale abdomen.
October 31, 2007 – 11:34 pm
From The Independent by Steve Connor.
King Solomon is said to have told sluggards to look to the hard-working ant and be wise. Aesop, too, extolled the virtues of the humble ant in his fable explaining why the insect’s constant toiling through the summer months would make for an easier winter compared with the fortunes of [...]
October 11, 2007 – 1:39 pm
From Washington Post by Rick Weiss.
Vanessa Alarcon saw them while working at an antiwar rally in Lafayette Square last month.
“I heard someone say, ‘Oh my god, look at those,’ ” the college senior from New York recalled. “I look up and I’m like, ‘What the hell is that?’ They looked kind of like dragonflies or [...]
September 2, 2007 – 10:57 pm
From Telegraph.
Scientists have worked out why mosquitoes make a beeline for certain people but appear to leave others almost untouched.
Specific cells in one of the three organs that make up the mosquito’s nose are tuned to identify the different chemicals that make up human body odour.
To the mosquito some people’s sweat simply smells better than [...]
August 30, 2007 – 8:20 pm
Read article at As bees go missing, a $9.3B crisis lurks.
.. The insects aren’t very good travelers either. When a truck carrying bees gets caught in a summer traffic jam, for instance, hives quickly overheat, despite the fact that the millions of workers inside them furiously fan their wings in an attempt to prevent [...]
August 12, 2007 – 5:10 pm
Read article at Are the Bees Dying off Because They’re Too Busy? from AlterNet.
Are bees dying because factory farms are “overworking” them? California bee farmers who let their hives take it easy find their colonies are thriving.
Honey is just one product of those highly productive bees; the pollen and wax they produce are valuable, too. [...]