Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Crazy fungi thing that shoots out of the brain of insects!

It's a fungus called Cordycep, David Attenborough will explain:

- Ji Soo




Law and Order: Entomology


PBS: Nature has a good documentary on how insects help with forensics called Crime Scene Creatures it's a little cheesy but still fascinating

-Ji Soo


Saturday, December 12, 2009

evolution by hybridogenesis theory debunked and a hermaphrodite moth

In response to the evolution by hybridogenesis theory, it turns out there were no interspecies relationships that led to the creation of caterpillars. the full article:
http://blogs.nature.com/news/thegreatbeyond/2009/10/no_species_mixing_to_make_cate.html


And this moth is a very rare find, it is completely sexually dimorphic within one body. The moth is a gynandromorph, literally half male and half female.
read more:
http://blogs.nature.com/news/thegreatbeyond/2008/05/picture_post_strange_dual_sex.html

How to eat June Bugs.


Apparently, they're delicious.

Their medicinal uses


How To


Posted by Joe

Friday, December 11, 2009

Metamorphosis and a Brain Hormone


"In its overall design, insect metamorphosis is very much like passage through puberty," O'Connor says. "From a biological point of view, both puberty and metamorphosis accomplish the same goal -- to provide reproductive capacity for the species at the appropriate developmental time." The brain hormone becomes active when insects have reached a threshold body weight, which is also a trigger for human puberty.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/03/090331201522.htm

- w


Thursday, December 10, 2009

Let's talk about fruit flies baby, let's talk about you and me


So, I have been on a bit of binge of sordid fruit fly sex research today. There are so many interesting articles being written about the role that genetics play in mate selection, sexual orientation, and the desire to settle down and have a family. Here are three articles I have found especially arousing-(scientifically speaking).

For that Urge-to-Merge, "Will you still love me in the morning?" romantic:

We're here-we're fruit flies-and we're fabulous:

and finally, "It's who I am, or, It's who science made me":

J.Kent

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Cricket lollypop


Cricket Lick-Its

http://coolbugstuff.com/product_info.php?cPath=27&products_id=43


It says the insects in the middle of the lollipops are real.
-w

Bug art


Beginning in 1977, a well-known San Francisco Area restauranteer, and character, named Juanita Musson, operated a bar and restaurant , ( The Warehouse Cafe) located below "Dr. Gladstone's Wonders of the World Museum" in downtown Port Costa. As a joke on Juanita, Clayton Bailey made several large ceramic Bugs to hang on the walls and ceilings of his Wonders Museum claiming that the bugs came upstairs from Juanita's restaurant.

http://www.claytonbailey.com/bug.htm

-w

Bed bugs

Here's an interesting documentary about bedbugs. It is graphic so be careful!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qx751dNw7Q&feature=player_embedded

-w

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Insect Pheromones Used As Insecticides

http://www.beyonddiscovery.org/content/view.article.asp?a=2702

Throughout the semester we have learned about the importance of pheromones in insects. Two weeks ago we learned about how the queen bee secretes pheromones to prevent her workers from laying eggs. This article is about how entomologists and chemists have learned to harness pheromones and use them as a form of pest control.


A.B.