Tag Archives: insects
plants are awesome
Yesterday for ScienceNOW I wrote about tobacco plants that open their flowers at a different time of day if they’re getting eaten by caterpillars. (My story.) It’s kind of ingenious, if these scientists are right about it. Hawkmoths are good … Continue reading
how to tether a mosquito
Why do mosquitoes buzz in people’s ears? I actually can’t remember the conclusion of that children’s book, but I can now tell you a bunch more about mosquitoes buzzing in general. It’s in this ScienceNOW story. Enjoy. For the study, … Continue reading
sexy fruit flies
Fruit flies may all look the same to you. But not to other fruit flies! A new study in the journal PLoS Biology finds that males prefer bigger females. In fact, they harass the big girls so much, those females … Continue reading
ant portrait
I got excited when I saw these ants running around on the sidewalk at a scenic overlook in Arizona, because I vaguely remembered that the ants I studied in grad school were from Arizona. But I spent a lot of … Continue reading
weather and bugs
We’ve been having the most fascinating weather in the D.C. area this summer. In the spring and early June it rained all the time. The rain stopped just in time for the Folklife Festival, a two-week outdoor Smithsonian event that … Continue reading
why you don’t leave a car for six weeks
I learned a ton of awesome things when I was in the Bering Sea this spring. I also learned one important lesson when I got home: Don’t leave your car for six weeks without driving it. I guess since I … Continue reading
new quizzes, hot off the presses
I’m writing a whole batch o’ quizzes for the Science Channel (it’s part of the Discovery empire, which is based just up the road in Silver Spring). Three more went up today! You can test your knowledge on: Dinosaurs! This … Continue reading