Category Archives: Uncategorized

Can Gordian worms infect humans? Also, what is ‘pseudoparasitism’?

We get a lot of weird questions in our inbox about parasites. Most of them, we can’t answer because doing so would amount to giving medical advice…but every so often we get a question completely out of left field. Like … Continue reading

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Are there insects which are toxic as adults, but not as larvae?

Written by Joe Ballenger I wanted to know if it is possible for the adult butterfly to be poisonous while the caterpillar of the same species is not poisonous? I think this is a really insightful question, and I’ve got … Continue reading

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If you’re allergic to the bugs you eat, can you become allergic to nuts?

Our question this week comes from the Nature Check discord. Nature Check is a project where we use games like D&D to talk about science, and you should totally check it out! In the food channel, we were talking about … Continue reading

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Do insects get fat? Everything you ever wanted to know about the fat body.

Written by Joe Ballenger So this is a fantastic question, especially if you’re trying to shed those extra pounds after Thanksgiving and Christmas. So do bugs get fat? Yeah, they do. Sometimes it’s adorable, and sometimes it’s…not.

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So why DOES anesthesia work on plants?

Written by Joe Ballenger I was on Twitter recently, and one of my colleagues found a rather cool article by Luke Hollomon about plants and anesthesia. When we’re working with insects in the lab, we often have to knock them … Continue reading

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So let’s talk about how insects have helped make the Coronavirus vaccines.

Written by Joe Ballenger In December 2019, the world changed forever. I know that’s a bit of a heady way to begin this article, but it’s true. The current SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has changed a lot of the way people live, … Continue reading

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November – Time for the Entomological Society of America National Meeting

Every year, November is an especially busy month for Nancy, Joe, and I. This is because it is time for the national Entomological Society of America (EntSoc or ESA) meeting, in addition to our other responsibilities. This meeting is a … Continue reading

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Asian Giant Hornets: What comes next?

Nancy has a new project called the SciHive on Facebook, and it’s a great resource if you want to interact with professional entomologists (like us!). In light of the Washington State Department of Agriculture exterminating a Asian Giant Hornet nest, … Continue reading

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Poll for next week’s blog post – Halloween Theme

Howdy y’all. We wanted to try something a little different. For next week’s post, I have a couple of topics in mind – but I’m only going to write about one. Which topic would you like to read about next … Continue reading

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Why are baby scorpions born white?

A student of mine is researching scorpions and he has a question about emperor scorpions that we have been unable to answer through our own research. He has learned that baby emperor scorpions are born white, but he cannot find … Continue reading

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