insects

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    Chemicals in Pet Flea Treatments Are Leading to Songbird Deaths, Report Finds

    Chemicals in Pet Flea Treatments Are Leading to Songbird Deaths, Report Finds

    In a new study, scientists are raising concerns over the ways that flea treatment chemicals for pets can leach into the environment and harm local wildlife. In light of the study, experts are calling on veterinarians to minimize preventative flea treatments to protect songbirds and insects impacted by the chemicals in these treatments. Scientists from […]

    Ants Learn From Experience and Can Hold Grudges, Study Finds

    Ants Learn From Experience and Can Hold Grudges, Study Finds

    Like humans, animals experience complex emotions like empathy, love, grief and joy. They can also hold grudges. In a recent study, a team of biologists found that ants can learn from experience and hold grudges when confronted with competitors from another nest with whom they’ve had previous negative experiences. “We often have the idea that […]

    Spiders ‘Smell’ Using Their Legs, Research Finds

    Spiders ‘Smell’ Using Their Legs, Research Finds

    Most spiders have eight legs, no ears and use fine leg hairs connected to nerve cells or their webs to hear sounds in their environment. But how do they smell? A new study by an international team of researchers has found that male spiders “smell” with their legs, using olfactory hairs — wall-pore sensilla — […]

    Australia Mosquito Population Researchers Developing Genetically Modified ‘Toxic Males’ to Kill Females by Mating With Them

    Australia Mosquito Population Researchers Developing Genetically Modified ‘Toxic Males’ to Kill Females by Mating With Them

    In Australia, researchers are considering how genetic engineering could allow mosquitoes to produce venom proteins, like those produced by spiders and sea anemones, in their sperm to transfer the poison to female mosquitoes when mating. In a study led by Macquarie University, researchers first used genetically modified fruit flies to test what has been dubbed […]

    Insect Larvae Capable of Digesting Plastic Discovered in Kenya

    Insect Larvae Capable of Digesting Plastic Discovered in Kenya

    Plastics, ubiquitous in modern society, have become a toxic menace all over the world, leaching PFAS “forever chemicals,” breaking down into microplastics and choking the world’s seas and landfills.  In a promising study, scientists have discovered that mealworm larvae are capable of consuming polystyrene. They are one of few insects — and the first native […]