Modified insects could soon be joining rescue workers in the search for survivors
IF YOU’RE trapped under rubble after an earthquake, wondering if you’ll see daylight again, the last thing you need is an insect buzzing around your face. But that insect could save your life, if a scheme funded by the Pentagon comes off.
 

 
Scientists have discovered a mega-colony of this invasive insect species that stretches across the globe
Argentine ants from three huge colonies in Europe, America and Japan are actually part of one global super-colony, scientists have revealed.

Seed beetles are polyandrous
Seed beetles are polyandrous – females mate with multiple males, and choose which sperm will fertilize their eggs afterward. Scientists long believed they did this to get the best sperm. But a new study shows the fittest males always lose.

Glass or Crystal Frog
A scientific expedition along one of the most bitterly contested international borders in recent history has revealed a fascinating array of species, many of which are believed to be new to science, Conservation International (CI) announced. (Pics)

Large blue butterfly
A blue butterfly died out in Britain 30 years ago because of disruptions to a life cycle that includes pretending to be an ant, according to a study published Tuesday that points to smarter ways to protect wildlife.

New moth species, Lithophane leeae 
University of Arizona biologist Bruce Walsh has identified a new species of moth in southern Arizona. Normally, this is not a big deal. The region is one of the most biologically rich areas in the country and collectors have been finding hundreds of new species for decades. This one, however, is [...]

It may look like a pile of shoe strings, but they taste like worms.

An eco-restaurant has opened in Croatia offering a range of dishes featuring earthworms as the main ingredient.
The restaurant in Zadar claims the earthworms, which are farmed on site, are high in protein and low in fat making them highly nutritious.
Dishes on offer [...]

 
Dont let the bed bugs bite
Scientists here have determined that combining bed bugs’ own chemical signals with a common insect control agent makes that treatment more effective at killing the bugs.

 
The creature was discovered in a flower bed and now draws hundreds of followers to the home where it is kept in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala.
Now one of India’s top zoologists has decided he will study the unusual creature – provided it can be kept alive.
Reji Kumar, 35, a lift worker, said he is doing its best [...]

Tiny seahorse – Hippocampus satomiae
The International Institute for Species Exploration at Arizona State University and an international committee of taxonomists – scientists responsible for species exploration and classification – today announce the top 10 new species described in 2008.

 
Jurassic Park Anyone?…
The analysis of a termite entombed for 100 million years in an ancient piece of amber has revealed the oldest example of “mutualism” ever discovered between an animal and microorganism, and also shows the unusual biology that helped make this one of the most successful, although frequently despised insect groups in the world.

For bacteria in wastewater treatment plants, the stars align perfectly to create a hedonistic mating ground for antibiotic-resistant superbugs eventually discharged into streams and lakes.

You don’t need the exterminator for these ants you need the ghost busters
It sounds like something out of science fiction: zombie fire ants. But it’s all too real.
Fire ants wander aimlessly away from the mound.
Eventually their heads fall off, and they die.

 
Is Based More On Brute Force Than Aerodynamic Efficiency
 Brute force rather than aerodynamic efficiency is the key to bumblebee flight, Oxford University scientists have discovered.

Giant meat eating spiders Ahh! Way to go global warming
As if global warming isn’t giving us enough to worry about, now scientists say it could lead to bigger-and possibly more-spiders of at least one species.
A group of Danish scientists wondered whether global warming would make the hairy, meat-eating wolf spiders of northeastern Greenland bigger, since [...]

 Myrmecophyte plants-otherwise known as ant-plants
Nature is full of mutually beneficial arrangements between organisms-like the relationship between flowering plants and their bee pollinators. But sometimes these blissful relationships have a dark side, as Harvard biologist Megan Frederickson describes in an article for the May issue of The American Naturalist. (Pics)

 
 Could Climate Change Worsen Lyme Disease?
In a finding that suggests how global warming could impact infectious disease, scientists from Yale University, in collaboration with other institutions, have determined that climate impacts the severity of Lyme Disease by influencing the feeding patterns of deer ticks that carry and transmit it.

Looks like someone was watching spiderman when this idea was thought up
Spider silk is already tougher and lighter than steel, and now scientists have made it three times stronger by adding small amounts of metal.

Variety of Hawaiian Happy Face Spiders 
The spider, which measures just a few millimetres across, has developed bizarre markings giving the appearance of a smiling face.
Scientists think the spider, which has the scientific name Theridion grallator and is harmless to humans, has evolved the patterns to confuse predators. (Pics)

Mycocepurus smithii
A group of Amazonian ants have evolved an extremely unusual social system: They are all female and reproduce via cloning. Though their sexual organs have virtually disappeared, they have also gained some extraordinary abilities.

 
A University of British Columbia researcher has discovered dozens of species of jumping spiders that are new to science, giving scientists a peek into a section of the evolutionary tree previously thought to be sparse.

Heres looking at you kid
“The eyes are the mirror of the soul” – says an old Yiddish proverb. And that’s true! But do animals have a soul? Look at their eye extreme close-ups and try to see one.

 
 Insects are just plain cool
In general, caterpillars are elongated and tubular in shape but there are a few that have peculiar and bizarre shapes.
Here are some of the most uniquely shaped caterpillars. Pick your own choice which one on the list you think is the weirdest-looking of them all.

 
OH YEA! even flies get sick of each other!
Mating can be exhausting. When fruit flies mate, the females’ genes are activated to roughly the same extent as when an immune reaction starts. This is shown in a study at Uppsala University that is now appearing in the scientific publication Journal of Evolutionary Biology.

You will never see apples the same again!
A team of researchers are reporting the ongoing emergence of a new species of fruit fly–and the sequential development of a new species of wasp–in the February 6 issue of the journal Science.