DailyDirt: Insects, Insects Everywhere

from the urls-we-dug-up dept

Bugs! Most people hate them, we'll all probably be eating them eventually, and few people envy those who spend their lives studying them up close — but in truth there are few creatures on earth more varied and fascinating (not to mention critical to our ecosystems). Here are some of the latest dispatches from the world of creepy-crawlies:

• Scientists may have discovered a new weapon in the war against bed bugs: color. Turns out the much-hated infesters have notable color preferences, and can possibly be kept at bay by the right choice of palette for furniture and fabrics — or more likely ensnared by the right choice for traps and poisons. [url]
• Maggots, like leeches, are a symbol of archaic medicine to many — but they never actually fell completely out of use, and now might be making a major comeback. Certain wound infections can only be treated by cutting away the infected flesh, and maggots can be much more thorough at the job than a surgeon's scalpel. [url]
• Argentine ants are a terrifying success story from the world of invasive species, but their unstoppable expansion may be coming to an end. Their unprecedented cooperation and aggression allowed them to become arguably the largest animal colony in the world, but a recently-discovered adversary ant species might teach us how to stem the tide. [url]

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Filed Under: ants, bed bugs, insects, invasive species, maggots, medicine, pests