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Tech NewsSpit Out That Cicada, Right Now
If you have observed the emergence of Brood X, the one-in-17-years cicada swarm, and thought, I want that in my mouth, you are not alone. The cicada consumes the plant fluids; the American consumes the cicada; the FDA warns Americans about consuming cicadas. It is the natural order. This afternoon, the FDA emphatically tweeted a … Continued
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io9Books & ComicsX-Men’s Brood Are What Brood X Nightmares Are Made Of
People’s longstanding fear of swarming insects like cicadas is enshrined in our pop culture. For years we’ve reimagined bugs as everything from larger-than-life creatures poised to take over the planet to hyper-intelligent mimics hellbent on supplanting humanity. Now, with millions of the United States’ Brood X cicadas digging their way out of the ground, it’s … Continued
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EartherConservationHow I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love—or at Least Tolerate—the Cicadas
I’ve never liked bugs. I frequently have nightmares about swarms of insects. So naturally, I’ve been anxious about the Brood X cicadas re-emergence for months, concerned that they’ll ruin the experience of eating at outdoor restaurants or hanging out on my deck on weekend afternoons. I know the bugs are harmless, but that doesn’t mean … Continued
By Dharna Noor -
EartherThey’re Here
The march of the horny bugs has begun. Brood X cicadas have started to emerge, though slowly thanks to spring temperatures that are slightly cooler and wetter than normal. After 17 years underground, the cicadas are coming up to a world both familiar and radically different. The War on Terror? Still happening. Myspace? Not so … Continued
By Brian Kahn -
io9MoviesOpen Channel: Which Monster Movie Bug Should Inherit the Earth?
Over the course of the next few weeks, billions of cicadas will emerge from the ground to swarm across chunks of the eastern U.S. to eat, mate, sing, and remind everyone what a powerful force insects can be en masse. Though there’s a certain majesty to cicada swarms whenever they burst out of the earth, … Continued
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ScienceBiologyNew Mexico Man Starts Driving Home From Albertson’s Before Noticing Beees, Thousands of Beees!
Do you hear that? Buzz buzz. Vroom vroom. Buzz, buzz. Vroom vroom. That’s the sound of the car bees. Per CNN, a New Mexico man shopping at an Albertson’s in Las Cruces left his window partially rolled down on Sunday, March 28, returning to find a mass of bees. The Las Cruces Fire Department wrote … Continued
By Tom McKay -
ScienceBiologyUnprecedented Footage Reveals the Bizarre Inner Workings of a Beehive
Ever wonder what it’s like to be a honey bee? These new video clips, taken from within a beehive, will give you a good sense. Extraordinary new footage shows bees working inside a hive, revealing both familiar and unfamiliar behaviors, according to new research published in PLOS One. Using a special camera configuration, the scientists, … Continued
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Tech NewsGadgetsThis Sensor Lets Beekeepers Catch Bees Before They Do Each Other Dirty
Our friends the bees have certain behaviors that are unhealthy to the hive and scary for passersby. One behavior, swarming, happens when a hive splits naturally with a group of bees following a new queen. This is a delicate time for the hive and could result in starved bees and a dead queen. In other … Continued
By John Biggs -
ScienceBiologyDino ‘Parasites’ Trapped in Amber Are Not What They Appear to Be, Say Scientists
Scientists are challenging the reported discovery of fossilized lice-like bugs crawling through dinosaur feathers, but the original researchers are standing by their interpretation. Y’all know what this means, right? Science fight! In this corner, we have a team led by Taiping Gao from Capital Normal University in China. Back in 2019, this group claimed to … Continued
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Earther12 New Studies Show How Close Insects Are to Extinction
I do not like bugs. Creepy, many-legged things make my skin crawl. But as unpleasant as they are, insects are absolutely crucial for our world’s ecosystems to function, and sadly, new research shows that the creatures populations are on the verge of collapse. That’s the theme of the latest issue of the Proceedings of the … Continued
By Dharna Noor -
EartherHoneybees Fend Off Asian Giant Hornets With Poop
Attacks by giant hornets, relatives of murder hornets, on honeybee hives are absolutely horrifying. Worker hornets identify bee hives and then bring in reinforcements of two to dozens of others, slaughtering bees at a rate of up to one per 14 seconds and sawing off their heads to gather protein-rich thoraxes and feast on pupae … Continued
By Tom McKay
