Latest Insects News
Think cicadas are weird? Check out superfans, who eat the bugs, use them in art and even striptease
FOREST PARK, Illinois (AP) — Mayumi Barrack sees a pair of mating periodical cicadas getting together, whips out her phone, says, “Hi guys!" and takes their picture. “I'm not really a bug person, but as I look more and more I feel they are adorable,” Barrack explained, noting...
Illinois is hit with cicada chaos. This is what it's like to see, hear and feel billions of bugs
RIVERWOODS, Ill. (AP) — The ground had seemed to undulate at night, alive with bugs. Crawling cicada nymphs, striving to get higher after 17 years underground, marched en masse toward and up trees, pausing to shed their skin and emerge as adults. And then the fun began. Cicada...
Micro communities for the homeless sprout in US cities eager for small, quick and cheap solutions
ATLANTA (AP) — In a dreary part of downtown Atlanta, shipping containers have been transformed into an oasis for dozens of previously unsheltered people who now proudly call a former parking lot home. The gated micro community known as “The Melody” doesn't look like a parking...
How to find that tricky balance between lawn and not-lawn. And care for it sustainably
In lawn care, as in politics, an extreme, black-or-white approach can be impractical and turn off the masses. But in the garden, at least, gray can be the perfect shade of green. Take, for instance, the No Mow May movement. Is it necessary to allow your entire property to turn into a...
Yes, you can have a tidy native-plant garden. Here are some tips
For decades, native plants were relegated to the “weed” section of many American gardeners' minds. Most nurseries didn’t stock them. But that’s slowly changing. Native plants provide food and shelter for bees, butterflies, birds and other beneficial critters. They...
Butterflies, bees, bugs and more: The summer of insect-counting gets underway in Germany
BERLIN (AP) — In a strip of greenery between Berlin’s Natural History Museum and a busy street, bumble bees move swiftly between flowers while a ladybug makes its way along a leaf full of aphids and bugs crawl about. Gardens, balconies, verges, fields, woods and patches of...
What to look for in mosquito repellents
FORT COLLINS, Colo. (AP) — There's an old joke that mosquitoes are like family: They are annoying, but they carry your blood. Mosquito season is starting to rev up across much of the United States. And that means bug bites. When a mosquito bites you, it pierces the...
Up close and personal, cicadas display Nature's artwork. Discerning beholders find beauty in bugs.
With rich reds, gentle greens and basic blacks, Nature's screaming, crawling artwork is the epitome of rare beauty — at least in the eyes of some beholders. To others, it may seem just creepy. It's a colorful, ever-changing canvas of bugs. Lots of them. A...
Italian museum recreates Tanzanian butterfly forest to raise awareness on biodiversity research
TRENTO, Italy (AP) — In a lush greenhouse high in the Alps, butterflies of various species and colors flutter freely while butterfly pupae are suspended in a structure as they grow into adult insects. This is the Butterfly Forest in the tropical mountain greenhouse in Trento,...
Vermont governor vetoes bill to restrict pesticide that is toxic to bees, saying it's anti-farmer
MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) — Vermont's Republican Gov. Phil Scott has vetoed a bill to severely restrict a type of pesticide that’s toxic to bees and other pollinators, saying the legislation “is more anti-farmer than it is pro-pollinator.” The bill would have banned uses of...
