News about PaperPanda, Open Access, and Research
Insects have been touted as a food of the future, not least because of the sustainability benefits. An excellent protein source, they take up significantly fewer resources to produce when compared to traditional farming. Give your farm of mealworms around 2 kilograms (4.4 pounds) of food and you’ll get a kilogram of edible protein; with beef, … Read more
We humans are versatile and accomplished navigators, but insects might have navigation skills that are even better. For them, it’s literally a matter of life and death – and that’s why we decided to freeze some ants and beetles (don’t worry, they still survived) to learn more about how they remember their way home after … Read more
Researchers have tested the bite force of hundreds of insects and found that the raspy cricket chomps down with 1200 times more force than the wasp with the weakest bite Life 11 February 2022 By Carissa Wong The raspy cricket’s bite packs the biggest punch University of Bonn in Germany The raspy cricket is the … Read more
In 2019, Alessandra Mascaro, a volunteer and budding evolutionary biologist for The Loango Chimpanzee Project, noticed something no other primatologist in Africa had reported before. In the forests of Gabon, while following and filming a female chimpanzee Suzee and her son Sia, Mascaro noticed Suzee clamp something tiny between her lips, before applying the … Read more
For centuries, farmers have bred livestock and crops for desirable traits such as faster growth, better taste, and resistance to disease. Now, a new kind of rancher is following in their footsteps: mealworm breeders. Last week, France-based Ÿnsect announced it will spend nearly $5 million on the world’s first large-scale initiative to use state-of-the-art genetics … Read more
A flying robot with wings controlled by a magnetic field instead of heavy motors and gears slightly outperforms insect muscles Technology 2 February 2022 By Alex Wilkins A small robot with wings like an insect can fly and generate more power than a similarly-sized animal in nature. Most flying robots, whether they use wings or … Read more
Apart from fish, scientists have found only one other animal that can regulate its buoyancy in the water using swim bladders, and it’s probably not what you were expecting. The phantom midge is a type of lake fly (genus Chaoborus), but before it can take to the air, its larvae must first grow up in the … Read more
Science is often thought of as a serious subject. But even though it tackles hugely important issues—many with life-or-death consequences—it also has a fun side. This year Scientific American has covered some stories that ranged from “Huh, that’s weird” to “Ew, gross” to “So. Cool.” Below, we’ve rounded up a few of our favorites (seriously, … Read more
Seven years of concerted action to slow the spread of oak processionary moth have failed to stop its consistent outward expansion from London Environment 16 December 2021 By Adam Vaughan Caterpillars of the oak processionary moth (Thaumetopoea processionea) on a tree trunk in Germany blickwinkel/Hecker/Alamy Tougher action will be needed to stop a caterpillar threatening … Read more