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Christopher Intagliata: Chimpanzees can make tools, they display emotions, and they can outfox humans at certain memory games. But chimps also resemble us in another way—they use medicine. They’re known to eat tough leaves and bitter plants to purge parasites from their guts. Now researchers have observed chimps applying a never-before-seen type of treatment—snatching flying … Read more
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
Streptomycin, an antibiotic used to treat bacterial diseases in apple orchards, might have a negative impact on bee foraging behaviour Life 23 February 2022 By Gary Hartley A common eastern bumblebee (Bombus impatiens) Clarence Holmes Wildlife/Alamy Exposure to streptomycin, an antibiotic used to treat crop diseases in the US, weakens the foraging ability of the … 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
Chimps at Loango National Park in Gabon apply small winged insects to their wounds in an apparent form of self-medication, but it is unclear why Life 7 February 2022 By Chen Ly Chimpanzees Suzee, Sassandra and Olive live in Loango National Park in Gabon Tobias Deschner/ Ozouga Chimpanzee Project A community of chimpanzees in Loango … 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
The shift to early flowering in the UK is greater for smaller plants than trees and shrubs, and is related to warming temperatures in winter and spring over the past 70 years Environment 2 February 2022 By Clare Wilson People walk past daffodils in Green Park in London TOLGA AKMEN/AFP via Getty Images Seen any … Read more
Parasitic gall wasps don’t get out much. For the vast majority of their year-long lives, from eggs to larvae, pupae to adults, these tiny insects are entombed in cocoon-like crypts on the leaves, flowers, and stems of oak trees. When spring rolls around, there’s no time to waste, not even for food. The wasps … 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