While an alarming 9 per cent of insects on land are being lost each decade, the state of the world’s insects is much more nuanced than warnings of an insect apocalypse Source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2241413-reports-of-an-insect-apocalypse-are-overblown-but-still-concerning/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=home…
Tag: insects
Was this the ancestor of all animals?
Geologists say the worm-like creature – about the size of a grain of rice – is the 1st ancestor on the family tree that contains most animals today, including humans. Source: https://earthsky.org/earth/ancestor-all-animals-australian-fossils…
10 tips to ease into Daylight Saving Time
Daylight saving time 2020 begins in the U.S. at 2 a.m. on Sunday, March 8. Spring forward! Source: https://earthsky.org/human-world/top-10-strategies-to-ease-your-body-into-daylight-saving-time…
A bee from the age of dinosaurs
One hundred million years ago, a bee got trapped in tree resin. Over time, geological forces converted the resin to amber. Now a scientist arrives on the scene, to tell us this bee’s story. Source: https://earthsky.org/earth/fossil-bee-trapped-amber-parasites-pollen…
Car ‘Splatometer’ Tests Reveal Huge Decline In Number of Insects
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Guardian: Two scientific studies of the number of insects splattered by cars have revealed a huge decline in abundance at European sites in two decades. The survey of insects hitting car windscreens in rural Denmark used data collected every summer from 1997 to 2017 and found an 80% decline in abundance. It also…
By 2050, the US Will Lose $83 Billion a Year Because of All the Nature We’ve Destroyed
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Fast Company: The world economy depends on nature, from coral reefs that protect coastal cities from flooding to insects that pollinate crops. But by the middle of the century, the loss of key “ecosystem services” could cost the world $479 billion each year. The U.S. will lose more than any other country, with an…
Genetically modified microbiome could protect honeybees from disease
Modifying bacteria found in the guts of bees could help protect the insects against lethal infections affecting hives worldwide Source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2231995-genetically-modified-microbiome-could-protect-honeybees-from-disease/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=home…
Potatoes engineered to harm a major pest but leave other insects safe
Biologists have used a gene silencing approach to engineer potatoes to be lethal to a major pest called the Colorado potato beetle but harmless to other species Source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2224716-potatoes-engineered-to-harm-a-major-pest-but-leave-other-insects-safe/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=home…
Crows Could Be the Smartest Animal Other Than Primates
In a piece for the BBC, Chris Baraniuk writes about how the intelligence of New Caledonian crows may be far more advanced than we ever thought possible. An anonymous reader shares an excerpt from the report: Intelligence is rooted in the brain. Clever primates — including humans — have a particular structure in their brains called the neocortex. It is thought…
University in U-turn over Mars ‘insects’ research
A press release concerning an Ohio University scientist’s discovery of insects on Mars has been taken down. The original paper, which contends that th… Source: https://www.unexplained-mysteries.com/news/332602/university-in-u-turn-over-mars-insects-research…