Clawing its way out of an earthen tomb…it’s the living dead, ready to feed! This is Sandra Tsing-Loh, with the Loh Down on Science. Imagine opening the door to find a horde of brain-hungry UNDEAD on your lawn! Yikes! Thankfully, zombies aren’t real. Right? Wrong! They ARE real! And they
Continue readingTag: bugs
Bee Mathletes
What’s smarter than a talking horse? A spelling bee? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Besides making honey, honeybees can communicate with dance, and even count! What CAN’T they do? Scarlett Howard from the Université de Toulouse BEE-searched this question. She tried to train bees
Continue readingEgg-ceeding Diversity
Medium, large, extra-large – when it comes to eggs, does size matter? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Insect eggs come in all sizes and shapes. Fruit flies lay tiny, pointy eggs. Others, like the many-banded daggerwing butterfly, lay giant round ones — Well, relatively
Continue readingBug Bait
When this couple wondered how to fend off bugs, a light bulb went on. Literally! This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Meet husband-and-wife ecologists Michael and Teresa Justice. They made their home ground zero for an experiment on attracting insects. Every night they used a
Continue readingFierce Fungus
What do you get when you cross a mushroom with a spider? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Mosquitoes are not just annoying — some are deadly! Anopheline mosquitoes in Africa transmit life-threatening diseases like malaria with one bite. What’s worse, they’re becoming resistant to
Continue readingZombie Antz
News flash: Zombies. . . ARE REAL. This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science, saying… I don’t mean the human living dead, but troves of zombie ANTS??!! It happens when a parasitic fungus hijacks their brains.The fungus releases chemicals into the ants that compels them to
Continue readingTowering Termites
Are your next building contractors. . . TERMITES? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. These pesky bugs are a nightmare for homeowners. But – surprise! Turns out some termites are quite the little architects! African termites build towering skyscrapers out of dirt and termite spit.
Continue readingAntwater Rafting
The ants go rafting one by one. Hoorah! Hoorah! This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science, saying: No, ants don’t raft one-by-one. Many types of ants are social, and act as a team . . . or in this case a crew! A team of scientists
Continue readingSweet Bee
What’s the BUZZZZ on BEEZ? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Honey bee populations have majorly declined in recent years. It’s called colony collapse disorder, and its cause has eluded beekeepers and scientists. Until now! Nancy Moran and researchers at University of Texas, Austin found
Continue readingBugburger
Hungry? Pass the crickets, please! This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. And the newest buzz on healthy eating! Edible bugs may not be on the menu for most Westerners. But, they are used as a food source in many other parts of the world. Scientists
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