Scientists at Swansea University (Wales, UK) have discovered a new type of antibiotic in maggot secretions that can tackle up to 12 different strains of MRSA, as well as E. coli and C. difficile. The research was funded by leading charity Action Medical Research, with support from the Rosetrees Trust.
The antibiotic, named Seraticin™, is derived [...]
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It’s just not fair, said Peat Willcutt. How can it be legal to have goats, pigs and bees in St. Paul, but people in Minneapolis have to hide theirs?
As urban agriculture booms in the Twin Cities area, Minneapolis residents are pressing their city to let them expand their backyard farms beyond chickens to bees [...]
The current U.S. population of red imported fire ants–which infest millions of acres across the southern states–can be traced back to nine to 20 queens in Mobile, Ala.
That’s according to a genetic study by Agricultural Research Service (ARS) entomologist D. DeWayne Shoemaker and University of Georgia entomologist Kenneth G. Ross. The results are reported in [...]
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An Australian pest controller who got lost in the desert while prospecting for gold survived by turning for help to the bugs he usually kills — and eating them.
Theo Rosmulder, 52, managed to stay alive in the harsh West Australian desert for five days by knocking the tops off termite mounds and “getting stuck into [...]
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It has long been debated whether dinosaurs were part of the ‘Terrestrial Revolution’ that occurred some 100 million years ago during the Cretaceous when birds, mammals, flowering plants, insects and reptiles all underwent a rapid expansion.
An international study, led by the University of Bristol, shows that during their last 50 million years of existence, dinosaurs [...]
Mantises, Mantes, Mantids or whatever term you prefer to use for their plural form, are among the most fascinating and at the same time scariest insects in the world.The 2,300 species of praying mantises comprise an order of insects called Mantodea.The word ‘mantis’ is Greek, and means prophet or fortune teller. Praying prophet? Very appropriate. [...]
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Bees provide crucial pollination service to numerous crops and up to a third of the human diet comes from plants pollinated by insects. However, pollinating bees are suffering widespread declines in North America and scientists warn that this could have serious implications for agriculture and food supply. While the cause of these declines has largely [...]
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Wasps are not man’s best friend — probably their worst. But when it comes to sniffing out trouble, scientists believe they may be better than dogs.
They ward off intruders, track down criminals, find bombs and detect toxic chemicals, but dogs could soon be replaced by wasps. They have the same sensitive odor detection as [...]
Biologists have recently explored the distribution of the butterfly Iolana iolas, one of the endangered species in the Madrid region whose population dynamics are determined by its host plant. The study, prepared by scientists from the King Juan Carlos University in Madrid, proposes a new path for designing conservation plans for the species using geometric [...]
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Two Sandwich teenagers are making a few extra bucks by selling jewelry crafted out of dead bugs.
Katheryn Maloney and Brady Cullinan, both 17, sold earrings and necklaces at a local market Tuesday made from dead cicadas collected during this year’s swarm, the Cape Cop Times reported. The bugs covered areas of the Cape this year [...]
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