Endangered by the flooding in South Carolina, fire ants form floating "rafts" to keep the queen and workers of the colony alive.
Showing posts with label bugs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bugs. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 06, 2015
Thursday, May 22, 2014
I Don't Recall Mealworms On Star Trek
"Space travel suddenly seems less appealing! Volunteers live off MEALWORMS for 105 DAYS to prove creatures could be the future of astronaut food."
"Mealworms yesterday, mealworms today, and blimey, if it don't look like mealworms again tomorrer," said one of the volunteers.*
*bonus points for identifying the slightly altered quote. Answer in comments.
"Mealworms yesterday, mealworms today, and blimey, if it don't look like mealworms again tomorrer," said one of the volunteers.*
*bonus points for identifying the slightly altered quote. Answer in comments.
Saturday, October 26, 2013
Tuesday, October 15, 2013
Wednesday, August 07, 2013
Monday, July 22, 2013
Hey, Billy Connolly Got His Meter!
"The 'sting-o-meter' that tells you which insects cause most pain (by researcher who's been stung by just about everything)"
Most of us get stung by an insect occasionally and grumble about it for a couple of minutes before forgetting about it.
Not so for one researcher from Arizona.
Justin Schmidt, from the Southwestern Biological Institute, has been stung so many times that he decided to create a pain scale to rate the insects’ stings.
Here's the list:
Fire Ant - one (pain lasts two to four minutes)
Honeybee - two (pain lasts up to ten minutes)
Bumblebee - two (pain for up to five minutes)
German Yellowjacket - two (pain lasts four to ten minutes)
Velvet Ant - three (pain for up to 30 minutes)
Harvester Ant - three (pain for one to eight hours)
Paper Wasp - three (pain for five to 15 minutes)
Warrior Wasp - four (pain for up to two hours)
Tarantula Hawk - four (pain for three minutes)
Bullet Ant - four (pain for 12 to 24 hours)
Comedian Billy Connolly, of course, envisioned such a pain scale - - and a meter to measure it - - in his classic skit Stonefish, or The Worst Pain Known To Man:
Most of us get stung by an insect occasionally and grumble about it for a couple of minutes before forgetting about it.
Not so for one researcher from Arizona.
Justin Schmidt, from the Southwestern Biological Institute, has been stung so many times that he decided to create a pain scale to rate the insects’ stings.
Here's the list:
Fire Ant - one (pain lasts two to four minutes)
Honeybee - two (pain lasts up to ten minutes)
Bumblebee - two (pain for up to five minutes)
German Yellowjacket - two (pain lasts four to ten minutes)
Velvet Ant - three (pain for up to 30 minutes)
Harvester Ant - three (pain for one to eight hours)
Paper Wasp - three (pain for five to 15 minutes)
Warrior Wasp - four (pain for up to two hours)
Tarantula Hawk - four (pain for three minutes)
Bullet Ant - four (pain for 12 to 24 hours)
Comedian Billy Connolly, of course, envisioned such a pain scale - - and a meter to measure it - - in his classic skit Stonefish, or The Worst Pain Known To Man:
Sunday, June 09, 2013
What Caliber For...
...Gallinippers?
Giant mosquitoes the size of a quarter are invading central Florida and officials are warning residents to beware of the 'notoriously aggressive' bloodsuckers.
Entomologists at the University of Florida predicted the massive insects, known as gallinippers, would descend on the sunshine state in record numbers this year after drenching rains from Tropical Storm Debbie. Now the mammoth monsters have arrived, being spotted in Seminole County.
The frightening supermosquitoes, native to the eastern half of the United States, are 20 times the size of an ordinary mosquito and their bite is unusually painful.
The are pretty big compared to a normal-sized mosquito:
Giant mosquitoes the size of a quarter are invading central Florida and officials are warning residents to beware of the 'notoriously aggressive' bloodsuckers.
Entomologists at the University of Florida predicted the massive insects, known as gallinippers, would descend on the sunshine state in record numbers this year after drenching rains from Tropical Storm Debbie. Now the mammoth monsters have arrived, being spotted in Seminole County.
The frightening supermosquitoes, native to the eastern half of the United States, are 20 times the size of an ordinary mosquito and their bite is unusually painful.
The are pretty big compared to a normal-sized mosquito:
Friday, May 31, 2013
Tuesday, May 07, 2013
Saturday, February 16, 2013
Friday, February 15, 2013
Thursday, January 24, 2013
Monday, January 14, 2013
Crabz Hatez Bald Cooterz
"Pubic lice almost wiped out thanks to the popularity of bikini waxing."
I don't think I need to comment more on this one, do I?
I don't think I need to comment more on this one, do I?
Wednesday, January 02, 2013
Less Likely To Kill You Than Blacks
I speak, of course, of Brown Widow Spiders:
Huh? What did you think I was talking about?
“The Brown Widow Spider is a cosmopolitan tropical and subtropical spider having established populations in Hawaii, Florida, some Caribbean Islands, parts of Australia, South Africa, Japan, and Cyprus,” according to the website.
In North America, the Brown Widow Spider was restricted for many decades to the Florida peninsula.
“However, around the year 2000, it started showing up in other Gulf Coast states. Brown widows are now known from Texas to Georgia and South Carolina. As specimens were found in new locations in the southeastern United States, this species was simultaneously being collected with greater frequency in southern California. The first specimens were collected in Torrance in 2003. After that, the spider was found with greater frequency in Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego counties,” the website says.
The brown widow has apparently made inroads into North Carolina, said Susan Brown, horticulture agent with Cooperative Extension of New Hanover County.
“The brown widow spider is fairly timid. I currently have a live sample in my office in a jar,” Brown said. “They are brown instead of black and they do have an orange hourglass on the belly.”
Brown widow spiders are rarely known to bite “and are unable to inject a substantial amount of venom into a victim,” Brown said.
A spokesman for the National Association for the Advancement of Black Widows (NAABW) called the accusation that Black Widows are dangerous "racist."
Pic:
Huh? What did you think I was talking about?
“The Brown Widow Spider is a cosmopolitan tropical and subtropical spider having established populations in Hawaii, Florida, some Caribbean Islands, parts of Australia, South Africa, Japan, and Cyprus,” according to the website.
In North America, the Brown Widow Spider was restricted for many decades to the Florida peninsula.
“However, around the year 2000, it started showing up in other Gulf Coast states. Brown widows are now known from Texas to Georgia and South Carolina. As specimens were found in new locations in the southeastern United States, this species was simultaneously being collected with greater frequency in southern California. The first specimens were collected in Torrance in 2003. After that, the spider was found with greater frequency in Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego counties,” the website says.
The brown widow has apparently made inroads into North Carolina, said Susan Brown, horticulture agent with Cooperative Extension of New Hanover County.
“The brown widow spider is fairly timid. I currently have a live sample in my office in a jar,” Brown said. “They are brown instead of black and they do have an orange hourglass on the belly.”
Brown widow spiders are rarely known to bite “and are unable to inject a substantial amount of venom into a victim,” Brown said.
A spokesman for the National Association for the Advancement of Black Widows (NAABW) called the accusation that Black Widows are dangerous "racist."
Pic:
Saturday, December 08, 2012
Our Friend, the Maggot
Even more beneficial in healing wounds than we previously thought.
Although anecdotal reports suggested that maggots curb inflammation, no one had scientifically tested the idea. So a team led by surgical resident Gwendolyn Cazander of Leiden University Medical Center in the Netherlands siphoned samples of maggot secretions from disinfected maggots in the lab and added them to donated blood samples from four healthy adults. The researchers then measured the levels of so-called complement proteins, which are involved in the body’s inflammatory response.
Every blood sample treated with maggot secretions showed lower levels of complement proteins than did control samples—99.9% less in the best case, the team reports in the current issue of Wound Repair and Regeneration. Looking closer, the researchers found the broken-down remnants of two complement proteins—C3 and C4—in the secretion-treated samples, suggesting that the secretions had ripped the proteins apart. When the team tested blood samples from postoperative patients, whose wounded bodies were already scrambling to heal, they found that maggot secretions reduced the levels of complement proteins by 19% to 55%.
For good measure, the team tested the maggot secretions again after a day, a week, and a month to determine their shelf life. They also boiled some. To their surprise, the secretions were more effective after boiling and lost no potency after sitting on the shelf for a month.
Distilled essence of maggot. Sounds like alchemy, doesn't it?
Although anecdotal reports suggested that maggots curb inflammation, no one had scientifically tested the idea. So a team led by surgical resident Gwendolyn Cazander of Leiden University Medical Center in the Netherlands siphoned samples of maggot secretions from disinfected maggots in the lab and added them to donated blood samples from four healthy adults. The researchers then measured the levels of so-called complement proteins, which are involved in the body’s inflammatory response.
Every blood sample treated with maggot secretions showed lower levels of complement proteins than did control samples—99.9% less in the best case, the team reports in the current issue of Wound Repair and Regeneration. Looking closer, the researchers found the broken-down remnants of two complement proteins—C3 and C4—in the secretion-treated samples, suggesting that the secretions had ripped the proteins apart. When the team tested blood samples from postoperative patients, whose wounded bodies were already scrambling to heal, they found that maggot secretions reduced the levels of complement proteins by 19% to 55%.
For good measure, the team tested the maggot secretions again after a day, a week, and a month to determine their shelf life. They also boiled some. To their surprise, the secretions were more effective after boiling and lost no potency after sitting on the shelf for a month.
Distilled essence of maggot. Sounds like alchemy, doesn't it?
Tuesday, October 09, 2012
Headline of the Day
"Man dies after live roach-eating contest in Fla."
MIAMI -- The winner of a roach-eating contest in South Florida died shortly after downing dozens of the live bugs as well as worms, authorities said Monday.
About 30 contestants ate the insects during Friday night's contest at Ben Siegel Reptile Store in Deerfield Beach about 40 miles north of Miami. The grand prize was a python.
Edward Archbold, 32, of West Palm Beach became ill shortly after the contest ended and collapsed in front of the store, according to a Broward Sheriff's Office statement released Monday. He was taken to the hospital where he was pronounced dead. Authorities were waiting for results of an autopsy to determine a cause of death.
"Unless the roaches were contaminated with some bacteria or other pathogens, I don't think that cockroaches would be unsafe to eat," said Michael Adams, professor of entomology at the University of California at Riverside, who added that he has never heard of someone dying after consuming roaches. "Some people do have allergies to roaches," he said, "but there are no toxins in roaches or related insects."
Me? I think he died of shame after debasing himself in such a manner. I know I would.
MIAMI -- The winner of a roach-eating contest in South Florida died shortly after downing dozens of the live bugs as well as worms, authorities said Monday.
About 30 contestants ate the insects during Friday night's contest at Ben Siegel Reptile Store in Deerfield Beach about 40 miles north of Miami. The grand prize was a python.
Edward Archbold, 32, of West Palm Beach became ill shortly after the contest ended and collapsed in front of the store, according to a Broward Sheriff's Office statement released Monday. He was taken to the hospital where he was pronounced dead. Authorities were waiting for results of an autopsy to determine a cause of death.
"Unless the roaches were contaminated with some bacteria or other pathogens, I don't think that cockroaches would be unsafe to eat," said Michael Adams, professor of entomology at the University of California at Riverside, who added that he has never heard of someone dying after consuming roaches. "Some people do have allergies to roaches," he said, "but there are no toxins in roaches or related insects."
Me? I think he died of shame after debasing himself in such a manner. I know I would.
Friday, August 24, 2012
Sorry, That Particular World Ain't Worth Saving
"We Can Save the World by Eating Bugs and Drinking Urine."
It’s only a matter of time before Earth’s growing population faces a critical shortage of potable water. Luckily, science has a foolproof solution. A process called reverse osmosis can convert wastewater into H20 that’s as pure as the distilled stuff—even cleaner than what we usually drink. There’s just one problem: persuading people to drink liquid that used to be urine. After all, humans tend to pooh-pooh (pun intended) anything they find disgusting.
That repulsion response evolved to help us avoid ingesting things that are potentially dangerous. (Rotten food grosses us out for a reason.) But if humanity is going to survive, we may have to learn to overcome the ick factor.
Click the link to read the rest.
It’s only a matter of time before Earth’s growing population faces a critical shortage of potable water. Luckily, science has a foolproof solution. A process called reverse osmosis can convert wastewater into H20 that’s as pure as the distilled stuff—even cleaner than what we usually drink. There’s just one problem: persuading people to drink liquid that used to be urine. After all, humans tend to pooh-pooh (pun intended) anything they find disgusting.
That repulsion response evolved to help us avoid ingesting things that are potentially dangerous. (Rotten food grosses us out for a reason.) But if humanity is going to survive, we may have to learn to overcome the ick factor.
Click the link to read the rest.
Tuesday, August 21, 2012
Where Have All the Fireflies Gone?
Long time passing...
The season for fireflies is over now here, they are a spring-midsummer phenomenon.
The season for fireflies is over now here, they are a spring-midsummer phenomenon.
Saturday, August 18, 2012
Ladybug, Ladybug...
...flew into her ear.
And UK's National Health Service didn't send her to a specialist for three years, and only then after the head of the insect fell out of the tortured woman's ear.
Gross effing incompetence, is what it is.
But hey, it's free!
And UK's National Health Service didn't send her to a specialist for three years, and only then after the head of the insect fell out of the tortured woman's ear.
Gross effing incompetence, is what it is.
But hey, it's free!
Friday, July 13, 2012
I Don't Think I'll Be Alive Then
What will be on the dinner menu in 2050.
Ya think that elitists in NYC or San Fran will be dining on Wagyu Cockroach and boasting about it?
Ya think that elitists in NYC or San Fran will be dining on Wagyu Cockroach and boasting about it?
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