Bytes

An island away

Larger forests can help control extinction, not epidemics

Little wonder

Tiny water-walking bugs provide scientists with insights on how microplastics are pushed underwater

Studying how small particles and organisms disperse in water could help scientists figure out how to prevent and mediate microplastic pollution. &…

Why everyone should develop a home garden

The joy of seeing plants flowering for the first time or birds building their nests in plants cannot be described in mere words

The hidden secrets of insect poop

Bugs use their own defecation to defend their young, locate their homes and increase mating opportunities. For humans, insect faeces may even …

Climate change shrinking bumblebee habitat in Europe, North America: study

Pollinators unable to migrate to cooler climes northwards in contrast to other species like butterflies

The one who didn’t get bugged

Book >> Insectopedia • by Hugh Raffles • Pantheon Books • Rs 750

Too little, too late

GRASSHOPPERS AND LOCUSTS: THE PLAGUE OF THE SAHEL Publisher: The Panos Institute, London Price: L 7.95

How the eye anticipates

Though light takes some time to reach the eye, there is a system by which animals anticipate the movement of a moving object. Now, scientists …

Drenched by doubts

Officials dismiss green rain in Bengal village as bee droppings, but experts find flaws in the theory

Shelf life

The Lives of Ants by Laurent Keller and Elisabeth Gordon,Oxford University Press, USA, $28

Lab manual

Book>> A Guinea Pig's History of Biology by Jim Endersby Random House 2008 Indian Price Rs 495

Insect supreme

Book>> The Book of Indian Butterflies by Issac Kehimkar Bombay Natural History Society and Oxford University Press Price Rs 1,500

Climate change triggering global collapse in insect numbers: Stressed farmland shows 63% decline — new research

Impact of climate change on insects still under-studied

Hairy potato

A pox on pests

Growing up with mom

How do genetic activities in the mother help the offspring in its development into an adult?

Fungal weapon

Dye death

Taking the short way home

Ants have sophisticated odometers

Water bug can check filariasis

Devours larval and pupal stages of the culprit mosquito

Less monarchs

Give biologists butterflies in the stomach

Auto-recovery

Name giving day

Competition>> Insects ÔÇó The UK