entomology

May 20, 2011

Bad Bugs of Summer: Carpenter Bees

Our first two posts on the bad bugs of summer were about bloodsuckers: mosquitoes and ticks. We’ll now look at a pest that is a plague on our homes, if not our flesh – carpenter bees. However, in keeping with tradition, this “bad bug of summer” is not a true bug. Why are carpenter bees… 

May 17, 2011

Bad Bugs of Summer: Ticks

In our second post on the bad bugs of summer, we’ll be talking about ticks. Or, as I like to think of them, those bloodsucking disease spreaders. First of all, I really shouldn’t call ticks “bad bugs.” Technically, they’re not bugs at all. Of course, mosquitoes aren’t either. But ticks aren’t even insects. They’re arachnids.… 

May 11, 2011

Bad Bugs of Summer: Mosquitoes

Summer is more than lemonade and swimming pools. It means bug bites – mosquitoes, ticks, horse flies, you name it. This is the first in a series of posts profiling these bad bugs of summer: what they do, why they do it, tips on how to protect yourself, and the occasional trivial factoid. We’re starting… 

May 4, 2011

Bronze Doors Open for Gould

Entomology professor Fred Gould becomes NC State's ninth current faculty member elected to the National Academy of Sciences. 

Apr 26, 2011

Wetlands: Cleaning Stormwater, Killing Blood-Suckers

Developers most often use “wet ponds” to minimize stormwater runoff pollution at new real-estate developments. Now they may have to start rethinking their options. Research shows that building wetlands does a better job than wet ponds of removing pollutants – and could also help limit mosquito populations. Researchers from NC State have weighed a range of… 

Mar 14, 2011

Research Gets Curiouser and Curiouser

Interested in learning more about how ants live in the medians of Manhattan or in Peruvian tree gardens? How about the ways animals and plants move through landscape corridors that surround nuclear weapons sites? If so, you have something in common with Dr. Jai Ranganathan, a conservation biologist who produces “Curiouser and Curiouser” podcasts for… 

Dec 21, 2010

Trivial Pursuits: The Abstract’s 2010 Quiz

The Abstract staff will be taking off for a couple of weeks to prepare for 2011. In an attempt to amuse and entertain ourselves you, we’ve pulled together a quick quiz on some of the research we’ve written about in 2010. See how you do! Answers are below the photo, and include links to the… 

Dec 15, 2010

Homing in on Bed Bugs

NC State experts are fighting back against bed bugs with training and genetic research on pesticide resistance. Learn more and watch a bed bug-sniffing beagle. 

Dec 10, 2010

The Real Law and Order

On Dec. 7, some of the nation’s top forensics experts participated in the 3rd annual NC State Forensic Science Symposium. The symposium, which draws law enforcement professionals from around the state, puts the latest industry research and news into the hands of crime-solvers. Interesting highlights from the event include: A keynote address by internationally renowned forensics… 

Nov 18, 2010

It’s the End of the Male As We Know Him (And Boas Feel Fine)

If the end of men is upon us, as asserted by a summer cover story in The Atlantic, you can add boa constrictors to the list of those sticking their tongues out at males as they slide to irrelevance. Boa constrictor females, it turns out, don’t need males to get involved in the birthing process.… 

Nov 11, 2010

Trampled Underfoot

Most New Yorkers think of medians – islands in the middle of busy streets – as not much more than temporary respites from taxi- or bus-induced death. (I’m speaking from experience – I crossed Park Avenue at least twice every school day while attending high school.) So it stands to reason that as they move… 

Nov 5, 2010

No Main Squeeze

Call it the immaculate constriction: a boa that reproduces without mating. NC State scientists have uncovered a reptile supermom who has done something previously thought impossible—not once, but twice. 

Oct 15, 2010

Bigfoot Sighting

Using a doctoral student's photos, experts have confirmed a sighting of the rarest ant in North America—the Bigfoot of ants—in Cary. 

Aug 19, 2010

Who you gonna call? Beebusters!?

Don’t let bee experts fool you – they can help with more than just honey-makin’. Earlier in the week, a Wake County master deputy was called to respond to 50,000 honeybees swarming a disabled tractor trailer. However, upon seeing the police vehicle, the bees found a new place to swarm… and quickly covered the cruiser,…