entomology

Sep 2, 2014

Asian Camel Crickets Now Common in U.S. Homes

Non-native species of camel crickets, known for their propensity for eating anything, including each other, have spread into homes across the eastern United States. 

Aug 28, 2014

Cities as a Glimpse of the Future

How researchers learned that cities may serve as a crystal ball for the impact of climate change on an important insect pest. 

Aug 27, 2014

Three Things You Didn’t Know About the Arachnids That Live on Your Face

Right now, in the general vicinity of your nose, there are at least two species of microscopic mites living in your pores. Scientists have just published a study about these little-known mites. 

Aug 27, 2014

Museum Specimens, Modern Cities Show How an Insect Pest Will Respond to Climate Change

Researchers from North Carolina State University have found that century-old museum specimens hold clues to how global climate change will affect a common insect pest that can weaken and kill trees – and the news is not good. 

Jul 30, 2014

Urbanization: Good for Pests, Bad for Trees

Editor’s Note: This is a guest post by Steve Frank, an assistant professor of entomology at NC State.The post first appeared on Frank’s blog, Insect Ecology and Integrated Pest Management. My wife is from a neighborhood outside Baltimore called Lawyers Hill. This is where, in the 18th century, lawyers (and I assume doctors and other gentlemen)… 

May 23, 2014

Can ‘Sticky Bands’ Protect Your Trees From Cankerworms?

Editor’s note: This is a guest post by Steve Frank, an entomology researcher at NC State. If you live in the eastern United States, you may recently have noticed a ton of caterpillars hanging from trees on fine silk threads. Maybe you picked caterpillars off co-workers or family members when they came in from outdoors. These… 

May 20, 2014

Researchers Sequence Genome of Primitive Termite

North Carolina State University entomologists are part of a research team that has for the first time sequenced the genome of a member of the termite order, the dampwood termite (Zootermopsis nevadensis). A paper reports the findings today in Nature Communications. The findings on the genetic blueprint of the dampwood termite, one of the world’s… 

Mar 13, 2014

What’s Eating You?

It’s a jungle out there. Humans can be infected by more than 1,400 parasites – viruses, bacteria, fungi, etc. It can be bad enough when one nasty parasite takes hold – it’s certainly no fun to be stricken with tuberculosis – but what happens if you have two simultaneous infections? If one infection is diagnosed… 

Feb 5, 2014

Ants…In…Space

Editor’s note: This is a guest post by David Hunt, a writer in NC State’s News Services office. When NC State postdoc Clint Penick collected a group of pavement ants in a small mountain community in Western North Carolina last summer, he never dreamed they’d travel farther than his biology lab in Raleigh. Today, as they orbit… 

Sep 4, 2013

Nature in Your Backyard: Very Hungry Caterpillars

[Editor’s Note: This is a guest post by Holly Menninger, director of public science in NC State’s Your Wild Life program. The post originally ran on the Your Wild Life blog.] Over the weekend, our friend and veteran NC State science newsman Matt Shipman took a barefooted step out onto his back porch to enjoy a little… 

Jun 19, 2013

How Do Bees Make Honey? (It’s Not Just Bee Barf)

Last weekend, my daughter asked me how bees made honey, and I realized that I didn’t know the answer. How do bees make honey? I did some homework, and can now explain it to her – and to you. Different honey bees have different jobs. Some of these bees are “forager” bees, which collect nectar… 

Jan 16, 2013

Racing to Stop the Cankerworm

Who do you call when the pesky cankerworm is out of control? Entomologist Steve Frank and his team at the Urban Ecology Lab. See them in action. 

Jan 7, 2013

Drawing on Real Life

Editor’s Note: This is a guest post by Jennifer Landin, a teaching assistant professor of biology at NC State who teaches a course on biological illustration. Check out why she thinks biological illustration is valuable – and some of the art created in her classroom. While other universities have biological illustration courses, as far as I… 

Nov 8, 2012

Stick It to Cankerworms

Editor’s Note: This is a guest post by Steve Frank, an assistant professor of entomology at NC State. You can learn more about the Cankerworm Project here, and keep up with Steve’s entomological pest alerts and updates by following @OrnaPests on Twitter. In spring 2012, a cankerworm outbreak occurred in many North Carolina cities. Students became… 

Oct 5, 2012

Bringing Bugs Into the Classroom

Editor’s Note: This is a guest post by Dr. David Buchwalter, a researcher in NC State’s Department of Environmental and Molecular Toxicology. Every so often, The Abstract likes to highlight outreach efforts by NC State researchers. This one sounded like fun. Last month, I teamed up with other biological researchers to conduct a workshop for high school…