bugs

The Pest Informer is offering to pay a handful of volunteers $2,000 to release roughly 100 American cockroaches into their homes for a study on pest control treatments.

This company wants to pay you $2,000 to infest your home with cockroaches

11:02am June 15, 2022

by Rachel Treisman

A North Carolina-based company is looking for a few study participants who are willing to welcome roughly 100 cockroaches into their homes. It got more than 2,500 applications in less than a week.

Adult Spotted Lanternflies outside the Berks County Services Building in Reading, PA Monday afternoon. The Spoted Lanternfly is an invasive species from Asia.

Agriculture Officials Really Want Those Spotted Lanternflies Gone, Gone, Gone

12:50pm August 24, 2021

by Jonathan Franklin

Pennsylvania officials are giving the following advice to those who encounter the pesky invasive insects: "Kill it! Squash it, smash it ... just get rid of it."

Science

Yum and Yuck: The Psychology Of What We Eat...And What We Spit Out

5:00pm December 13, 2018

This week on the Hidden Brain radio show, we dig into the culture and psychology that determines the foods that make us salivate and the scents that make us squirm.

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Science

Crickets And Cannibals: Unpacking The Complicated Emotion Of Disgust

9:00pm March 26, 2018

Imagine seeing a cockroach skitter across your kitchen counter? Does the thought alone gross you out? This week on Hidden Brain, we discuss disgust.

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Jacob Katz, with California Trout, says growing bugs in rice fields could be part of the solution for boosting salmon populations in rivers statewide.

A 'Floating Fillet': Rice Farmers Grow Bugs To Replenish California's Salmon

8:00am March 07, 2018

by Ezra David Romero

Insect-rich floodplain water once supported the threatened fish, but it has been diverted. The project's end goal is to improve the likelihood that Chinook survive the trek to the ocean and back.

Edible winged ants are placed atop a fish fillet at Insects in the Backyard, a high-end bug-based bistro in Bangkok.

It's Not Just A Bug, It's A Fine-Dining Feature At This Thailand Restaurant

2:45pm December 07, 2017

by Abbie Fentress Swanson

A high-end Bangkok bistro has devoted its entire menu to insects, hoping to entice intrepid eaters to try what's been called "the future of food." But will haute bug cuisine catch on in other places?

The defensive mucus of the Arion subfuscus slug has inspired materials scientists trying to invent better medical adhesives.

Slug Slime Inspires Scientists To Invent Sticky Surgical Glue

5:10pm July 27, 2017

by Rae Ellen Bichell

The words "strong" and "inspiring" are not usually assigned to garden slugs. But slug slime inspired materials scientists to invent a new kind of adhesive that could one day help heal human wounds.

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More Ticks In 2017: How To Stay Safe

1:50pm June 26, 2017

by Eddie Garcia

A mild winter is adding up to more insects, and that means more ticks—tiny creatures in the spider family that feed on the blood of mammals, birds, and humans.

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Entomologist Nancy Miorelli holds two owl butterflies at the Mariposario in Mindo, Ecuador.

To Put You At Ease With Creepy-Crawlies, Entomologists Face Your Fears

10:00am March 26, 2017

by Cecilia Mazanec

Nancy Miorelli posts photos of insects on her face on social media in hopes that the images will help normalize insects.