insect

A new method has allowed researchers to conduct the first gene knock-out and knock-in edits on cockroaches and may extend to many other insects.

The land’s first known singer may have sounded like a raspier version of today’s familiar insect fiddlers.

The behavior is the first example of a mammal mimicking a more-dangerous species.

Pregnant mosquito females deploy the microbe Elizabethkingia to speed larval growth; the larvae, in turn, help the bacteria outcompete other strains.

A handful of new studies moves the needle toward a consensus on the long-disputed question of whether insect wings evolved from legs or from the body wall, but the devil is in the details.

A study finds that a baculovirus that infects cotton bollworm larvae changes the expression of genes involved in light perception, driving them to seek heights that could favor viral transmission.

Scientists find human DNA preserved in lice cement from the heads of South American mummies.

NIH researcher Andaleeb Sajid discusses her study’s finding that ticks were unable to feed on vaccinated guinea pigs, preventing transmission of the pathogen that causes Lyme disease.

Across the tree of life, animals use sound and other vibrations to glean valuable sensory information about their environments even before they are born.

Recent findings buck the traditional idea that embryos are passive agents and instead suggest that by tuning into vibrations, organisms can better prepare to enter the outside world.

Watch and listen to reptiles, amphibians, insects, and birds respond to sound from inside their eggs.

More and more people are traveling around the world to watch the luminous displays of fireflies, but tourism-related light pollution and habitat degradation threaten to snuff out the insects at some locations.  

A single gene called BMP11 regulates not only the size and proportions of a water strider’s massively long third legs, but also how it uses the limbs in fights.

The Centenary University professor studies the far-reaching effects of changes in the gut bacteria of mosquitos and other species.

The use of pesticides has decreased in the US by more than 40 percent since 1992, but the emergence of more-potent chemicals means that they are far more damaging to many species.

Whiteflies overcome a toxin in plants they eat through the use of the plant’s own genetic protection, likely ferried from plant to insect millions of years ago by a virus.

Aedes scapularis is already established on the peninsula, and researchers predict that its population will continue to spread.

Researchers across disciplines are adopting high-tech tools to better understand the kinematics and behaviors behind insect flight.

Researchers are pulling from video games, sports broadcasting, meteorology, and even missile guidance technology to better investigate how insects have mastered flight.