Insects Trapped In Love

This love story between two invasive pests is set in the southern states, but most notably Texas. The cotton bollworm entered from Mexico around 1916 and within 20 years had spread to over 119 counties within Texas, infuriating farmers along the way. The adult is a small moth, but before reaching maturity it goes through three other stages of development: egg, larva, and pupa. The larvae have been described as being aggressive, occasionally carnivorous and are reported to even cannibalize each other. During the destructive larval stage it eats the maturing seeds within the cotton boll.

In the 1960s and 1970s chemical insecticides, including DDT, were used in an attempt to control their spread. The following decade ushered in a heightened interest in nonchemical pest control. After experimenting with hormone manipulation, the Texas Department of Agriculture came up with a romantic solution. Through the use of insect pheromones, researchers tricked male bollworms into mating with female budworms (another invasive pest). Since the different species had mismatched genitalia, upon mating the insects became locked together and died. Happy Valentine's Day!

GM Mosquito To Stop Dengue

The human death toll caused by disease-carrying mosquitoes has risen. Currently over 2 million of the 700 million people infected by mosquitoes die annually. Scientists have attempted to control these mosquito populations using a range of methods including chemicals, lasers and radiation. Now the results have been released from a new experiment that some have called "birth control for insects", which involves the first ever release of genetically modified mosquitoes into the wild.

Due to the fact that the female mosquitoes are responsible for biting and transmitting diseases like the untreatable dengue fever, scientists considered introducing males sterilized by a genetic mutation as a tool to dramatically decrease the population.

From May to October of this year Oxitec, the Oxford-based research firm, released sterilized male mosquitoes 3 times per week in a 40-acre region of The Cayman Islands. Upon mating with a sterile male, the female would produce no offspring, in turn shrinking the next generation's population. This Sterile Insect Technique (SIT) has been used in the past, but the insects have always been rendered sterile using radiation, rather than by a genetic modification. Using this new method, by August there was an 80% drop in the mosquito population within that region.

Releasing transgenic animals into the wild is cause for concern to many environmentalists who fear that killing off an entire mosquito population could harm dependent species higher on the food chain. Oxitic insists the method is safe and will not have any permanent ecological impact since the sterilizing gene can't be passed on to future generations. The introduction of competitive species has gone awry in the past, like the disaster after Cane Toads were brought to Australia.

Spotless Ladybug

It's the time of year when ladybugs start to emerge. If you look closely, you might notice something odd once in a while when you come across one that is spotless. Have no fear, this isn't some strangely packaged omen. They are commonly known as polished ladybugs or Cycloneda munda. Either that or it's just a normal ladybug that happens to have no spots.

Different ladybugs have different numbers of spots. Some lack them entirely while others have been reported to have as many as 24. A ladybug concludes its lifecycle after just one year, and their spots are with them the whole time. They neither gain, nor lose spots as they mature. The sex of the ladybug can not be determined based on their spots. They primarily feed on tiny insects, but especially love aphids. One ladybug is capable of eating as many as 5000 aphids in its lifetime. Hence, they are commonly used in agricultural settings to control infestation of crops by other pest species.

Fastest Of The Slow

Every year 300 snails compete in the annual World Snail Racing Championship, held in Congham, Norfolk. The snails race from the middle of a circle (radius = 13 inches) to the outside. The snails are put in the center and pointed in the right direction, as their Trainer starts the race by yelling "Ready, steady, SLOW!"

The picture above shows an overjoyed snail named Heikki, the 2008 World Champion, who won in a time of 3 minutes, 2 seconds. The trainer? 13 year old Georgie Brown. The World record still remains at a speedy 2 minutes flat, set in 1995 by the legendary snail Archie.

Ant Killer

This is an ant infected by a parasitic fungus of the Cordycep genus. This fungus is interesting because it actually manipulates the behavior of its host in order to increase its own chances of reproducing. Once infected, the ant is forced to climb high up into a tree or nearby plant, where it attaches itself. This strange behavior assures a maximized distribution of spores from the fruiting body that emerges out of the dead insect's body weeks later.

In more detail... The fungus spores first attach themselves to the surface of the ant, where they germinate. They then invade the ant's body through the tracheae, allowing for fine fungal filaments called mycelia to start growing. When the fungus is ready to sporulate, the mycelia grow into the ant's brain, and produce chemicals which act on the brain to alter their perception of pheromones. This makes the ant climb a plant and, after reaching the peak, to clamp its mandibles around a leaf or leaf stem. This becomes the ant's final resting place.

The fungus eats through the brain, killing the host. The fungal fruiting bodies sprout from the ant's head, through gaps in the joints of the exoskeleton. When mature, the fruiting bodies burst and release capsules into the air. These explode on their way down, effectively spreading airborne spores over the area below. These spores infect other ants, completing the fungal life cycle. Depending on the type of fungus and the number of infecting spores, death of an infected insect takes 4 to 10 days.

This video is a clip taken from the BBC Planet Earth documentary:

Return Of The Moth

This mythical black-winged and orange bodied moth is so rare that it has been found on only four previous occasions since 1853. Until very recently near Loch Morie, Easter Ross, Highland in Scotland. While walking through the forest, Andy Scott and Margaret Currie noticed it in a spider's web and rescued it from certain doom.

Since the Ethmia pyrausta's discovery in 1853, two were found again in 1996 on the top of Glas Maol in the Grampians, and a further two found nearby. Butterfly expert Mark Young said "It is now up to us to try and find out where the moth breeds and to make sure that its habitat is safe."

BC Forests Feeling Blue

A recent outbreak of mountain pine beetles has destroyed an area of 33.4 million acres of British Columbian pine tree forests. This has huge economic implications, as these forests are a major source of softwood lumber exports to the United States.

According to a news release posted on BC's website, these infesting insects have killed about 710 million cubic meters as of this month, which is up from 582 million cubic meters at the same time last year. The province estimates that about 76% of it will have been killed by 2015.

These tiny black critters lay their eggs in lodgepole and ponderosa pines. The hungry larvae the kill the trees by destroying their ability to absorb nutrients and water. They also carry a fungus that stains the wood blue, leaving a marker for everybody to see...

Nature's Architects

On the left is a typical termite mound; on the right is Zimbabwe’s largest office and shopping complex: The Eastgate Center. Both are built based on the same principles.

Termites build massive mounds inside of which they farm fungus, their primary food source. In Zimbabwe, the temperature outside of the mound ranges from 2 C at night, to 40 C during the day, but the fungus must be kept at exactly 31 C. The termites achieve this by frequently opening and closing a series of heating/cooling vents throughout the mound over the course of a day. Air is sucked in the lower part of the mound, down into the enclosures with muddy walls, and back up through a channel to the top of the mound.

The Eastgate Center has a ventilation system that operates similarly. At the start of the day the building is comfortably cool. During the day, the shining sun, machines and people generate heat, which is absorbed by the fabric of the building. Gradually the temperature inside increases. In the evening, when the outside temperature drops, the warm internal air is vented through chimneys. This movement is assisted by fans, but also rises naturally due to the less dense nature of hot air. This draws in cool air at the bottom of the building. The process continues over night until an ideal temperature has been reached for the next day.

By applying the termite's ventilation method, known as passive cooling, Eastgate uses only 10% of the energy needed by a similar conventionally cooled building.