Insects

The curious link between alpha-gal allergy and deer season

Say you wake up in the middle of the night with a few hives on your arms. You might take some Benadryl and go back to sleep. Another night, you wake up with hives covering your body. You’re also having trouble breathing. Your face and hands might be swelling. You end up in the emergency […]

Science, in your own backyard

Have you wondered whether bees in our area are suffering from colony collapse disorder? Do you know what fly fishing’s aquatic insects can tell us about water quality? Entomologists (insect scientists) are no longer the only people watching bugs. Like many branches of natural science, entomology has reached out to citizen scientists for help in […]

Native pollinators

Fruits and vegetables that taste like summer—tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, blueberries, raspberries, melons—are swelling and ripening in gardens and farms of our region. These crops would be far less abundant without the buzzing chorus of pollinating insects that provide their services for free. Commercial honey bee and bumble bee operations make good use of the industrious […]

The song of the cicada

If you’ve gotten outside lately you must have noticed that the forests have been alive with a consistent humming and drumming, sometimes quite loud. When you first hear it you’ll swear there is a motor running, or look skyward in search of the nearby power line. But this sound is natural, as it comes from […]