Insects (including Butterflies) News

August 19, 2025

Top Headlines

The Surprising Ant Strategy That Could Transform Robotics

Aug. 15, 2025 — Weaver ants have cracked a teamwork puzzle that humans have struggled with for over a century — instead of slacking off as their group grows, they work harder. These tiny architects not only build elaborate leaf nests but also double their pulling ...

The Parasite That Turns Off Your Body’s Pain Alarm and Sneaks In

Aug. 12, 2025 — Scientists have discovered a parasite that can sneak into your skin without you feeling a thing. The worm, Schistosoma mansoni, has evolved a way to switch off the body’s pain and itch signals, letting it invade undetected. By blocking certain ...

These Butterflies Look the Same, but DNA Uncovered Six Hidden Species

Aug. 4, 2025 — Glasswing butterflies may all look alike, but behind their transparent wings hides an evolutionary story full of intrigue. Researchers discovered that while these butterflies appear nearly identical to avoid predators, they produce unique pheromones ...

Did Drunk Apes Help Us Evolve? New Clues Reveal Why We Digest Alcohol so Well

Aug. 1, 2025 — Ape behavior just got a name upgrade — “scrumping” — and it might help explain why humans can handle alcohol so well. Researchers discovered that African apes regularly eat overripe, ...

Eggs Are Off the Hook—study Reveals Bacon’s the Real Heart Risk

July 28, 2025 — Eggs are finally being vindicated after decades of cholesterol-related blame. New research from the University of South Australia reveals that eggs, despite their cholesterol content, aren't the dietary villains they've long been made out to be. ...

Ivermectin: The Mosquito-killing Pill That Dropped Malaria by 26%

July 26, 2025 — A groundbreaking study has revealed that the mass administration of ivermectin—a drug once known for treating river blindness and scabies—can significantly reduce malaria transmission when used in conjunction with bed ...

Millipedes Make Ants Dizzy — And Might Soon Treat Human Pain

July 25, 2025 — Millipedes, often dismissed as creepy crawlies, may hold the secret to future painkillers and neurological drugs. Researchers at Virginia Tech discovered unique alkaloid compounds in the defensive secretions of a native millipede species. These ...

These Dogs Are Trained to Sniff Out an Invasive Insect—and They're Shockingly Good at It

July 17, 2025 — Dogs trained by everyday pet owners are proving to be surprisingly powerful allies in the fight against the invasive spotted lanternfly. In a groundbreaking study, citizen scientists taught their ...

What Happens When Bees Can’t Buzz Right? Nature Starts Falling Apart

July 8, 2025 — High heat and heavy metals dampen a bumblebee’s trademark buzz, threatening pollen release and colony chatter. Tiny sensors captured up-to-400-hertz tremors that falter under environmental stress, raising alarms for ecosystems and sparking ideas ...

Scientists’ Top 10 Bee-magnet Blooms—turn Any Lawn Into a Pollinator Paradise

July 7, 2025 — Danish and Welsh botanists sifted through 400 studies, field-tested seed mixes, and uncovered a lineup of native and exotic blooms that both thrill human eyes and lure bees and hoverflies in droves, ...

A Cholesterol Secret Inside Ticks May Halt Lyme Disease Spread

July 4, 2025 — Scientists have discovered that the bacteria behind Lyme disease and anaplasmosis have a sneaky way of surviving inside ticks—they hijack the tick’s own cell functions to steal cholesterol they need to grow. By tapping into a built-in protein ...

Clever Worms Form Superorganism Towers to Hitch Rides on Insects

June 17, 2025 — Nematodes tiny yet mighty form wriggling towers to survive and travel as a team. Long thought to exist only in labs, scientists have now spotted these towers naturally forming in rotting orchard fruit. Remarkably, the worms aren t just piling up ...

Latest Headlines

updated 7:07am EDT

One Gene Completely Changed How These Flies Fall in Love

Aug. 17, 2025 — By flipping a single genetic switch, researchers made one fruit fly species adopt the gift-giving courtship of another, showing how tiny brain rewiring can drive evolutionary ...

A 16-Million-Year-Old Amber Fossil Just Revealed the Smallest Predator Ant Ever Found

Aug. 9, 2025 — A fossilized Caribbean dirt ant, Basiceros enana, preserved in Dominican amber, reveals the species ancient range and overturns assumptions about its ...

Nature’s Anti-Aging Hack? Jewel Wasp Larvae Slow Their Biological Clock

Aug. 7, 2025 — Scientists discovered that jewel wasp larvae that undergo a developmental "pause" live longer and age more slowly at the molecular level by nearly 30%. This slowdown is tied to conserved biological ...

A 500-Million-Year-Old Fossil Just Rewrote the Spider Origin Story

July 24, 2025 — Half a billion years ago, a strange sea-dwelling creature called Mollisonia symmetrica may have paved the way for modern spiders. Using detailed fossil brain analysis, researchers uncovered neural ...

This 10-Minute Ozone Hack Keeps Mangoes Fresh for 28 Days

July 17, 2025 — Mango lovers and growers alike may soon rejoice: scientists at Edith Cowan University have found that a simple dip in ozonated water can drastically extend the shelf life of mangoes by up to two ...

Fiji Ant Plant Builds Tiny Condos That Stop Ant Wars

July 15, 2025 — High in Fiji s rainforest, the ant plant Squamellaria grows swollen tubers packed with sealed, single-door apartments. Rival ant species nest in these chambers, fertilizing their host with ...

Scientists Reprogram Ant Behavior Using Brain Molecules

June 25, 2025 — Leafcutter ants live in highly organized colonies where every ant has a job, and now researchers can flip those jobs like a switch. By manipulating just two neuropeptides, scientists can turn ...

These Beetles Can See a Color Most Insects Can’t

June 18, 2025 — Beetles that can see the color red? That s exactly what scientists discovered in two Mediterranean species that defy the norm of insect vision. While most insects are blind to red, these beetles use ...

Tiny Wasp’s Shocking Reproductive Trick May Transform Global Agriculture

June 15, 2025 — Aphid-hunting wasps can reproduce with or without sex, challenging previous assumptions. This unique flexibility could boost sustainable pest control if its hidden drawbacks can be ...

Fruit-Eating Mastodons? Ancient Fossils Confirm a Long-Lost Ecological Alliance

June 15, 2025 — Ten thousand years after mastodons disappeared, scientists have unearthed powerful fossil evidence proving these elephant cousins were vital seed ...

Pincer Plot Twist: How Female Earwigs Evolved Deadly Claws for Love and War

June 12, 2025 — Female earwigs may be evolving exaggerated weaponry just like males. A study from Toho University found that female forceps, once assumed to be passive tools, show the same kind of outsized growth ...

Scientists Reveal the Hidden Pause That Keeps Bee Colonies Alive

June 10, 2025 — Bumblebee queens don t work nonstop. UC Riverside scientists discovered that queens take strategic reproductive breaks early in colony formation likely to conserve energy and increase the chance of ...

Insect Protein Blocks Bacterial Infection

June 2, 2025 — Scientists in Australia have developed a smart, bacteria-repelling coating based on resilin the ultra-elastic protein that gives fleas their legendary jumping power. When applied to surfaces like ...

Keep the Cool Feeling: A Lipid Enzyme for Maintaining Cool Temperature Sensation and Avoidance

May 29, 2025 — Researchers have identified a monoacylglycerol acyltransferase-coding gene named bishu-1. It is involved in the thermal responsiveness of cool temperature-sensing neurons by regulating ionotropic ...

Trees Vs. Disease: Tree Cover Reduces Mosquito-Borne Health Risk

May 28, 2025 — A study finds small-scale tree cover in Costa Rica boosts biodiversity while limiting dangerous mosquito ...

Bed Bugs Are Most Likely the First Human Pest, New Research Shows

May 28, 2025 — Researchers compared the whole genome sequence of two genetically distinct lineages of bed bug, and their findings indicate bed bugs may well be the first true urban ...

New Velvet Worm Species a First for the Arid Karoo

May 28, 2025 — A new species of velvet worm, Peripatopsis barnardi, represents the first ever species from the arid Karoo, which indicates that the area was likely historically more forested than at present. In the ...

Genetic Deep Dive Dispels Fear of Hybrid Worm Threat

May 28, 2025 — Parasitic worms that infect humans are not interbreeding with those that infect cattle as previously thought. This is good news for when it comes to controlling schistosomiasis, a disease caused by ...

Stirling Research Could Extend Biopesticide Effectiveness

May 27, 2025 — Alterations to the diet of pests could impact how quickly they can adapt to ...

The Scent of Death? Worms Experience Altered Fertility and Lifespan When Exposed to Dead Counterparts

May 22, 2025 — Research reveals that for C. elegans worms, the presence of dead members of their species has profound behavioral and physiological effects, leading them to more quickly reproduce and shortening ...

Ancient DNA Used to Map Evolution of Fever-Causing Bacteria

May 22, 2025 — Researchers have analyzed ancient DNA from Borrelia recurrentis, a type of bacteria that causes relapsing fever, pinpointing when it evolved to spread through lice rather than ticks, and how it ...

Diversity Is Key to Ecosystem Stability

May 22, 2025 — An analysis of 900 species over a 20-year period showed that biodiversity enhances ecosystem stability and helps safeguard natural communities in a changing ...

Ox-Eye Daisy, Bellis and Yarrow: Flower Strips With at Least Two Sown Species Provide 70 Percent More Natural Enemies of Pests

May 22, 2025 — Planting flower strips in a field with at least two species can increase the number of natural enemies of pests by 70 percent. The more flower species, the better the effect, according to a new ...

Bed-Netting Prototypes to Target Malaria-Causing Parasites

May 21, 2025 — Scientists have fabricated two bed netting prototypes targeting malaria-causing blood parasites. They designed netting systems to deliver antimalarial drugs called Endochin-like Quinolones (ELQs) ...

Can Plants Hear Their Pollinators?

May 21, 2025 — When pollinators visit flowers, they produce various sounds, from wing flapping during hovering, to landing and takeoff. Scientists studied these vibroacoustic signals to develop noninvasive and ...

Unlocking the Secrets of Bat Immunity

May 21, 2025 — Bats are known as natural hosts for highly pathogenic viruses such as MERS- and SARS-related coronaviruses, as well as the Marburg and Nipah viruses. In contrast to the severe and often fatal disease ...

Common Diabetes Drug Helps Chickens Lay More Eggs

May 20, 2025 — What do chickens and people with a common reproductive disorder have in common? More than one might think -- and a widely-used diabetes medication might just be the surprising ...

Bees Facing New Threats, Putting Our Survival and Theirs at Risk

May 19, 2025 — A new report identifies the top 12 emerging threats that could accelerate pollinator losses within the next 5-15 years, according to ten of the world's leading ...

How to Swim Without a Brain

May 19, 2025 — A team was able to show that swimming movements are possible even without a central control unit. This not only explains the behavior of microorganisms, it could also enable nanobots to move in a ...

Fitness Fight: Native Bees Struggle Against Invasive Honey Bee

May 19, 2025 — New research has revealed that high densities of European honey bees could be harming Australian native bees' 'fitness' by reducing their reproductive success and altering key traits ...