Planting a garden for winter-active insects is a wonderful way to support local biodiversity. Your garden will thrive with the free pollination and pest control services the insects provide.
Two billion people already eat ‘prawns of the land’, so why don’t many Australians? A new CSIRO industry roadmap on edible insects explains why we should bring bugs into mainstream diets.
The bulloak jewel (Hypochrysops piceatus)
Michael Braby
Entomologists wonder if the insects currently pollinating farmed cacao are the right ones for the task.
A volunteer looks for waterbirds at Point Reyes National Seashore in California during the National Audubon Society’s annual Christmas Bird Count.
Kerry W/Flickr
COVID-19 kept many scientists from doing field research in 2020, which means that important records will have data gaps. But volunteers are helping to plug some of those holes.
Deicing salts keep winter roads passable but do a lot of harm in the process.
Gregory Rec/Portland Portland Press Herald via Getty Images
De-icing salts help us get around in winter, but they corrode cars, crack roads and contaminate rivers and lakes. Scientists are working to develop better options by imitating natural antifreezes.
Sleeping on the job?
Maciej Olszewski/Shutterstock
The spread of tawny crazy ants may be driven, in part, by their need for calcium. The calcium-rich limestone bedrock of the lower U.S. Midwest may provide ideal conditions for populations to explode.
A coat of sand makes an effective armor.
Eric LoPresti