Bug Squad

Bumble bee on bull thistle at Bodega Bay
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Jumping spider eyes the photographer. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
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Spiders? Scary? Spooky?

October 31st, 2014
"Look, there's a spider!" A sure-fire way to frighten arachnophobics is the very mention of "spiders"--especially on Halloween. Spiders aren't insects but arthropods, order Araneae. They have eight legs, which according to some, are seven legs too many.
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Honey bee foraging on mustard. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
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Good News for the Bees!

October 29th, 2014
Good news for the honey bees! And none too soon. U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Tom Vilsack announced today (Oct.
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Medical entomologist Anthony Cornel with a snake in Brazil.
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Anthony Cornel Knows Mosquitoes

October 28th, 2014
Medical entomologist Anthony Anton Cornel knows his mosquitoes--and a few snakes, too. When he was doing research in Brazil in September, he draped a snake around his neck and posed for the camera. His favorite research subjects, though, are mosquitoes.
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UC Davis scientists in the Walter Leal lab have discovered the odorant receptor in the Culex mosquito that repels DEET. From left are
project scientist Pingxi Xu; postdoctoral scholar Young-Moo Choo; AgChem graduate student Alyssa De La Rosa; and Professor Leal. (Photo credit: Academic Technology Services/Mediaworks)
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Unraveling the Mystery of DEET

October 27th, 2014
You spray DEET on your arms, and those pesky mosquitoes leave you alone. It works. However, not everyone wants to use DEET, a synthetic insect repellent. There's that smell, for one thing.
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