Fruit flies that speak in different dialects. Arctic mites that can survive a deep freeze. Bees that “dance” to communicate. The insect world is stranger and far more fascinating than it first appears. In this roundup we’ve brought together stories of remarkable bugs, the people who study them, and the many ways insects have shaped human history, science, and culture.
How Insects Think
The Bee Dance Debate
October 1, 2025
Can insects communicate? In the middle of the twentieth century, scientists disagreed on whether bees could possess a “language” expressed through motion.
New Study Finds Insects Speak in Different “Dialects”
July 31, 2018
Different fruit flies species can learn each other’s language to warn against parasitic wasps.
The Amazingly Complex World of Insect Navigation
June 22, 2016
Dung beetles, ants, and other insects navigate in mysterious ways.
Are Insects Capable of Moral Behavior?
February 6, 2020
Some 19th-century naturalists believed that bugs could think and should therefore definitely know that biting is out of line.
Insects and Survival
How Do Insects Survive Winter?
November 4, 2021
Some species have adapted to get themselves close to freezing without dying.
What Do We Lose When We Lose a Species?
December 28, 2017
Debates about the moral value of biodiversity are longstanding in the world of environmental ethics, and the issue is far from settled.
Why Conservationists Shouldn’t Forget About Insects
July 10, 2017
Insect conservation can be a tough sell. Lots of people simply don’t like bugs, and an endangered bug simply doesn’t pull on the heart strings.
Scientists Are Putting Mosquitoes on Human Diet Drugs
February 19, 2019
Humans and mosquitoes share a surprising amount of genes and have similar hunger controls.
Sting! (Don’t Stand So Close to the Tarantula Hawk)
November 20, 2024
Tarantula hawk wasps offer some of the most painful stings known to humans, giving them almost absolute protection from vertebrate predators.
Insects That Changed History
How the Soviet Union Turned a Plague into Propaganda
August 9, 2020
The fight against locust swarms allowed the Soviet Union to consolidate power over neighboring regions.
The Long-Lost Locust
June 14, 2018
The 1874 locust swarm was estimated to be twice the square mileage of the state of Colorado. Why don't locusts swarm anymore?
Historical Bugs: Archaeoentomology
January 23, 2023
The remains of ancient insects reveal new information about Paleo-Eskimo life and the history of the Norse in Greenland, Iceland, and the Faroe Islands.
How “Termites of the Sea” Have Shaped Maritime Technology
December 24, 2021
These small marine pests have been eating our ships for millennia, forcing us to keep building better boats throughout history.
Insects in the Mail
December 28, 2024
The efficiency of the postal system and generosity of local experts played important roles in the advancement of entomology in eighteenth-century France.
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Bugs and Culture
Insect Jewelry of the Victorian Era
January 16, 2020
The wing-cases of gold-enameled weevils hung from necklaces; muslin gowns were embroidered with the iridescent green elytra of jewel beetles.
The War on Bugs
October 30, 2024
In the 1950s, supersized insects were the villains in a rash of big-screen horror movies. What did those monstrous roaches represent, and how were they vanquished?
As You Lakh It
February 14, 2024
How did an oleoresin produced by insects in Asia become a standard part of European furniture manufacture and conservation?
Bugging Out
May 31, 2023
The complicated, ever-changing, millennia-long relationship between insects and humans.
Entomologists and Oddities
Margaret S. Collins, Pioneering Black Entomologist
February 19, 2020
She was the first African American woman to earn a PhD in entomology as well as an activist for freedom in the Civil Rights Movement.
Dude, There Are Sand Flies That Consume Cannabis
August 1, 2021
Could these blood-sucking pests actually have the munchies?
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