Category: Science

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Papa Roach EATS a Roach!

This article is provided by: Go-Forth Pest Control

You’re probably reading the title like

But eating bugs is looking like a new trend that will become a major source of protein as populations increase in the next 20 to 50 years. It turns out bugs are really good for you!

Papa Roach took on a challenge to try bugs raw, and to try them in dishes. They were given two dishes where one had bugs while the other did not, and asked to guess which one did have the bugs. Check it out!

Bugs already make for major food sources in several eastern countries, and with time it’s very likely we will see them here in the United States. In certain places we have, like this ice cream truck with bugs for ice cream toppings, or using cricket flour for baking!

If you’re still not into it, just think back to when you watched Lion King and how delicious the grubs looked (seriously, how did Timon and Pumbaa make eating bugs look so tasty??)

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SOCCER BEES?

This article is provided by: Go-Forth Pest Control

YES BEES! Scientists recently conducted a study on bee’s “cognitive flexibility” and “observed complex behavior”. Basically they wanted to see how well they could critically think and understand, as well as observe how they behaved in response. So they came up with a soccer experiment!

Here you can see exactly how they do this with a basic reward system. This type of experiment has been performed among several mammals to evaluate the same things: critical thinking and behavior. In this case they provide a pseudo bee to show other bees how to obtain the reward. You can see that the bees watch, experience, and learn from that bee and are capable of figuring out the reward system.

On top of this, they are able to teach other bees what they learn! This isn’t too surprising if you consider their waggle dance, a form of communication honey bees have to tell them where a new source of food is in relation to the sun. The excitement over this is really about being able to teach an unknown method to a bee, and watching those bees teach it to other bees, AND THEN seeing bees innovate better ways to obtain the reward.

Bees have been facing a rough time for a while now, so every bit of good news is exciting for these guys. If you’re interested in helping bees, the EPA has plenty of information on how the public can help. Check it out and help a bee today!

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The Inauguration of Donaldtrumpi

This article is provided by: Raleigh Pest Control

No, the title isn’t misspelled. There was a recent discovery of a moth which has been named the Neopalpa donaldtrumpi. Vazrick Nazari, a biologist and researcher from Ottawa, Canada, is the one who discovered this moth which seems to share Donald Trump’s signature hairstyle. The real reason why he named the moth after Donald Trump can be read from the article he wrote:

The new species is named in honor of Donald J. Trump, to be installed as the 45th President of the United States on January 20, 2017. The reason for this choice of name is to bring wider public attention to the need to continue protecting fragile habitats in the US that still contain many undescribed species. The specific epithet is selected because of the resemblance of the scales on the frons (head) of the moth to Mr. Trump’s hairstyle.

 Wall Street Journal compiled this about the moth:

This isn’t the first time Donald Trump has honored a new species with his name. Not too long ago a species of caterpillar was discovered, and can be observed as Donald’s hair in motion:

There is now a bug that wears the same hair as Donald Trump, and a bug that simply is Donald Trump’s hair. Though Trump isn’t the first president to honor a newly discovered species. Barack Obama was the inspiration for a lichen fungus discovered in 2007. The fungus was officially published and named in 2009 as Caloplaca obamae, due to Obama’s “…support of science and scientific education.” Before that, George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, and Donald Rumsfeld were also honored with the discovery of several different Agathidium beetles. The names of those beetles are A. bushi, A. cheneyi and A. rumsfeldi. This type of beetle is known for it’s mold-diet, but was strictly named after these politicians as homage.

Know of any other bugs or species named in honor of presidents and famous people? Leave a comment about what you think!

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Entomologists Rally Behind A 7-Year Old After She Was Bullied For Loving Bugs

This article is provided by: Go-Forth Pest Control

Entomologists are taking no shit when it comes to 7-year old Sophia Spencer, a girl who was being bullied at school for her love of insects.

After moving to a new school in Ontario, Sophia became the subject of ridicule from her new classmates over her love of bugs. Her mother even reports that she was “dragged through the mud” by a group of children because of her insect hobby. One boy even asked to see one of Sophia’s bugs, and after she graciously obliged, he stomped on it and killed it.

Um, what?! Who are these children? We will steal ALL their bicycles!

I mean, come on, look at this adorable little chicken nugget:

Sophia Spencer

“A couple of months ago, Sophia had asked me if she could make a career out of bugs someday, and I told her of course,” Sophia’s mother revealed. Not wanting her daughter to be discouraged by the vile, bottom-feeding little children in her class, Mrs. Spencer wrote to the Entomological Society of Canada for help.

The members of the society sent out the following tweet and the response was overwhelming.

Tweet for Sophia

…which garnered immediate attention from the community of insect enthusiasts.

Tweet to SophiaTweet to SophiaTweet to SophiaTweet to Sophia

YAAASSS! Schoolyard bullies, BOW DOWN TO QUEEN SOPHIA!

Her mother is nothing but overwhelmed with gratitude toward the scientists who went out of their way for her daughter, “There have been people working in Canada, the Amazon Rainforest, Venezuela, the UK, and USA reaching out to offer support, encouragement and offers to be her pen pal. I know she cannot even grasp the amount of support this has shown but I do and it has truly been a blessing.”

Sophia Spencer

This makes us happier than words can begin to describe!

Stay “weird” Sophia! The scientific community, and we, have your back!

(PS. We were serious about the bicycles, let us know girl…)

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Demon Mummy Dog Unearthed In Siberia

A group of Siberian diamond miners were “mining” their own business this past week, doing their diamond mining thing, providing the jewelry counters of the world with dazzling dinero, when they stumbled upon…

**Disclaimer– Don’t click below if you’re currently: driving a car, drinking coffee, performing surgery, helping an old lady across the street, or holding a child…**

[showhide type=”clicktoreveal”]demon dog[/showhide]

Ahhhhhhh!

(Pausing so you can provide medical attention to anyone who may need it)

No, it’s not a demon dog that has crawled up from the Underworld to bring about the end of days. Actually, no one quite knows what it is. Scientists are currently studying the specimen, which was found near the town of Udachny, in hopes of uncovering clues that point to the species of origin. Personally, I like to imagine a group of very important looking experts (all with far too many credentials for one person) standing around looking like this:

confused about demon dog

For now, the miners are speculating that it is some sort of unidentified dinosaur, other townspeople are considering it a negative omen. The latter is even more ironic considering the name of the town in which it was found, literally translates into “lucky.”

What we do know is that some naysayers are claiming that it is simply a wolverine, sable, or marten (which are common in the area) that was mutated by being trapped in sediment for such a long period of time.

The fact that the creature is so well-preserved is because Siberia is freezing, literally. The temperatures are currently at a staggering -34 degrees Fahrenheit. Whatever it is, has also been there a while; the sand that the animal was found in dates back as far as 252 million years ago.

Get this, until an official conclusion can be made you don’t need to go to a secret government lab to view the demon dog. No, you just need to take a peek inside one local’s freezer. We aren’t kidding.

But, I’ll let you in on a little secret. You know, because we’re friends. I have actually found a photo of the creature from when it was alive. Dun dun dunnnnnnn!

Only click if you’re totally okay with shedding your identity and entering witness protection from this day forward:

[showhide type=”pressrelease”]ugly dog[/showhide]

Okay, okay….

You caught me. It’s just a photo of the winner of the World’s Ugliest Dog competition.

Made you look!

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From Pests to Pokemon…Gotta Catch ‘Em All!

The year is 2016 and if you haven’t been living under a rock for the past week, you’ve probably heard of Pokemon Go, the new mega-sensation that has taken the world by storm, forcing nerds and common-folk everywhere to band together in a way we never thought possible…

Acting as the glue that now holds our once fragile society together, Pokemon Go reached 21 million users in the United States alone barely a week after its release. This makes the game the biggest in United States history and I look forward to the day that I can tell my grandchildren, tears shining in my eyes, that I was here to see it all.

But wait, how does this relate to pest control? Are you on the wrong blog? Did your paid subscription* to the greatest pest control blog of all time somehow get cancelled?! Nay! You are here, you are safe, deep breaths now. But back to the question, how does this relate to pest control? There are actually a few parallels…

Basically, the entire premise of Pokemon Go is centered around catching/controlling an inhuman species. Sound familiar? Except in Pokemon Go, the inhuman species sometimes looks like this…

Scary Pokemon

It’s okay, you can look now, it’s gone. Actually, mostly they bear resemblance to what pests look like IRL (in real life, come on, Geek 101). Like these lovely little critters who, like IRL pests, seem to be the only thing lurking around your neighborhood (my fellow gamers will feel me on that one):

Pokemon Examples

Since it is apparently too difficult to just put a Charizard by my mailbox, most of your time will be spent catching these common pests, I mean Pokemon.

In fact, much of the inspiration for Pokemon comes from real world bugs. There is an entire genre of the creatures based on traditional insects:

Bug Pokemon

Pretty cool, right?

Despite it’s near worldwide success, people are giving Pokemon Go the most credit for offering people a reason to get out and take part in the living world. You know, nature? That green place that is outside of your window? By doing so, people are slowly becoming more active in and appreciative of the environment/living organisms around them!

In theory, not only are you getting to live out your life-long dream of becoming a pest control superstar, you might actually be able to remember what it’s like to be a functioning member of society and finally get a glimpse of that mythical entity, the Sun!

So, thanks Pokemon Go. There might still be hope for us after all.

Pokemon Celebration

*JK, TOTALLY FREE — DREAMS REALLY DO COME TRUE

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Super Smart Scientists Discover “Spidey” Gene That Could Propel Pest Control

Meet super smart scientist Dr. Joanne Yew, an Assistant Professor of Chemical Ecology and self-professed “chocolate fiend”:

Joanne Yew: Spidey Discoverer

She and her team have been working diligently at the University of Hawaii at Manoa to find a solution for the pests that continue to lay waste to local agriculture.

To do so, they have isolated a gene in vinegar flies that controls the insects ability to achieve a waterproof coating. According to their findings, once they isolated and removed this gene, which they have nicknamed “spidey,” the flies suffered several repercussions:

1.Their lifespans were shortened by nearly 50%

2.They lost a significant amount of their waxy coating

3.The majority ended up getting stuck to surfaces from which they could not detach

In a sense, they become their very own flytrap. Woah, science! This inability to control their adhesive qualities led to the naming of the gene:

“This last feature was reminiscent of the comic book character Spider-Man, which is why we named the gene spidey,” explained Yew (Aka. Remember when Peter Parker hadn’t quite figured out that whole web thing?)

Unable to move among their food source, it is theorized that the pests will die out before they can cause significant damage to crops, creating an entire new genre of pest control. Yew and her team hope to isolate the gene in Oriental, Mediterranean and melon fruit flies in the future, since these are the species that are most prominent in the area.

It is Yew’s hope that if her future research proves successful, a variation of this practice could be used to control disease carrying bugs, like mosquitoes.

But…she also says that it would take at least four more years of government funding and research before any of this can be used in a practical application.

Slow and steady wins the race. Keep doing your science spidey thing Dr. Yew!

Yew Spidey Researcher