http://www.physorg.com/ en-us Physorg.com internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. (PhysOrg.com) -- When spider mites attack a bean plant, the plant responds by producing odours which attract predatory mites. These predatory mites then exterminate the spider mite population, thus acting as a type of 'bodyguard' for the plant. However, if the plant is simultaneously attacked by whiteflies, insects that are related to aphids, the plant becomes less attractive to the predatory mites and therefore more vulnerable to spider mites. http://www.physorg.com/news178451189.html Biology Thu, 26 Nov 2009 09:47:54 EST news178451189 Since 1996, crop plants genetically modified to produce bacterial proteins that are toxic to certain insects, yet safe for people, have been planted on more than 200 million hectares worldwide. The popularity of these Bt crops, named after the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis, comes from their ability to kill some major pests, allowing farmers to save money and lessen environmental impacts by reducing insecticide sprays. http://www.physorg.com/news178213003.html Biology Mon, 23 Nov 2009 16:10:02 EST news178213003 (PhysOrg.com) -- A showy butterfly with bright orange-red wings and a 4-inch wingspan is back in the Sacramento metropolitan area after a four-decade absence and in the Davis area after 30 years. http://www.physorg.com/news173029761.html Biology Thu, 24 Sep 2009 17:00:01 EST news173029761 (PhysOrg.com) -- Historically, crop rotation has worked to keep the western corn rootworm in check in Wisconsin. http://www.physorg.com/news172239429.html Biology Tue, 15 Sep 2009 13:19:33 EST news172239429 (PhysOrg.com) -- The drywood termite, Cryptotermes secundus, eavesdrops on its more aggressive subterranean competitor, Coptotermes acinaciformis, to avoid contact with it, according to scientists from CSIRO Entomology and the University of New South Wales at the Australian Defence Force Academy. http://www.physorg.com/news170519005.html Biology Wed, 26 Aug 2009 16:20:02 EST news170519005 Like a human being who, with a compromised immune system, is vulnerable to secondary diseases, jack pine trees ravaged by budworms may be more susceptible to an invasion of mountain pine beetles. http://www.physorg.com/news169217806.html Biology Tue, 11 Aug 2009 13:57:30 EST news169217806 SARS. Ebola. West Nile. Avian flu. Over the past decade, the world has watched and waited to see if these viruses would develop into global health threats. In recent weeks, the World Health Organization (WHO) sent a shockwave through the public when it ranked the emergent influenza swine-A/H1N1 virus--better known as swine flu--at alert Phase 5, implying that an influenza pandemic is imminent. http://www.physorg.com/news163352310.html Medicine & Health Thu, 04 Jun 2009 16:39:21 EST news163352310 Scientists here have determined that combining bed bugs' own chemical signals with a common insect control agent makes that treatment more effective at killing the bugs. http://www.physorg.com/news163165086.html Biology Tue, 02 Jun 2009 12:38:39 EST news163165086 Isolongifolenone, a natural compound found in the Tauroniro tree (Humiria balsamifera) of South America, has been found to effectively deter biting of mosquitoes and to repel ticks, both of which are known spreaders of diseases such as malaria, West Nile virus, and Lyme disease. http://www.physorg.com/news153069801.html Space & Earth Thu, 05 Feb 2009 15:23:51 EST news153069801 (PhysOrg.com) -- Bed bugs, once nearly eradicated in the built environment, have made a big comeback recently, especially in urban centers such as New York City. In the first study to explain the failure to control certain bed bug populations, toxicologists at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and Korea`s Seoul National University show that some of these nocturnal blood suckers have developed resistance to pyrethroid insecticides, in particular deltamethrin, that attack their nervous systems. http://www.physorg.com/news150651765.html Biology Thu, 08 Jan 2009 15:42:45 EST news150651765