News tagged with flying insect

Studying butterfly flight to help build bug-size flying robots

To improve the next generation of insect-size flying machines, Johns Hopkins engineers have been aiming high-speed video cameras at some of the prettiest bugs on the planet. By figuring out how butterflies ...

Electronics / Robotics

created Feb 02, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Predators hunt for a balanced diet

An international team of scientists from the Universities of Exeter and Oxford in the UK, University of Sydney (Australia), Aarhus University (Denmark) and Massey University (New Zealand) based their research ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Jan 11, 2012 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (2) | comments 2

Wheat can't stop Hessian flies, so scientists find reinforcements

(PhysOrg.com) -- Wheat's genetic resistance to Hessian flies has been failing, but a group of Purdue University and U.S. Department of Agriculture scientists believe that other plants may soon be able to come ...

Biology / Biotechnology

created Dec 12, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast

The buzz around beer

Ever wondered why flies are attracted to beer? Entomologists at the University of California, Riverside have, and offer an explanation. They report that flies sense glycerol, a sweet-tasting compound that ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Nov 17, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

A new role is hatched for female fruit flies

A team of New York University biologists has uncovered a previously unknown role for a set of cells within the female reproductive tract of fruit flies that affects the functioning of sperm and hence fertility. Their discovery, ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Nov 08, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

How does DEET work? Study says it confuses insects (Update)

For almost 50 years, people have used insect repellents containing DEET. But scientists still argue about how the stuff works.

Chemistry / Biochemistry

created Sep 21, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Tiny flying machines inspired by nature will revolutionize surveillance work

Tiny aerial vehicles are being developed with innovative flapping wings based on those of real-life insects.

Technology / Engineering

created Jul 28, 2011 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (4) | comments 6 | with audio podcast

'Bifocals' in mangrove fish species discovered

(PhysOrg.com) -- A "four-eyed" fish that sees simultaneously above and below the water line has offered up a dramatic example of how gene expression allows organisms to adapt to their environment.

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Jul 20, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 3 | with audio podcast

Hummingbirds catch flying bugs with the help of fast-closing beaks (w/ video)

The shape of a hummingbird's beak allows for a "controlled elastic snap" that allows it to snatch up flying insects in a mere fraction of a second —with greater speed and power than could be achieved by jaw muscles alone, ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Jul 19, 2011 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Old, large, living trees must be left standing to protect nesting animals: study

Old trees must be protected to save the homes of more than 1,000 different bird and mammal species who nest, says a new study from the University of British Columbia. Most animals can't carve out their own tree holes and ...

Biology / Ecology

created Jun 16, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Flight Artists film smallest insect in flight

The Flight Artists team from Wageningen University, the Netherlands, has been the first to make high-speed camera footage of parasitic wasps of about 1 mm wingspan.

Biology / Plants & Animals

created May 25, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Swimming led to flying, physicists say

(PhysOrg.com) -- Like a fish paddles its pectoral fins to swim through water, flying insects use the same physics laws to "paddle" through the air, say Cornell physicists.

Physics / General Physics

created May 03, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (6) | comments 5 | with audio podcast

The molecular mechanism of stretch activation in insect muscle

(PhysOrg.com) -- Flying insects are among the most successful species on our planet. Flight is very metabolically demanding and many insects have found a clever way to reduce energy costs in their flight muscles ...

Biology / Biotechnology

created Dec 22, 2010 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Scientists rediscover Africa's 'terrible hairy fly'

A group of scientists has rediscovered the world's rarest and strangest fly in a cave in Kenya, collecting the first "terrible hairy fly" specimen since 1948, a statement said Wednesday.

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Dec 08, 2010 | popularity 3.8 / 5 (4) | comments 2

Walk in the park yields biological treasure

A newly identified relationship between a fly and a weedy mustard-type plant promises to answer many long-standing questions surrounding the evolutionary arms race between plant-eating insects and their host ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Nov 19, 2010 | popularity 5 / 5 (5) | comments 0 | with audio podcast