New Atlas

Robotics Audio available

Bee+ micro-scale robot flyer gets four wings flapping

Matt Kennedy May 16, 2019

The potential for micro flying-robots in areas like search and rescue, agriculture and hazard detection is huge, but so are the hurdles. Researchers at the University of Southern California (USC) have been working on these problems with their Bee+, drawing inspiration from the insect world.

The Bee+ in flight-test mode, showing all four wings operating

Science Audio available

Sea creatures and land insects found together in ancient amber

Michael Irving May 13, 2019

Amber can be a veritable treasure trove of ancient animals and insects, but it most commonly captures creatures that lived in forests – understandable, given the stuff starts life as tree sap. But now researchers have found a piece of amber bearing a strange mix of land and sea-dwelling creatures.

Researchers have discovered a piece of amber containing a strange mix of land-dwelling insects and sea ...

Biology Audio available

99-million-year-old, unknown millipede found trapped in Burmese amber

Matt Kennedy May 5, 2019

Scientist now have to reevaluate what they know – or thought they knew – about the evolution of millipedes due to a tiny, 8.2-mm member of the order Callipodida who got its many feet stuck in some tree resin, which turned up in Myanmar, 99 million years later, as a golden lump of amber.

The newly described millipede, Burmanopetalum inexpectatum, preserved in amber

Environment Audio available

Fancy some grubs in your grub? You might if you can't see them

Matt Kennedy May 2, 2019

Researchers in Australia are looking into maggot sausages as meat alternative. This is seen as a first step in conditioning Westerners to accept insects and grubs as normal, everyday food sources.

Australian researchers have begun looking into insect-based pre-prepared food – such as sausages – as a ...

Biology Audio available

The tiny horror story of how wasps create "zombie" spiders to do their bidding

Michael Irving April 30, 2019

A fungus is known to control the minds and bodies of ants to help itself reproduce, but it’s not the only insect to use the morbid tactic. Certain species of parasitic wasps have been found to “zombify” spiders, and now a new review paper has examined exactly how the insects pull off this feat.

A parasitic wasp laying its eggs on the abdomen of a spider, in the first step ...

Aircraft

MetaFly is that flying robotic insect you've been looking for

Ben Coxworth March 6, 2019

Five years ago, French aeronautical engineer Edwin Van Ruymbeke successfully crowdfunded his Bionic Bird – it's a remote-control model that flies by flapping its wings, just like a real bird. Now he's back, with the insect-inspired MetaFly.

The MetaFly can be flown both indoors and outdoors (if the winds aren't too strong)

Biology Audio available

Zebras' stripes found to keep flies from landing

Ben Coxworth February 21, 2019

A recent study indicated that fewer horseflies land on mannequins with stripes painted onto them. The research was inspired by observations that zebras also tend not to be bothered much by flies. A separate study now offers an explanation as to why that's the case.

Researchers put a zebra-pattern coat on a domestic horse, as part of the study

Science Audio available

Giant bee species, feared extinct, found alive and well in Indonesia

Michael Irving February 21, 2019

Some studies suggest the world is entering a sixth major extinction event. But now, in a rare piece of good news from that field, researchers from Australia, Canada and the US have rediscovered Wallace’s giant bee, an insect that hasn’t been seen in almost 40 years.

Wallace's giant bee, the largest known bee species in the world, is four times larger than ...

Science

Fireflies' "lopsided pyramids" get copied in brighter LEDs

Ben Coxworth February 20, 2019

Although LEDs are more energy-efficient than incandescent bulbs, most commercial models are reportedly only about 50 percent efficient at emitting the light that they generate. This is known as their light extraction efficiency, and researchers have drastically increased it by copying fireflies.

By copying microstructures on fireflies' abdomens, scientists have boosted the light extraction efficiency of LEDs

Biology Audio available

Breeding bees with "clean genes" could help prevent colony collapse

Michael Irving February 17, 2019

Honeybees are increasingly under threat. To help save these creatures from extinction, researchers from York University have found a group of genes that appears to be related to how hygienic a particular colony of bees is, and selective breeding for these genes could help fight colony collapse.

Researchers have identified genes associated with cleanliness behaviors in bees, which could ultimately help protect colonies ...