Insect

If you were trying to gauge the reaction force of an insect's leg, you couldn't just push it with your finger – the size difference between the two would be too great. A set of hand-controlled soft robotic microfingers, however, can get the job done.

A new study from Queen Mary University of London has demonstrated that bumblebees can play with balls even when there’s no reward involved, constituting what is claimed to be first-of-a-kind evidence of play behavior in insects.

New research shows that swarms of insects like bees and locusts can actually produce atmospheric electric charges. By measuring the extent of this influence, the team found that large swarms could produce as much charge as a storm cloud.

Scientists have studied what makes mosquitoes more attracted to some humans over others, and uncovered strong association between being a so-called mosquito magnet and elevated levels of a fatty acids on the skin.

The next time an inquisitive four-year-old asks how many ants there are on Earth, you can be ready to fire back a specific number. Researchers in Germany now have an answer to that question, as well as a follow-up: how much do they all weigh combined?

We already know that waterborne plastic particles can enter the bodies of fish, which are then eaten by humans. New research, however, shows that such particles can enter the food chain via another route, by traveling from plants to insects to fish.

Why design robots from scratch when nature has already done the hard work for us? That’s the reasoning behind cyborg insects, and now scientists have found a way to power remote-controlled cyborg cockroaches using custom solar cells.

Scientists have digitally recreated the sound of a long-lost species of insect, not seen since 1869, by creating 3D scans of its wings. The specifics of the tune could help track down living specimens in the wild – if there are any left.

While prehistoric insects encased in amber certainly are fascinating, they usually don't look all that different from today's insects. A newly discovered one, however, is so bizarre that it has been placed in its own unique family.

In truly creep news, a team of scientists has announced that a known fungus causes male flies to mate with the bodies of dead females. The strategy helps ensure the survival of the fungus, as it spreads from the females to the males.

A new review article suggests insects have the capacity to experience pain. The research summarizes the latest behavioral and molecular science and concludes pain states in insects could have ethical implications for current farming practices.

Two years ago, scientists at the University of Bristol discovered that some moths evade bats via sound-absorbing scales on their body. New research now suggests that wallpaper inspired by those scales could be used to block out unwanted noises.