For thousands of years, humans have looked to nature for ways to cure disease. Ancient civilizations around the world relied on plants, animals, and fungi to treat every malady from headaches to heart disease. Even as our ability to develop synthetic drugs has increased, natural products remain crucial in the field of medicine. Between 1981 […]
Crawling cures: The potential value of insects in medicine Read More »
In the Fenway Victory Gardens, just minutes from Northeastern University, lizards reign supreme. The Italian wall lizard, Podarcis siculus, is a non-native species that recently established itself in the gardens. This small green and tan lizard has remarkably managed to survive and thrive in Boston — and in several other cities and towns in the
Meet the lizards of the Fenway Victory Gardens Read More »
Barking deer. Silky-haired monkeys. Rabbits covered in stripes. For years, scientists struggled to detect the unique and elusive mammals of the Central Annamite Mountains. This region of dense tropical rainforest on the border of Laos and Vietnam is a biodiversity hotspot, full of organisms found nowhere else on Earth. Unfortunately, the area is so remote
The tales a leech tells Read More »
Amidst the “save the bees” movement, honey bees tend to dominate the spotlight, and it is easy to understand why. The western honey bee, Apis mellifera, is utilized in agriculture around the world. Farmers in the United States rely on the fuzzy, charismatic insect to pollinate nearly 100 different crops, and, of course, for the
Four thousand forgotten pollinators: The overlooked plight of wild bees Read More »
Subzero temperatures. Eighty mile per hour wind gusts. Nineteen hours of darkness each day. It’s hard to believe that anything could survive the brutal winters of Anvers Island, but hidden under the snow, a hardy insect weathers it all. The Antarctic midge, Belgica antarctica, lives farther south than any other insect in the world. At
To freeze or not to freeze? How an insect survives winter in Antarctica Read More »
But, like so many other animals, these six-legged, exoskeleton-clad creatures are facing a crisis at the hands of human activity. Our planet is teeming with bugs. Over 1 million insect species are described, and scientists estimate that another four to 7.5 million have yet to be classified. Insects account for a large proportion of animals
Dropping like flies: Human threats to insects and the desperate need for more data Read More »