Tim Caro, University of California, Davis e Martin How, University of Bristol
How the zebra got its stripes is not only a just-so story, but an object of scientific inquiry. New research suggests that stripes help zebras evade biting flies and the deadly diseases they carry.
Does it really pay to spray?
Dmitry Syshchikov/Shutterstock
It’s easy to whip out the fly spray, but our fondness for pesticides can bring knock-on effects such as increased resistance, and harming beneficial insects in and around our homes.
When a fly’s feeling hungry, it will land on its food and vomit out a mix of saliva and stomach acids.
Wikimedia
Why are flies so easily able to evade our attempts to swat them?
A scourge of kitchens everywhere, Drosophila melanogaster — the common fruit fly — stares down the electron microscope that captured its image.
(Shutterstock)
While the Bureau of Meteorology is predicting an increase in the average temperature this summer, entomologists are forecasting an increase in insect activity.
A good summer picnic, bushwalk or barbecue with friends and family can all be ruined by those annoying flies that never leave you alone. So what are they after?
They land on dead animals and poop, and then on our food. If we see a fly on our Christmas lunch, should we throw it away?
Author Provided
It only takes a single fly to alight on your picnic lunch to make you uneasy about what germs may have landed with it. But what harm can come from a fly landing on your food? Should you throw it away?
Insects are key to holding the food chain together. Without them, much of what we eat today won’t exist.
Pia Addison
The average cow drops between 10 and 12 dung pads (also known as “pats”) every day and just one of those cow pads can produce up to 3,000 flies in a fortnight. With more than 28 million cattle in Australia…
Late last week CSIRO announced that a new species of horse fly had been named after pop diva Beyoncé’s bottom. The story generated a real buzz across traditional and social media both in Australia and…