Will our insects keep on disappearing?
With concern, but little surprise, I read an article by Daphne Rousseau in The Japan Times on July 2 about a mass extinction of insects in Krefeld, Germany, near the Dutch border. There, based on a study going back almost 30 years, entomologist Martin Sorg ...
The sound of summer: Love them or hate them, cicadas have a special place in Japanese culture
Cicadas — known as semi in Japanese — are a superfamily of insects with around 2,000 known species worldwide, around 35 of which live in Japan.
The first of a four-part series that focuses on traditional ways to mitigate the heat of a Japanese summer.
Summer event featuring 300 live beetles to be held at Tokyo Skytree
An annual summer event for beetle viewing — an activity popular with families and children — will kick off later this month in the capital at the commercial complex around Tokyo Skytree, the world's tallest broadcasting tower. During the event, set to run from July ...
Leading Japanese insecticide maker plans to expand sales in China and Southeast Asia
Leading Japanese insecticide manufacturer Earth Corp. plans to expand sales in China and Southeast Asia via a subsidiary in Malaysia, as the risk of dengue fever and malaria in the region drives up demand for repellents. The company has set up a wholly owned unit ...
Why do zebras have stripes? Because they make bad landing strips for flies
Scientists are providing new evidence to answer the long-standing question about why zebras have stripes. It appears stripes make terrible landing strips, bamboozling the fierce blood-sucking flies that try to feast on zebras and carry deadly diseases. Researchers on Wednesday described experiments demonstrating that horse ...
Japanese researchers extend life span of flies, offering hope for slowing aging in humans
Japanese researchers pin down a way to activate autophagy, a key metabolic function in cells, leading to a slower aging process and longer life span in a nonhuman study.
Bug business: Cockroaches corralled by the millions in China to crunch waste
In the near pitch-dark, you can hear them before you see them — millions of cockroaches scuttling and fluttering across stacks of wooden boards as they devour food scraps by the ton in a novel form of urban waste disposal. The air is warm and ...
Fancy some roasted crickets for a light snack? Look no further than in the local supermarket aisles. Sainsbury's has become the first British supermarket chain to stock edible insects in a bid to boost sustainable food sources that produce fewer greenhouse gases. "Insect snacks should no ...
Bugs struggle amid Japan's record summer heat
Specialists in Hyogo believe populations of mosquitoes and beetles have suffered this year as the moist environments where their young thrive have dried up in the heat wave.
Kids cheer on their bugs at the Kabutomushi Sumo Competition
The National Kabutomushi Sumo Tournament, where rhinoceros beetles are made to fight on tree branches instead of sumo rings, was held recently in Yamagata Prefecture.
Research into reverse-sex genitalia deserved award
In caves in Brazil there lives a tiny insect with the most extraordinary story. It feeds on bat droppings and chews on the dead carcasses of fallen bats. When it copulates, it does so slowly — a single sexual act takes up to 70 ...
