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A Tsetse Fly Births One Enormous Milk-Fed Baby | Deep Look
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DEEP LOOK is an ultra-HD (4K) short video series created by KQED in San Francisco and presented by PBS Digital Studios. See the unseen at the very edge of our visible world. Explore big scientific mysteries by going incredibly small.
---
You can tell an earthworm is ready to mate once it has grown a fleshy patch called a clitellum.
When it sidles up to another earthworm, their bodies point in opposite directions, and the worms surround each other with tubes of slime exuded from their skin.
The earthworms embrace by using flaps on their clitella, and exchange sperm that travels outside their bodies. As they snuggle, the sperm flows into internal storage sacs.
After mating, an earthworm produces a sheath with its clitellum that it shimmies down its body. The protein-rich ring moves over tiny holes, where it gathers eggs and some of the collected sperm. Then, the ring slips off the worm to become a cocoon with one or more developing earthworms inside.
--- How do earthworms help the soil?
Earthworms eat tiny bits of degraded plants, which have bacteria and fungi growing on them. This organic matter might be in the soil or in leaf litter on the surface. Some earthworms eat manure. When they poop out the remains, earthworms make nutrients like nitrogen available for plants to grow.
And the earthworms that live underground spread around their nutritious poop, known as castings.
“Subsoil comes up to the top, topsoil goes down towards the middle or bottom,” said Sam James, who studies earthworms at the University of Iowa. “And you can see the difference in colors of these two layers of soil.”
Earthworms also create channels in the soil through which air and water can move, he added.
--- What is worm composting?
Earthworms such as the species Eisenia fetida can be kept in a bin and fed certain types of food scraps. Using earthworms to dispose of leftovers in this way is also known as vermicomposting.
--- Can earthworms reproduce without sex?
Yes. Some earthworms can reproduce on their own, through a process called parthenogenesis. These earthworms are all mothers — they don’t make sperm, only eggs. Their offspring develop from eggs that divide into identical copies.
“They just clone themselves,” James said. “So what it means is a single individual can start a new population.”
---+ Find a transcript on KQED Science:
kqed.org/science/1981501/earthworm-love-is-cuddly-and-complicated
---+ More Great Deep Look episodes:
Watch This Bee Build Her Bee-jeweled Nest
youtu.be/oPbH1YhsdP8
Born Pregnant: Aphids Invade with an Onslaught of Clones
youtu.be/vrzalLssomg
You Can’t Unsee the Assassin Bug’s Dirty Work
youtu.be/bdzK-pTadQs
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Funding for Deep Look is provided in part by PBS Digital Studios. Deep Look is a project of KQED Science, the largest science and environment reporting unit in California. KQED Science is supported by the Dirk and Charlene Kabcenell Foundation, Campaign 21 and the members of KQED.
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"I personally haven’t tasted one, but I’ve spoken to people that have. They didn’t get a particularly high approval rating. Pill bugs have a lot of soil in their gut.” -Jonathan Wright, a professor of biology at Pomona College.
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---+ What happens when a predator bites into a hagfish?
That predator will get a mouthful of slime! When threatened, the hagfish releases slime from pores that run alongside its body. That slime swells to more than a liter in less than half a second.
---+ Why does a hagfish have loose, baggy skin?
The hagfish's loose skin is a first line of defense. Its vital organs move out of harm's way inside of that baggie onesie, allowing the hagfish time to release slime.
---+ Find additional resources and a transcript on KQED Science:
kqed.org/science/1981309/how-hagfish-unleash-a-torrent-of-slime
---+ More Great Deep Look episodes:
Banana Slugs: Secret of the Slime
youtu.be/mHvCQSGanJg
You're Not Hallucinating. That's Just Squid Skin.
youtu.be/0wtLrlIKvJE
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Check out how Ph.D. candidate and spider wrangler Alex Winsor from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst tracks a jumping spider's eye movements with special equipment. We're pretty sure this jumping spider is now our very first (and probably only) arachnid fan of #DeepLook!
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DEEP LOOK is a ultra-HD (4K) short video series created by KQED San Francisco and presented by PBS Digital Studios. See the unseen at the very edge of our visible world. Explore big scientific mysteries by going incredibly small.
---
A tiny insect called the Asian citrus psyllid is threatening your oranges, lemons and limes.
Smaller than a grain of rice, the agricultural pest sucks the sap from citrus trees and in doing so spreads a disease that ruins the fruit and eventually kills the citrus trees.
“It's pretty straightforward to tell if you have an Asian citrus psyllid infestation in your citrus,” says Mark Hoddle, who leads a laboratory at UC Riverside that studies the pest and how to beat it. “Just check the tender young green leaves at the tips of the branches. If you see the white curly cues, the insect poop dripping off of those leaves, that's almost certainly a characteristic symptom of an Asian citrus psyllid infestation.”
Hoddle’s team is studying novel ways to keep psyllids out of citrus orchards, but that task is complicated by the psyllid’s relationship with another insect, the Argentine ant.
“Their relationship is rather sinister,” says Hoddle. “The Argentine ants harvest the honey dew that the Asian citrus psyllid nymphs excrete because it's nice and sugary and the ants love eating sugar. In return for providing that sweet delicacy, the ants protect the Asian citrus psyllids from their natural enemies like the predators and the parasitic wasps that we have introduced from Pakistan.”
“The psyllids need protection from the ants because they lack defense systems,” says Hoddle. “They have recruited mercenaries to protect them.”
So to protect the valuable citrus industry, Hoddle and his team are going after the psyllids’ ant bodyguards.
--
--- What is the Asian citrus psyllid?
The Asian citrus psyllid (Diaphorina citri) is a tiny insect, smaller than a grain of rice, that can spread a plant disease called citrus greening. The agricultural pest sucks the sap of citrus trees and produces strings of sugary poop.
---What is citrus greening?
Also called huánglóngbìng or HLB, citrus greening is a disease caused by a bacterial infection that causes green bitter fruit and eventually kills citrus trees. Asian citrus psyllids transmit the disease when they feed on citrus trees.
--- What does citrus greening look like?
Citrus greening often causes patches of leaves to turn a blotchy yellow and fruit that is green and bitter. These yellow patches are typically asymmetric, which helps tell it apart from other issues like nutrient deficiencies. Trees eventually lose their leaves, stop producing fruit and die.
---+ Find additional resources and a transcript on KQED Science:
kqed.org/science/1980896/citrus-psyllids-bribe-ants-with-strings-of-candy-poop
---+ For more information:
Hoddle lab at UC Riverside https://biocontrol.ucr.edu/asian-citrus-psyllid
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---
Entomologist Nic Irvin, at the University of California, Riverside, has found that the maggots of oblique streaktail hoverflies eat more than 400 Asian citrus psyllids in the week before they transform into pupae.
Orange growers despise Asian citrus psyllids, which spread a destructive bacterium when they feed on the sap of citrus trees.
The bacterium, Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus, causes a disease known as citrus greening or huanglongbing. Infected citrus trees make green, bitter fruit and eventually die.
Irvin has planted alyssum, a plant with fragrant white flowers, in orange groves near Riverside. The alyssum attracts adult oblique streaktail hoverflies that feed on its pollen and then lay their eggs on orange trees under attack by Asian citrus psyllids. When hoverfly maggots hatch out of the eggs, they devour the psyllids. In one experiment, Irvin found that having alyssum near orange trees reduced by 10% the number of Asian citrus psyllids on them.
--- Are hoverflies good for the garden?
Yes, hoverflies help backyard gardeners too. They pollinate flowering plants. And their maggots feed on aphids, a common pest of vegetables.
--- How do hoverflies fly?
Hoverflies fly like tiny helicopters – they can hover, fly straight up and down and backward and turn in almost every direction, said Karin Nordström, who studies hoverflies at Flinders University in Australia.
“Seeing them come in and land on a flower, it’s really beautiful,” she said, “because it’s such a controlled landing.”
---+ Find additional resources and a transcript on KQED Science:
kqed.org/science/1980847/how-hoverflies-spawn-maggots-that-sweeten-your-oranges
---+ More great Deep Look episodes:
This Bee Gets Punched by Flowers For Your Ice Cream
youtu.be/rsUNxvXofgo
Born Pregnant: Aphids Invade with an Onslaught of Clones
youtu.be/vrzalLssomg
This Freaky Fruit Fly Lays Eggs in Your Strawberries
youtu.be/MJsI50wQELU
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Want to see all of the original videos that Gabriela Quirós produced and also appeared in?
Check them out here 👇
🪰 A Tsetse Fly Births One Enormous Milk-Fed Baby youtu.be/odCtCote9U0
😘 How a Kissing Bug Becomes a Balloon Full of Your Blood youtu.be/79bVKq_vTR0
🦟 This Dangerous Mosquito Lays Her Armored Eggs – in Your House youtu.be/1T9jgBnXXvw
🛏️ Watch Bed Bugs Get Stopped in Their Tracks youtu.be/ToeWrGTGOOI
🔥 Fire Ants Turn Into a Stinging Life Raft to Survive Floods youtu.be/cfKr6rnpakE
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See the full video here 👉 youtu.be/C2Jw5ib-s_I
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DEEP LOOK is a ultra-HD (4K) short video series created by KQED San Francisco and presented by PBS Digital Studios. See the unseen at the very edge of our visible world. Explore big scientific mysteries by going incredibly small.
--
Yellowjackets bring back all kinds of interesting fare to their nests. The scavenging species might make meatballs out of moth wings, cockroaches or pieces of carrion. And all that food gathering and flying around gives adult yellowjackets an appetite. After delivering scavenged foods to the larvae, adult yellowjackets prod the youngsters and they offer their thanks in the form of a sugary throw up, or exudate. The adults slurp that up and jet off on more meatball missions.
---+ Are yellowjackets pollinators?
Yellowjackets are pollinators! They visit flowers to gather sugary nectar that helps fuel their flight. They’re not as good at pollinating plants as bees are because their bodies are less hairy so they don’t pick up as much pollen.
---+ Do yellowjackets die after they sting?
Yellowjackets do not die after they sting. They can sting multiple times, but it’s a last resort when they are threatened.
---+ Find additional resources and a transcript on KQED Science:
kqed.org/science/1980663/yellowjackets-roll-tiny-meatballs-for-the-babies
---+ Busy Bees and Other Pollinators Playlist:
youtube.com/watch?v=XjOfbEWVBpE&list=PLdKlciEDdCQCfoI8E24mbuk259unmiwG9
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But not pallid bats. They hunt insects and arachnids that live on the ground by tracking their movements with another sense: hearing.
Learn more in the full episode 👉 youtu.be/l2py029bwhA
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When researchers studied the fire ant rafts in a lab, they noticed something kind of wild. Fire ants initially build their raft around a central rod. But over time, the form of that raft changes and we see tiny “arms” reaching out. Some ants march right on top of others to the raft’s edge. Then they jump off and hook onto the others, causing the raft to grow little protrusions.
So, why are the ants doing this, making these curious little arms? Scientists’ best guess is the ants are searching for dry land to build a new nest. Very cool.
You can watch the full episode, "Fire Ants Turn Into a Stinging Life Raft to Survive Floods" here 👉 youtu.be/cfKr6rnpakE
Special thanks to the Vernerey Research Group at the University of Colorado - Boulder for the time lapse footage of the fire ants.
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---
Monarch butterflies are one of the most recognizable animals in the world, but these beloved insects face have lost much of their historic milkweed habitat to agriculture and development. As a result, monarchs are more concentrated on the milkweed plants they have left.
Monarch caterpillars are completely reliant on milkweed for food and many people plant milkweed in their yards to help them. But not all milkweed is the same.
Tropical milkweed, with its pretty orange and red flowers, doesn’t die back in the fall and that means that the protozoan parasite Ophryocystis elektroscirrha (OE) has more time to build up on its leaves.
Monarch caterpillars inadvertently ingest the spores, which release the microscopic parasites into the caterpillar’s flesh. When a heavily infected monarch goes through metamorphosis, the butterfly will have lesions on its abdomen, making it stick to the inside of its chrysalis.
“It gets stuck and you really see the butterfly struggle at that point which is a sad sight,” says Jacobus de Roode, a researcher at Emory University in Atlanta who studies the relationship between monarchs and OE.
“Normally the butterfly comes out very smoothly, it pops out and starts pumping up those wings. But when they get stuck you can see them for minutes or even hours struggling and they just can’t get out. It’s kind of traumatic.”
--
--- How do monarch butterflies help humans?
Monarch butterflies are important pollinators that are hugely beneficial to the ecosystems in which they are found.
--- Where do monarch butterflies migrate each year?
In the fall, monarch butterflies travel to their overwintering locations. The majority of monarchs live east of the Rock Mountains and they travel to central Mexico. The monarchs that spend their summers west of the Rockies travel to the central California coast. There is some overlap between the populations of monarchs.
--- How do monarch butterflies protect themselves?
Monarch caterpillars feed on milkweed plants, which contain toxic substances called cardiac glycosides that accumulate in the caterpillar’s flesh and stay with it even after it metamorphoses into a butterfly. Both monarch caterpillars and butterflies have vibrant warning colors that tell predators that they don’t taste good.
---+ Find additional resources and a transcript on KQED Science:
kqed.org/science/1980427/this-nasty-parasite-is-ruining-monarch-butterfly-wings
---+ For more information:
The de Roode Lab at Emory University in Atlanta: deroodelab.org
---+ More Great Deep Look episodes:
Glasswing Butterflies Want To Make Something Perfectly Clear | Deep Look
youtu.be/LYxTyMF9k_4
The Pipevine Caterpillar Thrives in a Toxic Love Triangle | Deep Look
youtu.be/TQQv7h11g_c
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---+ About KQED
KQED, an NPR and PBS affiliate in San Francisco, CA, serves Northern California and beyond with a public-supported alternative to commercial TV, Radio and web media.
Funding for Deep Look is provided in part by PBS Digital Studios. Deep Look is a project of KQED Science, the largest science and environment reporting unit in California. KQED Science is supported by the Dirk and Charlene Kabcenell Foundation, Campaign 21 and the members of KQED.
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@leftcoastnaturalist has some answers!
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See the full episode here 👉 youtu.be/5gOKd4cqFaY
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DEEP LOOK is a ultra-HD (4K) short video series created by KQED San Francisco and presented by PBS Digital Studios. See the unseen at the very edge of our visible world. Explore big scientific mysteries by going incredibly small.
--
During hurricane season, as residents of states like Florida, Texas, Louisiana and South Carolina escape rising waters, they sometimes have the added misfortune of wading into large groups of floating red fire ants that have assembled into a raft. These ants, whose scientific name is Solenopsis invicta, are also known as red imported fire ants or RIFA because they arrived in the United States from South America. There, they evolved on the margins of rivers that flood regularly, in an area that encompasses western Brazil, northern Argentina, Paraguay and Bolivia.
---+ What happens if a red fire ant bites you?
It’s more accurate to say that red fire ants bite *and* sting. They use their large mandibles to grab onto the skin and anchor themselves. Then, they dig their stinger in – sometimes multiple times – and inject venom. An itchy welt pops up at the site of the sting and later turns into a pus-filled blister called a pustule. A small number of people are allergic to red fire ant venom and can go into anaphylactic shock and die if they don’t receive prompt medical care.
---+ Why are red imported fire ants a problem?
In addition to their stings, red imported fire ants damage crops, hurt livestock and displace native ants.
---+ Find additional resources and a transcript on KQED Science:
kqed.org/science/1980343/fire-ants-turn-their-babies-into-a-stinging-life-raft
---+ More Great Deep Look episodes:
Kidnapper Ants Steal Other Ants’ Babies - And Brainwash Them
youtu.be/sC4MjPKf3jY
Honeypot Ants Turn Their Biggest Sisters into Jugs of Nectar
youtu.be/Rid_YW3P8CA
Where Are the Ants Carrying All Those Leaves?
youtu.be/-6oKJ5FGk24
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WATCH 'America Outdoors: Understory:' youtu.be/s-R1p89zHnk
PLAY Deep Look's 'Panic at the Pond' Playlist! youtube.com/playlist?list=PLdKlciEDdCQDWGnwP5WLFSYLTRZmk3Ssr
DEEP LOOK is an ultra-HD (4K) short video series created by KQED San Francisco and presented by PBS Digital Studios. See the unseen at the very edge of our visible world. Explore big scientific mysteries by going incredibly small.
---
Ever feel like your world’s been flipped upside down? That’s life for these bugs.
Backswimmers are predatory insects that get their name because they spend their lives flipped with their backs facing down and their bellies facing up. They do a kind of backstroke using their oversized back legs like oars.
Spending their time flipped over is convenient because it helps them know if any unlucky prey has accidentally fallen into the water.
“They are vicious predators,” says Kate Boersma, a biologist at University of San Diego, “and they're very fast in the water. They do hunt underwater, but they also eat stuff that falls in. Mostly terrestrial insects.”
Backswimmers also like to munch on mosquito larvae that tend to share the same ponds and streams. That makes backswimmers a surprisingly valuable ally when it comes to keeping mosquito levels low.
--- What do backswimmers eat?
Backswimmers are predatory insects that hunt other aquatic invertebrates or terrestrial insects that have accidentally fallen into the water and are often struggling to get out. The biggest backswimmers can take down prey as large as a tadpole or small fish.
--- Do backswimmers bite or sting?
Backswimmers will bite people to defend themselves, but they typically aren’t looking for a fight. The bite may feel similar to a bee sting.
--- How do backswimmers get in your pool? Can backswimmers fly?
Backswimmers are able to fly to find new bodies of water to make their home. They do occasionally land in swimming pools by accident and can sometimes survive for a while if the pool isn’t heavily chlorinated. Since there typically isn’t any prey for them in a swimming pool, they will often try to escape to find a more suitable home.
---+ Find additional resources and a transcript on KQED Science:
kqed.org/science/1980101/backswimmer-insects-drag-prey-into-the-upside-down
---+ More great Deep Look episodes:
You Can’t Unsee the Assassin Bug’s Dirty Work | Deep Look
youtu.be/bdzK-pTadQs
Tadpole Shrimp Are Coming For Your Rice | Deep Look
youtu.be/T2xnXaX7r3g
Born Pregnant: Aphids Invade with an Onslaught of Clones | Deep Look
youtu.be/vrzalLssomg
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Funding for Deep Look is provided in part by PBS Digital Studios. Deep Look is a project of KQED Science, the largest science and environment reporting unit in California. KQED Science is supported by the Dirk and Charlene Kabcenell Foundation, Campaign 21 and the members of KQED.
Watch Far Out on PBS Terra! youtube.com/playlist?list=PLnNZYWyBGJ1EzMbF4T-PPNmqhXFY87Kfp
DEEP LOOK is a ultra-HD (4K) short video series created by KQED San Francisco and presented by PBS Digital Studios. See the unseen at the very edge of our visible world. Explore big scientific mysteries by going incredibly small.
--
The secret to turning a whole rodent into an owl pellet is in a barn owl’s stomach. It has two chambers.
The first chamber oozes digestive juices, like our stomach. The second one – the gizzard – squeezes the rodent remains with powerful muscles. The fats and proteins get absorbed. After about eight hours in the gizzard, the fur and bones become tightly compacted into an oval that the owl regurgitates.
---+ What can scientists learn by studying what's inside owl pellets?
“I think it’s really fascinating you can study their diet so easily by dissecting these pellets,” said Matt Johnson, who oversees the Barn Owl Research Team at Cal Poly Humboldt, in Arcata, California. He and his students monitor 300 nest boxes set up by winegrowers in the state’s Napa Valley.
Winegrowers invite barn owls (Tyto furcata) to raise their young in nest boxes. By hunting gophers and voles, which can damage grapevines, barn owls help with pest control.
Dissecting owl pellets and pulling out the bones hidden inside helps researchers identify what animals a barn owl ate and how many.
In Napa, “voles, mice and gophers make up 90% of what they eat,” said Johnson. “Mice are almost always the third place in that list.”
“Their diet varies from place to place and year to year,” he added. “We’ve collected some pellets that are majority voles, or majority gophers.”
---+ How many rodents can a barn owl kill?
While a graduate student at Cal Poly Humboldt, Dane St. George estimated in 2020 that a family of barn owls living in and around a vineyard in Napa can eat 3,500 rodents a year. By tracking the barn owls’ movements, he found that almost 45% of the rodents they killed came from within vineyards.
---+ Find additional resources and a transcript on KQED Science:
kqed.org/science/1979934/barn-owl-table-manners-are-just-different
---+ The young barn owl coughing up a *gigantic* pellet in our episode was filmed by a camera in a nest box in Israel. Watch the whole video here: youtu.be/sCTvWDd7bjc
And livestream barn owls, kestrels and other birds here: youtube.com/c/CharterGroupBirdcams
---+ More Great Deep Look episodes:
What Makes Owls So Quiet and So Deadly?
youtu.be/a68fIQzaDBY
You’ve Heard of a Murder of Crows. How About a Crow Funeral?
youtu.be/ixYVFZnNl6s
Watch These Peregrine Falcons Become Fierce Parents
youtu.be/RTNZmnD27is
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#barnowls #owlpellet #deeplook
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DEEP LOOK is a ultra-HD (4K) short video series created by KQED San Francisco and presented by PBS Digital Studios. See the unseen at the very edge of our visible world. Explore big scientific mysteries by going incredibly small.
--
On a warm spring day in California’s Central Valley, a super fuzzy golden bee almost the size of your thumb flies in tight circles over red and white Hot lips salvia flowers. You’re witnessing the fitness display of the largest bee in the Western United States – the Valley carpenter bee (Xylocopa sonorina).
The bright golden males of this species release a pheromone as they circle around a focal point, mimicking floral odors. Researchers think that they are using the perfume-y scent to attract foraging female bees. They hope that the all-black, shiny female bees will be impressed by their dizzying acrobatic displays, and decide to choose them as a mate. These striking males are colloquially referred to as "Teddy bear bees."
Many flowering plants in California’s Central Valley produce tubular flowers which are hard to access with the bees' short tongue. Valley carpenter bees, like other types of carpenter bees, don’t have the long tongues that other local pollinators may have (like some moths, butterflies, or hummingbirds). So instead of extending their tongues down a flower to reach nectar (and in the process pick up pollen at the front of the flower), these bees steal the nectar through a backdoor. They use their powerful mandibles to bite a hole at the base of the flower and sip nectar from the side of the puncture, thus bypassing pollination. Researchers call this “nectar robbing.”
---+ Why do carpenter bees eat wood?
Carpenter bees are named for their ability to construct nests in wood – typically logs or human-made wooden structures. The bee nests are made of tunnels about ½ inch in diameter and 6 to 10 inches deep. The tunnels in a bee nest lead to several chambers, where the bees raise their young, as well as hibernate during colder months. In parts of the US, especially the Eastern US, carpenter bees are considered pests.
---+ How do carpenter bees drill holes?
The female bees use their powerful mandibles to tunnel into dead wood… like logs, or tree trunks. Mama bees then lay their eggs and provide food for the developing offspring in these chambers.
The bees may return to the same nest for generations, expanding and renovating year after year.
Carpenter bees don’t have a queen, and they aren’t as social as honeybees, but several bees may room together in a nest.
---+ Find additional resources and a transcript on KQED Science:
kqed.org/science/1979834/carpenter-bees-stab-flowers-to-steal-their-nectar
---+ More Great Deep Look episodes:
Watch This Bee Build Her Bee-jeweled Nest
youtube.com/watch?v=oPbH1YhsdP8
This Bee Builds Sandcastles at the Beach
youtube.com/watch?v=UfMCZYkG5Xo
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Funding for Deep Look is provided in part by PBS Digital Studios. Deep Look is a project of KQED Science, the largest science and environment reporting unit in California. KQED Science is supported by the Dirk and Charlene Kabcenell Foundation, Campaign 21 and the members of KQED.
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DEEP LOOK is an ultra-HD (4K) short video series created by KQED San Francisco and presented by PBS Digital Studios. See the unseen at the very edge of our visible world. Explore big scientific mysteries by going incredibly small.
---
This summer, as you cool your bare feet in a stream somewhere in California – or almost anywhere in the world, really – you might feel a painful nip. The menacing culprit: a giant water bug.
Lurking just below the surface of that flowing creek or refreshing pond, these bugs resemble enormous aquatic ticks, with googly eyes and praying mantis arms. And although they won’t seek you out for an attack, they also won’t hesitate to take a defensive bite if you get too close, earning them the nickname “toe-biters.”
They puncture the skin with dagger-like mouth parts and have a bite known as one of the most painful of any insect – sharp and stinging like a wasp’s. You may not even get a chance to spot the offending insect before it dashes off, but you’ll undoubtedly be left with an indelible impression. And a swollen, throbbing toe.
--- What do giant water bugs eat?
Giant water bugs are voracious predators that will take down any small animals they can subdue. They have a long needle-like mouth and their bite contains a cocktail of chemicals that paralyzes their prey and digests their tissues. Then the giant water bugs slurp up its meal. Giant water bugs hunt other insects, tadpoles and frogs, small fish, and even the occasional duckling.
--- How do giant water bugs breathe?
Giant water bugs spend their lives in freshwater, but they must return to the surface to breathe. Giant water bugs have two little air straps that protrude from their backside. The air straps work like a snorkel to pull air into a bubble trapped under their wings.
--- What do giant water bugs taste like?
In Southeast Asia giant water bugs are sometimes eaten as a regional delicacy. Like other arthropods, giant water bugs are said to taste a bit like shrimp with a slightly sweet flavor.
---+ Read the entire article on KQED Science:
kqed.org/science/1979474/dont-go-chasing-water-bugs
---+ More great Deep Look episodes:
You Can’t Unsee the Assassin Bug’s Dirty Work | Deep Look
youtu.be/bdzK-pTadQs
Tadpole Shrimp Are Coming For Your Rice | Deep Look
youtu.be/T2xnXaX7r3g
Born Pregnant: Aphids Invade with an Onslaught of Clones | Deep Look
youtu.be/vrzalLssomg
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Funding for Deep Look is provided in part by PBS Digital Studios. Deep Look is a project of KQED Science, the largest science and environment reporting unit in California. KQED Science is supported by the Dirk and Charlene Kabcenell Foundation, Campaign 21 and the members of KQED.
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DEEP LOOK is a ultra-HD (4K) short video series created by KQED San Francisco and presented by PBS Digital Studios. See the unseen at the very edge of our visible world. Explore big scientific mysteries by going incredibly small.
---
To cut into fruit and lay their eggs, female spotted wing drosophila flies use a long tool at the back of their bodies. This ovipositor has two rows of teeth that they dig into firm fruit while it’s still on the bush. The maggots that grow from the eggs ruin the fruit so that it never makes it to market.
In comparison, the common fruit fly milling about in your kitchen has a smoother, shorter ovipositor with which it can only dig into rotting fruit, like the bananas you didn’t get to.
Spotted wing drosophila are originally from East Asia and have spread around the world, helped in part by their ability to survive through a cold winter. To protect their crops, growers have to spray insecticides to kill them.
That’s why scientists are introducing a less toxic option, a parasitic wasp called Ganaspis brasiliensis, which is also from Asia. Females of this wasp lay their eggs inside the maggots of a spotted wing drosophila. The U.S. Department of Agriculture recently approved the release of the wasp in the United States. Scientists are now planning large releases in California and other affected areas around the country this summer, said University of California, Berkeley, entomologist Kent Daane, who studies the insect.
--- What do spotted wing drosophila look like?
They get their name from the black spot near the tip of each of the male’s wings. Otherwise, they look fairly similar to the common fruit fly.
--- What crops do spotted wing drosophila impact?
In addition to strawberries, raspberries, blueberries and blackberries, they also infest cherries and stone fruits. They’re a pest of wine grapes in places like Switzerland, though not in California.
--- How do organic berry farmers control spotted wing drosophila?
They apply pesticides approved for use in organic farming, such as spinosad, a natural substance produced by a soil bacterium. They also try to keep the flies away from their crops in the first place. For example, they cut down vegetation growing near their fields, such as invasive Himalayan blackberry plants where the flies like to live when they’re not feeding on ripening crops.
---+ Find a transcript and additional resources on KQED Science:
kqed.org/science/1979380/this-freaky-fruit-fly-lays-eggs-in-your-strawberries
---+ More Great Deep Look episodes:
This Killer Fungus Turns Flies into Zombies
youtu.be/C2Jw5ib-s_I
Here’s How That Annoying Fly Dodges Your Swatter
youtu.be/jBPFCvEhv9Y
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---+ About KQED
KQED, an NPR and PBS affiliate in San Francisco, CA, serves Northern California and beyond with a public-supported alternative to commercial TV, Radio and web media.
Funding for Deep Look is provided in part by PBS Digital Studios. Deep Look is a project of KQED Science, the largest science and environment reporting unit in California. KQED Science is supported by the Dirk and Charlene Kabcenell Foundation, Campaign 21 and the members of KQED.
#spottedwingdrosophila #drosophilasuzukii #deeplook
They've joined forces again for this new episode, "Silkworms Spin Cocoons That Spell Their Own Death". Technical wizard Kevin Collins explains how he set up and filmed a cool macro shot of a silkworm cocoon.
Watch the full video here 👉 youtu.be/cgavTIBQ_Z0
They've joined forces again for this new episode, "TITLE". Technical wizard Kevin Collins explains how he set up and filmed a time-lapse of a silkworm spinning silk.
Watch the full video here 👉 youtu.be/cgavTIBQ_Z0
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DEEP LOOK is an ultra-HD (4K) short video series created by KQED San Francisco and presented by PBS Digital Studios. See the unseen at the very edge of our visible world. Explore big scientific mysteries by going incredibly small.
—
The sumptuous silk in your satiny sheets and glamorous gowns comes from humble beginnings – a caterpillar of the domesticated silk moth. For almost five thousand years, people have raised silkworms for their unique, shimmering material. In just a few days, these caterpillars produce one fine thread of silk one kilometer long, and intricately weave it into their cocoons.
For most silkworms in captivity, this is where their journey ends. To preserve the integrity of the continuous silk thread in each cocoon, silk farmers kill the pupa inside the chrysalis by boiling, steam, or sun. Then the strands are loosened in hot water and unwound by hand using specialized spinners and silk harvesting tools. This raw silk is then gathered onto large spools and refined into commercially valuable threads. It can take up to 2000 silkworms to make one silk dress.
Today, the silk industry is valued at more than $10 billion globally, but it is more than just a luxury item. Silk is pound-for-pound stronger than steel, and it is now used in medicine to heal bones and tendons. Our five thousand year love affair with this extraordinary material continues to hold silkworms captive -- until we learn to spin silk better than they can.
__
– What other insects produce silk?
Animal-produced silk is actually quite common in the natural world. Spiders (of course), fleas, webspinners, caddisflies and even some ants and bees make silk. But only the silk made by the caterpillar of the domestic silk moth is widely cultivated by humans.
– Are silkworms edible?
Yes! Silkworms are enjoyed as a nutritious snack in many countries, including Thailand, Vietnam, China and Madagascar.
– Where do wild silk moths live?
Domestic silk moths (Bombyx mori) can’t survive in the wild without help from humans, but their cousins – the wild silk moth (Bombyx mandarina) can be found in Asia, in countries like China, Korea and Japan.
---+ More great Deep Look episodes:
The Curious Webspinner Insect Knits a Cozy Home
youtube.com/watch?v=l_JP3RbJ8zk
Is a Spider's Web a Part of Its Mind?
youtube.com/watch?v=rpwkgMX4IlQ
---+ Shoutout!
🏆Congratulations🏆 to the first 5 (well, 6, we missed R Alan!) fans on our Deep Look Community Tab to correctly answer our GIF challenge!
TheMicroGuy
TheWhiteScatterbug
Manish Ravi
BobBob
Juhi Shah
R Alan
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---+ About KQED
KQED, an NPR and PBS affiliate in San Francisco, CA, serves Northern California and beyond with a public-supported alternative to commercial TV, Radio and web media.
Funding for Deep Look is provided in part by PBS Digital Studios. Deep Look is a project of KQED Science, the largest science and environment reporting unit in California. KQED Science is supported by the Dirk and Charlene Kabcenell Foundation, Campaign 21 and the members of KQED.
#silkworm #silkmoth #deeplook
With Víctor M. Ortega-Jiménez, a biophysicist at Georgia Institute of Technology, who studies the acrobatic flight of hummingbirds; and Luis Zambrano González of the National Autonomous University of Mexico, who studies the endangered axolotls and the restoration of their habitat.
Víctor M. Ortega-Jiménez
ornithopterus.com
Luis Zambrano González
researchgate.net/profile/Luis-Zambrano-11
Click on the bell 🔔 to set your reminder!
We’ll watch our episodes on Hummingbirds and Axolotls. ;-) and answer your questions with our special guests!
What Happens When You Put a Hummingbird in a Wind Tunnel? | Deep Look
youtube.com/watch?v=JyqY64ovjfY
The Axolotl Salamander Doesn’t Wanna Grow Up | Deep Look
youtube.com/watch?v=tBEf7wqbroM
* This event is bilingual in Spanish and English. The videos will be narrated in English with subtitles in Spanish. The event moderator and scientists will translate questions and answers into both languages.
----------------------------------------
👀¡TRANSMISIÓN EN DIRECTO POR INTERNET CON DEEP LOOK!! 👀VIERNES 29 DE ABRIL A LAS 5 P.M. hora estándar del Pacífico.
Participe en un evento bilingüe* con científicos, moderado por Gabriela Quirós, una de las productoras de Deep Look.
Nos acompañará el biofísico Víctor Ortega Jiménez, del Instituto de Tecnología de Georgia, en los EE.UU., quien estudia el vuelo acrobático de los colibríes. También tendremos como invitado a Luis Zambrano González, de la Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, quien estudia a las salamandras conocidas como ajolotes y trabaja en la restauración del lago de Xochimilco, en la Ciudad de México, el hábitat natural de estos anfibios, donde están en peligro de extinción.
Víctor M. Ortega-Jiménez
ornithopterus.com
Luis Zambrano González
researchgate.net/profile/Luis-Zambrano-11
Aprete la campanita 🔔para recibir un recordatorio sobre el evento.
Veremos los videos de Deep Look sobre los colibríes y los ajolotes y nuestros invitados especiales contestarán sus preguntas.
¿Qué pasa cuando pones a un colibrí en un túnel?
youtube.com/watch?v=JyqY64ovjfY
El ajolote es una salamandra que se niega a envejecer:
youtube.com/watch?v=tBEf7wqbroM
*Este evento será bilingüe en inglés y español. Los videos son narrados en inglés, con subtítulos en español. La moderadora del evento y los científicos contestarán sus preguntas en ambos idiomas.
Watch our 150th episode here: youtu.be/lfnkFxg1gMw
#shorts
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DEEP LOOK is an ultra-HD (4K) short video series created by KQED San Francisco and presented by PBS Digital Studios. See the unseen at the very edge of our visible world. Explore big scientific mysteries by going incredibly small.
---
When it comes to mating, acorn barnacles have a challenge. How do you find a date when you’re permanently stuck to a rock, pier or boat hull?
Fortunately for them, barnacles are packing the right equipment to get the job done. They have the longest penis of any animal relative to their body size.
But the barnacle’s male organ isn’t just impressive because of its length. It can smell and taste and the tip can feel around to find neighbors that have ripe ovaries inside.
“It is very clear that the barnacle’s penis is really much more of a sensory organ that also delivers sperm,” says Peter Raimondi, professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of California, Santa Cruz.
--- What do barnacles eat?
Barnacles use their long feathery legs called cirri to strain plankton and debris right out of the water. Barnacles are often found in the intertidal zone where the waves churn up seaweed and carrion into small pieces that barnacles can eat.
--- How do barnacles attach to rocks?
Free-swimming mature barnacle larvae called cyprids attach themselves to rocks, piers, boat hulls and other underwater surfaces with a special cement that they excrete from glands between their antennae. The young barnacle then builds a ring of protective shell around itself.
--- What are barnacles related to?
From the outside, barnacles may look more like clams or mussels. But barnacles are actually crustaceans that are more closely related to shrimp and crabs.
---+ Find additional resources and a transcript on KQED Science:
kqed.org/science/1979151/barnacles-go-to-unbelievable-lengths-to-hook-up
---+ More great Deep Look episodes:
These Feisty Hermit Crabs Brawl Over Snail Shells | Deep Look
youtu.be/zCsbTcmtsoA
Skeleton Shrimp Use 18 Appendages to Feed, Fight and ... Frolic | Deep Look
youtu.be/lQtU5Cu7GDw
Once a Spawn a Time: Horseshoe Crabs Mob the Beach | Deep Look
youtu.be/iYvWssvg1YU
---+ Shoutout!
🏆Congratulations🏆 to Kamea Webster on our Deep Look Community Tab for correctly answering our GIF challenge! The entire structure of the barnacle legs is called the cirral fan!
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---+ About KQED
KQED, an NPR and PBS affiliate in San Francisco, California, serves Northern California and beyond with a public-supported alternative to commercial TV, radio and web media.
Funding for Deep Look is provided in part by PBS Digital Studios. Deep Look is a project of KQED Science, the largest science and environment reporting unit in California. KQED Science is supported by The National Science Foundation, the Dirk and Charlene Kabcenell Foundation, the Vadasz Family Foundation, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, Campaign 21 and the members of KQED.