Bug Squad

Ever created Maggot Art? You pick up a maggot with a forceps, dip it into a non-toxic, water-based paint, drop it (gently) on a white paper, and let it crawl around, or guide it. Voila! Maggot Art! It's a conversation piece. It's suitable for framing.

Song Ci (1186-1249) of China, considered the world's first forensic entomologist, knew how to solve a crime when a villager in a rice field was found dead, slashed with a sickle. He told the villagers to line up in town square with their sickles. When they did, he immediately fingered the killer.

Let's congratulate molecular geneticist-physiologist Joanna Chiu, professor and vice chair of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology. Professor Chiu is the newly announced faculty recipient of the 2023 Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Mentoring Undergraduate Research.

The English lavender drew her in. And there she was, a yellow-faced bumble bee, Bombus vosnesenskii, foraging in our family's pollinator garden in Vacaville. She buzzed from blossom to blossom, ignoring the honey bees, syrphid flies and...the photographer. Ms.

Remember back in 2013 when scientists verified the reintroduction of the yellow fever mosquito, Aedes aegypti, in California? Infected mosquitoes can transmit such viruses as yellow fever, dengue and Zika. Alarm bells went off.