Bug Squad

Some people are born good-looking. Some have the gift of gab. And some are lucky enough to be born smarter than the rest of us. Whether we like it or not, Mother Nature does not dole these characteristics out evenly.--Simon Sinek How true. That applies to butterflies, too.

Today was a good day on the University of California, Davis, campus.

Doctoral candidate and forest entomologist Jackson Audley of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, targets an invasive bark beetle that's about the size of a grain of rice. The beetle? The walnut twig beetle, Pityophthorus juglandis.

Rome wasn't built in a day. But learning how to make mead? You can learn the process from "honey to the bottle all in one day" on Thursday, Jan. 23 at the University of California, Davis. Mead, the world's oldest alcoholic beverage, is a fermented blend of pure honey and water.

So you're seated at the Thanksgiving dinner table listening to what people are thankful for, what they treasure the most. The three "F's" win hands-down: family, friends and food. But "insects" should definitely added to that list.