Bug Squad

Ever eaten a bug? Sure you have. Insect fragments are in just about all the foods we eat, from chocolate to coffee to wheat flour to pizza sauce to beer and more. An insect control company estimates that we eat, on the average, 140,000 "bug bits" every year. (See Business Insider.

You probably don't think much about the blood-sucking tsetse fly--unless you're living in Africa or are planning to travel there. But if you're UC Davis entomologist-geneticist Geoffrey Attardo, you do. He led landmark research published Sept.

A life well-lived. Robbin Thorp, distinguished emeritus professor of entomology at the University of California, Davis, was a global authority on bees and he generously shared his expertise with others.

From honey bees to bumble bees to nematodes to mosquitoes to walnut twig beetles... Nine speakers are booked for the fall quarter seminars sponsored by the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology. The seminars begin Wednesday, Sept. 25 and continue through Wednesday, Dec. 5.

Let's see...John Casida, Bruce Hammock and now Thomas Sparks. You probably recognize their names as exemplary scientists affiliated with the University of California system. They all meshed entomology, chemistry and toxicology and biochemistry.