Bug Squad

What are the odds? Here you are, standing in the garden section of a home improvement store, and you select a tropical milkweed to purchase. You place it on the ground and admire the brilliant yellow blossoms and luxurious green foliage. It's the best of the best.

When the UC Davis Staff Assembly honors Elvira Galvan Hack at its campuswide Citation for Excellence Award ceremony on Friday, Sept. 6 at the Walter A. Buehler Alumni Center, there's a story behind the story. An amazing story. A story of success. A story of paying it forward and making a difference.

Where are all the monarch butterflies? There's good news and bad news. First, the bad news: "An Epic Migration on the Verge of Collapse," wrote the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation on its website detailing monarch conservation.

Today is Labor Day 2019, a federal holiday celebrated the first Monday of September. However, "the girls" are working, as they do every day of the year, weather permitting. "The girls" are the worker honey bees. Unless you keep bees or have access to a hive, you mostly see them foraging.

The date is set. The celebration of life for global bee expert Robbin Thorp, distinguished emeritus professor of entomology at UC Davis and a beloved scientist, is scheduled for Friday, Oct. 11 from 6 to 8 p.m. in the Putah Creek Lodge.