Bug Squad

So there they were, literally dozens of dragonflies flying around two separate Vacaville (Calif.) yards, feasting on swirling clouds of prey (gnatlike insects) and then touching down on blades of grass or fence posts. They proved as elusive as a celebrities attempting to avoid a paparazzi.

The late medical entomologist William Emery Hazeltine II (1926-1994) worked tirelessly in mosquito research and public health. Thanks to the generosity of his family, his work is continuing through memorial research grants to outstanding graduate students at the University of California, Davis.

Irish novelist Margaret Wolfe Hungerford was right. In Molly Bawn, published in 1878, Hungerford wrote "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder," meaning that our perception of beauty is subjective. Beauty is also in the eye of the bee-holder, that is, a predator that "holds" bees.

Take one distinguished professor and one undergraduate student. Be sure it's a warm summer day. Then just add water. What do you get? An epic battle during the 15th annual Bruce Hammock Lab Water Balloon Battle on the Briggs Hall lawn at the University of California, Davis.

National Moth Week, July 21-29, celebrates the beauty, life cycles and habitats of moths. What's not to celebrate? And you can do so at the University of California, Davis.