Bug Squad

Merry Christmas has always been merry, but it's better with butterflies! Isn't everything better with butterflies? Last year, in our small-scale monarch rearing project here in Vacaville, Calif., we saw one monarch eclose on Saturday, Dec. 24, one on Sunday, Dec. 25, and one on Tuesday, Dec. 27.

Back in 2010, two innovators with the UC Davis Department of Entomology (now the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology) decided that "The 12 Days of Christmas" ought to be replaced with insects.

A butterfly for a beer? Suds for a bug? The annual Butterfly for a Beer contest, sponsored by Art Shapiro, distinguished professor of evolution and ecology at the University of California, Davis, gets underway on Monday, Jan. 1.

Listen to ABC Channel 10 News, broadcast Dec. 22 Seventeen-year-old Helena Leal doesn't like mosquitoes, but they like her. I always get bitten by mosquitoes more often than my family and friends, says the Davis High School senior.

There's a "me" in mead. Mead or honey wine is the "in" thing, and the UC Davis Honey and Pollination Center, directed by Amina Harris, has announced plans for three mead classes for January-February and a feast on Feb. 9 that celebrates mead and honey.