Bug Squad

It's a day that rice growers look forward to. Bugs, not so much. Because they're targeted. Especially the fall armyworms.

A soap opera is usually defined as a drama performed as a serial on daytime TV. But soapberry bugs and the people who study them are much more interesting! Forget the soaps; let's talk about soapberry bugs and an entomologist at the University of California, Davis, who studies them.

If you're walking along the cliffs of Bodega Head, Sonoma County, you may overlook them. While you're watching for whales, scouting for seabirds and checking out the hikers, there's a lot of movement in the seaside daises (Erigeron glaucus) and seaside woolly sunflower (Eriophyllum staechadifolium).

Do you know your native bees? Can you distinguish a sweat bee from a leafcutting bee from a cuckoo bee from a mining bee? No sweat? Or, are you...ahem...sweating the answer? You can learn more about native bees at a special presentation on Saturday, Sept.

"Science is full of surprises." Bruce Hammock, UC Davis distinguished professor of entomology who holds a joint appointment with the UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center, is fond of saying that in his many talks. "Science is full of surprises.