Bug Squad

A daily (M-F) blog launched Aug. 6, 2008 and about the wonderful world of insects and those who study them. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
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ALMOND TREE at the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility is just about ready to burst into bloom. This photo was taken Feb. 7. The commercial almond pollination season generally begins around Valentine's Day. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Off to the Almond Orchards

February 7, 2011
It's one of the most beautiful agricultural scenes you'll ever see--bee trucks heading to California almond orchards to pollinate one of the state's most important crops.
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judyScotchmoor photo

Tackling Science Illiteracy

February 4, 2011
Science literary is in trouble. A recent survey commissioned by the California Academy of Science showed that nearly half of the nation's adults believe that dinosaurs and humans existed at the same time.
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SWEAT BEE, a female Svastra obliqua expurgata, forages on a purple coneflower at the Haagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven in this autumn scene. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Bring on the Asters

February 3, 2011
Bring on the asters. When you visit the Hagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven at the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr.
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RESEARCH ENTOMOLOGIST Roger Vargas of the USDA-ARS will speak from 12:10 to 1 p.m., Wednesday, Feb. 9 at the University of Caifornia, Davis. His topic: fruit flies. The lecture is from 12:10 to 1 p.m. in 1022 Life Sciences Addition, corner of Hutchison and Kleiber Hall drives.

In the Thick of Fruit Flies

February 2, 2011
Roger Vargas is in the thick of fruit-fly research and he probably wishes those insects would thin out. He's a research entomologist at the USDA-ARS Pacific Basin Agricultural Research Center in Hilo, Hawaii. For those who don't deal with acronyms, that's the Agricultural Research Service of the U.
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HONEY BEE could be our groundhog weather predictor here in California. If she exits the hive and visits the cape mallow in the Haagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven at the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility at the University of California, Davis, spring will come early. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

About that Groundhog...

February 1, 2011
Tomorrow (Tuesday, Feb. 2) marks the 125th annual Groundhog Day celebration in Punxsutawney, Pa., and you know what that means. That's when a groundhog named Punxsutawney Phil emerges from his burrow and predicts the weather. If he sees his shadow, six more weeks of winter.
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