Lauren Magliozzi: Urban wildfires disrupt streams and their tiny inhabitants − losing these insects is a warning of bigger water problems
When you think of urban wildfires, you might picture charred trees and houses. But beneath the surface of nearby streams, fires can also cause a silent upheaval.
Robert Wrigley: Cricket and Cicada
After an hour I can’t tell them
one from another. They’ve become
two parts of an uncommon harmony,
cricket melody then cicada melody
until there’s no melody at all
James C. Nieh: Unlocking secrets of the honeybee dance language
Bees learn and culturally transmit their communication skills.
Video: 7 Spectacular Moths in Slow Motion!
Shooting seven different moth species at a whopping 6,000 frames per second (fps) – compared with the standard 24 fps for film and television – the biologist Adrian Smith guides viewers through the incredible biophysics of moth flight.
Video: How insects become airborne, slowed down to a speed the human eye can appreciate
Guided by the biologist Adrian Smith, the film captures a series of 11 different winged insects – including a praying mantis, beetles and weevils – as they propel into flight at a riveting 3,200 frames per second, and are slowed down roughly 200 times for your viewing pleasure.
Sandy Solomon: Praying Mantis
Brown twig with a scored, russet skirt of wings,
you cling to the side of the garbage can
where the lid fits, and, except for a slight twitch
of your pointed mandible, hold wholly still.
Arlene Weiner: After the Emergence of the Periodical Cicadas
bouquets of cicada brides whose courtship
made the sky sing so in May.
The wedding music stopped, these are left,
to be caught by maidens in seventeen years.
Ellery Akers: Our Grief for the Earth is Hidden
When I was born
I thought I’d be taken from the earth
I didn’t think the earth would be taken from me
Michael Simms: Antbed
You may remember my father
died when I was eight
my mother closed up
the house and we went to stay
with my grandmother for a few months
Judith Vollmer: House Spiders
Maya, weaver of illusions,
how is it we trust the web, the nest,
the roof over our heads, we trust the stars
our guardians who gave us our alphabet?
Jessica Corbett: ‘Ecological Armageddon’ — Warnings From Scientists as Flying Insects Disappear
As new report shows flying insect population plunged by 76 percent, author predicts “our grandchildren will inherit a profoundly impoverished world.” A new study published Wednesday, revealing populations of flying … Continue reading
