Meat-eater ant on a white background

What Kind of Ant Is That? A Quick Guide to Common Home Invaders

April Joy Jovita

Picture this: you’re peacefully sipping your morning coffee when suddenly, a tiny black line catches your eye marching across your kitchen counter. Your heart sinks as you realize you’ve just spotted the advance scouts of what could become a full-blown ant invasion. But here’s the thing that most people don’t realize—not all ants are created ...

A cockroach on white background

Roaches That Raise Their Young With “Milk” — The Insect That Nurses

April Joy Jovita

When you think of nursing mothers, images of mammals feeding their babies probably come to mind. But what if I told you that some cockroaches are doing something remarkably similar? Deep in the insect world, there’s a species that’s rewriting everything we thought we knew about parental care among bugs. The Pacific beetle cockroach has ...

The Insect That Lives in Pitch-Black Caves and Has No Eyes

The Insect That Lives in Pitch-Black Caves and Has No Eyes

April Joy Jovita

Deep beneath the Earth’s surface, where sunlight has never touched and darkness reigns supreme, an extraordinary creature thrives in conditions that would challenge most life forms. This remarkable insect has evolved over millions of years to call the most inhospitable environments home, developing adaptations so profound that they seem almost alien to our surface world. ...

Dung beetle on teh sand

Insects That Pupate Inside Animal Dung (and Prefer It That Way)

April Joy Jovita

Nature has a way of surprising us with the most unusual survival strategies. While most of us would turn our noses up at the thought of animal waste, there’s an entire world of insects that have turned dung into their preferred nursery. These remarkable creatures have evolved to not just tolerate but actually thrive in ...

A weevil on a small branch

The Arctic’s Tiniest Survivors: Bugs on the Brink of Extinction

April Joy Jovita

The Arctic winds howl across frozen tundra, where temperatures plummet to bone-chilling lows that would kill most living creatures in minutes. Yet beneath this seemingly lifeless landscape, an extraordinary world of microscopic warriors wages a daily battle for survival. These aren’t the charismatic polar bears or majestic Arctic foxes that capture headlines – they’re insects ...

The Arctic Caterpillar That's Basically a Tiny Cryogenic Time Traveler

The Arctic Caterpillar That’s Basically a Tiny Cryogenic Time Traveler

April Joy Jovita

In the frozen wasteland of the Arctic, where temperatures plummet to bone-chilling extremes that would kill most living creatures in minutes, there exists a caterpillar that laughs in the face of death itself. This isn’t your garden-variety caterpillar munching on leaves in a sunny meadow. This is nature’s most mind-bending survival story, a creature that ...

A fly on a walnut

Blowflies and Burn Victims: The Unlikely Medical Match

April Joy Jovita

What if I told you that the same insects buzzing around your garbage can could be the key to saving lives in burn units worldwide? While most people recoil at the sight of blowflies, these seemingly repulsive creatures are revolutionizing modern medicine in ways that would make even the most seasoned doctor do a double-take. ...

A scorpion on the rock

Killer Cure: Why Scientists Are Studying Scorpion Venom for Brain Cancer

April Joy Jovita

In the shadowy corners of the medical world, where desperate patients cling to hope and researchers chase breakthrough cures, an unlikely hero has emerged from the desert. It’s not a pharmaceutical giant or a prestigious university lab that’s making waves in brain cancer research. Instead, it’s one of nature’s most feared predators: the scorpion. These ...

Could Bugs Replace Us? A Post-Human Planet Run by Insects

Could Bugs Replace Us? A Post-Human Planet Run by Insects

April Joy Jovita

Picture this: skyscrapers crumbling under the weight of time, highways cracked and overgrown with weeds, and in the silence left behind by humanity’s disappearance, a new world emerges. Not one ruled by mammals or birds, but by creatures that have been preparing for this moment for millions of years. The insects, those tiny architects of ...

A housefly on a green plant

Why Houseflies Rub Their Legs — and What It Says About Their Gross Habits

April Joy Jovita

You’ve probably seen it countless times – a housefly lands on your kitchen counter and starts frantically rubbing its legs together like it’s plotting something sinister. Most people just swat at it in disgust, but what if I told you this seemingly simple behavior reveals one of nature’s most sophisticated cleaning systems? That annoying fly ...