The European Union has decided to ban bee-killing pesticides
European Union member states have voted to ban the outdoor use of neonicotinoid pesticides, which have been linked to declines in pollinating insects
Ants build a medieval ‘torture rack’ to catch grasshoppers
A species of tropical ant builds traps on tree trunks that allow them to catch prey almost fifty times their size, by biting their legs and spread-eagling them on the tree surface
Male fruit flies feel pleasure when they ejaculate
Male insects have been genetically engineered to climax on command, and it seems they get a real buzz out of it – perhaps even a fly orgasm
Flies cool themselves down by constantly blowing bubbles of spit
Blowflies repeatedly blow bubbles of saliva, which look like brown bubble gum – and it turns out this odd behaviour helps them keep cool
Wasps drum with their stomachs to tell each other about food
German yellowjacket wasps alert each other to food by drumming their abdomens against the nest wall, in a wasp equivalent of the famous honeybee “waggle dance”
GM worms make a super-silk completely unknown in nature
Thanks to a spot of genetic hacking, silkworms can make a new form of silk not found in nature that includes a synthetic amino acid. It could be used in medicine
CRISPR immune system lets silkworms defeat viral infections
The CRISPR immune system from bacteria has been engineered into silkworms, allowing them to fight off a virus that plagues the silk industry
Beetles hide by looking like the bite marks they make on leaves
In a particularly impressive trick of camouflage, some leaf beetles have evolved to look like the feeding damage they make on leaves, so they can hide in their own nibbles
Newly-discovered fungi turn luckless ants into kamikaze zombies
Fifteen more species of “zombie ant fungus” have been discovered, and they all force their hosts to die in creative ways to further their own life cycle
Mute male crickets are still trying to serenade females
Male Hawaiian crickets that have lost the ability to chirp still go through the motion of “singing”, even though females can’t hear them