Why bean leaves are an effective bedbug pesticide

Testing five common beliefs about bedbugs

Bedbugs are one of the most stigmatized pest infestations due to their resilience and tendency to dwell where humans are most unconscious for long periods of time: beds. A bedbug problem can lead to horror stories and intensive interventions to...

How bedbugs have evolved immunity against pesticides

Bedbugs, once nearly eradicated in the United States due to the use of pesticides like DDT, have made a resurgence, with New York being declared the most bedbug-infested city. The primary reason for the return is the evolution of resistance in...

Bug-bitten and bedeviled: a delightful dive into the bedbug

Bedbugs can live up to 6 months without food—meaning they can lurk in your bedroom while you try to eradicate them and give you a sense that you've effectively annihilated them. What else do we know about these pesky little pests? This deep, deep...

Scientists still don't know why DEET is such an effective bug repellent

This chemical, used to keep ticks, fleas, mosquitoes, and other nuisance bugs away, is used by an estimated one-third of the US population and has been available to consumers since 1957. Researchers theorize that multiple mechanisms may be at work to deter bugs, including perhaps masking or confusing bugs' olfactory receptors.

A day in the life of a bedbug exterminator

Hugh Barrie is a bedbug specialist known as the Bed Bug Doctor, in Sussex, United Kingdom. Barrie employs a unique approach to bedbug extermination using heat treatment. Follow along as one journalist goes through the daily motions of a bedbug...

How to have a bug-free backyard dinner

An entomologist’s advice for bug-free backyard barbecues, including tips on the use of chemicals and how fans are pretty effective at keeping bugs away.

Examining the potential of the emerging field of insect-based bioremediation

Also known as entomoremediation, the novel approach uses larvae and adult insects, including their gut microbiomes and associated enzymes, to extract or degrade pollutants. As of 2025, research has shown that black soldier flies can degrade a wide range of antibiotics, highlighting their potential for bioremediating antibiotic-contaminated organic waste.

Plants use physical and chemical defenses to protect themselves

Tree bark is difficult to chew and resistant to pathogens, while the waxy cuticle on the surface of leaves deters insects and microbes. Some plants possess thorns, spines, and prickles to discourage predators. Plant cells can also produce antimicrobial toxins or release compounds to alert parasitic wasps to lay eggs in attacking insects.

Identify household beetles with this database

Beetles are the largest order of insects in the world, with over 400,000 described species. They are found on every continent except Antarctica, and in every habitat imaginable, from the deepest oceans to the highest mountains. A small percentage...

The most effective method of managing invasive species is prevention education

Controlling a spread after a species has become established in an area is much more costly and time-consuming than early detection and rapid response. Control methods include the purposeful introduction of predators, the use of pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, and insecticides, and physical collection and removal.

Canine inspectors can help detect potential carriers of invasive insects

At ports of entry in the US, Customs and Border Protection agents use dogs to sniff for forbidden foods and other items that are known to harbor invasive pests. Agents also physically inspect items such as flowers to prevent entry by species that may harm US agriculture.

Beanless 'coffee' is an eco-friendly alternative

As we consider the role of agriculture in climate change, many people are seeking alternatives to the most resource-hungry crops—coffee included. Are new synthetic alternatives the answer? Startups are exploring beanless “coffee” made in a variety of ways.

Adding garden beds with blooming plants to an existing lawn can support bees

Blooming wildflowers, shrubs, and trees can provide the nectar and pollen these pollinators need but do not get from grass. Other tips include leaving patches of bare soil for ground-nesting bees to lay their eggs and filling birdbaths with large pebbles for them to land and drink from safely.

Mosquitoes stop flying at wind speeds equivalent to the swishing of a horse's tail

This low-threshold for wind—halting flight at 2 to 3 miles per hour—underscores that the bugs are actually not particularly strong flyers. But they don't need to be particularly robust fliers since their tiny, dark bodies and erratic movements can make them challenging to spot.

Watch Cordyceps, a parasitic fungus, turn an ant into a ‘zombie’

This National Geographic TV clip shows how a parasitic Cordyceps species—sometimes colloquially called the “zombie ant fungus”—controls an ant’s behavior and kills its host. The fungus can rapidly wipe out entire insect colonies.

How freeze-drying leaves food with less than 4% of its original water content

In specialized equipment, foods are brought down to temperatures below freezing before a vacuum pump removes the air from the container, lowering the pressure around the food and the boiling temperature of water. Heaters beneath the food slowly raise its temperature above the now-reduced boiling point, causing the water to go from a frozen to a gaseous state.

What llama beans can tell us about the Inca Empire

Fun fact: Llama bean is just another term for llama poop. Another fun fact: Scientists are using these beans and related microorganisms to learn more about the Inca Empire. Read this article to learn how.

Treating black fever can result in a complication that spreads the deadly disease

Black fever, a deadly parasitic disease second only to malaria, threatens more than 1 billion people across more than 83 countries. Also known as kala-azar or visceral leishmaniasis, the disease is caused by parasites that spread through sandfly...

Why physiology and genetics prevent king bees from existing

The mating process is fatal to male honey bees, as their endophallus detaches from their bodies and remains temporarily within the queen. Because fertilized honey bee eggs develop into female bees, if a male somehow did survive and become king, his line of succession would also abruptly end.

DNA may serve as a flame retardant by self-extinguishing some burning materials

When DNA burns, phosphate groups release phosphoric acid, and nitrogenous bases release ammonia. These molecules, along with the sugar in DNA's backbone, shift the combustion reaction toward the formation of intumescent char. This puffy, carbon-rich layer protects open flames from burning the material beneath.

Penicillin works by attacking the cell walls of bacteria

Penicillin targets bacteria at their weakest point—their cell walls. By blocking wall-building, it leaves microbes unable to survive, causing them to burst and die.

Random lasers can be created from biomaterials, such as peanuts and birch leaves

Rather than creating a narrow beam of light via amplification in an optical cavity, the random laser produces a red glow by scattering photons created in the natural pores of a peanut kernel after it has been injected with a solution of light-generating carbon dots derived from birch leaves.

Why bananas are in trouble

The average American eats over 25 pounds of bananas every year, but we won't for long if a deadly soil fungus continues to spread. Learn what scientists are doing to save the popular fruit.

Hookworm infection, though risky, may help fight certain autoimmune conditions by tamping down the immune system's inflammatory response.

Read the 1963 study testing out an ancient Egyptian pregnancy urine test

The study sought to test out the ancient Egyptian approach of having a woman urinate on barley and wheat seeds to ascertain pregnancy status. Surprisingly, the research concluded that pregnant women's urine did promote growth of cereal grains the majority of the time; nonpregnant women's urine did not. Unfortunately, the sex of the child could not be accurately predicted based on which crop grew.

The fish can climb walls

Scientists in Brazil captured rare footage of bumblebee catfish climbing waterfalls. How they do it is clear, but why remains a mystery.

The use of fungi to detoxify land and water—a process known as mycoremediation—has been used to clean up natural resources affected by the 2025 California wildfires.

The American cockroach is actually from Africa, an apparent hitchhiker aboard ships carrying enslaved people, with evidence suggesting the bug may have arrived in the New World as early as the 1600s.

Listen to an in-depth conversation on the links between Parkinson's disease and herbicide exposure and the challenging pace of scientific investigation.

Sunflowers have long been a symbol of nuclear disarmament because they can extract large amounts of radioactive cesium from soil.

In recent years a child anxiety expert has created and tested a novel phobia and anxiety treatment approach for children, focused on changing how parents respond to the fears.

Urushiol, the oily toxin in poison ivy, can remain allergenic on clothing for years.

Volcanic activity may have triggered the Black Death by spewing gases that led to crop failures in Europe, thus forcing the import of grain ships with plague-infested fleas.

Hotels in Cannes, the glamorous city on the French Riviera, hire hawks to ward off seagulls during the city's famous film festival.

To reduce wrinkles in clothing, research recommends gentle wash cycles with more water and tumble drying with smaller loads and longer times.

Massive 3D printers have been used to build homes by stacking layers of 'concrete toothpaste,' a fire-resistant material that effectively insulates against outside noise.

Visualize how CRISPR-Cas9—a type of immune system used by single-celled organisms to attack invasive viruses—targets and makes precise changes to a gene's DNA.

Watch how deep-sea mining equipment collects and processes polymetallic nodules—metal-rich, potato-shaped rocks—from the ocean floor and creates environmentally damaging plumes of sediments.

The boiling temperature of water decreases with increasing elevation because the molecules need less energy to overcome the lower atmospheric pressure associated with thinner air.

Budweiser stores yeast derived from the original 1800s strain in a secret bunker, which only the Head of Yeast Management can access—not even the CEO

US intelligence allegedly pursued more than 600 schemes to assassinate Cuban revolutionary Fidel Castro.

Chaos theory—informally known as the butterfly effect—is the reason why weather forecasts are presented with probabilities rather than certainties.

Netflix profits when you're not watching, and its movies are designed that way—read a detail-rich critical essay exposing lesser-known Netflix takes

While atoms are normally made of protons, neutrons, and electrons, exotic ones have been built with antimatter—alternate versions of normal matter that live for fractions of a second and are about a billion times as rare.

In 2019, a laptop loaded with six of the worst malware in history and described as 'an exhibit of historical weaponry' sold for $1.3M.

The Ramones' 'Pet Sematary,' the theme song for the Stephen King novel of the same name, was written while the band was admiring the writer's collection of horror memorabilia.

The syncytiotrophoblast is the outer layer of the placenta and the largest human cell, spanning an area about twice that of a king-sized bedsheet.

For centuries, it was common to sleep in two shifts: a few hours at the beginning of the night, and a longer period beginning around midnight

Some coin denominations have ridges etched on their sides, partly to prevent counterfeiting, in a practice called 'reeding.'

Watch contemporary footage covering the US-backed Shah of Iran fleeing the country in the face of the 1979 Iranian Revolution