Found only on the islands of Hawaii, Molokai, Oahu, and Maui, the ‘Happy-Faced Spider‘, or nananana makaki’i (face-patterned spider) in Hawaiian, has a very unique pattern on its body, believed by scientists to discourage birds from making it into a snack.

• The Happy-Faced Spider

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It seems that some scientists in Belgium got it into their heads to build some robot cockroaches. Now, the bots don’t look like actual cockroaches, but they have light sensors in them to find dark resting places and IR sensors to track other cockroaches. The researchers set these robots, scented like actual roaches, in with a group to see how their real counterparts reacted to them. It seems that roach behavior has some very basic tenets, like, rest in dark places, with other roaches. So, they programmed this into their bots, and low and behold, they were accepted and socialized with like real roaches. The scientists even changed the programming a little, forcing the robots to seek out less dark areas to congregate, and that in turn influenced their real counterparts to follow them.

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I’ve written before on this blog about the recent honey bee crisis that has been evolving over the past year or more. Bees are disappearing and biologists don’t yet know why. One thing for sure is that honey bees are very hard workers, and in our society, they don’t seem to be appreciated enough by Joe Public, or by the government. The government needs to throw some funds in the direction of all of those hard-working scientists that are trying to help out the bees, which play a cornerstone role in our agriculture. We also need to do a better job of supporting those who raise and care for bee hives, because so much really depends on it, really! If taxes are good for something, honey bees would definitely hit the A list. Read on, for a very well-written article concerning the bee crisis.

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Apparently, even birds do. Scientists have known that some moths seek out the tears of larger animals, like deer,
in order to imbibe their tears, presumably for the salt. Now a new species has been found that seeks the salty tears
of birds, but with a decided point!

• Tear-Bandit Moths

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Ok, this is a new one for me. Wow, another blood-sucking creature for the log books. Well, c’est la sang.

• Vampire Moths

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A praying mantis is an awsome force of nature, for being such a bitty insect. The following link from ‘The Human Element’ blogspot, links to some neat video clips in which it is neither good to be a mouse nor an amorous male mantis, poor guys!

• Praying Mantis

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The serious decline in bee population here and in Europe is drawing more attention, as bee keepers have managed to effectively communicate the size of the problem to a few scientists. They in turn are struggling to get those who control the purse strings in government to take this grave problem much more seriously. Most don’t really appreciate the vital role the humble honey bee plays in the very survival of humans and other animals on this planet.

• Bee Emergency

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Word is spreading on the new bee crisis affecting agricultural interests in Europe and the United States. We rely on bees to pollinate on the order of 14 billion dollars worth of crops in the US (NYT article below), not just make honey and wax, and we have no replacement if something should happen to our semi-domesticated bee population. They play an irreplaceable, yet under-monitored and under-protected role in our food chain, not to mention their pollination services across the natural world, from flower to tree blossom. Read more about it below.

New York Times Article on the Bee Crisis by MAY R. BERENBAUM

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Bees are disappearing again at alarming rates, and not necessarily due to mites. One version of the story can be found at Earthfiles where they explain the disconcerting fall-offs in bee populations in the US and Europe, and how certain countries like France and Spain have seemed to avoid the fall-offs by restricting the use of certain pesticides.

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