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"content": "\u003cp>[dl_subscribe]Summer is a time of travel and fun. But with every bed an exhausted traveler lies on after a day of sightseeing, the chances of bringing home an unwanted bug increase.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1944324\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_FEEDS_ON_ARM_FM_ABOVE_1080.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1944324\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_FEEDS_ON_ARM_FM_ABOVE_1080.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_FEEDS_ON_ARM_FM_ABOVE_1080.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_FEEDS_ON_ARM_FM_ABOVE_1080-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_FEEDS_ON_ARM_FM_ABOVE_1080-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_FEEDS_ON_ARM_FM_ABOVE_1080-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_FEEDS_ON_ARM_FM_ABOVE_1080-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_FEEDS_ON_ARM_FM_ABOVE_1080-1200x675.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Don’t let this happen to you. An adult bed bug feeds on a human arm. \u003ccite>(Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Bed bugs don’t fly or jump or come in from your garden. They crawl very quickly and are great at hiding in travelers’ luggage and hitching rides into their homes — or into hotel rooms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1944313\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 500px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_SCURRIES_ON_SHEET_500.gif\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1944313\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_SCURRIES_ON_SHEET_500.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A bed bug scurries on a sheet. Experts recommend checking the bed when you’re sleeping away from home. \u003ccite>(Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“It would probably be a prudent thing to do a quick bed check if you’re sleeping in a strange bed,” said \u003ca href=\"https://entomology.ca.uky.edu/person/michael-potter\">Michael Potter\u003c/a>, an entomologist at the University of Kentucky who researches bed bugs. His recommendation goes for hotel rooms, as well as dorms and summer camp bunk beds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So what does Potter do when he travels? First, he keeps his suitcase zipped up and on a credenza or metal luggage rack. Bed bugs have a hard time climbing up smooth surfaces like metal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1944304\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_NEST_1080-1.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1944304\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_NEST_1080-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_NEST_1080-1.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_NEST_1080-1-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_NEST_1080-1-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_NEST_1080-1-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_NEST_1080-1-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_NEST_1080-1-1200x675.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">In their nests, bed bugs stick together, as these yellowish young nymphs are doing. They recently emerged from translucent egg casings. Brown and yellow splotches of digested blood called fecal spots are also signs of bed bugs’ presence. \u003ccite>(Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Next, he recommends pulling back the sheet at the head of the bed and checking the seams on the top and bottom of the mattress and the box spring. Contrary to popular belief, bed bugs don’t burrow into mattresses; they stay on the surface. And after feeding on us they find a hideout, where they leave telltale brown or yellow droplets of digested blood called fecal spots. If they have already had a chance to reproduce, their nest might include translucent egg casings and young yellowish nymphs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They’re more of a nest type of insect,” said Bill Donahue, an entomologist and owner of \u003ca href=\"http://www.sierraresearchlaboratories.com/\">Sierra Research Laboratories\u003c/a> in Modesto, where he evaluates treatments against bed bugs and other pests. “There are areas where the bed bugs will congregate.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1944305\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_NYMPHS_1080.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1944305\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_NYMPHS_1080.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_NYMPHS_1080.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_NYMPHS_1080-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_NYMPHS_1080-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_NYMPHS_1080-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_NYMPHS_1080-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_NYMPHS_1080-1200x675.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A group of young bed bugs, known as nymphs, stick close together in a nest. Empty egg casings are visible in the upper left corner. \u003ccite>(Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Adult bed bugs are about the size and color of an apple seed. Young bugs, called nymphs, are smaller and yellowish or white. Guided by the carbon dioxide and heat that sleeping humans emit, they crawl quickly up wooden bed posts and over sheets to stick their long mouth part in and drink for about five minutes, until they’re completely full. They then hide in a nearby cranny, like the seam of the mattress or behind a baseboard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Heaven forbid you wake up with itchy red welts during your stay,” Potter said. “Then you want to be incredibly vigilant when you get home.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1944301\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_FEEDS_ON_HUMAN_THUMB_1080.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1944301\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_FEEDS_ON_HUMAN_THUMB_1080.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_FEEDS_ON_HUMAN_THUMB_1080.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_FEEDS_ON_HUMAN_THUMB_1080-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_FEEDS_ON_HUMAN_THUMB_1080-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_FEEDS_ON_HUMAN_THUMB_1080-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_FEEDS_ON_HUMAN_THUMB_1080-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_FEEDS_ON_HUMAN_THUMB_1080-1200x675.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An adult bed bug feeds on a human thumb. \u003ccite>(Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>He suggests putting clothes in the dryer or leaving unzipped suitcases inside a hot car, since bed bugs are susceptible to high temperatures. Some people take days, even weeks, to react to a bed bug bite, so bites aren’t a great indicator of when you were exposed to them. And though some people can suffer a severe skin reaction, bed bugs aren’t known to transmit any diseases.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1944302\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_FULL_OF_BLOOD_AFTER_FEEDING_1080.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1944302\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_FULL_OF_BLOOD_AFTER_FEEDING_1080.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_FULL_OF_BLOOD_AFTER_FEEDING_1080.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_FULL_OF_BLOOD_AFTER_FEEDING_1080-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_FULL_OF_BLOOD_AFTER_FEEDING_1080-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_FULL_OF_BLOOD_AFTER_FEEDING_1080-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_FULL_OF_BLOOD_AFTER_FEEDING_1080-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_FULL_OF_BLOOD_AFTER_FEEDING_1080-1200x675.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An adult bed bug’s body is elongated after feeding on a human arm. Bed bugs need to take a blood meal to molt and grow to each of their five life stages. \u003ccite>(Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Until the 1940s, bed bugs were a common occurrence in the U.S. After being nearly eradicated by the spraying of DDT in the 1950s, they’ve made a comeback worldwide in the past 20 years, aided by the widespread movement of people. They’ve been found all around the country in settings as varied as schools, dorms, hospitals, theaters, moving vans and even funeral homes, according to Potter. And they also move around on secondhand furniture.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Apartment dwellers are more vulnerable to infestation, as bugs can crawl from one flat to another. Because bed bugs hide away, they’re difficult to treat without the help of a professional, which can be expensive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1944311\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 500px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_CRAWLS_UP_BED_POST_500.gif\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1944311\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_CRAWLS_UP_BED_POST_500.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An adult bed bug crawls up a bed post. \u003ccite>(Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“If you think you have bed bugs, let your landlord know right away,” said entomologist \u003ca href=\"https://ucanr.edu/?facultyid=20584\">Andrew Sutherland\u003c/a>, the University of California’s urban pest management adviser for the San Francisco Bay Area. “It’s their responsibility to do inspections and to hire a reputable pest control operator to take care of the problem.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Because bed bugs are vulnerable to heat, a thermal treatment is “the gold standard,” said Luis Agurto, CEO of \u003ca href=\"https://www.pestec.com/\">Pestec\u003c/a>, a pest control company in the San Francisco Bay Area. Pestec places big heaters throughout an infested residence and warms it up to 122 degrees for two hours. Technicians armed with “guns” blow hot air into areas where bed bugs might be hiding.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re basically making a big convection oven,” said Agurto.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After a thermal treatment, Pestec monitors for bed bugs for several weeks by placing a hard plastic cup under each bed post. The insects have no trouble climbing up the rough outside of these so-called interceptor cups, but then get trapped by the smooth inside, which they’re unable to scale. The company also uses insecticides and vacuum cleaners to get rid of infestations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1944750\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_CAUGHT_IN_INTERCEPTOR_CUP_1080.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1944750\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_CAUGHT_IN_INTERCEPTOR_CUP_1080.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_CAUGHT_IN_INTERCEPTOR_CUP_1080.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_CAUGHT_IN_INTERCEPTOR_CUP_1080-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_CAUGHT_IN_INTERCEPTOR_CUP_1080-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_CAUGHT_IN_INTERCEPTOR_CUP_1080-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_CAUGHT_IN_INTERCEPTOR_CUP_1080-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_CAUGHT_IN_INTERCEPTOR_CUP_1080-1200x675.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A bed bug has become trapped in an interceptor cup placed under a bed post. Bed bugs can crawl into these plastic cups, which have a rough outside, but are unable to climb up the smooth inside surface. \u003ccite>(Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Pestec has been called in to investigate and treat infestations, from as small as six bed bugs in an apartment in San Francisco’s Haight neighborhood, to a townhouse in a housing complex in the city’s Potrero Hill district, where bugs were “on all the surfaces,” said Agurto.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Scientists are working to come up with more tools to get rid of bed bugs. At UC Irvine, biologist and engineer \u003ca href=\"https://www.faculty.uci.edu/profile.cfm?faculty_id=5386\">Catherine Loudon\u003c/a> is collaborating with several engineering labs on campus to create synthetic surfaces that could trap bed bugs. She was inspired by the tiny hooked hairs that grow from the leaves of some varieties of beans, such as kidney and green beans. In nature, the hairs pierce through the feet of the aphids and leafhoppers that like to feed on them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1944309\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 500px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_CAUGHT_ON_BEAN_LEAF_500.gif\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1944309 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_CAUGHT_ON_BEAN_LEAF_500.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">In the lab of Catherine Loudon at UC Irvine, a bed bug tugs to break loose after its front left foot was pierced by a tiny hooked hair on a kidney bean leaf. \u003ccite>(Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Loudon got the idea from Potter, of the University of Kentucky, who mentioned to her a folk remedy he had read about. Residents of the Balkan countries used to spread bean leaves around their beds, and in the morning they’d find bed bugs attached to them. It turns out that the bed bugs’ feet were getting impaled by the hooked hairs on the bean leaves, called trichomes. Researchers have found that trichomes are just as effective against bed bugs, even though they don’t feed on leaves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1944306\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_TRICHOME_CU_CREDIT-LOUDON_1080.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1944306\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_TRICHOME_CU_CREDIT-LOUDON_1080.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_TRICHOME_CU_CREDIT-LOUDON_1080.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_TRICHOME_CU_CREDIT-LOUDON_1080-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_TRICHOME_CU_CREDIT-LOUDON_1080-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_TRICHOME_CU_CREDIT-LOUDON_1080-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_TRICHOME_CU_CREDIT-LOUDON_1080-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_TRICHOME_CU_CREDIT-LOUDON_1080-1200x675.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Kidney and green beans and other bean varieties have tiny hooked hairs on their leaves. These trichomes help the plant protect against leaf-eating pests like aphids, but also happen to trap blood-sucking bed bugs. \u003ccite>(Catherine Loudon/University of California, Irvine)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1944307\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_TRICHOME_PIERCES_BED_BUG_FOOT_CU_CREDIT-LOUDON_1080.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1944307\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_TRICHOME_PIERCES_BED_BUG_FOOT_CU_CREDIT-LOUDON_1080.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_TRICHOME_PIERCES_BED_BUG_FOOT_CU_CREDIT-LOUDON_1080.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_TRICHOME_PIERCES_BED_BUG_FOOT_CU_CREDIT-LOUDON_1080-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_TRICHOME_PIERCES_BED_BUG_FOOT_CU_CREDIT-LOUDON_1080-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_TRICHOME_PIERCES_BED_BUG_FOOT_CU_CREDIT-LOUDON_1080-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_TRICHOME_PIERCES_BED_BUG_FOOT_CU_CREDIT-LOUDON_1080-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_TRICHOME_PIERCES_BED_BUG_FOOT_CU_CREDIT-LOUDON_1080-1200x675.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A trichome has pierced through the soft joint in a bed bug’s foot. \u003ccite>(Catherine Loudon/University of California, Irvine)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Loudon’s goal is to mimic a bean leaf’s mechanism to create an inexpensive, portable trap.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1944310\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 500px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_STUCK_ON_SYNTHETIC_MATERIAL_CREDIT-LOUDON_500.gif\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1944310\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_STUCK_ON_SYNTHETIC_MATERIAL_CREDIT-LOUDON_500.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A bed bug trapped by a tiny hook on a synthetic surface that mimics a bean leaf. This surface was made at UC Irvine, in the lab of engineer Allon Hochbaum. \u003ccite>(Catherine Loudon/University of California, Irvine)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“You could imagine a strip that would act as a barrier that could be placed virtually anywhere: across the portal to a room, behind the headboard, on subway seats, an airplane,” Loudon said. “They have six legs, so that’s six opportunities to get trapped.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Laura Shields contributed reporting.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Scientists show you how to look for bed bugs when sleeping away from home, and they're developing new traps that stop the pest cold.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Summer is a time of travel and fun. But with every bed an exhausted traveler lies on after a day of sightseeing, the chances of bringing home an unwanted bug increase.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1944324\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_FEEDS_ON_ARM_FM_ABOVE_1080.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1944324\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_FEEDS_ON_ARM_FM_ABOVE_1080.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_FEEDS_ON_ARM_FM_ABOVE_1080.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_FEEDS_ON_ARM_FM_ABOVE_1080-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_FEEDS_ON_ARM_FM_ABOVE_1080-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_FEEDS_ON_ARM_FM_ABOVE_1080-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_FEEDS_ON_ARM_FM_ABOVE_1080-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_FEEDS_ON_ARM_FM_ABOVE_1080-1200x675.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Don’t let this happen to you. An adult bed bug feeds on a human arm. \u003ccite>(Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Bed bugs don’t fly or jump or come in from your garden. They crawl very quickly and are great at hiding in travelers’ luggage and hitching rides into their homes — or into hotel rooms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1944313\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 500px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_SCURRIES_ON_SHEET_500.gif\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1944313\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_SCURRIES_ON_SHEET_500.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A bed bug scurries on a sheet. Experts recommend checking the bed when you’re sleeping away from home. \u003ccite>(Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“It would probably be a prudent thing to do a quick bed check if you’re sleeping in a strange bed,” said \u003ca href=\"https://entomology.ca.uky.edu/person/michael-potter\">Michael Potter\u003c/a>, an entomologist at the University of Kentucky who researches bed bugs. His recommendation goes for hotel rooms, as well as dorms and summer camp bunk beds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So what does Potter do when he travels? First, he keeps his suitcase zipped up and on a credenza or metal luggage rack. Bed bugs have a hard time climbing up smooth surfaces like metal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1944304\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_NEST_1080-1.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1944304\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_NEST_1080-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_NEST_1080-1.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_NEST_1080-1-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_NEST_1080-1-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_NEST_1080-1-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_NEST_1080-1-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_NEST_1080-1-1200x675.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">In their nests, bed bugs stick together, as these yellowish young nymphs are doing. They recently emerged from translucent egg casings. Brown and yellow splotches of digested blood called fecal spots are also signs of bed bugs’ presence. \u003ccite>(Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Next, he recommends pulling back the sheet at the head of the bed and checking the seams on the top and bottom of the mattress and the box spring. Contrary to popular belief, bed bugs don’t burrow into mattresses; they stay on the surface. And after feeding on us they find a hideout, where they leave telltale brown or yellow droplets of digested blood called fecal spots. If they have already had a chance to reproduce, their nest might include translucent egg casings and young yellowish nymphs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They’re more of a nest type of insect,” said Bill Donahue, an entomologist and owner of \u003ca href=\"http://www.sierraresearchlaboratories.com/\">Sierra Research Laboratories\u003c/a> in Modesto, where he evaluates treatments against bed bugs and other pests. “There are areas where the bed bugs will congregate.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1944305\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_NYMPHS_1080.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1944305\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_NYMPHS_1080.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_NYMPHS_1080.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_NYMPHS_1080-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_NYMPHS_1080-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_NYMPHS_1080-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_NYMPHS_1080-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_NYMPHS_1080-1200x675.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A group of young bed bugs, known as nymphs, stick close together in a nest. Empty egg casings are visible in the upper left corner. \u003ccite>(Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Adult bed bugs are about the size and color of an apple seed. Young bugs, called nymphs, are smaller and yellowish or white. Guided by the carbon dioxide and heat that sleeping humans emit, they crawl quickly up wooden bed posts and over sheets to stick their long mouth part in and drink for about five minutes, until they’re completely full. They then hide in a nearby cranny, like the seam of the mattress or behind a baseboard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Heaven forbid you wake up with itchy red welts during your stay,” Potter said. “Then you want to be incredibly vigilant when you get home.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1944301\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_FEEDS_ON_HUMAN_THUMB_1080.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1944301\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_FEEDS_ON_HUMAN_THUMB_1080.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_FEEDS_ON_HUMAN_THUMB_1080.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_FEEDS_ON_HUMAN_THUMB_1080-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_FEEDS_ON_HUMAN_THUMB_1080-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_FEEDS_ON_HUMAN_THUMB_1080-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_FEEDS_ON_HUMAN_THUMB_1080-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_FEEDS_ON_HUMAN_THUMB_1080-1200x675.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An adult bed bug feeds on a human thumb. \u003ccite>(Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>He suggests putting clothes in the dryer or leaving unzipped suitcases inside a hot car, since bed bugs are susceptible to high temperatures. Some people take days, even weeks, to react to a bed bug bite, so bites aren’t a great indicator of when you were exposed to them. And though some people can suffer a severe skin reaction, bed bugs aren’t known to transmit any diseases.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1944302\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_FULL_OF_BLOOD_AFTER_FEEDING_1080.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1944302\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_FULL_OF_BLOOD_AFTER_FEEDING_1080.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_FULL_OF_BLOOD_AFTER_FEEDING_1080.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_FULL_OF_BLOOD_AFTER_FEEDING_1080-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_FULL_OF_BLOOD_AFTER_FEEDING_1080-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_FULL_OF_BLOOD_AFTER_FEEDING_1080-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_FULL_OF_BLOOD_AFTER_FEEDING_1080-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_FULL_OF_BLOOD_AFTER_FEEDING_1080-1200x675.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An adult bed bug’s body is elongated after feeding on a human arm. Bed bugs need to take a blood meal to molt and grow to each of their five life stages. \u003ccite>(Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Until the 1940s, bed bugs were a common occurrence in the U.S. After being nearly eradicated by the spraying of DDT in the 1950s, they’ve made a comeback worldwide in the past 20 years, aided by the widespread movement of people. They’ve been found all around the country in settings as varied as schools, dorms, hospitals, theaters, moving vans and even funeral homes, according to Potter. And they also move around on secondhand furniture.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Apartment dwellers are more vulnerable to infestation, as bugs can crawl from one flat to another. Because bed bugs hide away, they’re difficult to treat without the help of a professional, which can be expensive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1944311\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 500px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_CRAWLS_UP_BED_POST_500.gif\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1944311\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_CRAWLS_UP_BED_POST_500.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An adult bed bug crawls up a bed post. \u003ccite>(Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“If you think you have bed bugs, let your landlord know right away,” said entomologist \u003ca href=\"https://ucanr.edu/?facultyid=20584\">Andrew Sutherland\u003c/a>, the University of California’s urban pest management adviser for the San Francisco Bay Area. “It’s their responsibility to do inspections and to hire a reputable pest control operator to take care of the problem.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Because bed bugs are vulnerable to heat, a thermal treatment is “the gold standard,” said Luis Agurto, CEO of \u003ca href=\"https://www.pestec.com/\">Pestec\u003c/a>, a pest control company in the San Francisco Bay Area. Pestec places big heaters throughout an infested residence and warms it up to 122 degrees for two hours. Technicians armed with “guns” blow hot air into areas where bed bugs might be hiding.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re basically making a big convection oven,” said Agurto.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After a thermal treatment, Pestec monitors for bed bugs for several weeks by placing a hard plastic cup under each bed post. The insects have no trouble climbing up the rough outside of these so-called interceptor cups, but then get trapped by the smooth inside, which they’re unable to scale. The company also uses insecticides and vacuum cleaners to get rid of infestations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1944750\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_CAUGHT_IN_INTERCEPTOR_CUP_1080.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1944750\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_CAUGHT_IN_INTERCEPTOR_CUP_1080.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_CAUGHT_IN_INTERCEPTOR_CUP_1080.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_CAUGHT_IN_INTERCEPTOR_CUP_1080-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_CAUGHT_IN_INTERCEPTOR_CUP_1080-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_CAUGHT_IN_INTERCEPTOR_CUP_1080-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_CAUGHT_IN_INTERCEPTOR_CUP_1080-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_CAUGHT_IN_INTERCEPTOR_CUP_1080-1200x675.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A bed bug has become trapped in an interceptor cup placed under a bed post. Bed bugs can crawl into these plastic cups, which have a rough outside, but are unable to climb up the smooth inside surface. \u003ccite>(Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Pestec has been called in to investigate and treat infestations, from as small as six bed bugs in an apartment in San Francisco’s Haight neighborhood, to a townhouse in a housing complex in the city’s Potrero Hill district, where bugs were “on all the surfaces,” said Agurto.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Scientists are working to come up with more tools to get rid of bed bugs. At UC Irvine, biologist and engineer \u003ca href=\"https://www.faculty.uci.edu/profile.cfm?faculty_id=5386\">Catherine Loudon\u003c/a> is collaborating with several engineering labs on campus to create synthetic surfaces that could trap bed bugs. She was inspired by the tiny hooked hairs that grow from the leaves of some varieties of beans, such as kidney and green beans. In nature, the hairs pierce through the feet of the aphids and leafhoppers that like to feed on them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1944309\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 500px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_CAUGHT_ON_BEAN_LEAF_500.gif\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1944309 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_CAUGHT_ON_BEAN_LEAF_500.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">In the lab of Catherine Loudon at UC Irvine, a bed bug tugs to break loose after its front left foot was pierced by a tiny hooked hair on a kidney bean leaf. \u003ccite>(Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Loudon got the idea from Potter, of the University of Kentucky, who mentioned to her a folk remedy he had read about. Residents of the Balkan countries used to spread bean leaves around their beds, and in the morning they’d find bed bugs attached to them. It turns out that the bed bugs’ feet were getting impaled by the hooked hairs on the bean leaves, called trichomes. Researchers have found that trichomes are just as effective against bed bugs, even though they don’t feed on leaves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1944306\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_TRICHOME_CU_CREDIT-LOUDON_1080.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1944306\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_TRICHOME_CU_CREDIT-LOUDON_1080.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_TRICHOME_CU_CREDIT-LOUDON_1080.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_TRICHOME_CU_CREDIT-LOUDON_1080-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_TRICHOME_CU_CREDIT-LOUDON_1080-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_TRICHOME_CU_CREDIT-LOUDON_1080-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_TRICHOME_CU_CREDIT-LOUDON_1080-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_TRICHOME_CU_CREDIT-LOUDON_1080-1200x675.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Kidney and green beans and other bean varieties have tiny hooked hairs on their leaves. These trichomes help the plant protect against leaf-eating pests like aphids, but also happen to trap blood-sucking bed bugs. \u003ccite>(Catherine Loudon/University of California, Irvine)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1944307\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_TRICHOME_PIERCES_BED_BUG_FOOT_CU_CREDIT-LOUDON_1080.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1944307\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_TRICHOME_PIERCES_BED_BUG_FOOT_CU_CREDIT-LOUDON_1080.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_TRICHOME_PIERCES_BED_BUG_FOOT_CU_CREDIT-LOUDON_1080.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_TRICHOME_PIERCES_BED_BUG_FOOT_CU_CREDIT-LOUDON_1080-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_TRICHOME_PIERCES_BED_BUG_FOOT_CU_CREDIT-LOUDON_1080-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_TRICHOME_PIERCES_BED_BUG_FOOT_CU_CREDIT-LOUDON_1080-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_TRICHOME_PIERCES_BED_BUG_FOOT_CU_CREDIT-LOUDON_1080-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_TRICHOME_PIERCES_BED_BUG_FOOT_CU_CREDIT-LOUDON_1080-1200x675.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A trichome has pierced through the soft joint in a bed bug’s foot. \u003ccite>(Catherine Loudon/University of California, Irvine)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Loudon’s goal is to mimic a bean leaf’s mechanism to create an inexpensive, portable trap.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1944310\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 500px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_STUCK_ON_SYNTHETIC_MATERIAL_CREDIT-LOUDON_500.gif\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1944310\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/DL_612BedBugs_BED_BUG_STUCK_ON_SYNTHETIC_MATERIAL_CREDIT-LOUDON_500.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A bed bug trapped by a tiny hook on a synthetic surface that mimics a bean leaf. This surface was made at UC Irvine, in the lab of engineer Allon Hochbaum. \u003ccite>(Catherine Loudon/University of California, Irvine)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“You could imagine a strip that would act as a barrier that could be placed virtually anywhere: across the portal to a room, behind the headboard, on subway seats, an airplane,” Loudon said. “They have six legs, so that’s six opportunities to get trapped.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Laura Shields contributed reporting.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "AI Is Making It More Difficult Than Ever to Spot a Fake Video",
"headTitle": "AI Is Making It More Difficult Than Ever to Spot a Fake Video | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9OIFVm0dPLw]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sophisticated and inaccurate altered videos known as “deepfakes” are causing alarm in the digital realm. The highly realistic manipulated videos are the subject of a House Intelligence Committee hearing on Thursday. As Miles O’Brien reports, the accelerating speed of computers and advances in machine learning make deepfakes ever more difficult to detect, among growing fears of their weaponization.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Transcript\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Judy Woodruff:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There is growing alarm over the use of altered videos online, especially those known as deepfakes, which are highly realistic looking and inaccurate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There are concerns about their growing sophistication and the risks they pose to national security.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s the focus of a hearing tomorrow in the House Intelligence Committee.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Miles O’Brien has a look at how those videos, once the source of some fun, are being manipulated and how artificial intelligence scientists are trying to respond.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s part of our weekly segment on the Leading Edge of science.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Hao Li:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>All right, let’s see you being me.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>(LAUGHTER)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Miles O’Brien:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Scary as deepfake videos may be, there are times when they can be fun, a place where a 3-D model of my face gets electronically plastered onto computer scientist Hao Li’s head, making him the puppet master and me the dummy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Really a scary looking individual overall. What do you think?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I do need to change my hair, don’t I, yes?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Li is an associate professor at the University of Southern California, and co-founder of Pinscreen, an app that allows consumers to make instant custom 3-D avatars for virtual reality gaming and shopping.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>‘Deep fake’ video of Jon Snow apologizing for the ‘Game of Thrones’ finale.\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\nhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4GdWD0yxvqw&ab_channel=EatingThingsWithFamousPeople\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Hao Li:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So now I created your avatar, right? So, we have your…\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Miles O’Brien:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A nice, trim Miles O’Brien.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the real-time puppet master trick is how he refines the technology.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And here I am as our president. Yes, Shinzo Abe, prime minister of Japan. Leader of China. Trudeau. It’s not a bad look for me. Me as Justin Bieber. What do you think?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I think I’m going to do this on the “NewsHour” all the time now. This will be good for my career, don’t you think?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>(LAUGHTER)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Miles O’Brien:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Li says he never saw it as anything more than entertainment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Hao Li:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Of course, it can be used for something really bad, but the main purpose was never for that. It was used — to use for entertainment, a fun tool that could give us more things to do for fashion, lifestyle, et cetera.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Miles O’Brien:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Deepfake videos cleverly combine what’s real with what is synthesized by a computer to make people appear to say things they never did or never would.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Hao Li:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I like vodka.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Miles O’Brien:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The ever increasing speed of computers, along with the advancement of the artificial intelligence technique called machine learning, is making these composites harder and harder to detect with the naked eye.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Hao Li:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We all assume that there will be a point where there’s no way to tell the difference. I mean, for visual effects, I think you can get pretty close already. It’s just the question of how much effort you put into it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But in terms of content that it can be created by anyone, I think it’s getting very close to the point.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Miles O’Brien:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One technique is the face swap, which put Steve Buscemi’s face on Jennifer Lawrence’s body, Nicolas Cage onto a series of marquee stars in iconic roles, or Jimmy Kimmel’s mug on mine.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I have had to relearn very simple things.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But there is a deep, dark side as well. Indeed, the technology has been used to paste the faces of celebrities onto the bodies of porn stars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Computer scientist Hany Farid is a professor at Dartmouth College:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Hany Farid:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I am worried about the weaponization and I’m worried about how it’s impacting us as a society. So, we are working as hard as possible to detect these things.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jordan Peele:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Killmonger was right.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Miles O’Brien:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This video crystallized much of the deep concern, what seems to be President Barack Obama making a speech…\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jordan Peele:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>You see, I would never say these things.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Miles O’Brien:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>… is actually comedian and filmmaker Jordan Peele doing his excellent Obama impersonation synched with software created with artificial intelligence, or A.I.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Hany Farid:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The A.I. system synthesized the mouth of President Obama to be consistent with the audio stream, and it made it look like President Obama was saying things that he never said. That’s called a lip synch deepfake.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Miles O’Brien:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Just this week, the technique was used to put some pretty outrageous and comical words into the mouth of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Man:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Specter showed me that whoever controls the data controls the future.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Miles O’Brien:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s a potent technology that is ripening at a time of deep polarization and suspicion fueled by social media.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So it’s really sad. And here’s the thing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Miles O’Brien:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Just last month, something much less sophisticated than a deepfake, a doctored video of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi making her seen drunk went viral.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We want to get this president the opportunity to do something historic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Miles O’Brien:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Deepfakes ratchet up the risks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Hany Farid:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The nightmare situation is that there’s a video of President Trump saying, “I have launched nuclear weapons against North Korea.” And somebody hacks his Twitter account, and that goes viral, and, in 30 seconds, we have global nuclear meltdown.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Do I think it’s likely? No. But it’s not a zero probability, and that should scare the bejesus out of you, right? Because the fact that that is not impossible is really worrisome.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Miles O’Brien:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Farid is most worried about deepfakes rearing their ugly head during the 2020 election. So he and his team are carefully learning the candidates’ patterns of speech and how they correlate with gestures as a way to spot deepfakes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Hany Farid:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We do that, of course, by analyzing hundreds of hours of hours of video of individuals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We’re focused on building models for all of the major party candidates, so that enough we can upload a video to our system. We can analyze it by comparing it to previous interviews, and then asking, what is the probability that this is consistent with everything we have seen before?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Miles O’Brien:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Computer scientists have pushed this technology using generative adversarial networks, or GANs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A GAN pits two artificial intelligence algorithms against each other. One strives to create realistic fake images, while the other grades the effort.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Hany Farid:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So, the synthesis engine says, I’m going to create a fake image, I give it to this A.I. system that says, this looks fake to me. So it goes back and you change it. And you do that a few billion times in rapid succession, and the computers are teaching each other how to make better fakes. And that’s what has democratized access.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Miles O’Brien:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And that’s why the Pentagon is interested in deepfakes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Its research enterprise, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, is exploring ways to defend against the threat of deepfakes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Computer scientist Matt Turek runs DARPA’s media forensics, or MediFor, project.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Matt Turek:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So, there’s an opportunity here for us to essentially lose all trust in images and video.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Miles O’Brien:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Turek showed me some of the 70 counter-deepfake techniques DARPA is helping nurture.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Woman:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Miles O’Brien:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This software is designed to characterize lip movement and compare it to the audio.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Matt Turek:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And so, when see these red bars, that means actually that sounds of the speaker are not actually consistent with the movement of the lips.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Miles O’Brien:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Take a look at this video, supposedly two people sitting together. But software that determines the lighting angle on faces concludes it is a composite.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Matt Turek:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So, it estimates a 3-D model for the face. Along with that 3-D model, it estimates the reflectance properties of the face, and also the lighting angles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And so here we’re primarily using the lightning angles to see whether those are consistent or not.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Miles O’Brien:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In this example, video apparently gathered by a security camera shows only one car. This artificial intelligence algorithm is designed to predict how things should move.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Matt Turek:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What that is triggering off of is discontinuities in the motion. And so that gives us a signal to look at an image or a video and say, well, perhaps frames were removed here.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Miles O’Brien:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And it flags the video as altered. Another vehicle was edited out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Matt Turek:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There’s a cat-and-mouse game. The more aspects that you can use to debunk an image or video, the more burden that you put on the manipulator.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Miles O’Brien:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But none of these ideas will work without the cooperation of the big social media platforms YouTube and Facebook, which would need to deploy the software and delete the fakes, something Facebook refused to do when the Pelosi video emerged.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Hany Farid:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And the platforms have been, for the most part, very cavalier about how they deal with this type of illegal content, harmful content, misinformation, fake news, election tampering, non-consensual pornography, and the list goes on and on, because it gets eyes on the platform, and that’s good for business.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Miles O’Brien:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A fake video amplified in an echo chamber can go an awfully long way before the facts even enter the picture.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For the “PBS NewsHour,” I’m Miles O’Brien in Los Angeles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Sophisticated and inaccurate altered videos known as 'deepfakes' are causing alarm in the digital realm.",
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"title": "AI Is Making It More Difficult Than Ever to Spot a Fake Video | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/9OIFVm0dPLw'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/9OIFVm0dPLw'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sophisticated and inaccurate altered videos known as “deepfakes” are causing alarm in the digital realm. The highly realistic manipulated videos are the subject of a House Intelligence Committee hearing on Thursday. As Miles O’Brien reports, the accelerating speed of computers and advances in machine learning make deepfakes ever more difficult to detect, among growing fears of their weaponization.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Transcript\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Judy Woodruff:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There is growing alarm over the use of altered videos online, especially those known as deepfakes, which are highly realistic looking and inaccurate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There are concerns about their growing sophistication and the risks they pose to national security.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s the focus of a hearing tomorrow in the House Intelligence Committee.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Miles O’Brien has a look at how those videos, once the source of some fun, are being manipulated and how artificial intelligence scientists are trying to respond.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s part of our weekly segment on the Leading Edge of science.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Hao Li:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>All right, let’s see you being me.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>(LAUGHTER)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Miles O’Brien:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Scary as deepfake videos may be, there are times when they can be fun, a place where a 3-D model of my face gets electronically plastered onto computer scientist Hao Li’s head, making him the puppet master and me the dummy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Really a scary looking individual overall. What do you think?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I do need to change my hair, don’t I, yes?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Li is an associate professor at the University of Southern California, and co-founder of Pinscreen, an app that allows consumers to make instant custom 3-D avatars for virtual reality gaming and shopping.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>‘Deep fake’ video of Jon Snow apologizing for the ‘Game of Thrones’ finale.\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/4GdWD0yxvqw'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/4GdWD0yxvqw'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Hao Li:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So now I created your avatar, right? So, we have your…\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Miles O’Brien:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A nice, trim Miles O’Brien.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the real-time puppet master trick is how he refines the technology.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And here I am as our president. Yes, Shinzo Abe, prime minister of Japan. Leader of China. Trudeau. It’s not a bad look for me. Me as Justin Bieber. What do you think?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I think I’m going to do this on the “NewsHour” all the time now. This will be good for my career, don’t you think?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>(LAUGHTER)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Miles O’Brien:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Li says he never saw it as anything more than entertainment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Hao Li:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Of course, it can be used for something really bad, but the main purpose was never for that. It was used — to use for entertainment, a fun tool that could give us more things to do for fashion, lifestyle, et cetera.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Miles O’Brien:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Deepfake videos cleverly combine what’s real with what is synthesized by a computer to make people appear to say things they never did or never would.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Hao Li:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I like vodka.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Miles O’Brien:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The ever increasing speed of computers, along with the advancement of the artificial intelligence technique called machine learning, is making these composites harder and harder to detect with the naked eye.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Hao Li:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We all assume that there will be a point where there’s no way to tell the difference. I mean, for visual effects, I think you can get pretty close already. It’s just the question of how much effort you put into it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But in terms of content that it can be created by anyone, I think it’s getting very close to the point.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Miles O’Brien:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One technique is the face swap, which put Steve Buscemi’s face on Jennifer Lawrence’s body, Nicolas Cage onto a series of marquee stars in iconic roles, or Jimmy Kimmel’s mug on mine.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I have had to relearn very simple things.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But there is a deep, dark side as well. Indeed, the technology has been used to paste the faces of celebrities onto the bodies of porn stars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Computer scientist Hany Farid is a professor at Dartmouth College:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Hany Farid:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I am worried about the weaponization and I’m worried about how it’s impacting us as a society. So, we are working as hard as possible to detect these things.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jordan Peele:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Killmonger was right.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Miles O’Brien:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This video crystallized much of the deep concern, what seems to be President Barack Obama making a speech…\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jordan Peele:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>You see, I would never say these things.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Miles O’Brien:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>… is actually comedian and filmmaker Jordan Peele doing his excellent Obama impersonation synched with software created with artificial intelligence, or A.I.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Hany Farid:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The A.I. system synthesized the mouth of President Obama to be consistent with the audio stream, and it made it look like President Obama was saying things that he never said. That’s called a lip synch deepfake.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Miles O’Brien:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Just this week, the technique was used to put some pretty outrageous and comical words into the mouth of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Man:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Specter showed me that whoever controls the data controls the future.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Miles O’Brien:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s a potent technology that is ripening at a time of deep polarization and suspicion fueled by social media.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So it’s really sad. And here’s the thing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Miles O’Brien:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Just last month, something much less sophisticated than a deepfake, a doctored video of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi making her seen drunk went viral.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We want to get this president the opportunity to do something historic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Miles O’Brien:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Deepfakes ratchet up the risks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Hany Farid:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The nightmare situation is that there’s a video of President Trump saying, “I have launched nuclear weapons against North Korea.” And somebody hacks his Twitter account, and that goes viral, and, in 30 seconds, we have global nuclear meltdown.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Do I think it’s likely? No. But it’s not a zero probability, and that should scare the bejesus out of you, right? Because the fact that that is not impossible is really worrisome.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Miles O’Brien:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Farid is most worried about deepfakes rearing their ugly head during the 2020 election. So he and his team are carefully learning the candidates’ patterns of speech and how they correlate with gestures as a way to spot deepfakes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Hany Farid:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We do that, of course, by analyzing hundreds of hours of hours of video of individuals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We’re focused on building models for all of the major party candidates, so that enough we can upload a video to our system. We can analyze it by comparing it to previous interviews, and then asking, what is the probability that this is consistent with everything we have seen before?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Miles O’Brien:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Computer scientists have pushed this technology using generative adversarial networks, or GANs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A GAN pits two artificial intelligence algorithms against each other. One strives to create realistic fake images, while the other grades the effort.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Hany Farid:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So, the synthesis engine says, I’m going to create a fake image, I give it to this A.I. system that says, this looks fake to me. So it goes back and you change it. And you do that a few billion times in rapid succession, and the computers are teaching each other how to make better fakes. And that’s what has democratized access.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Miles O’Brien:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And that’s why the Pentagon is interested in deepfakes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Its research enterprise, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, is exploring ways to defend against the threat of deepfakes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Computer scientist Matt Turek runs DARPA’s media forensics, or MediFor, project.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Matt Turek:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So, there’s an opportunity here for us to essentially lose all trust in images and video.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Miles O’Brien:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Turek showed me some of the 70 counter-deepfake techniques DARPA is helping nurture.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Woman:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Miles O’Brien:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This software is designed to characterize lip movement and compare it to the audio.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Matt Turek:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And so, when see these red bars, that means actually that sounds of the speaker are not actually consistent with the movement of the lips.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Miles O’Brien:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Take a look at this video, supposedly two people sitting together. But software that determines the lighting angle on faces concludes it is a composite.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Matt Turek:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So, it estimates a 3-D model for the face. Along with that 3-D model, it estimates the reflectance properties of the face, and also the lighting angles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And so here we’re primarily using the lightning angles to see whether those are consistent or not.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Miles O’Brien:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In this example, video apparently gathered by a security camera shows only one car. This artificial intelligence algorithm is designed to predict how things should move.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Matt Turek:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What that is triggering off of is discontinuities in the motion. And so that gives us a signal to look at an image or a video and say, well, perhaps frames were removed here.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Miles O’Brien:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And it flags the video as altered. Another vehicle was edited out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Matt Turek:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There’s a cat-and-mouse game. The more aspects that you can use to debunk an image or video, the more burden that you put on the manipulator.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Miles O’Brien:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But none of these ideas will work without the cooperation of the big social media platforms YouTube and Facebook, which would need to deploy the software and delete the fakes, something Facebook refused to do when the Pelosi video emerged.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Hany Farid:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And the platforms have been, for the most part, very cavalier about how they deal with this type of illegal content, harmful content, misinformation, fake news, election tampering, non-consensual pornography, and the list goes on and on, because it gets eyes on the platform, and that’s good for business.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Miles O’Brien:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A fake video amplified in an echo chamber can go an awfully long way before the facts even enter the picture.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For the “PBS NewsHour,” I’m Miles O’Brien in Los Angeles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1941857\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1941857\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/wormlions_20170812_11-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"wormlions\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/wormlions_20170812_11-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/wormlions_20170812_11-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/wormlions_20170812_11-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/wormlions_20170812_11-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/wormlions_20170812_11-1200x800.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/wormlions_20170812_11-1920x1280.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/wormlions_20170812_11.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An assortment of tiny wormlions. \u003ccite>(Joyce Gross)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>[dl_subscribe]Ominous creatures that lurk deep underground in the desert, like the sandworms in the classic science fiction novel \u003ca href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dune_(novel)\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">“Dune,”\u003c/a> aren’t just make-believe. For ants and other prey, wormlions are a terrifying reality.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1941929\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1941929\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/joyce_20140719_03-800x980.jpg\" alt=\"Joyce Gross collecting beetles.\" width=\"800\" height=\"980\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/joyce_20140719_03-800x980.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/joyce_20140719_03-160x196.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/joyce_20140719_03-768x941.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/joyce_20140719_03-1020x1250.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/joyce_20140719_03-979x1200.jpg 979w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/joyce_20140719_03.jpg 1671w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Joyce Gross collecting beetles. \u003ccite>(Jae Sullivan)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>While quite small—they can grow up to an inch—wormlions are fly larvae that curl up their bodies like slingshots. Usually found under rock or log overhangs in dry, sandy landscapes, they’ll energetically fling soil, sand and pebbles out of the way to dig pit traps.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Once an unlucky critter falls in, wormlions move at lightning speed and quickly wrap their bodies around their victims. Squeezing them like boa constrictors, they also inject them with a paralyzing venom. They feed this way for several years, until they transform into adults.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Joyce Gross, a computer programmer for the \u003ca href=\"https://bnhm.berkeley.edu/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">UC Berkeley Natural History Museums\u003c/a>, is fascinated by their unique hunting behavior.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They have such a weird life history,” she said. “They’re the only flies that dig pits like this, and wait for prey to fall in, just like antlions.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gross, an avid photographer and naturalist in her spare time, has been studying these insects for over three years. Wormlions first appeared on her radar while collaborating with several entomologists to update Jerry Powell and Charles Hogue’s “\u003ca href=\"https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520037823/california-insects\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">California Insects\u003c/a>” field guide.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1941856\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1941856\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/wormlion_number_13_20180416_25-800x524.jpg\" alt=\"adult wormlion\" width=\"800\" height=\"524\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/wormlion_number_13_20180416_25-800x524.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/wormlion_number_13_20180416_25-160x105.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/wormlion_number_13_20180416_25-768x503.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/wormlion_number_13_20180416_25-1020x668.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/wormlion_number_13_20180416_25-1200x786.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/wormlion_number_13_20180416_25-1920x1258.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/wormlion_number_13_20180416_25.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An adult wormlion emerges from its pupal stage as a fly. \u003ccite>(Joyce Gross)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Gross has been collecting, rearing and photographing wormlions at her home in order to add both research and images to the next edition of the book. She’ll fill a plastic vial with ants from her backyard and will feed them regularly, keeping careful records of their eating patterns.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’ve had animals all of my life, usually not insects,” said Gross. “Most people feel very bad that I don’t have a dog, but they don’t understand how I can enjoy my other pets. I do like feeding them. I have to admit there’s something about them waiting there and knowing that they’re hungry. It’s sort of like throwing a treat to my dog, but I’m tossing in an ant for my wormlions. They’re pretty ferocious for such tiny things. It amazes me that they don’t seem to get injured by these ants.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1941854\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1941854\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/IMG_0984-800x1067.jpg\" alt=\"wormlions\" width=\"800\" height=\"1067\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/IMG_0984-800x1067.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/IMG_0984-160x213.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/IMG_0984-768x1024.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/IMG_0984-1020x1360.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/IMG_0984-900x1200.jpg 900w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/IMG_0984-1920x2560.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/IMG_0984.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Joyce Gross has been rearing an extensive collection of wormlions in her home for several years. \u003ccite>(Jenny Oh/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>While she’s always been intrigued by the natural world, insects weren’t always her main focus. “I got interested in entomology partly because after digital cameras came around, it became really easy to photograph and learn about them. I was also photographing birds, reptiles and amphibians, but then insects really caught my attention. I like the variety of life histories, and I really like things that people don’t know as much about. There’s lots of birders. But with insects, there are so many of them and relatively few entomologists compared to the numbers of insects.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Plus, it’s just fascinating learning about them. All the weird things that they do. And I love seeing these little tiny things blown up huge. They’re pretty amazing-looking creatures, some of them. That’s the photography aspect. You can also use that to ID things and learn about them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Informal contributions to research are integral to ongoing citizen science projects, such as \u003ca href=\"http://www.planetary.org/explore/projects/seti/seti-at-home.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">SETI@home\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.inaturalist.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">iNaturalist\u003c/a>. But Kip Will, an \u003ca href=\"https://vcresearch.berkeley.edu/faculty/kipling-will\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">associate professor at UC Berkeley\u003c/a> who is leading the effort to update the “California Insects” guide, puts Gross in her own category.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’ve never thought of Joyce as a volunteer or a citizen scientist,” Will said. “She is a co-equal in the new edition of the field guide. Though she isn’t responsible for the text, she is handling all the images and most of the field work.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“She knows the natural history of local insects, in general, about as well as anyone,” he added. “A lot of people benefit from her efforts and generosity with images and observations she posts to places like \u003ca href=\"https://bugguide.net/node/view/15740\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">BugGuide\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://calphotos.berkeley.edu/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">CalPhotos\u003c/a>.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1941855\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1941855\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/Vermileo_20180624_06-800x508.jpg\" alt=\"An adult wormlion.\" width=\"800\" height=\"508\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/Vermileo_20180624_06-800x508.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/Vermileo_20180624_06-160x102.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/Vermileo_20180624_06-768x488.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/Vermileo_20180624_06-1020x648.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/Vermileo_20180624_06-1200x762.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/Vermileo_20180624_06-1920x1219.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/Vermileo_20180624_06.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An adult wormlion. \u003ccite>(Joyce Gross)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>With the 30 or so wormlions that she has gathered in the field, Gross hopes they’ll mature into flies and lay eggs so she can document an entire life cycle. UC Berkeley’s \u003ca href=\"https://essig.berkeley.edu/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Essig Museum of Entomology\u003c/a> receives some of her specimens for its archives, and she said she may eventually publish her research after she’s amassed more data about the lives of wormlions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s just exciting to me learning about all these insects I didn’t know about,” Gross said. “There are also a lot of questions and mysteries, but what we do know is interesting. Sharing stuff that I’ve learned either through photos or just observations online, that’s fun, too.”\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Ominous creatures that lurk deep underground in the desert, like the sandworms in the classic science fiction novel \u003ca href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dune_(novel)\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">“Dune,”\u003c/a> aren’t just make-believe. For ants and other prey, wormlions are a terrifying reality.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1941929\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1941929\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/joyce_20140719_03-800x980.jpg\" alt=\"Joyce Gross collecting beetles.\" width=\"800\" height=\"980\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/joyce_20140719_03-800x980.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/joyce_20140719_03-160x196.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/joyce_20140719_03-768x941.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/joyce_20140719_03-1020x1250.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/joyce_20140719_03-979x1200.jpg 979w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/joyce_20140719_03.jpg 1671w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Joyce Gross collecting beetles. \u003ccite>(Jae Sullivan)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>While quite small—they can grow up to an inch—wormlions are fly larvae that curl up their bodies like slingshots. Usually found under rock or log overhangs in dry, sandy landscapes, they’ll energetically fling soil, sand and pebbles out of the way to dig pit traps.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Once an unlucky critter falls in, wormlions move at lightning speed and quickly wrap their bodies around their victims. Squeezing them like boa constrictors, they also inject them with a paralyzing venom. They feed this way for several years, until they transform into adults.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Joyce Gross, a computer programmer for the \u003ca href=\"https://bnhm.berkeley.edu/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">UC Berkeley Natural History Museums\u003c/a>, is fascinated by their unique hunting behavior.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They have such a weird life history,” she said. “They’re the only flies that dig pits like this, and wait for prey to fall in, just like antlions.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gross, an avid photographer and naturalist in her spare time, has been studying these insects for over three years. Wormlions first appeared on her radar while collaborating with several entomologists to update Jerry Powell and Charles Hogue’s “\u003ca href=\"https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520037823/california-insects\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">California Insects\u003c/a>” field guide.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1941856\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1941856\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/wormlion_number_13_20180416_25-800x524.jpg\" alt=\"adult wormlion\" width=\"800\" height=\"524\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/wormlion_number_13_20180416_25-800x524.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/wormlion_number_13_20180416_25-160x105.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/wormlion_number_13_20180416_25-768x503.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/wormlion_number_13_20180416_25-1020x668.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/wormlion_number_13_20180416_25-1200x786.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/wormlion_number_13_20180416_25-1920x1258.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/wormlion_number_13_20180416_25.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An adult wormlion emerges from its pupal stage as a fly. \u003ccite>(Joyce Gross)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Gross has been collecting, rearing and photographing wormlions at her home in order to add both research and images to the next edition of the book. She’ll fill a plastic vial with ants from her backyard and will feed them regularly, keeping careful records of their eating patterns.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’ve had animals all of my life, usually not insects,” said Gross. “Most people feel very bad that I don’t have a dog, but they don’t understand how I can enjoy my other pets. I do like feeding them. I have to admit there’s something about them waiting there and knowing that they’re hungry. It’s sort of like throwing a treat to my dog, but I’m tossing in an ant for my wormlions. They’re pretty ferocious for such tiny things. It amazes me that they don’t seem to get injured by these ants.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1941854\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1941854\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/IMG_0984-800x1067.jpg\" alt=\"wormlions\" width=\"800\" height=\"1067\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/IMG_0984-800x1067.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/IMG_0984-160x213.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/IMG_0984-768x1024.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/IMG_0984-1020x1360.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/IMG_0984-900x1200.jpg 900w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/IMG_0984-1920x2560.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/IMG_0984.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Joyce Gross has been rearing an extensive collection of wormlions in her home for several years. \u003ccite>(Jenny Oh/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>While she’s always been intrigued by the natural world, insects weren’t always her main focus. “I got interested in entomology partly because after digital cameras came around, it became really easy to photograph and learn about them. I was also photographing birds, reptiles and amphibians, but then insects really caught my attention. I like the variety of life histories, and I really like things that people don’t know as much about. There’s lots of birders. But with insects, there are so many of them and relatively few entomologists compared to the numbers of insects.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Plus, it’s just fascinating learning about them. All the weird things that they do. And I love seeing these little tiny things blown up huge. They’re pretty amazing-looking creatures, some of them. That’s the photography aspect. You can also use that to ID things and learn about them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Informal contributions to research are integral to ongoing citizen science projects, such as \u003ca href=\"http://www.planetary.org/explore/projects/seti/seti-at-home.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">SETI@home\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.inaturalist.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">iNaturalist\u003c/a>. But Kip Will, an \u003ca href=\"https://vcresearch.berkeley.edu/faculty/kipling-will\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">associate professor at UC Berkeley\u003c/a> who is leading the effort to update the “California Insects” guide, puts Gross in her own category.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’ve never thought of Joyce as a volunteer or a citizen scientist,” Will said. “She is a co-equal in the new edition of the field guide. Though she isn’t responsible for the text, she is handling all the images and most of the field work.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“She knows the natural history of local insects, in general, about as well as anyone,” he added. “A lot of people benefit from her efforts and generosity with images and observations she posts to places like \u003ca href=\"https://bugguide.net/node/view/15740\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">BugGuide\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://calphotos.berkeley.edu/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">CalPhotos\u003c/a>.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1941855\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1941855\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/Vermileo_20180624_06-800x508.jpg\" alt=\"An adult wormlion.\" width=\"800\" height=\"508\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/Vermileo_20180624_06-800x508.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/Vermileo_20180624_06-160x102.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/Vermileo_20180624_06-768x488.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/Vermileo_20180624_06-1020x648.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/Vermileo_20180624_06-1200x762.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/Vermileo_20180624_06-1920x1219.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/Vermileo_20180624_06.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An adult wormlion. \u003ccite>(Joyce Gross)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>With the 30 or so wormlions that she has gathered in the field, Gross hopes they’ll mature into flies and lay eggs so she can document an entire life cycle. UC Berkeley’s \u003ca href=\"https://essig.berkeley.edu/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Essig Museum of Entomology\u003c/a> receives some of her specimens for its archives, and she said she may eventually publish her research after she’s amassed more data about the lives of wormlions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s just exciting to me learning about all these insects I didn’t know about,” Gross said. “There are also a lot of questions and mysteries, but what we do know is interesting. Sharing stuff that I’ve learned either through photos or just observations online, that’s fun, too.”\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>College is where youth set out on their own, but UC Davis was not the right fit for this one Tuesday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Before dawn, a male black bear, weighing about 100 pounds, was spotted on the southside of campus between the arboretum’s redwood grove and Old Davis Road.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When I got to the scene about half past seven, it was up a tree by the Hyatt hotel on campus,” said Andy Fell, a spokesperson for the university. Officials with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife responded, along with local police and fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When spooked, bears climb trees. Officials cleared a perimeter to give the bear space. That worked, and the bear climbed down. Then the wildlife team shot it with a tranquilizing dart.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Before the tranquilizer could take effect, it climbed up another tree, then passed out and fell down, Fell said. The wildlife team examined the bear and did not find any broken bones or major injuries.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the bear’s tenure as an Aggie was brief, as it was released to the “closest suitable habitat,” which you can see here:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"border: none; overflow: hidden;\" src=\"https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FCaliforniaDFW%2Fvideos%2F668661273604414%2F&show_text=0&width=560\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So why was the bear on campus? It was likely kicked out of its home by a mother who just had cubs, officials said. Fish and Wildlife Officer Kyle Glau said that while the bear is not a cub, it is a younger bear.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s a younger bear looking for his own home territory,” Glau said. “He was looking to solve three simple needs: food, water and habitat. And he happened to run up on UC Davis Campus.”\u003cbr>\n“It’s rare, it’s unexpected, but it’s not impossible. It might happen again,” he added.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bear sightings were also reported Monday in Vacaville and Dixon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>College is where youth set out on their own, but UC Davis was not the right fit for this one Tuesday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Before dawn, a male black bear, weighing about 100 pounds, was spotted on the southside of campus between the arboretum’s redwood grove and Old Davis Road.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When I got to the scene about half past seven, it was up a tree by the Hyatt hotel on campus,” said Andy Fell, a spokesperson for the university. Officials with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife responded, along with local police and fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When spooked, bears climb trees. Officials cleared a perimeter to give the bear space. That worked, and the bear climbed down. Then the wildlife team shot it with a tranquilizing dart.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Before the tranquilizer could take effect, it climbed up another tree, then passed out and fell down, Fell said. The wildlife team examined the bear and did not find any broken bones or major injuries.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the bear’s tenure as an Aggie was brief, as it was released to the “closest suitable habitat,” which you can see here:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"border: none; overflow: hidden;\" src=\"https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FCaliforniaDFW%2Fvideos%2F668661273604414%2F&show_text=0&width=560\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So why was the bear on campus? It was likely kicked out of its home by a mother who just had cubs, officials said. Fish and Wildlife Officer Kyle Glau said that while the bear is not a cub, it is a younger bear.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s a younger bear looking for his own home territory,” Glau said. “He was looking to solve three simple needs: food, water and habitat. And he happened to run up on UC Davis Campus.”\u003cbr>\n“It’s rare, it’s unexpected, but it’s not impossible. It might happen again,” he added.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bear sightings were also reported Monday in Vacaville and Dixon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>[dl_subscribe]I hate to break this to you, but you almost certainly have tiny mites living in the pores in your face right now.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They’re called Demodex. And pretty much every adult human alive has a population of these mites living on them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Also called eyelash mites, they’re too small to see with the naked eye. They’re mostly transparent, and at about .3 millimeters long, it would take about five face adult mites laid end to end to stretch across the head of a pin.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They look like kind of like stubby little worms,” said Michelle Trautwein, an entomologist at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Trautwein studies our relationship with these microscopic stowaways by looking at their DNA. Her findings so far show that people in different parts of the world have different face mites living in the skin.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They tell a story of your own ancestry and also a story of more ancient human history and migration,” said Trautwein.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1941539\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 500px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/DL610_FaceMites_MichelleTrautwein_microscope.gif\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1941539\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/DL610_FaceMites_MichelleTrautwein_microscope.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Michelle Trautwein of the California Academy of Sciences studies face mites using microscopes and genetic testing. \u003ccite>(Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“We use a little spoon and scrape it across the kind of greasier parts of someone’s face — which isn’t as bad as it sounds,” said Trautwein.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Once she has collected the samples, she takes them back to the lab to look at the genetics.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Trautwein has found DNA evidence of face mites on every one of more than 2,000 people she has tested, including tourists from all around the world who make their way to the California Academy of Sciences.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“No one is thrilled at the initial notion that they have arachnids on their face,” Trautwein said. “But people are often curious — even in their revulsion.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But how could these creatures live on so many people and still go unnoticed?\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1941533\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/DL610_FaceMites_PeachFuzz_male.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1941533 size-large\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/DL610_FaceMites_PeachFuzz_male-1020x574.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/DL610_FaceMites_PeachFuzz_male-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/DL610_FaceMites_PeachFuzz_male-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/DL610_FaceMites_PeachFuzz_male-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/DL610_FaceMites_PeachFuzz_male-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/DL610_FaceMites_PeachFuzz_male-1200x675.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/DL610_FaceMites_PeachFuzz_male-1920x1080.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/DL610_FaceMites_PeachFuzz_male.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Face mites make their home in the follicles found at the root of the peach fuzz that covers most human skin. \u003ccite>(Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Look closely and you’ll see that in addition to the more obvious body and head hair, human skin is covered in a thin, barely visible layer of peach fuzz called vellus hairs. There are a few notable exceptions, such as the palms of our hands and soles of our feet, but other than that our entire bodies are covered in that fuzz. The shaft of each one of those tiny hairs grows out of its own follicle.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Face mites spend their days face-down inside your hair follicles nestled up against the hair shaft.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They eat sebum, that greasy oil your skin makes to protect itself and keep it from drying out. The sebum is produced in sebaceous glands, which empty into the hair follicles, coating both the hair shaft and face mites.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s why the greasiest parts of your body — like around the eyes, nose and mouth — likely harbor a higher concentration of mites than other areas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They live about two weeks. They spend most of their time tucked inside our pores. But while we’re sleeping, they crawl out onto the surface of our skin to mate before crawling back into our pores to lay their eggs. Fun!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since they live inside your pores, you can’t scrub them off by washing. It’s basically impossible to get rid of all of your face mites.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So how does Trautwein study them? With glue.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1941540\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 500px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/DL610_FaceMites_SlideCollection_LindsayPalaima.gif\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1941540\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/DL610_FaceMites_SlideCollection_LindsayPalaima.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Lindsay Palaima bravely volunteers to have a slide covered in glue stuck to her forehead in order to capture face mites growing in her pores. \u003ccite>(Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“I actually put glue on a glass microscope slide and stick it onto a person’s forehead,” she said. “Then I slowly peel it off. I look under a microscope for mites that are stuck in the follicles that stick up from the thin layer of skin that got peeled off.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It can be pretty addictive and exciting,” she added. “It’s sort of a meditative process of looking through this microforest of follicles and hairs, and looking for just the right potential movement or shape.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1941538\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 500px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/DL610_FaceMites_InFollicle.gif\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1941538 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/DL610_FaceMites_InFollicle.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Demodex face mite seen writhing around in the root of a human hair follicle, observed under a microscope. \u003ccite>(Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>These Demodex face mites got their name from the Greek words for “fat” and “boring worm,” but they’re not really worms at all. They’re actually arachnids — related to ticks — and more distantly to spiders.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Most people have face mites on them and never notice. It seems that our immune system is able to keep their numbers in check. But some people can experience problems with them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When you tell patients that they have face mites, first of all, they freak out,” said Dr. Kanade Shinkai, a dermatologist at UCSF.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Shinkai occasionally treats patients who have an overload of face mites, which results in a condition called demodicosis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There is a very particular look to people suffering from demodicosis. We call it the Demodex frost,” she said. “It’s sort of a white sheen on the skin. And if you look really closely, you can see coming out of every pore. If you scrape those pores, you can see it frothing with little Demodex face mites.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s a pretty rare condition and it’s often connected to a change in someone’s immune system, such as receiving immunosuppressive drugs after transplant surgery, chemotherapy or immunodeficiency diseases like HIV.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Demodicosis can also be triggered by local suppression of the immune system, like when itch-relieving hydrocortisone cream is used on the face.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When it does happen, demodicosis usually comes on fast.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Patients almost universally describe this explosive development of pustules like whiteheads on their face. It’s really dramatic,” Shinkai said. “And what’s really dramatic about it is that they’re often fine the day before, and then they develop it, overnight.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But for the vast majority of people, face mites are nothing to worry about. While some studies have found loose connections between Demodex and diseases like rosacea, the evidence hasn’t shown a strong link.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What’s really confusing is that if you go into your office and scrape everyone’s face, you would find Demodex probably on everybody,” Shinkai said. “And people who have low burden of Demodex may have no or very severe disease and vice versa.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Trautwein also sees face mites as more of a source of interest than fear.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They’re not dangerous in a broad sense because we all have them and most of us seem to be cohabiting quite well with them,” Trautwein said. “We mostly share them within family units and it seems like you are probably initially colonized soon after birth, most likely by your mother, traditionally speaking in human history.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Looking at these mites, researchers like Trautwein can usually tell something about your geographical ancestry — what part of the world your ancestors came from.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1941715\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/Map_Follic_migration_nonumbers.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1941715 size-large\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/Map_Follic_migration_nonumbers-1020x496.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"311\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/Map_Follic_migration_nonumbers-1020x496.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/Map_Follic_migration_nonumbers-160x78.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/Map_Follic_migration_nonumbers-800x389.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/Map_Follic_migration_nonumbers-768x374.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/Map_Follic_migration_nonumbers-1200x584.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/Map_Follic_migration_nonumbers.jpg 1285w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Michelle Trautwein has found that several genetically distinct groups of Demodex face mites (represented by different colors on this map) exist in different geographic areas. \u003ccite>(Michelle Trautwein/California Academy of Sciences)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Face mites are definitely the species of animal that we have the closest connection with as humans, even though most of us don’t know about them or ever see one in our lifetime,” she said. “We still have this very ancient and intimate relationship, and it seems clear that we’ve had these face mite species with us for all of our history. So they are as old as our species, as old as homo sapiens.”\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Yep, you probably have Demodex mites living on your face. These tiny arachnids feast on sebum, the greasy oil in your pores. But should you be worried about your eight-legged guests? ",
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"title": "These Face Mites Really Grow on You | KQED",
"description": "Yep, you probably have Demodex mites living on your face. These tiny arachnids feast on sebum, the greasy oil in your pores. But should you be worried about your eight-legged guests? ",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>I hate to break this to you, but you almost certainly have tiny mites living in the pores in your face right now.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They’re called Demodex. And pretty much every adult human alive has a population of these mites living on them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Also called eyelash mites, they’re too small to see with the naked eye. They’re mostly transparent, and at about .3 millimeters long, it would take about five face adult mites laid end to end to stretch across the head of a pin.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They look like kind of like stubby little worms,” said Michelle Trautwein, an entomologist at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Trautwein studies our relationship with these microscopic stowaways by looking at their DNA. Her findings so far show that people in different parts of the world have different face mites living in the skin.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They tell a story of your own ancestry and also a story of more ancient human history and migration,” said Trautwein.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1941539\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 500px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/DL610_FaceMites_MichelleTrautwein_microscope.gif\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1941539\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/DL610_FaceMites_MichelleTrautwein_microscope.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Michelle Trautwein of the California Academy of Sciences studies face mites using microscopes and genetic testing. \u003ccite>(Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“We use a little spoon and scrape it across the kind of greasier parts of someone’s face — which isn’t as bad as it sounds,” said Trautwein.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Once she has collected the samples, she takes them back to the lab to look at the genetics.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Trautwein has found DNA evidence of face mites on every one of more than 2,000 people she has tested, including tourists from all around the world who make their way to the California Academy of Sciences.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“No one is thrilled at the initial notion that they have arachnids on their face,” Trautwein said. “But people are often curious — even in their revulsion.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But how could these creatures live on so many people and still go unnoticed?\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1941533\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/DL610_FaceMites_PeachFuzz_male.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1941533 size-large\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/DL610_FaceMites_PeachFuzz_male-1020x574.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/DL610_FaceMites_PeachFuzz_male-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/DL610_FaceMites_PeachFuzz_male-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/DL610_FaceMites_PeachFuzz_male-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/DL610_FaceMites_PeachFuzz_male-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/DL610_FaceMites_PeachFuzz_male-1200x675.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/DL610_FaceMites_PeachFuzz_male-1920x1080.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/DL610_FaceMites_PeachFuzz_male.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Face mites make their home in the follicles found at the root of the peach fuzz that covers most human skin. \u003ccite>(Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Look closely and you’ll see that in addition to the more obvious body and head hair, human skin is covered in a thin, barely visible layer of peach fuzz called vellus hairs. There are a few notable exceptions, such as the palms of our hands and soles of our feet, but other than that our entire bodies are covered in that fuzz. The shaft of each one of those tiny hairs grows out of its own follicle.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Face mites spend their days face-down inside your hair follicles nestled up against the hair shaft.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They eat sebum, that greasy oil your skin makes to protect itself and keep it from drying out. The sebum is produced in sebaceous glands, which empty into the hair follicles, coating both the hair shaft and face mites.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s why the greasiest parts of your body — like around the eyes, nose and mouth — likely harbor a higher concentration of mites than other areas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They live about two weeks. They spend most of their time tucked inside our pores. But while we’re sleeping, they crawl out onto the surface of our skin to mate before crawling back into our pores to lay their eggs. Fun!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since they live inside your pores, you can’t scrub them off by washing. It’s basically impossible to get rid of all of your face mites.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So how does Trautwein study them? With glue.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1941540\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 500px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/DL610_FaceMites_SlideCollection_LindsayPalaima.gif\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1941540\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/DL610_FaceMites_SlideCollection_LindsayPalaima.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Lindsay Palaima bravely volunteers to have a slide covered in glue stuck to her forehead in order to capture face mites growing in her pores. \u003ccite>(Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“I actually put glue on a glass microscope slide and stick it onto a person’s forehead,” she said. “Then I slowly peel it off. I look under a microscope for mites that are stuck in the follicles that stick up from the thin layer of skin that got peeled off.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It can be pretty addictive and exciting,” she added. “It’s sort of a meditative process of looking through this microforest of follicles and hairs, and looking for just the right potential movement or shape.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1941538\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 500px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/DL610_FaceMites_InFollicle.gif\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1941538 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/DL610_FaceMites_InFollicle.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Demodex face mite seen writhing around in the root of a human hair follicle, observed under a microscope. \u003ccite>(Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>These Demodex face mites got their name from the Greek words for “fat” and “boring worm,” but they’re not really worms at all. They’re actually arachnids — related to ticks — and more distantly to spiders.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Most people have face mites on them and never notice. It seems that our immune system is able to keep their numbers in check. But some people can experience problems with them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When you tell patients that they have face mites, first of all, they freak out,” said Dr. Kanade Shinkai, a dermatologist at UCSF.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Shinkai occasionally treats patients who have an overload of face mites, which results in a condition called demodicosis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There is a very particular look to people suffering from demodicosis. We call it the Demodex frost,” she said. “It’s sort of a white sheen on the skin. And if you look really closely, you can see coming out of every pore. If you scrape those pores, you can see it frothing with little Demodex face mites.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s a pretty rare condition and it’s often connected to a change in someone’s immune system, such as receiving immunosuppressive drugs after transplant surgery, chemotherapy or immunodeficiency diseases like HIV.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Demodicosis can also be triggered by local suppression of the immune system, like when itch-relieving hydrocortisone cream is used on the face.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When it does happen, demodicosis usually comes on fast.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Patients almost universally describe this explosive development of pustules like whiteheads on their face. It’s really dramatic,” Shinkai said. “And what’s really dramatic about it is that they’re often fine the day before, and then they develop it, overnight.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But for the vast majority of people, face mites are nothing to worry about. While some studies have found loose connections between Demodex and diseases like rosacea, the evidence hasn’t shown a strong link.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What’s really confusing is that if you go into your office and scrape everyone’s face, you would find Demodex probably on everybody,” Shinkai said. “And people who have low burden of Demodex may have no or very severe disease and vice versa.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Trautwein also sees face mites as more of a source of interest than fear.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They’re not dangerous in a broad sense because we all have them and most of us seem to be cohabiting quite well with them,” Trautwein said. “We mostly share them within family units and it seems like you are probably initially colonized soon after birth, most likely by your mother, traditionally speaking in human history.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Looking at these mites, researchers like Trautwein can usually tell something about your geographical ancestry — what part of the world your ancestors came from.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1941715\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/Map_Follic_migration_nonumbers.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1941715 size-large\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/Map_Follic_migration_nonumbers-1020x496.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"311\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/Map_Follic_migration_nonumbers-1020x496.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/Map_Follic_migration_nonumbers-160x78.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/Map_Follic_migration_nonumbers-800x389.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/Map_Follic_migration_nonumbers-768x374.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/Map_Follic_migration_nonumbers-1200x584.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/Map_Follic_migration_nonumbers.jpg 1285w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Michelle Trautwein has found that several genetically distinct groups of Demodex face mites (represented by different colors on this map) exist in different geographic areas. \u003ccite>(Michelle Trautwein/California Academy of Sciences)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Face mites are definitely the species of animal that we have the closest connection with as humans, even though most of us don’t know about them or ever see one in our lifetime,” she said. “We still have this very ancient and intimate relationship, and it seems clear that we’ve had these face mite species with us for all of our history. So they are as old as our species, as old as homo sapiens.”\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Spring means honey bees flitting from flower to flower. In California, this frantic insect activity that starts in late winter and continues through the summer is essential to growing foods like almonds, cherries, raspberries and apples. Bees move pollen, making it possible for plants to grow the fruit and seeds they need to reproduce.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1941207\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/DL_609HoneyBeesandPollen_BEE_WITH_POLLEN_BALLS_FORAGES_1920.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1941207\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/DL_609HoneyBeesandPollen_BEE_WITH_POLLEN_BALLS_FORAGES_1920.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/DL_609HoneyBeesandPollen_BEE_WITH_POLLEN_BALLS_FORAGES_1920.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/DL_609HoneyBeesandPollen_BEE_WITH_POLLEN_BALLS_FORAGES_1920-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/DL_609HoneyBeesandPollen_BEE_WITH_POLLEN_BALLS_FORAGES_1920-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/DL_609HoneyBeesandPollen_BEE_WITH_POLLEN_BALLS_FORAGES_1920-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/DL_609HoneyBeesandPollen_BEE_WITH_POLLEN_BALLS_FORAGES_1920-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/DL_609HoneyBeesandPollen_BEE_WITH_POLLEN_BALLS_FORAGES_1920-1200x675.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A honey bee collects pollen in an almond orchard in Woodland, California. It packs the pollen into balls that it carries in structures on its hind legs, called pollen baskets. \u003ccite>(Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But honey bees don’t just move pollen from plant to plant. They also keep a lot for themselves. They carry it around in neat little balls, one on each of their hind legs. Collecting, packing and making pollen into something they can eat is a tough, intricate job that’s essential to the colony’s well-being.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When honey bees don’t have access to pollen, they start depleting the nutrients in their body, said \u003ca href=\"https://www.ars.usda.gov/pacific-west-area/tucson-az/honey-bee-research/people/mark-j-carroll/\">Mark Carroll\u003c/a>, an entomologist at the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Carl Hayden Bee Research Center in Tucson.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“And that’s when things get a little rough for bees,” he said, “because you’re using your reserves.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1941210\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 500px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/DL_609HoneyBeesandPollen_BEE_RETURNS_TO_HIVE_W_POLLEN.gif\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1941210\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/DL_609HoneyBeesandPollen_BEE_RETURNS_TO_HIVE_W_POLLEN.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A bee returns to the hive loaded down with pollen. \u003ccite>(Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>While nectar from flowers — and the honey they make with it — provide bees with the energy they need to fly around, honey bees also need pollen to grow their colonies. Older female adult bees collect pollen and mix it with nectar or honey and a little saliva as they go along, then carry it back to the hive and deposit it in cells next to the developing baby bees, called larvae. This stored pollen, known as bee bread, is the colony’s main source of protein.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You don’t have bees flying along snacking on pollen as they’re collecting it,” said Carroll. “This is the form of pollen that bees are eating.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Young adult female bees distribute the stored pollen to the whole colony. They eat bee bread to make a liquid food similar to mammal’s milk that they feed to growing larvae and adult bees, including the queen. They also give little bits of bee bread to older larvae.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1941212\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/DL_609HoneyBeesandPollen_STORED_POLLEN_IS_CALLED_BEEBREAD_1920.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1941212\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/DL_609HoneyBeesandPollen_STORED_POLLEN_IS_CALLED_BEEBREAD_1920.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/DL_609HoneyBeesandPollen_STORED_POLLEN_IS_CALLED_BEEBREAD_1920.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/DL_609HoneyBeesandPollen_STORED_POLLEN_IS_CALLED_BEEBREAD_1920-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/DL_609HoneyBeesandPollen_STORED_POLLEN_IS_CALLED_BEEBREAD_1920-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/DL_609HoneyBeesandPollen_STORED_POLLEN_IS_CALLED_BEEBREAD_1920-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/DL_609HoneyBeesandPollen_STORED_POLLEN_IS_CALLED_BEEBREAD_1920-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/DL_609HoneyBeesandPollen_STORED_POLLEN_IS_CALLED_BEEBREAD_1920-1200x675.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Bee bread inside a beehive in the Central Valley town of Volta. Bees make bee bread by mixing pollen with nectar, honey and a little saliva. \u003ccite>(Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“It’s so important to have good protein,” said \u003ca href=\"https://www.honey.com/honey-locator/profile/gene-brandi-apiaries\">Gene Brandi\u003c/a>, a beekeeper in Los Banos. “We’re always endeavoring to have them in places where they have forage.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When the almond fields were in bloom in February and March, Brandi placed 3,000 hives in the orchards. With 1.3 million acres of almonds planted in California’s Central Valley, it’s the biggest honey bee pollination in the world, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On a warm March morning, hives in white wooden boxes lined the road between rows of almond trees loaded with white flowers. Bees came and went. Almond pollen, which is light yellow, is nutritious and sought after by honey bees, said the USDA’s Carroll.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1941215\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 500px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/DL_609HoneyBeesandPollen_BEE_FORAGES_FOR_POLLEN_ON_ALMOND_FLOWER.gif\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1941215\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/DL_609HoneyBeesandPollen_BEE_FORAGES_FOR_POLLEN_ON_ALMOND_FLOWER.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A honey bee forages for pollen in an almond bloom. \u003ccite>(Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“The almond pollination event, it’s the time of the year that for most parts of the United States there’s really nothing else available,” Carroll said. “And in some ways, if beekeepers can work it out, this is a great jump for them to get their colonies going for the spring.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Honey bees have been facing challenges for over a decade and the trend appears to continue this year. Brandi said that beekeepers around the country suffered “extremely high losses” this winter with some losing half of their colonies. He said that pesticides, poor nutrition and tiny mites that transmit diseases to bees are likely to blame.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When the almond pollination was done in mid-March, Brandi moved his hives to feed on pollen from sage. In the summer, they’ll forage for pollen in cotton and alfalfa fields. Brandi’s goal is to produce honey with different flavors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bees make honey with nectar they collect in the afternoon. They spend their mornings collecting pollen, and they’re well-equipped to do so, with three million hairs that help them trap the grains.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1941231\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/DL_609HoneyBeesandPollen_HONEY_BEE_WORKER_HAS_HAIRS_ON_EYES_USGS_BEE_INVENTORY.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1941231\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/DL_609HoneyBeesandPollen_HONEY_BEE_WORKER_HAS_HAIRS_ON_EYES_USGS_BEE_INVENTORY.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/DL_609HoneyBeesandPollen_HONEY_BEE_WORKER_HAS_HAIRS_ON_EYES_USGS_BEE_INVENTORY.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/DL_609HoneyBeesandPollen_HONEY_BEE_WORKER_HAS_HAIRS_ON_EYES_USGS_BEE_INVENTORY-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/DL_609HoneyBeesandPollen_HONEY_BEE_WORKER_HAS_HAIRS_ON_EYES_USGS_BEE_INVENTORY-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/DL_609HoneyBeesandPollen_HONEY_BEE_WORKER_HAS_HAIRS_ON_EYES_USGS_BEE_INVENTORY-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/DL_609HoneyBeesandPollen_HONEY_BEE_WORKER_HAS_HAIRS_ON_EYES_USGS_BEE_INVENTORY-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/DL_609HoneyBeesandPollen_HONEY_BEE_WORKER_HAS_HAIRS_ON_EYES_USGS_BEE_INVENTORY-1200x675.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Hairs on their eyes help honey bees trap pollen to bring back to the hive. \u003ccite>(USGS Bee Inventory and Monitoring Lab)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Honey bees even have hairs on their eyes, said \u003ca href=\"http://www.hu.gatech.edu/Matherne/\">Marguerite Matherne\u003c/a>, a doctoral candidate in mechanical engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology, who is looking at the process of pollen collection up close. She and her colleagues found that the spaces between the hairs on bees’ eyes are about the width of a pollen grain.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What this does is it suspends these grains above the eye, so that the leg can grasp them more easily and move them out of the way faster,” said Matherne.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When a bee lands on a flower, it nibbles and licks off the pollen, which sticks to its head. It wipes the pollen off its eyes and antennae with a brush on each of its front legs, using them in tandem like windshield wipers. It also cleans the pollen off its mouth part, and as it does this, it mixes it with some saliva and a little nectar or honey that it carries around in a kind of stomach called a crop.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1941201\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 500px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/DL_609HoneyBeesandPollen_BEE_CLEANS_POLLEN_OFF_HER_ANTENNAE.gif\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1941201\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/DL_609HoneyBeesandPollen_BEE_CLEANS_POLLEN_OFF_HER_ANTENNAE.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A honey bee wipes pollen off its antennae using brushes on its front legs like windshield wipers. \u003ccite>(Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Then the bee uses brushes on its front, middle and hind legs to move the pollen, conveyor-belt style, front to middle to back.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They’re transferring the pollen from one brush to another, between their legs,” said Matherne. “It’s kind of like running a comb through your own hair.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1941228\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 500px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/DL_609HoneyBeesandPollen_BEE_MOVES_POLLEN_FROM_FRONT_TO_BACK.gif\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1941228\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/DL_609HoneyBeesandPollen_BEE_MOVES_POLLEN_FROM_FRONT_TO_BACK.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A honey bee moves pollen from its front to its middle to its hind legs, conveyor-belt style. \u003ccite>(Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>As it flies from bloom to bloom, the bee combs the pollen very quickly and moves it into baskets on its hind legs called corbiculae (core-BICK-you-lee). Each basket is made up of a concave section of the hind leg, which is covered by longish hairs that bend over and around the pollen.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1941216\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 500px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/DL_609HoneyBeesandPollen_BEE_PRESSES_POLLEN_BALL_W_HER_RIGHT_LEG.gif\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1941216\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/DL_609HoneyBeesandPollen_BEE_PRESSES_POLLEN_BALL_W_HER_RIGHT_LEG.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A honey bee pumps its right hind leg to press pollen into a ball. \u003ccite>(Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The bee bends its back legs at the joint to squish the pollen into a ball, using the nectar or honey it added earlier to glue the pollen grains to each other.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That way it’s wadded up, and it’s a lot easier to have that actually attached to their leg,” said Carroll.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Matherne found that a bee can fit as many as 160,000 pollen grains in each pollen ball or pellet. By the time a worker bee gets back to the hive with its haul, it is carrying as much as one-third its weight. The bee does this trip up to 12 times a day, said Carroll, its wings becoming ragged from the effort.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1941218\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/DL_609HoneyBeesandPollen_BEE_W_POLLEN_BALLS2_1920.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1941218\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/DL_609HoneyBeesandPollen_BEE_W_POLLEN_BALLS2_1920.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/DL_609HoneyBeesandPollen_BEE_W_POLLEN_BALLS2_1920.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/DL_609HoneyBeesandPollen_BEE_W_POLLEN_BALLS2_1920-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/DL_609HoneyBeesandPollen_BEE_W_POLLEN_BALLS2_1920-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/DL_609HoneyBeesandPollen_BEE_W_POLLEN_BALLS2_1920-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/DL_609HoneyBeesandPollen_BEE_W_POLLEN_BALLS2_1920-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/DL_609HoneyBeesandPollen_BEE_W_POLLEN_BALLS2_1920-1200x675.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A bee gets ready to deposit its pollen pellets in the hive. \u003ccite>(David Hu, Oliver Howington and Marguerite Matherne/Georgia Institute of Technology)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Back at the hive, bees deposit their pollen pellets close to the cells where bee larvae are growing. Another bee might come along and add some more honey to the pollen, and then the bee bread is essentially ready to eat. Scientists had believed that bees left the pollen to ferment for a few days. But Carroll and colleagues found that bees prefer their pollen fresh.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Pollen that was less than a few days old was preferred over pollen that was seven to eight days old and beyond,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1941219\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 500px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/DL_609HoneyBeesandPollen_BEE_WALKS_OVER_BEE_BREAD.gif\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1941219\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/DL_609HoneyBeesandPollen_BEE_WALKS_OVER_BEE_BREAD.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A bee walks over cells full of bee bread. \u003ccite>(Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>After a few weeks, the constant foraging trips take a toll and the bees die.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s a paradox,” said Carroll. “At the time of the year when there’s most food available out in the landscape from flowers, that’s when they have the shortest lives because they’re just so busy.”\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Every spring, honey bees trap, brush and pack pollen into baskets on their legs to make a special food called bee bread.",
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"title": "Honey Bees Make Honey ... and Bread? | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Spring means honey bees flitting from flower to flower. In California, this frantic insect activity that starts in late winter and continues through the summer is essential to growing foods like almonds, cherries, raspberries and apples. Bees move pollen, making it possible for plants to grow the fruit and seeds they need to reproduce.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1941207\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/DL_609HoneyBeesandPollen_BEE_WITH_POLLEN_BALLS_FORAGES_1920.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1941207\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/DL_609HoneyBeesandPollen_BEE_WITH_POLLEN_BALLS_FORAGES_1920.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/DL_609HoneyBeesandPollen_BEE_WITH_POLLEN_BALLS_FORAGES_1920.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/DL_609HoneyBeesandPollen_BEE_WITH_POLLEN_BALLS_FORAGES_1920-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/DL_609HoneyBeesandPollen_BEE_WITH_POLLEN_BALLS_FORAGES_1920-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/DL_609HoneyBeesandPollen_BEE_WITH_POLLEN_BALLS_FORAGES_1920-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/DL_609HoneyBeesandPollen_BEE_WITH_POLLEN_BALLS_FORAGES_1920-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/DL_609HoneyBeesandPollen_BEE_WITH_POLLEN_BALLS_FORAGES_1920-1200x675.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A honey bee collects pollen in an almond orchard in Woodland, California. It packs the pollen into balls that it carries in structures on its hind legs, called pollen baskets. \u003ccite>(Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But honey bees don’t just move pollen from plant to plant. They also keep a lot for themselves. They carry it around in neat little balls, one on each of their hind legs. Collecting, packing and making pollen into something they can eat is a tough, intricate job that’s essential to the colony’s well-being.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When honey bees don’t have access to pollen, they start depleting the nutrients in their body, said \u003ca href=\"https://www.ars.usda.gov/pacific-west-area/tucson-az/honey-bee-research/people/mark-j-carroll/\">Mark Carroll\u003c/a>, an entomologist at the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Carl Hayden Bee Research Center in Tucson.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“And that’s when things get a little rough for bees,” he said, “because you’re using your reserves.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1941210\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 500px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/DL_609HoneyBeesandPollen_BEE_RETURNS_TO_HIVE_W_POLLEN.gif\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1941210\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/DL_609HoneyBeesandPollen_BEE_RETURNS_TO_HIVE_W_POLLEN.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A bee returns to the hive loaded down with pollen. \u003ccite>(Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>While nectar from flowers — and the honey they make with it — provide bees with the energy they need to fly around, honey bees also need pollen to grow their colonies. Older female adult bees collect pollen and mix it with nectar or honey and a little saliva as they go along, then carry it back to the hive and deposit it in cells next to the developing baby bees, called larvae. This stored pollen, known as bee bread, is the colony’s main source of protein.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You don’t have bees flying along snacking on pollen as they’re collecting it,” said Carroll. “This is the form of pollen that bees are eating.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Young adult female bees distribute the stored pollen to the whole colony. They eat bee bread to make a liquid food similar to mammal’s milk that they feed to growing larvae and adult bees, including the queen. They also give little bits of bee bread to older larvae.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1941212\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/DL_609HoneyBeesandPollen_STORED_POLLEN_IS_CALLED_BEEBREAD_1920.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1941212\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/DL_609HoneyBeesandPollen_STORED_POLLEN_IS_CALLED_BEEBREAD_1920.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/DL_609HoneyBeesandPollen_STORED_POLLEN_IS_CALLED_BEEBREAD_1920.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/DL_609HoneyBeesandPollen_STORED_POLLEN_IS_CALLED_BEEBREAD_1920-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/DL_609HoneyBeesandPollen_STORED_POLLEN_IS_CALLED_BEEBREAD_1920-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/DL_609HoneyBeesandPollen_STORED_POLLEN_IS_CALLED_BEEBREAD_1920-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/DL_609HoneyBeesandPollen_STORED_POLLEN_IS_CALLED_BEEBREAD_1920-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/DL_609HoneyBeesandPollen_STORED_POLLEN_IS_CALLED_BEEBREAD_1920-1200x675.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Bee bread inside a beehive in the Central Valley town of Volta. Bees make bee bread by mixing pollen with nectar, honey and a little saliva. \u003ccite>(Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“It’s so important to have good protein,” said \u003ca href=\"https://www.honey.com/honey-locator/profile/gene-brandi-apiaries\">Gene Brandi\u003c/a>, a beekeeper in Los Banos. “We’re always endeavoring to have them in places where they have forage.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When the almond fields were in bloom in February and March, Brandi placed 3,000 hives in the orchards. With 1.3 million acres of almonds planted in California’s Central Valley, it’s the biggest honey bee pollination in the world, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On a warm March morning, hives in white wooden boxes lined the road between rows of almond trees loaded with white flowers. Bees came and went. Almond pollen, which is light yellow, is nutritious and sought after by honey bees, said the USDA’s Carroll.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1941215\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 500px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/DL_609HoneyBeesandPollen_BEE_FORAGES_FOR_POLLEN_ON_ALMOND_FLOWER.gif\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1941215\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/DL_609HoneyBeesandPollen_BEE_FORAGES_FOR_POLLEN_ON_ALMOND_FLOWER.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A honey bee forages for pollen in an almond bloom. \u003ccite>(Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“The almond pollination event, it’s the time of the year that for most parts of the United States there’s really nothing else available,” Carroll said. “And in some ways, if beekeepers can work it out, this is a great jump for them to get their colonies going for the spring.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Honey bees have been facing challenges for over a decade and the trend appears to continue this year. Brandi said that beekeepers around the country suffered “extremely high losses” this winter with some losing half of their colonies. He said that pesticides, poor nutrition and tiny mites that transmit diseases to bees are likely to blame.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When the almond pollination was done in mid-March, Brandi moved his hives to feed on pollen from sage. In the summer, they’ll forage for pollen in cotton and alfalfa fields. Brandi’s goal is to produce honey with different flavors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bees make honey with nectar they collect in the afternoon. They spend their mornings collecting pollen, and they’re well-equipped to do so, with three million hairs that help them trap the grains.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1941231\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/DL_609HoneyBeesandPollen_HONEY_BEE_WORKER_HAS_HAIRS_ON_EYES_USGS_BEE_INVENTORY.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1941231\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/DL_609HoneyBeesandPollen_HONEY_BEE_WORKER_HAS_HAIRS_ON_EYES_USGS_BEE_INVENTORY.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/DL_609HoneyBeesandPollen_HONEY_BEE_WORKER_HAS_HAIRS_ON_EYES_USGS_BEE_INVENTORY.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/DL_609HoneyBeesandPollen_HONEY_BEE_WORKER_HAS_HAIRS_ON_EYES_USGS_BEE_INVENTORY-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/DL_609HoneyBeesandPollen_HONEY_BEE_WORKER_HAS_HAIRS_ON_EYES_USGS_BEE_INVENTORY-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/DL_609HoneyBeesandPollen_HONEY_BEE_WORKER_HAS_HAIRS_ON_EYES_USGS_BEE_INVENTORY-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/DL_609HoneyBeesandPollen_HONEY_BEE_WORKER_HAS_HAIRS_ON_EYES_USGS_BEE_INVENTORY-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/DL_609HoneyBeesandPollen_HONEY_BEE_WORKER_HAS_HAIRS_ON_EYES_USGS_BEE_INVENTORY-1200x675.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Hairs on their eyes help honey bees trap pollen to bring back to the hive. \u003ccite>(USGS Bee Inventory and Monitoring Lab)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Honey bees even have hairs on their eyes, said \u003ca href=\"http://www.hu.gatech.edu/Matherne/\">Marguerite Matherne\u003c/a>, a doctoral candidate in mechanical engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology, who is looking at the process of pollen collection up close. She and her colleagues found that the spaces between the hairs on bees’ eyes are about the width of a pollen grain.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What this does is it suspends these grains above the eye, so that the leg can grasp them more easily and move them out of the way faster,” said Matherne.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When a bee lands on a flower, it nibbles and licks off the pollen, which sticks to its head. It wipes the pollen off its eyes and antennae with a brush on each of its front legs, using them in tandem like windshield wipers. It also cleans the pollen off its mouth part, and as it does this, it mixes it with some saliva and a little nectar or honey that it carries around in a kind of stomach called a crop.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1941201\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 500px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/DL_609HoneyBeesandPollen_BEE_CLEANS_POLLEN_OFF_HER_ANTENNAE.gif\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1941201\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/DL_609HoneyBeesandPollen_BEE_CLEANS_POLLEN_OFF_HER_ANTENNAE.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A honey bee wipes pollen off its antennae using brushes on its front legs like windshield wipers. \u003ccite>(Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Then the bee uses brushes on its front, middle and hind legs to move the pollen, conveyor-belt style, front to middle to back.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They’re transferring the pollen from one brush to another, between their legs,” said Matherne. “It’s kind of like running a comb through your own hair.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1941228\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 500px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/DL_609HoneyBeesandPollen_BEE_MOVES_POLLEN_FROM_FRONT_TO_BACK.gif\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1941228\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/DL_609HoneyBeesandPollen_BEE_MOVES_POLLEN_FROM_FRONT_TO_BACK.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A honey bee moves pollen from its front to its middle to its hind legs, conveyor-belt style. \u003ccite>(Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>As it flies from bloom to bloom, the bee combs the pollen very quickly and moves it into baskets on its hind legs called corbiculae (core-BICK-you-lee). Each basket is made up of a concave section of the hind leg, which is covered by longish hairs that bend over and around the pollen.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1941216\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 500px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/DL_609HoneyBeesandPollen_BEE_PRESSES_POLLEN_BALL_W_HER_RIGHT_LEG.gif\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1941216\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/DL_609HoneyBeesandPollen_BEE_PRESSES_POLLEN_BALL_W_HER_RIGHT_LEG.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A honey bee pumps its right hind leg to press pollen into a ball. \u003ccite>(Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The bee bends its back legs at the joint to squish the pollen into a ball, using the nectar or honey it added earlier to glue the pollen grains to each other.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That way it’s wadded up, and it’s a lot easier to have that actually attached to their leg,” said Carroll.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Matherne found that a bee can fit as many as 160,000 pollen grains in each pollen ball or pellet. By the time a worker bee gets back to the hive with its haul, it is carrying as much as one-third its weight. The bee does this trip up to 12 times a day, said Carroll, its wings becoming ragged from the effort.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1941218\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/DL_609HoneyBeesandPollen_BEE_W_POLLEN_BALLS2_1920.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1941218\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/DL_609HoneyBeesandPollen_BEE_W_POLLEN_BALLS2_1920.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/DL_609HoneyBeesandPollen_BEE_W_POLLEN_BALLS2_1920.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/DL_609HoneyBeesandPollen_BEE_W_POLLEN_BALLS2_1920-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/DL_609HoneyBeesandPollen_BEE_W_POLLEN_BALLS2_1920-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/DL_609HoneyBeesandPollen_BEE_W_POLLEN_BALLS2_1920-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/DL_609HoneyBeesandPollen_BEE_W_POLLEN_BALLS2_1920-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/DL_609HoneyBeesandPollen_BEE_W_POLLEN_BALLS2_1920-1200x675.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A bee gets ready to deposit its pollen pellets in the hive. \u003ccite>(David Hu, Oliver Howington and Marguerite Matherne/Georgia Institute of Technology)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Back at the hive, bees deposit their pollen pellets close to the cells where bee larvae are growing. Another bee might come along and add some more honey to the pollen, and then the bee bread is essentially ready to eat. Scientists had believed that bees left the pollen to ferment for a few days. But Carroll and colleagues found that bees prefer their pollen fresh.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Pollen that was less than a few days old was preferred over pollen that was seven to eight days old and beyond,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1941219\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 500px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/DL_609HoneyBeesandPollen_BEE_WALKS_OVER_BEE_BREAD.gif\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1941219\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/DL_609HoneyBeesandPollen_BEE_WALKS_OVER_BEE_BREAD.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A bee walks over cells full of bee bread. \u003ccite>(Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>After a few weeks, the constant foraging trips take a toll and the bees die.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s a paradox,” said Carroll. “At the time of the year when there’s most food available out in the landscape from flowers, that’s when they have the shortest lives because they’re just so busy.”\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "this-millipede-and-beetle-have-a-toxic-relationship",
"title": "This Millipede and Beetle Have a Toxic Relationship",
"publishDate": 1556024474,
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"headTitle": "This Millipede and Beetle Have a Toxic Relationship | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>[pullquote]\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-3SbfTPJsL8fJAPKiVqBLg?sub_confirmation=1\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Subscribe to Deep Look on Youtube\u003c/a>[/pullquote]Across Northern California, as the rainy season is ending and spring is taking hold, bees are buzzing, flowers are growing and hikers are hitting the trails.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But down at ground level, the pastoral scenery is concealing a surprising battle: relentless chemical warfare between bugs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More than 200 millipede species emerge from their underground lairs every year during the winter and early spring months to forage for food and seek mates.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They have to fend off insects, mammals, reptiles and amphibians looking for a tasty meal. But they have a secret weapon — an array of toxic chemicals they shoot from special glands. One Bay Area species, Xystocheir dissecta, carries deadly cyanide and benzaldehyde.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If they’re feeling threatened, these millipedes produce an invisible, odorless hydrogen cyanide gas that they spray at predators, which is virtually toxic to all organisms. One byproduct is benzaldehyde, which gives off the scent of bitter almonds, as an additional signal that they’re secreting poison.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1940186\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-1940186\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/DL608_Blue_Millipede-1020x574.jpg\" alt=\"Xystocheir dissecta millipede glowing blue under UV light.\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/DL608_Blue_Millipede-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/DL608_Blue_Millipede-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/DL608_Blue_Millipede-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/DL608_Blue_Millipede-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/DL608_Blue_Millipede-1200x675.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/DL608_Blue_Millipede-1920x1080.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/DL608_Blue_Millipede.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Xystocheir dissecta millipede glowing blue under UV light. \u003ccite>(Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The millipedes don’t poison themselves, however. They’ve developed an immunity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The cyanide can kill nearly any other animal trying to dine on the millipedes. Except one.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>New research has found that one tough beetle is the only known predator in the world that can survive a direct blast of cyanide gas and keep going.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1940184\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-1940184\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/Brandt-Weary-With-Millipede-2-e1555013927931-1020x1360.jpg\" alt=\"Brandt Weary holds a Xystocheir dissecta millipede.\" width=\"640\" height=\"853\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/Brandt-Weary-With-Millipede-2-e1555013927931-1020x1360.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/Brandt-Weary-With-Millipede-2-e1555013927931-160x213.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/Brandt-Weary-With-Millipede-2-e1555013927931-800x1067.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/Brandt-Weary-With-Millipede-2-e1555013927931-768x1024.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/Brandt-Weary-With-Millipede-2-e1555013927931-900x1200.jpg 900w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/Brandt-Weary-With-Millipede-2-e1555013927931.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Brandt Weary holds a Xystocheir dissecta millipede.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Brandt Weary, an entomologist, studied these hardy beetles last year for his senior thesis at UC Berkeley. The beetles, known as Promecognathus crassus, love to eat millipedes, even though they are only one-fifth the millipedes’ size.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Weary wanted to know more about how the beetles withstood the millipedes’ tough chemical defense. He found that while many other beetles will avoid the cyanide-spraying millipedes, Promecognathus seeks them out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’d actually put them in a dish together and watch them hunt,” he said. “The millipedes are spraying cyanide, and the beetles don’t seem to mind. Then I actually tested to see if the beetles can resist cyanide. It seems that they can. It’s very unusual in the animal kingdom.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>His advisor, \u003ca href=\"https://pterostichini.wordpress.com/\">Kip Will\u003c/a>, an associate professor who oversaw Weary’s study, said researchers still aren’t entirely sure how the beetles can take a blast of cyanide that would kill many other insects.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We knew that the beetles preferred millipedes and seemed to be quite evolved to eat them, but that implies some mechanism by which they overcome or bypass nasty cyanide,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1940185\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-1940185\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/DL608_Beetle-1020x574.jpg\" alt=\"Promecognathus crassus, a ground beetle common in the Bay Area.\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/DL608_Beetle-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/DL608_Beetle-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/DL608_Beetle-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/DL608_Beetle-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/DL608_Beetle-1200x675.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/DL608_Beetle-1920x1080.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/DL608_Beetle.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Promecognathus crassus, a ground beetle common in the Bay Area. \u003ccite>(Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>When it attacks, the beetle clamps down on the millipede’s armor with its unusually long, scissors-like jaws and tries to decapitate it — eventually feeding on the insect from the inside to out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was a little surreal to see behavior that I had only ever read in the literature,” Weary said. “At the time, their hunting behavior had never been caught on film and I had never observed it in the wild, so it felt like watching a rare nature documentary.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Weary also ran lab tests that exposed other species of beetles to the chemicals. Not only did Promecognathus last the longest, it was the most tolerant of them all. They were even able to withstand cyanide levels that would knock down beetles 10 times their size.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Will said that Weary’s study is the first to do several things.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These beetles don’t, or at least don’t need to, paralyze their prey as suggested by other research,” he said. “Other potential predators that might eat the millipedes actually don’t, and Promecognathus definitely does. And the beetle has a significantly greater tolerance — and perhaps a complete resistance — to cyanide.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re not sure of the biochemical way they do this yet,” Will said. “But whatever it is — an enzyme would be a good hypothesis — it is the first time that cyanide resistance has been shown to be in a predatory species.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>All other known research involved insects that fed only on plants that contain cyanide.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Weary plans to focus more of his future research on centipedes and millipedes, but he said he was enthralled by the tough little beetles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They have personalities. They’re different from each other, and they have their own little lives. It’s just really fascinating to watch them behave.”\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "This millipede uses deadly cyanide gas to keep predators at bay. But one beetle can tolerate the toxic defense and rides the millipede like a bucking bronco. Who will win this showdown in the forest? ",
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"title": "This Millipede and Beetle Have a Toxic Relationship | KQED",
"description": "This millipede uses deadly cyanide gas to keep predators at bay. But one beetle can tolerate the toxic defense and rides the millipede like a bucking bronco. Who will win this showdown in the forest? ",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Across Northern California, as the rainy season is ending and spring is taking hold, bees are buzzing, flowers are growing and hikers are hitting the trails.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But down at ground level, the pastoral scenery is concealing a surprising battle: relentless chemical warfare between bugs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More than 200 millipede species emerge from their underground lairs every year during the winter and early spring months to forage for food and seek mates.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They have to fend off insects, mammals, reptiles and amphibians looking for a tasty meal. But they have a secret weapon — an array of toxic chemicals they shoot from special glands. One Bay Area species, Xystocheir dissecta, carries deadly cyanide and benzaldehyde.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If they’re feeling threatened, these millipedes produce an invisible, odorless hydrogen cyanide gas that they spray at predators, which is virtually toxic to all organisms. One byproduct is benzaldehyde, which gives off the scent of bitter almonds, as an additional signal that they’re secreting poison.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1940186\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-1940186\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/DL608_Blue_Millipede-1020x574.jpg\" alt=\"Xystocheir dissecta millipede glowing blue under UV light.\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/DL608_Blue_Millipede-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/DL608_Blue_Millipede-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/DL608_Blue_Millipede-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/DL608_Blue_Millipede-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/DL608_Blue_Millipede-1200x675.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/DL608_Blue_Millipede-1920x1080.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/DL608_Blue_Millipede.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Xystocheir dissecta millipede glowing blue under UV light. \u003ccite>(Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The millipedes don’t poison themselves, however. They’ve developed an immunity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The cyanide can kill nearly any other animal trying to dine on the millipedes. Except one.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>New research has found that one tough beetle is the only known predator in the world that can survive a direct blast of cyanide gas and keep going.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1940184\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-1940184\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/Brandt-Weary-With-Millipede-2-e1555013927931-1020x1360.jpg\" alt=\"Brandt Weary holds a Xystocheir dissecta millipede.\" width=\"640\" height=\"853\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/Brandt-Weary-With-Millipede-2-e1555013927931-1020x1360.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/Brandt-Weary-With-Millipede-2-e1555013927931-160x213.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/Brandt-Weary-With-Millipede-2-e1555013927931-800x1067.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/Brandt-Weary-With-Millipede-2-e1555013927931-768x1024.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/Brandt-Weary-With-Millipede-2-e1555013927931-900x1200.jpg 900w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/Brandt-Weary-With-Millipede-2-e1555013927931.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Brandt Weary holds a Xystocheir dissecta millipede.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Brandt Weary, an entomologist, studied these hardy beetles last year for his senior thesis at UC Berkeley. The beetles, known as Promecognathus crassus, love to eat millipedes, even though they are only one-fifth the millipedes’ size.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Weary wanted to know more about how the beetles withstood the millipedes’ tough chemical defense. He found that while many other beetles will avoid the cyanide-spraying millipedes, Promecognathus seeks them out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’d actually put them in a dish together and watch them hunt,” he said. “The millipedes are spraying cyanide, and the beetles don’t seem to mind. Then I actually tested to see if the beetles can resist cyanide. It seems that they can. It’s very unusual in the animal kingdom.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>His advisor, \u003ca href=\"https://pterostichini.wordpress.com/\">Kip Will\u003c/a>, an associate professor who oversaw Weary’s study, said researchers still aren’t entirely sure how the beetles can take a blast of cyanide that would kill many other insects.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We knew that the beetles preferred millipedes and seemed to be quite evolved to eat them, but that implies some mechanism by which they overcome or bypass nasty cyanide,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1940185\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-1940185\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/DL608_Beetle-1020x574.jpg\" alt=\"Promecognathus crassus, a ground beetle common in the Bay Area.\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/DL608_Beetle-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/DL608_Beetle-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/DL608_Beetle-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/DL608_Beetle-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/DL608_Beetle-1200x675.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/DL608_Beetle-1920x1080.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/DL608_Beetle.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Promecognathus crassus, a ground beetle common in the Bay Area. \u003ccite>(Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>When it attacks, the beetle clamps down on the millipede’s armor with its unusually long, scissors-like jaws and tries to decapitate it — eventually feeding on the insect from the inside to out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was a little surreal to see behavior that I had only ever read in the literature,” Weary said. “At the time, their hunting behavior had never been caught on film and I had never observed it in the wild, so it felt like watching a rare nature documentary.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Weary also ran lab tests that exposed other species of beetles to the chemicals. Not only did Promecognathus last the longest, it was the most tolerant of them all. They were even able to withstand cyanide levels that would knock down beetles 10 times their size.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Will said that Weary’s study is the first to do several things.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These beetles don’t, or at least don’t need to, paralyze their prey as suggested by other research,” he said. “Other potential predators that might eat the millipedes actually don’t, and Promecognathus definitely does. And the beetle has a significantly greater tolerance — and perhaps a complete resistance — to cyanide.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re not sure of the biochemical way they do this yet,” Will said. “But whatever it is — an enzyme would be a good hypothesis — it is the first time that cyanide resistance has been shown to be in a predatory species.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>All other known research involved insects that fed only on plants that contain cyanide.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Weary plans to focus more of his future research on centipedes and millipedes, but he said he was enthralled by the tough little beetles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They have personalities. They’re different from each other, and they have their own little lives. It’s just really fascinating to watch them behave.”\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>[dl_subscribe]At first, the idea of using porcupine quills to patch up wounds sounds torturous. But now researchers are taking inspiration from the spiky rodent to make a new type of surgical staple that may be less damaging — and painful — than current staples.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Worldwide, surgeons perform more than 4 million procedures annually, usually using sutures and staples to close wounds in patients. Yet, these traditional tools designed to aid healing can create their own problems.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Doctors often use surgical staples because they’re faster to insert than sutures, which require a needle and thread. But current surgical staples, which are made of metal, tear tissue on the way in and cause more damage when bent to stay in place, said Jeff Karp, a bioengineer at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston and professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’ve been using sutures and staples for decades, and they’ve been incredibly useful,” said Karp. “But there are challenges in terms of placing them for minimally invasive procedures.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Staples that work like porcupine quills could solve those challenges, Karp said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1939841\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/DL607_Porcupines_quill_full_length.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1939841 size-large\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/DL607_Porcupines_quill_full_length-1020x574.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/DL607_Porcupines_quill_full_length-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/DL607_Porcupines_quill_full_length-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/DL607_Porcupines_quill_full_length-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/DL607_Porcupines_quill_full_length-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/DL607_Porcupines_quill_full_length-1200x675.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/DL607_Porcupines_quill_full_length-1920x1080.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/DL607_Porcupines_quill_full_length.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Porcupines use the sharp dark tips of their modified hairs, called quills, for defense. \u003ccite>(Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Karp and his team have been searching for new ways doctors can hold tissue together. For inspiration, they turned to nature.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In one brainstorming session, the researchers thought of the porcupine and its quill.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The North American porcupine appears cute, but it has upward of 30,000 menacing quills over most of its body. The slow-moving herbivore delivers them only as a last-resort defense against predators.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1939843\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 500px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/DL607_Porcupines_eat_leaf.gif\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1939843\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/DL607_Porcupines_eat_leaf.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">All porcupines, including this North American porcupine, eat only plant foods. \u003ccite>(Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Generally, the quills, which are specialized hairs, lie flat on the mammal’s body. Only when threatened will the porcupine erect them. And contrary to popular belief, they don’t shoot them out from their bodies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The wonderful thing about porcupines is that they seem to feel secure,” said \u003ca href=\"http://biology.qc.cuny.edu/people/faculty/dr-uldis-roze/\">Uldis Roze\u003c/a>, biology professor emeritus at Queens College, City University of New York. “They feel like they’re not in danger, and they’re sweet.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1939846\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/DL607_Porcupines_eats_acorn.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-1939846\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/DL607_Porcupines_eats_acorn-1020x574.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/DL607_Porcupines_eats_acorn-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/DL607_Porcupines_eats_acorn-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/DL607_Porcupines_eats_acorn-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/DL607_Porcupines_eats_acorn-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/DL607_Porcupines_eats_acorn-1200x675.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/DL607_Porcupines_eats_acorn-1920x1080.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/DL607_Porcupines_eats_acorn.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">When the porcupine is relaxed, its other hairs and fur hide most of the quills. \u003ccite>(Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Any potential predator unfamiliar with a porcupine, such as a dog or mountain lion, would be wise to heed its warnings across three senses, according to Roze’s book, “\u003ca href=\"http://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/?GCOI=80140100667570\">The North American Porcupine\u003c/a>.” The adult’s contrasting black-and-white pattern on the quills and other hairs — known as aposematic coloration — is a visual warning signal. A unique pungent odor and ominous teeth-clattering should alarm the nose and ears.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Should the predator ignore these signs and attack, the porcupine will use its powerful spiky tail to slap at the aggressor. Each quill is held in place by its own special structure in the porcupine’s skin. The contact from colliding with a predator causes the skin to release the quills from the porcupine’s body.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1939848\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 500px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/DL607_Glove_quilled_by_porcupine.gif\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1939848\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/DL607_Glove_quilled_by_porcupine.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A quill detaches from the porcupine’s body only from physical impact with a predator. \u003ccite>(Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>North American porcupine quills pack a hidden punch: microscopic, backward-facing barbs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Covering just the needlelike tip of the quills, the barbs make removing a quill difficult, because they flare out when pulled in the opposite direction.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That means that if a predator gets quilled, the quill might never come out. When scientists examine the skulls of deceased mountain lions, Roze said, they often find the tips of porcupine quills embedded in their jaws.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The mountain lion just accepts it,” said Roze. “It’s part of the work of killing a porcupine.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Of course, that mountain lion’s days of porcupine feasting may end forever if the quills keep it from eating or end up in the cat’s vulnerable internal organs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1939851\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 500px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/DL607_Removing_quill_from_finger.gif\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1939851\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/DL607_Removing_quill_from_finger.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The backward-facing barbs hook the quill into the predator’s body. \u003ccite>(Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Still, a quill passing through the body is far from painless — it’s excruciating — as Roze knows from personal experience. He was once quilled in his bicep when up in a tree trying to catch an agile porcupine. Despite his wife’s suggestion to seek medical care, he waited two harrowing days until the quill traveled in one direction and cleanly exited his lower arm. He kept the quill as a souvenir.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The quill’s barbs made penetration into his flesh easier. They also helped drive the quill through until it either exited or reached a stopping point, such as bone.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those barbs are the main attraction to Karp. He and his team \u003ca href=\"https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1216441109\">ran experiments\u003c/a> comparing a barbed quill to a barbless quill. They measured the forces required to insert and remove the quills.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1939854\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/DL607_Porcupines_Barbs_microscopic.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-1939854\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/DL607_Porcupines_Barbs_microscopic-1020x574.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/DL607_Porcupines_Barbs_microscopic-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/DL607_Porcupines_Barbs_microscopic-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/DL607_Porcupines_Barbs_microscopic-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/DL607_Porcupines_Barbs_microscopic-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/DL607_Porcupines_Barbs_microscopic-1200x675.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/DL607_Porcupines_Barbs_microscopic-1920x1080.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/DL607_Porcupines_Barbs_microscopic.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The overlapping microscopic barbs cover only the quill’s tip. \u003ccite>(Woo Kyung Cho/Chungnam National University)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The results show that the barbs are dual-functional.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They’re reducing the penetration force and increasing the pullout force,” said Karp. “It’s pretty neat.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The team also discovered that the barbs do minimal damage by making a more perfect hole in the tissue on their way in. A barbless quill or surgical staple tears the tissue and creates gaps that are susceptible to infection.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A new medical staple designed with two barbed tips would require much less effort to place, and the barbs, with their gripping power, would hold it in position without needing to bend the staple.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1939857\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 500px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/DL607_Barbed_staple_enters_skin.gif\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1939857\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/DL607_Barbed_staple_enters_skin.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A surgical staple with barbs like those on a porcupine quill could cause little tissue damage, similar to the way a serrated knife cuts a tomato. \u003ccite>(XVIVO Scientific Animation)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Karp said he anticipates making the new staples out of biodegradable material so they would fully dissolve over time without having to be pulled out. That could eliminate the need for a follow-up visit to remove them, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The challenge now is recreating the full barb’s shape.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Nature has designs that humans can’t achieve yet, at least at large scale,” Karp said. “Large-scale manufacturing is a human problem.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But he estimated that if the right technologies become available, human testing of tools inspired by porcupine quills could begin in two to five years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This could be an enabler for smaller incisions to be made in a large number of surgeries,” Karp said. That would be good news for both surgeons and patients.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Visit “Penelope” the porcupine at \u003ca href=\"https://lindsaywildlife.org/\">Lindsay Wildlife Experience\u003c/a> in Walnut Creek, California.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Porcupines may be adorable, but their quills are razor-sharp, designed to impale and next to impossible to remove. But it's not all bad news. Researchers are designing new surgical staples that mimic the quill's shape to better close wounds and speed up healing.",
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"title": "Porcupines Give You 30,000 Reasons to Back Off | KQED",
"description": "Porcupines may be adorable, but their quills are razor-sharp, designed to impale and next to impossible to remove. But it's not all bad news. Researchers are designing new surgical staples that mimic the quill's shape to better close wounds and speed up healing.",
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"headline": "Porcupines Give You 30,000 Reasons to Back Off",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>At first, the idea of using porcupine quills to patch up wounds sounds torturous. But now researchers are taking inspiration from the spiky rodent to make a new type of surgical staple that may be less damaging — and painful — than current staples.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Worldwide, surgeons perform more than 4 million procedures annually, usually using sutures and staples to close wounds in patients. Yet, these traditional tools designed to aid healing can create their own problems.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Doctors often use surgical staples because they’re faster to insert than sutures, which require a needle and thread. But current surgical staples, which are made of metal, tear tissue on the way in and cause more damage when bent to stay in place, said Jeff Karp, a bioengineer at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston and professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’ve been using sutures and staples for decades, and they’ve been incredibly useful,” said Karp. “But there are challenges in terms of placing them for minimally invasive procedures.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Staples that work like porcupine quills could solve those challenges, Karp said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1939841\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/DL607_Porcupines_quill_full_length.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1939841 size-large\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/DL607_Porcupines_quill_full_length-1020x574.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/DL607_Porcupines_quill_full_length-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/DL607_Porcupines_quill_full_length-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/DL607_Porcupines_quill_full_length-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/DL607_Porcupines_quill_full_length-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/DL607_Porcupines_quill_full_length-1200x675.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/DL607_Porcupines_quill_full_length-1920x1080.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/DL607_Porcupines_quill_full_length.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Porcupines use the sharp dark tips of their modified hairs, called quills, for defense. \u003ccite>(Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Karp and his team have been searching for new ways doctors can hold tissue together. For inspiration, they turned to nature.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In one brainstorming session, the researchers thought of the porcupine and its quill.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The North American porcupine appears cute, but it has upward of 30,000 menacing quills over most of its body. The slow-moving herbivore delivers them only as a last-resort defense against predators.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1939843\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 500px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/DL607_Porcupines_eat_leaf.gif\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1939843\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/DL607_Porcupines_eat_leaf.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">All porcupines, including this North American porcupine, eat only plant foods. \u003ccite>(Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Generally, the quills, which are specialized hairs, lie flat on the mammal’s body. Only when threatened will the porcupine erect them. And contrary to popular belief, they don’t shoot them out from their bodies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The wonderful thing about porcupines is that they seem to feel secure,” said \u003ca href=\"http://biology.qc.cuny.edu/people/faculty/dr-uldis-roze/\">Uldis Roze\u003c/a>, biology professor emeritus at Queens College, City University of New York. “They feel like they’re not in danger, and they’re sweet.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1939846\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/DL607_Porcupines_eats_acorn.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-1939846\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/DL607_Porcupines_eats_acorn-1020x574.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/DL607_Porcupines_eats_acorn-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/DL607_Porcupines_eats_acorn-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/DL607_Porcupines_eats_acorn-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/DL607_Porcupines_eats_acorn-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/DL607_Porcupines_eats_acorn-1200x675.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/DL607_Porcupines_eats_acorn-1920x1080.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/DL607_Porcupines_eats_acorn.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">When the porcupine is relaxed, its other hairs and fur hide most of the quills. \u003ccite>(Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Any potential predator unfamiliar with a porcupine, such as a dog or mountain lion, would be wise to heed its warnings across three senses, according to Roze’s book, “\u003ca href=\"http://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/?GCOI=80140100667570\">The North American Porcupine\u003c/a>.” The adult’s contrasting black-and-white pattern on the quills and other hairs — known as aposematic coloration — is a visual warning signal. A unique pungent odor and ominous teeth-clattering should alarm the nose and ears.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Should the predator ignore these signs and attack, the porcupine will use its powerful spiky tail to slap at the aggressor. Each quill is held in place by its own special structure in the porcupine’s skin. The contact from colliding with a predator causes the skin to release the quills from the porcupine’s body.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1939848\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 500px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/DL607_Glove_quilled_by_porcupine.gif\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1939848\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/DL607_Glove_quilled_by_porcupine.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A quill detaches from the porcupine’s body only from physical impact with a predator. \u003ccite>(Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>North American porcupine quills pack a hidden punch: microscopic, backward-facing barbs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Covering just the needlelike tip of the quills, the barbs make removing a quill difficult, because they flare out when pulled in the opposite direction.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That means that if a predator gets quilled, the quill might never come out. When scientists examine the skulls of deceased mountain lions, Roze said, they often find the tips of porcupine quills embedded in their jaws.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The mountain lion just accepts it,” said Roze. “It’s part of the work of killing a porcupine.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Of course, that mountain lion’s days of porcupine feasting may end forever if the quills keep it from eating or end up in the cat’s vulnerable internal organs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1939851\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 500px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/DL607_Removing_quill_from_finger.gif\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1939851\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/DL607_Removing_quill_from_finger.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The backward-facing barbs hook the quill into the predator’s body. \u003ccite>(Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Still, a quill passing through the body is far from painless — it’s excruciating — as Roze knows from personal experience. He was once quilled in his bicep when up in a tree trying to catch an agile porcupine. Despite his wife’s suggestion to seek medical care, he waited two harrowing days until the quill traveled in one direction and cleanly exited his lower arm. He kept the quill as a souvenir.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The quill’s barbs made penetration into his flesh easier. They also helped drive the quill through until it either exited or reached a stopping point, such as bone.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those barbs are the main attraction to Karp. He and his team \u003ca href=\"https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1216441109\">ran experiments\u003c/a> comparing a barbed quill to a barbless quill. They measured the forces required to insert and remove the quills.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1939854\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/DL607_Porcupines_Barbs_microscopic.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-1939854\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/DL607_Porcupines_Barbs_microscopic-1020x574.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/DL607_Porcupines_Barbs_microscopic-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/DL607_Porcupines_Barbs_microscopic-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/DL607_Porcupines_Barbs_microscopic-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/DL607_Porcupines_Barbs_microscopic-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/DL607_Porcupines_Barbs_microscopic-1200x675.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/DL607_Porcupines_Barbs_microscopic-1920x1080.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/DL607_Porcupines_Barbs_microscopic.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The overlapping microscopic barbs cover only the quill’s tip. \u003ccite>(Woo Kyung Cho/Chungnam National University)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The results show that the barbs are dual-functional.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They’re reducing the penetration force and increasing the pullout force,” said Karp. “It’s pretty neat.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The team also discovered that the barbs do minimal damage by making a more perfect hole in the tissue on their way in. A barbless quill or surgical staple tears the tissue and creates gaps that are susceptible to infection.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A new medical staple designed with two barbed tips would require much less effort to place, and the barbs, with their gripping power, would hold it in position without needing to bend the staple.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1939857\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 500px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/DL607_Barbed_staple_enters_skin.gif\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1939857\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/04/DL607_Barbed_staple_enters_skin.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A surgical staple with barbs like those on a porcupine quill could cause little tissue damage, similar to the way a serrated knife cuts a tomato. \u003ccite>(XVIVO Scientific Animation)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Karp said he anticipates making the new staples out of biodegradable material so they would fully dissolve over time without having to be pulled out. That could eliminate the need for a follow-up visit to remove them, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The challenge now is recreating the full barb’s shape.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Nature has designs that humans can’t achieve yet, at least at large scale,” Karp said. “Large-scale manufacturing is a human problem.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But he estimated that if the right technologies become available, human testing of tools inspired by porcupine quills could begin in two to five years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This could be an enabler for smaller incisions to be made in a large number of surgeries,” Karp said. That would be good news for both surgeons and patients.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Visit “Penelope” the porcupine at \u003ca href=\"https://lindsaywildlife.org/\">Lindsay Wildlife Experience\u003c/a> in Walnut Creek, California.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "How Lice Turn Your Hair Into Their Jungle Gym",
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"content": "\u003cp>[dl_subscribe]At the end of spring break, your kids might be bringing back something more than just good memories of that family vacation. Holidays, it turns out, are a time when head lice spread.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Anytime kids’ noggins are in direct contact — when they’re sitting or sleeping next to each other — or when parents and children spend time cuddling, lice have a chance to crawl from one head to another.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1939532\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 500px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/DL_606HeadLice_LOUSE_CRAWLS_FROM_ONE_HAIR_TO_ANOTHER.gif\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1939532\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/DL_606HeadLice_LOUSE_CRAWLS_FROM_ONE_HAIR_TO_ANOTHER.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Lice can’t fly or jump. They spread by crawling from hair to hair. \u003ccite>(Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>After holidays or popular kids’ movies, Melissa Shilliday sees an uptick in business at her \u003ca href=\"https://nitpixies.com/\">NitPixies\u003c/a> hair salons, located in Oakland and San Rafael. At the salons, for $115 per person, a technician will comb lice out with a special metal comb that extracts the tiny insects between its closely spaced teeth. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s always slow a couple of weeks before a Pixar movie comes out,” said Shilliday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1939533\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 500px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/DL_606HeadLice_LOUSE_CRAWLS_ON_HAIR_STRAND.gif\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1939533\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/DL_606HeadLice_LOUSE_CRAWLS_ON_HAIR_STRAND.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A head louse uses its claws to speedily crawl along a hair. \u003ccite>(Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Head lice can move only by crawling on hair. They glue their eggs to individual strands, nice and close to the scalp, where the heat helps them hatch. They feed on blood several times a day. And even though head lice can spread by laying their eggs in sports helmets and baseball caps, the main way they get around is by simply crawling from one head to another using scythe-shaped claws.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These claws, which are big relative to a louse’s body, work in unison with a small and spiky thumblike part called a spine. With the claw and spine at the end of each of its six legs, a louse grasps a hair strand to hold on tightly, or quickly crawl from hair to hair like a speedy acrobat.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1939527\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/DL_606HeadLice_CLAW_AND_SPINE_1920.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1939527\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/DL_606HeadLice_CLAW_AND_SPINE_1920.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/DL_606HeadLice_CLAW_AND_SPINE_1920.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/DL_606HeadLice_CLAW_AND_SPINE_1920-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/DL_606HeadLice_CLAW_AND_SPINE_1920-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/DL_606HeadLice_CLAW_AND_SPINE_1920-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/DL_606HeadLice_CLAW_AND_SPINE_1920-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/DL_606HeadLice_CLAW_AND_SPINE_1920-1200x675.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">At the end of each of its six legs, a head louse has a tarsal claw and a spine that it uses to grasp a hair strand to hold on tightly, or to quickly crawl from hair to hair. \u003ccite>(Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Their drive to stay on a human head is strong because after they’re off and lose access to their blood meals, they starve and die within 15 to 24 hours.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lice that live on primates and birds are all very different-looking, adapted to their unique circumstances surviving in their host’s hair or feathers. For example, lice that live in pigeon feathers are long and thin, the better to hide in the feathers’ barbs, where the birds can’t preen them out. On humans and other primates, lice claws have evolved to fit around a strand of hair.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The curvature of it is probably pretty close to the average hair diameter that they would come in contact with for a given species of host,” said biologist \u003ca href=\"https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/mammals/people/faculty/\">David Reed\u003c/a>, who has studied lice and evolution at the Florida Museum of Natural History.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1939529\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/DL_606HeadLice_HAIR_LOUSE_CLASPS_AROUND_HUMAN_HAIR_W_CLAWS_1920.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1939529\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/DL_606HeadLice_HAIR_LOUSE_CLASPS_AROUND_HUMAN_HAIR_W_CLAWS_1920.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/DL_606HeadLice_HAIR_LOUSE_CLASPS_AROUND_HUMAN_HAIR_W_CLAWS_1920.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/DL_606HeadLice_HAIR_LOUSE_CLASPS_AROUND_HUMAN_HAIR_W_CLAWS_1920-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/DL_606HeadLice_HAIR_LOUSE_CLASPS_AROUND_HUMAN_HAIR_W_CLAWS_1920-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/DL_606HeadLice_HAIR_LOUSE_CLASPS_AROUND_HUMAN_HAIR_W_CLAWS_1920-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/DL_606HeadLice_HAIR_LOUSE_CLASPS_AROUND_HUMAN_HAIR_W_CLAWS_1920-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/DL_606HeadLice_HAIR_LOUSE_CLASPS_AROUND_HUMAN_HAIR_W_CLAWS_1920-1200x675.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A head louse holds onto a blond hair with three of its six legs. Each leg ends in a claw that fits neatly around the width of a human hair. \u003ccite>(Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The good news is that human head lice can’t really move to other parts of our body or onto our pets. They’re confined to the head.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The claw and spine are adapted to hold a human hair on the scalp,” said medical entomologist \u003ca href=\"https://medicine.ekmd.huji.ac.il/en/publications/researchersPages/pages/kostasm.aspx\">Kosta Mumcuoglu\u003c/a>, who studies lice at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. “The other hairs of the body are usually too thick for them, and they can’t hold them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Two other types of lice can live on the human body: the clothing louse, which lives in the clothes of people who can’t change them often enough, and the pubic louse, which spreads during sexual contact.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“(The pubic louse) has stronger claws,” said Mumcuoglu, “to catch the thicker hairs of the region.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At NitPixies on a recent morning a mother brought her kindergartner in for treatment. She didn’t want her daughter’s name used, for fear of bullying. She had applied a common insecticide shampoo to the girl’s hair, but the lice were still there and now she wanted a professional at the San Rafael salon to comb them out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Salon manager Losa Aupiu divided the girl’s hair into sections and combed each piece four times with a metal comb, up and down from the root out, to remove lice and eggs. Then she applied a mixture of plant oils that Aupiu said would kill any remaining lice. She sent the mother home with a metal comb and recommended she run it through her daughter’s hair for at least five days to get rid of any remaining eggs. It takes eggs six to nine days to hatch.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1939531\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/DL_606HeadLice_LOSA_AUPIU_AT_NITPIXIES_USES_NIT_COMB_TO_COMB_LICE_OUT_OF_GIRL_1920.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1939531\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/DL_606HeadLice_LOSA_AUPIU_AT_NITPIXIES_USES_NIT_COMB_TO_COMB_LICE_OUT_OF_GIRL_1920.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/DL_606HeadLice_LOSA_AUPIU_AT_NITPIXIES_USES_NIT_COMB_TO_COMB_LICE_OUT_OF_GIRL_1920.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/DL_606HeadLice_LOSA_AUPIU_AT_NITPIXIES_USES_NIT_COMB_TO_COMB_LICE_OUT_OF_GIRL_1920-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/DL_606HeadLice_LOSA_AUPIU_AT_NITPIXIES_USES_NIT_COMB_TO_COMB_LICE_OUT_OF_GIRL_1920-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/DL_606HeadLice_LOSA_AUPIU_AT_NITPIXIES_USES_NIT_COMB_TO_COMB_LICE_OUT_OF_GIRL_1920-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/DL_606HeadLice_LOSA_AUPIU_AT_NITPIXIES_USES_NIT_COMB_TO_COMB_LICE_OUT_OF_GIRL_1920-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/DL_606HeadLice_LOSA_AUPIU_AT_NITPIXIES_USES_NIT_COMB_TO_COMB_LICE_OUT_OF_GIRL_1920-1200x675.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Losa Aupiu, manager of the lice-removal salon NitPixies in San Rafael, combs the little pests out of a young client’s hair. \u003ccite>(Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Combing lice out is a laborious, old-fashioned process that has become the last resort for many parents, as lice have become resistant to over-the-counter insecticide shampoos.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Between 2013 and 2015, \u003ca href=\"https://www.vasci.umass.edu/research-faculty/john-marshall-clark\">John Clark\u003c/a> and colleagues at the University of Massachusetts Amherst \u003ca href=\"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4892812/\">tested lice in every state\u003c/a> except West Virginia and Alaska, and found that they had become overwhelmingly resistant to natural insecticides called pyrethrins and their synthetic version, known as pyrethroids, which are used in the most common over-the-counter lice treatments.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1939528\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/DL_606HeadLice_EGG_1920.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1939528\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/DL_606HeadLice_EGG_1920.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/DL_606HeadLice_EGG_1920.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/DL_606HeadLice_EGG_1920-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/DL_606HeadLice_EGG_1920-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/DL_606HeadLice_EGG_1920-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/DL_606HeadLice_EGG_1920-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/DL_606HeadLice_EGG_1920-1200x675.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The egg of a head louse is attached to a single hair strand with a glue made out of hard protein. \u003ccite>(Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Other products do still work against lice, though. Prescription treatments that contain the insecticides ivermectin and spinosad are effective, said Clark. They’re prescribed to kill both lice and their eggs. Clark said treatments such as suffocants, which block the lice’s breathing holes, and hot-air devices that dry them up, also work. He added that tea tree oil works both as a repellent and a “pretty good” insecticide. And then there’s combing, which can also get good results, but is demanding.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It takes time and effort,” he said. “You sort of have to know what you’re doing. And so most people that comb eventually get tired of it and they want something a little bit more simplistic.”\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "At the end of that family vacation, your kids might bring back more than just good memories.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>At the end of spring break, your kids might be bringing back something more than just good memories of that family vacation. Holidays, it turns out, are a time when head lice spread.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Anytime kids’ noggins are in direct contact — when they’re sitting or sleeping next to each other — or when parents and children spend time cuddling, lice have a chance to crawl from one head to another.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1939532\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 500px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/DL_606HeadLice_LOUSE_CRAWLS_FROM_ONE_HAIR_TO_ANOTHER.gif\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1939532\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/DL_606HeadLice_LOUSE_CRAWLS_FROM_ONE_HAIR_TO_ANOTHER.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Lice can’t fly or jump. They spread by crawling from hair to hair. \u003ccite>(Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>After holidays or popular kids’ movies, Melissa Shilliday sees an uptick in business at her \u003ca href=\"https://nitpixies.com/\">NitPixies\u003c/a> hair salons, located in Oakland and San Rafael. At the salons, for $115 per person, a technician will comb lice out with a special metal comb that extracts the tiny insects between its closely spaced teeth. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s always slow a couple of weeks before a Pixar movie comes out,” said Shilliday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1939533\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 500px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/DL_606HeadLice_LOUSE_CRAWLS_ON_HAIR_STRAND.gif\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1939533\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/DL_606HeadLice_LOUSE_CRAWLS_ON_HAIR_STRAND.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A head louse uses its claws to speedily crawl along a hair. \u003ccite>(Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Head lice can move only by crawling on hair. They glue their eggs to individual strands, nice and close to the scalp, where the heat helps them hatch. They feed on blood several times a day. And even though head lice can spread by laying their eggs in sports helmets and baseball caps, the main way they get around is by simply crawling from one head to another using scythe-shaped claws.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These claws, which are big relative to a louse’s body, work in unison with a small and spiky thumblike part called a spine. With the claw and spine at the end of each of its six legs, a louse grasps a hair strand to hold on tightly, or quickly crawl from hair to hair like a speedy acrobat.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1939527\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/DL_606HeadLice_CLAW_AND_SPINE_1920.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1939527\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/DL_606HeadLice_CLAW_AND_SPINE_1920.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/DL_606HeadLice_CLAW_AND_SPINE_1920.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/DL_606HeadLice_CLAW_AND_SPINE_1920-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/DL_606HeadLice_CLAW_AND_SPINE_1920-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/DL_606HeadLice_CLAW_AND_SPINE_1920-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/DL_606HeadLice_CLAW_AND_SPINE_1920-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/DL_606HeadLice_CLAW_AND_SPINE_1920-1200x675.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">At the end of each of its six legs, a head louse has a tarsal claw and a spine that it uses to grasp a hair strand to hold on tightly, or to quickly crawl from hair to hair. \u003ccite>(Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Their drive to stay on a human head is strong because after they’re off and lose access to their blood meals, they starve and die within 15 to 24 hours.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lice that live on primates and birds are all very different-looking, adapted to their unique circumstances surviving in their host’s hair or feathers. For example, lice that live in pigeon feathers are long and thin, the better to hide in the feathers’ barbs, where the birds can’t preen them out. On humans and other primates, lice claws have evolved to fit around a strand of hair.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The curvature of it is probably pretty close to the average hair diameter that they would come in contact with for a given species of host,” said biologist \u003ca href=\"https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/mammals/people/faculty/\">David Reed\u003c/a>, who has studied lice and evolution at the Florida Museum of Natural History.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1939529\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/DL_606HeadLice_HAIR_LOUSE_CLASPS_AROUND_HUMAN_HAIR_W_CLAWS_1920.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1939529\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/DL_606HeadLice_HAIR_LOUSE_CLASPS_AROUND_HUMAN_HAIR_W_CLAWS_1920.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/DL_606HeadLice_HAIR_LOUSE_CLASPS_AROUND_HUMAN_HAIR_W_CLAWS_1920.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/DL_606HeadLice_HAIR_LOUSE_CLASPS_AROUND_HUMAN_HAIR_W_CLAWS_1920-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/DL_606HeadLice_HAIR_LOUSE_CLASPS_AROUND_HUMAN_HAIR_W_CLAWS_1920-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/DL_606HeadLice_HAIR_LOUSE_CLASPS_AROUND_HUMAN_HAIR_W_CLAWS_1920-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/DL_606HeadLice_HAIR_LOUSE_CLASPS_AROUND_HUMAN_HAIR_W_CLAWS_1920-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/DL_606HeadLice_HAIR_LOUSE_CLASPS_AROUND_HUMAN_HAIR_W_CLAWS_1920-1200x675.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A head louse holds onto a blond hair with three of its six legs. Each leg ends in a claw that fits neatly around the width of a human hair. \u003ccite>(Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The good news is that human head lice can’t really move to other parts of our body or onto our pets. They’re confined to the head.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The claw and spine are adapted to hold a human hair on the scalp,” said medical entomologist \u003ca href=\"https://medicine.ekmd.huji.ac.il/en/publications/researchersPages/pages/kostasm.aspx\">Kosta Mumcuoglu\u003c/a>, who studies lice at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. “The other hairs of the body are usually too thick for them, and they can’t hold them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Two other types of lice can live on the human body: the clothing louse, which lives in the clothes of people who can’t change them often enough, and the pubic louse, which spreads during sexual contact.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“(The pubic louse) has stronger claws,” said Mumcuoglu, “to catch the thicker hairs of the region.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At NitPixies on a recent morning a mother brought her kindergartner in for treatment. She didn’t want her daughter’s name used, for fear of bullying. She had applied a common insecticide shampoo to the girl’s hair, but the lice were still there and now she wanted a professional at the San Rafael salon to comb them out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Salon manager Losa Aupiu divided the girl’s hair into sections and combed each piece four times with a metal comb, up and down from the root out, to remove lice and eggs. Then she applied a mixture of plant oils that Aupiu said would kill any remaining lice. She sent the mother home with a metal comb and recommended she run it through her daughter’s hair for at least five days to get rid of any remaining eggs. It takes eggs six to nine days to hatch.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1939531\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/DL_606HeadLice_LOSA_AUPIU_AT_NITPIXIES_USES_NIT_COMB_TO_COMB_LICE_OUT_OF_GIRL_1920.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1939531\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/DL_606HeadLice_LOSA_AUPIU_AT_NITPIXIES_USES_NIT_COMB_TO_COMB_LICE_OUT_OF_GIRL_1920.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/DL_606HeadLice_LOSA_AUPIU_AT_NITPIXIES_USES_NIT_COMB_TO_COMB_LICE_OUT_OF_GIRL_1920.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/DL_606HeadLice_LOSA_AUPIU_AT_NITPIXIES_USES_NIT_COMB_TO_COMB_LICE_OUT_OF_GIRL_1920-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/DL_606HeadLice_LOSA_AUPIU_AT_NITPIXIES_USES_NIT_COMB_TO_COMB_LICE_OUT_OF_GIRL_1920-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/DL_606HeadLice_LOSA_AUPIU_AT_NITPIXIES_USES_NIT_COMB_TO_COMB_LICE_OUT_OF_GIRL_1920-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/DL_606HeadLice_LOSA_AUPIU_AT_NITPIXIES_USES_NIT_COMB_TO_COMB_LICE_OUT_OF_GIRL_1920-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/DL_606HeadLice_LOSA_AUPIU_AT_NITPIXIES_USES_NIT_COMB_TO_COMB_LICE_OUT_OF_GIRL_1920-1200x675.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Losa Aupiu, manager of the lice-removal salon NitPixies in San Rafael, combs the little pests out of a young client’s hair. \u003ccite>(Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Combing lice out is a laborious, old-fashioned process that has become the last resort for many parents, as lice have become resistant to over-the-counter insecticide shampoos.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Between 2013 and 2015, \u003ca href=\"https://www.vasci.umass.edu/research-faculty/john-marshall-clark\">John Clark\u003c/a> and colleagues at the University of Massachusetts Amherst \u003ca href=\"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4892812/\">tested lice in every state\u003c/a> except West Virginia and Alaska, and found that they had become overwhelmingly resistant to natural insecticides called pyrethrins and their synthetic version, known as pyrethroids, which are used in the most common over-the-counter lice treatments.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1939528\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/DL_606HeadLice_EGG_1920.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1939528\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/DL_606HeadLice_EGG_1920.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/DL_606HeadLice_EGG_1920.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/DL_606HeadLice_EGG_1920-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/DL_606HeadLice_EGG_1920-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/DL_606HeadLice_EGG_1920-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/DL_606HeadLice_EGG_1920-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/03/DL_606HeadLice_EGG_1920-1200x675.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The egg of a head louse is attached to a single hair strand with a glue made out of hard protein. \u003ccite>(Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Other products do still work against lice, though. Prescription treatments that contain the insecticides ivermectin and spinosad are effective, said Clark. They’re prescribed to kill both lice and their eggs. Clark said treatments such as suffocants, which block the lice’s breathing holes, and hot-air devices that dry them up, also work. He added that tea tree oil works both as a repellent and a “pretty good” insecticide. And then there’s combing, which can also get good results, but is demanding.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It takes time and effort,” he said. “You sort of have to know what you’re doing. And so most people that comb eventually get tired of it and they want something a little bit more simplistic.”\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Samurai Wasps Say 'Smell Ya Later, Stink Bugs'",
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"headTitle": "Samurai Wasps Say ‘Smell Ya Later, Stink Bugs’ | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>[dl_subscribe]\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1937646\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-1937646\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/02/OSU-Stink-Bug-Colonies-e1549314495795-1020x1360.jpg\" alt=\"Colonies of brown marmorated stink bugs reared at Oregon State University.\" width=\"640\" height=\"853\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/02/OSU-Stink-Bug-Colonies-e1549314495795-1020x1360.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/02/OSU-Stink-Bug-Colonies-e1549314495795-160x213.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/02/OSU-Stink-Bug-Colonies-e1549314495795-800x1067.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/02/OSU-Stink-Bug-Colonies-e1549314495795-768x1024.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/02/OSU-Stink-Bug-Colonies-e1549314495795-900x1200.jpg 900w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/02/OSU-Stink-Bug-Colonies-e1549314495795-1920x2560.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Colonies of brown marmorated stink bugs reared at Oregon State University. \u003ccite>(Jenny Oh/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>It looks rather harmless at first glance. With a speckled exterior and a shieldlike shape, the brown marmorated stink bug doesn’t appear to be different from any other six-legged insect that might pop up in your garden. But this particular bug, which arrived in the U.S. from Asia in the mid-1990s and smells like old socks when it is squashed, is a real nuisance. Not only can it \u003ca href=\"https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/03/12/when-twenty-six-thousand-stinkbugs-invade-your-home\">invade homes by the thousands\u003c/a> in the wintertime, it’s one formidable agricultural pest, eating millions of dollars of peaches, apples and other crops since 2010.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Scientists are now investigating a new tactic in the war on the stink bugs: the possibility of relying on one of the bug’s natural enemies, the samurai wasp.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1937648\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-1937648\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/02/Samurai-wasp-and-stink-bug-eggs-1020x765.jpg\" alt=\"A samurai wasp sits on a mass of stink bug eggs at Oregon State University.\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/02/Samurai-wasp-and-stink-bug-eggs-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/02/Samurai-wasp-and-stink-bug-eggs-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/02/Samurai-wasp-and-stink-bug-eggs-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/02/Samurai-wasp-and-stink-bug-eggs-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/02/Samurai-wasp-and-stink-bug-eggs-1200x900.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/02/Samurai-wasp-and-stink-bug-eggs-1920x1440.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A samurai wasp sits on a mass of stink bug eggs at Oregon State University. \u003ccite>(Jenny Oh/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Also native to Asia, this parasitic wasp keeps the stink bug population in check there. How? By colonizing its rivals’ eggs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A female wasp will lay its own egg inside of a stink bug’s egg. About two weeks later, an adult samurai wasp will emerge. Between 60 to 90 percent of stink bug eggs in Asia are destroyed this way.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But introducing a non-native biological control can pose risks, as previous scientists have discovered when trying to manage invasive species. In the late 1800s, mongooses released in Hawaii to manage rat populations wiped out native birds and turtles instead. In 1935, \u003ca href=\"https://australianmuseum.net.au/learn/animals/frogs/cane-toad/\">cane toads deployed in Australia\u003c/a> not only failed to reduce the beetles that were infesting sugar cane plantations, but they also created a host of other problems — including inadvertently killing animals that fed on the poisonous amphibians.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Scientists who were considering bringing samurai wasps into the U.S. discovered \u003ca href=\"https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/08/scientists-spent-years-plan-import-wasp-kill-stinkbugs-then-it-showed-its-own\">they’d already hitchhiked here on their own\u003c/a>. The wasps have settled down in Oregon, where stink bugs have been feasting on hazelnuts and berries. David Lowenstein, a postdoctoral research associate at \u003ca href=\"https://agsci.oregonstate.edu/bmsb/brown-marmorated-stink-bug\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Oregon State University\u003c/a>, has been rearing both stink bug and samurai wasp colonies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1937649\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-1937649\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/02/David-Lowenstein-at-OSU-e1549314469808-1020x1360.jpg\" alt=\"David Lowenstein at Oregon State University.\" width=\"640\" height=\"853\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/02/David-Lowenstein-at-OSU-e1549314469808-1020x1360.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/02/David-Lowenstein-at-OSU-e1549314469808-160x213.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/02/David-Lowenstein-at-OSU-e1549314469808-800x1067.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/02/David-Lowenstein-at-OSU-e1549314469808-768x1024.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/02/David-Lowenstein-at-OSU-e1549314469808-900x1200.jpg 900w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/02/David-Lowenstein-at-OSU-e1549314469808-1920x2560.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">David Lowenstein at Oregon State University. \u003ccite>(Jenny Oh/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“We hope that the wasp, which controls the stink bug well in its native range of China and South Korea, will do the same in the USA,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lowenstein said he has spent the last two years distributing the wasp around parts of Oregon where stink bugs are a threat to agriculture.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’ve had some success getting the wasps to survive the winter and be detected a year later,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What’s the biggest challenge with using the samurai wasps on a wider scale? Rearing and releasing thousands of them at multiple locations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“To get a high number of samurai wasps, I need to also obtain enough stink bug eggs,” Lowenstein said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He and his team will release more wasps this summer, and he’s hoping they’ll find a partner to help them rear and release much larger numbers within two to three years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It could take much longer before the samurai wasp can be used for pest control around the country, as it has been found in only 12 states and Washington, D.C. But research is moving forward in other states, including New Jersey and California. While commercial crops grown in California haven’t felt the effects yet of the stink bug, \u003ca href=\"https://cisr.ucr.edu/brown_marmorated_stinkbug.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">researchers at UC Riverside\u003c/a> are still studying them — and samurai wasps — in the event that they pose a serious risk to the state’s multibillion-dollar agricultural industry. While there’s no sign of the wasps in California yet, chances are they’ll be following their foe from other states, too.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Yep, brown marmorated stink bugs are stinky, but that’s not the worst thing about them. They're imported agricultural pests eating their way across North America. But a native enemy from Asia – the tiny samurai wasp – has a particularly nasty method of stopping stink bugs in their tracks.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1937646\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-1937646\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/02/OSU-Stink-Bug-Colonies-e1549314495795-1020x1360.jpg\" alt=\"Colonies of brown marmorated stink bugs reared at Oregon State University.\" width=\"640\" height=\"853\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/02/OSU-Stink-Bug-Colonies-e1549314495795-1020x1360.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/02/OSU-Stink-Bug-Colonies-e1549314495795-160x213.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/02/OSU-Stink-Bug-Colonies-e1549314495795-800x1067.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/02/OSU-Stink-Bug-Colonies-e1549314495795-768x1024.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/02/OSU-Stink-Bug-Colonies-e1549314495795-900x1200.jpg 900w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/02/OSU-Stink-Bug-Colonies-e1549314495795-1920x2560.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Colonies of brown marmorated stink bugs reared at Oregon State University. \u003ccite>(Jenny Oh/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>It looks rather harmless at first glance. With a speckled exterior and a shieldlike shape, the brown marmorated stink bug doesn’t appear to be different from any other six-legged insect that might pop up in your garden. But this particular bug, which arrived in the U.S. from Asia in the mid-1990s and smells like old socks when it is squashed, is a real nuisance. Not only can it \u003ca href=\"https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/03/12/when-twenty-six-thousand-stinkbugs-invade-your-home\">invade homes by the thousands\u003c/a> in the wintertime, it’s one formidable agricultural pest, eating millions of dollars of peaches, apples and other crops since 2010.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Scientists are now investigating a new tactic in the war on the stink bugs: the possibility of relying on one of the bug’s natural enemies, the samurai wasp.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1937648\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-1937648\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/02/Samurai-wasp-and-stink-bug-eggs-1020x765.jpg\" alt=\"A samurai wasp sits on a mass of stink bug eggs at Oregon State University.\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/02/Samurai-wasp-and-stink-bug-eggs-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/02/Samurai-wasp-and-stink-bug-eggs-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/02/Samurai-wasp-and-stink-bug-eggs-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/02/Samurai-wasp-and-stink-bug-eggs-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/02/Samurai-wasp-and-stink-bug-eggs-1200x900.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/02/Samurai-wasp-and-stink-bug-eggs-1920x1440.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A samurai wasp sits on a mass of stink bug eggs at Oregon State University. \u003ccite>(Jenny Oh/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Also native to Asia, this parasitic wasp keeps the stink bug population in check there. How? By colonizing its rivals’ eggs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A female wasp will lay its own egg inside of a stink bug’s egg. About two weeks later, an adult samurai wasp will emerge. Between 60 to 90 percent of stink bug eggs in Asia are destroyed this way.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But introducing a non-native biological control can pose risks, as previous scientists have discovered when trying to manage invasive species. In the late 1800s, mongooses released in Hawaii to manage rat populations wiped out native birds and turtles instead. In 1935, \u003ca href=\"https://australianmuseum.net.au/learn/animals/frogs/cane-toad/\">cane toads deployed in Australia\u003c/a> not only failed to reduce the beetles that were infesting sugar cane plantations, but they also created a host of other problems — including inadvertently killing animals that fed on the poisonous amphibians.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Scientists who were considering bringing samurai wasps into the U.S. discovered \u003ca href=\"https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/08/scientists-spent-years-plan-import-wasp-kill-stinkbugs-then-it-showed-its-own\">they’d already hitchhiked here on their own\u003c/a>. The wasps have settled down in Oregon, where stink bugs have been feasting on hazelnuts and berries. David Lowenstein, a postdoctoral research associate at \u003ca href=\"https://agsci.oregonstate.edu/bmsb/brown-marmorated-stink-bug\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Oregon State University\u003c/a>, has been rearing both stink bug and samurai wasp colonies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1937649\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-1937649\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/02/David-Lowenstein-at-OSU-e1549314469808-1020x1360.jpg\" alt=\"David Lowenstein at Oregon State University.\" width=\"640\" height=\"853\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/02/David-Lowenstein-at-OSU-e1549314469808-1020x1360.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/02/David-Lowenstein-at-OSU-e1549314469808-160x213.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/02/David-Lowenstein-at-OSU-e1549314469808-800x1067.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/02/David-Lowenstein-at-OSU-e1549314469808-768x1024.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/02/David-Lowenstein-at-OSU-e1549314469808-900x1200.jpg 900w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/02/David-Lowenstein-at-OSU-e1549314469808-1920x2560.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">David Lowenstein at Oregon State University. \u003ccite>(Jenny Oh/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“We hope that the wasp, which controls the stink bug well in its native range of China and South Korea, will do the same in the USA,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lowenstein said he has spent the last two years distributing the wasp around parts of Oregon where stink bugs are a threat to agriculture.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’ve had some success getting the wasps to survive the winter and be detected a year later,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What’s the biggest challenge with using the samurai wasps on a wider scale? Rearing and releasing thousands of them at multiple locations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“To get a high number of samurai wasps, I need to also obtain enough stink bug eggs,” Lowenstein said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He and his team will release more wasps this summer, and he’s hoping they’ll find a partner to help them rear and release much larger numbers within two to three years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It could take much longer before the samurai wasp can be used for pest control around the country, as it has been found in only 12 states and Washington, D.C. But research is moving forward in other states, including New Jersey and California. While commercial crops grown in California haven’t felt the effects yet of the stink bug, \u003ca href=\"https://cisr.ucr.edu/brown_marmorated_stinkbug.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">researchers at UC Riverside\u003c/a> are still studying them — and samurai wasps — in the event that they pose a serious risk to the state’s multibillion-dollar agricultural industry. While there’s no sign of the wasps in California yet, chances are they’ll be following their foe from other states, too.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>[dl_subscribe]On a sunny day near Martinez, California, a friendly-looking German shepherd named Zinka rushes down the crisscrossing trails of Briones Regional Park wearing a vest covered in sensors, batteries and wires. She’s followed by her trainer, Shay Cook, who keeps up at the end of a long leash.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The duo trains to track people who have passed through an area — hours or even days later. Their search and rescue training allows them to find a single person across backcountry woods, neighborhoods or even a bustling university campus packed full of students. They also search for missing people lost in natural disasters like fires and earthquakes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But today, they’re in pursuit of something different: clues in a scientific experiment about how odors disperse over time, and how the brain deciphers information about the invisible world of smells that surround us.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Every dog owner knows that dogs are able to pick up scents that don’t seem to catch the attention of people. One study estimated that dogs can pick up odors up to 100,000 times better than humans can.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s a treat to go out and watch a search and rescue dog work a trail and see them find the person at the end,” said Judy Jinn, a graduate student in the \u003ca href=\"http://jacobs.berkeley.edu/\">lab of Dr. Lucia Jacobs\u003c/a> at UC Berkeley. “If you’ve never seen it before, it’s pretty amazing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jinn is wrapping up a study that seeks to shed some light on the surprisingly complex question of how dogs can track a target using tiny amounts of odor that people don’t even notice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It actually hasn’t been studied very well in the past,” she said. “But it’s picking up now.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1938259\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 500px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/02/DL604_DogNoses_TrackingInGrass.gif\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/02/DL604_DogNoses_TrackingInGrass.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1938259\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Search and rescue dog Zinka and her trainer Shay Cook are able to track target hikers off trail \u003ccite>(Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The experiment is part of a collaboration between six universities across the country funded by the National Science Foundation’s Brain Initiative. It’s called the \u003ca href=\"https://odornavigation.org/\">Odor Navigation Project\u003c/a>. The collaborators come from disparate fields of study, including animal behavior, genetics, physiology and fluid mechanics, to study how animals use smell to understand their surroundings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The national project has a far-reaching goal: to help develop more effective devices — perhaps even a new generation of robots that seek specific odors — to detect explosives, drugs and other dangerous chemicals in airports, subways, factories and other locations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For Jinn’s contribution to the project, she set up an experiment in which a “target hiker” would walk a preset route along crisscrossing trails in the park. Then she used GPS and other sensors attached to the search dog’s harness to record how closely Zinka followed the hiker’s path.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the experiment, the target hiker would get a one-hour head start — although Zinka can track people even days later. Even rain doesn’t stop her keen sense of smell.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By following the search team with a portable weather station, Jinn found that the dog was able to follow the target hiker’s trail more closely under humid conditions. She said she thinks the humidity might help trap scent particles on the ground and on vegetation instead of letting them be blown away by the wind. Jinn hopes to have her results published this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Researchers haven’t fully come to an agreement on exactly what it is that dogs are smelling. Jinn thinks that dogs detect traces of vapors emitted from tiny amounts of dead skin cells, hair and sweat that people shed as they walk.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.colorado.edu/lab/ecological-fluids/\">John Crimaldi\u003c/a>, who studies fluid mechanics at the University of Colorado Boulder, is looking at the structure of the odors themselves. He’s the lead principal investigator of the Odor Navigation Project. Crimaldi and his lab use special techniques to study the physics of how odors move around in air and water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It turns out there are everyday examples of the way invisible odors disperse all around us.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When you see a plume of smoke coming out of a smokestack or what milk looks like when you pour it into your coffee, it has that very complex structure to it,” Crimaldi said. “They’re actually all using the same physics.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One of Crimaldi’s studies involves using lasers to measure how a fluorescent dye spreads out in a large tank of water. Researchers use the data of how the dye dissipates unevenly over time to create computer models that replicate the motion of the chemicals swirling around.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then the researchers run different computer programs that inspect the model for the source of the plume. Crimaldi wants to know which algorithms do a better job of locating the source of the odor within the model.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Ultimately, we want to build a mechanistic model so that we can actually understand how the brain functions when searching for an odor source,” he said. “We want to find the optimal strategies that you might use to program a robot to do similar tasks like search and rescue.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While Crimaldi looks at the structure of smells, other labs participating in the Odor Navigation Project are focused on the tools animals use to detect odors by “reverse engineering a dog’s nose.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1938282\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 500px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/02/DL604_DogNoses_OlfactoryRecessProfileCompositeLabeled-1.gif\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1938282\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/02/DL604_DogNoses_OlfactoryRecessProfileCompositeLabeled-1.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Profile shot of Zinka, a black German shepherd search dog, showing the location of the nasal passageway with the olfactory recess highlighted in yellow. \u003ccite>(Josh Cassidy/KQED and Brent Craven/Penn State University)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>While working at Penn State University, Brent Craven and his colleagues looked at the anatomy of a dog’s nose, and how air moves through it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Craven and his colleagues use scanning technologies like MRI to peer inside the skulls of different mammals. They’ve found that many of the animals that are considered to have a strong sense of smell, like dogs, tend to have a similar structure in the back of their noses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s called an olfactory recess,” Craven said. “It’s in a dead-end region like a cul-de-sac at the back of the nose. That’s where the sensors are located.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1938284\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 500px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/02/DL604_DogNoses_OlfactoryRecessMRIScan.gif\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1938284\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/02/DL604_DogNoses_OlfactoryRecessMRIScan.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">MRI scan of the inside of a Labrador’s skull showing the curved turbinates. \u003ccite>((Brent Craven/Penn State University)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>It’s full of delicate bones, known as turbinates, that are covered in mucus membranes. The bones twist and coil like a maze inside the dog’s skull. The turbinates are covered with sensory cells called olfactory neurons that feed information to the brain.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dogs have about 600,00 olfactory neurons. That’s 15 times what humans have.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Humans have olfactory neurons in a little patch at the top of the inside of their noses. Since there’s no special structure to house them, the air that people smell mixes with the rest of the air we breathe. Since all of our sensors are in the same area, they can get bombarded by smells, making it harder to distinguish individual odors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But according to Craven, dogs aren’t unique when it comes to their keen sense of smell.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Based on the structures the scientists found in the MRI scans, many animals have a sense of smell comparable to dogs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They all have this similar olfactory recess,” Craven said. “Humans, and some other primates basically, are the ones that aren’t as good.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Penn State University researchers used data from the scans to create a computer model that mimics the anatomy of the dog’s nose, inside and out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They ran tests on the computer model to see how air moved through the delicate structures to find clues that could lead to new designs for trace chemical detectors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One advantage that dogs have over people is the shape of their nostrils. It has to do with those slits running along the sides of their nostrils.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.nist.gov/people/matthew-e-staymates\">Matthew Staymates\u003c/a> is a mechanical engineer at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, a federal government lab in Gaithersburg, Maryland. He studies ways to improve detectors for explosives, drugs and toxic industrial chemicals. And to do that, Staymates is interested in how the shape of dog nostrils helps them detect smells so accurately.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Staymates, whose work is funded separately from the Odor Navigation Project, took the computer model of a dog’s nose developed at Penn State and printed it out using a 3-D printer to create an anatomically correct artificial dog nose, complete with the turbinates and olfactory recess.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He fit the model nose with an air hose that mimics a dog’s natural sniffing speed. Dogs sniff in and out about five times per second.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It sniffs like a real dog,” Staymates said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1938287\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 500px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/02/DL604_DogNoses_ArtificialNose_StaymatesNIST.gif\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1938287 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/02/DL604_DogNoses_ArtificialNose_StaymatesNIST.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"280\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An anatomically correct 3-D printed artificial dog nose made by Matthew Staymates at the National Institute of Standards and Technology. Made using data from MRI scans of a Labrador’s skull, the shape of dog nostrils creates a low-pressure zone sucking in air from the front and exhaling the air to the rear. \u003ccite>(Matthew Staymates/National Institute of Standards and Technology)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>By viewing the nose using a specialized filming technique called Schlieren imaging, Staymates was able to see how the shape of dog nostrils allows them to inhale from the front and then shunt the exhaled air out and back. That creates a momentary low-pressure area in front of the dog’s nose.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even though the artificial nose is inhaling and exhaling the same volume, air rushes in from the front to fill that area of low pressure. That allows dogs to get a fresh sample from the area in front of them with each sniff.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1938290\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 500px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/02/DL604_DogNoses_NostrilVentGraphics.gif\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1938290 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/02/DL604_DogNoses_NostrilVentGraphics.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The slits on the side of a dog’s nostrils expand and contract to sniff in fresh air from the front and exhale air back and toward the rear, as shown with graphics representing odor. \u003ccite>(Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>By mimicking the shape of the nostrils, Staymates proposes that new detectors could not only sample the area directly adjacent to the devices, but could also pull in air from farther away, allowing them to extend their reach.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Most of the current generation of detectors for drugs, or chemical and biological threats, basically just suck air through a hole and analyze it,” Staymates said. “But dogs have an active sampling system that interacts with its environment in a really unique way, a very sophisticated way.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Check out more in this \u003ca href=\"https://www.pbs.org/newshour/science/inside-nose-rescue-dog\">PBS NewsHour Video\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>On a sunny day near Martinez, California, a friendly-looking German shepherd named Zinka rushes down the crisscrossing trails of Briones Regional Park wearing a vest covered in sensors, batteries and wires. She’s followed by her trainer, Shay Cook, who keeps up at the end of a long leash.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The duo trains to track people who have passed through an area — hours or even days later. Their search and rescue training allows them to find a single person across backcountry woods, neighborhoods or even a bustling university campus packed full of students. They also search for missing people lost in natural disasters like fires and earthquakes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But today, they’re in pursuit of something different: clues in a scientific experiment about how odors disperse over time, and how the brain deciphers information about the invisible world of smells that surround us.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Every dog owner knows that dogs are able to pick up scents that don’t seem to catch the attention of people. One study estimated that dogs can pick up odors up to 100,000 times better than humans can.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s a treat to go out and watch a search and rescue dog work a trail and see them find the person at the end,” said Judy Jinn, a graduate student in the \u003ca href=\"http://jacobs.berkeley.edu/\">lab of Dr. Lucia Jacobs\u003c/a> at UC Berkeley. “If you’ve never seen it before, it’s pretty amazing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jinn is wrapping up a study that seeks to shed some light on the surprisingly complex question of how dogs can track a target using tiny amounts of odor that people don’t even notice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It actually hasn’t been studied very well in the past,” she said. “But it’s picking up now.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1938259\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 500px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/02/DL604_DogNoses_TrackingInGrass.gif\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/02/DL604_DogNoses_TrackingInGrass.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1938259\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Search and rescue dog Zinka and her trainer Shay Cook are able to track target hikers off trail \u003ccite>(Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The experiment is part of a collaboration between six universities across the country funded by the National Science Foundation’s Brain Initiative. It’s called the \u003ca href=\"https://odornavigation.org/\">Odor Navigation Project\u003c/a>. The collaborators come from disparate fields of study, including animal behavior, genetics, physiology and fluid mechanics, to study how animals use smell to understand their surroundings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The national project has a far-reaching goal: to help develop more effective devices — perhaps even a new generation of robots that seek specific odors — to detect explosives, drugs and other dangerous chemicals in airports, subways, factories and other locations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For Jinn’s contribution to the project, she set up an experiment in which a “target hiker” would walk a preset route along crisscrossing trails in the park. Then she used GPS and other sensors attached to the search dog’s harness to record how closely Zinka followed the hiker’s path.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the experiment, the target hiker would get a one-hour head start — although Zinka can track people even days later. Even rain doesn’t stop her keen sense of smell.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By following the search team with a portable weather station, Jinn found that the dog was able to follow the target hiker’s trail more closely under humid conditions. She said she thinks the humidity might help trap scent particles on the ground and on vegetation instead of letting them be blown away by the wind. Jinn hopes to have her results published this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Researchers haven’t fully come to an agreement on exactly what it is that dogs are smelling. Jinn thinks that dogs detect traces of vapors emitted from tiny amounts of dead skin cells, hair and sweat that people shed as they walk.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.colorado.edu/lab/ecological-fluids/\">John Crimaldi\u003c/a>, who studies fluid mechanics at the University of Colorado Boulder, is looking at the structure of the odors themselves. He’s the lead principal investigator of the Odor Navigation Project. Crimaldi and his lab use special techniques to study the physics of how odors move around in air and water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It turns out there are everyday examples of the way invisible odors disperse all around us.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When you see a plume of smoke coming out of a smokestack or what milk looks like when you pour it into your coffee, it has that very complex structure to it,” Crimaldi said. “They’re actually all using the same physics.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One of Crimaldi’s studies involves using lasers to measure how a fluorescent dye spreads out in a large tank of water. Researchers use the data of how the dye dissipates unevenly over time to create computer models that replicate the motion of the chemicals swirling around.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then the researchers run different computer programs that inspect the model for the source of the plume. Crimaldi wants to know which algorithms do a better job of locating the source of the odor within the model.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Ultimately, we want to build a mechanistic model so that we can actually understand how the brain functions when searching for an odor source,” he said. “We want to find the optimal strategies that you might use to program a robot to do similar tasks like search and rescue.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While Crimaldi looks at the structure of smells, other labs participating in the Odor Navigation Project are focused on the tools animals use to detect odors by “reverse engineering a dog’s nose.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1938282\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 500px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/02/DL604_DogNoses_OlfactoryRecessProfileCompositeLabeled-1.gif\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1938282\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/02/DL604_DogNoses_OlfactoryRecessProfileCompositeLabeled-1.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Profile shot of Zinka, a black German shepherd search dog, showing the location of the nasal passageway with the olfactory recess highlighted in yellow. \u003ccite>(Josh Cassidy/KQED and Brent Craven/Penn State University)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>While working at Penn State University, Brent Craven and his colleagues looked at the anatomy of a dog’s nose, and how air moves through it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Craven and his colleagues use scanning technologies like MRI to peer inside the skulls of different mammals. They’ve found that many of the animals that are considered to have a strong sense of smell, like dogs, tend to have a similar structure in the back of their noses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s called an olfactory recess,” Craven said. “It’s in a dead-end region like a cul-de-sac at the back of the nose. That’s where the sensors are located.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1938284\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 500px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/02/DL604_DogNoses_OlfactoryRecessMRIScan.gif\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1938284\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/02/DL604_DogNoses_OlfactoryRecessMRIScan.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">MRI scan of the inside of a Labrador’s skull showing the curved turbinates. \u003ccite>((Brent Craven/Penn State University)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>It’s full of delicate bones, known as turbinates, that are covered in mucus membranes. The bones twist and coil like a maze inside the dog’s skull. The turbinates are covered with sensory cells called olfactory neurons that feed information to the brain.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dogs have about 600,00 olfactory neurons. That’s 15 times what humans have.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Humans have olfactory neurons in a little patch at the top of the inside of their noses. Since there’s no special structure to house them, the air that people smell mixes with the rest of the air we breathe. Since all of our sensors are in the same area, they can get bombarded by smells, making it harder to distinguish individual odors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But according to Craven, dogs aren’t unique when it comes to their keen sense of smell.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Based on the structures the scientists found in the MRI scans, many animals have a sense of smell comparable to dogs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They all have this similar olfactory recess,” Craven said. “Humans, and some other primates basically, are the ones that aren’t as good.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Penn State University researchers used data from the scans to create a computer model that mimics the anatomy of the dog’s nose, inside and out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They ran tests on the computer model to see how air moved through the delicate structures to find clues that could lead to new designs for trace chemical detectors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One advantage that dogs have over people is the shape of their nostrils. It has to do with those slits running along the sides of their nostrils.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.nist.gov/people/matthew-e-staymates\">Matthew Staymates\u003c/a> is a mechanical engineer at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, a federal government lab in Gaithersburg, Maryland. He studies ways to improve detectors for explosives, drugs and toxic industrial chemicals. And to do that, Staymates is interested in how the shape of dog nostrils helps them detect smells so accurately.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Staymates, whose work is funded separately from the Odor Navigation Project, took the computer model of a dog’s nose developed at Penn State and printed it out using a 3-D printer to create an anatomically correct artificial dog nose, complete with the turbinates and olfactory recess.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He fit the model nose with an air hose that mimics a dog’s natural sniffing speed. Dogs sniff in and out about five times per second.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It sniffs like a real dog,” Staymates said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1938287\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 500px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/02/DL604_DogNoses_ArtificialNose_StaymatesNIST.gif\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1938287 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/02/DL604_DogNoses_ArtificialNose_StaymatesNIST.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"280\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An anatomically correct 3-D printed artificial dog nose made by Matthew Staymates at the National Institute of Standards and Technology. Made using data from MRI scans of a Labrador’s skull, the shape of dog nostrils creates a low-pressure zone sucking in air from the front and exhaling the air to the rear. \u003ccite>(Matthew Staymates/National Institute of Standards and Technology)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>By viewing the nose using a specialized filming technique called Schlieren imaging, Staymates was able to see how the shape of dog nostrils allows them to inhale from the front and then shunt the exhaled air out and back. That creates a momentary low-pressure area in front of the dog’s nose.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even though the artificial nose is inhaling and exhaling the same volume, air rushes in from the front to fill that area of low pressure. That allows dogs to get a fresh sample from the area in front of them with each sniff.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1938290\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 500px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/02/DL604_DogNoses_NostrilVentGraphics.gif\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1938290 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/02/DL604_DogNoses_NostrilVentGraphics.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The slits on the side of a dog’s nostrils expand and contract to sniff in fresh air from the front and exhale air back and toward the rear, as shown with graphics representing odor. \u003ccite>(Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>By mimicking the shape of the nostrils, Staymates proposes that new detectors could not only sample the area directly adjacent to the devices, but could also pull in air from farther away, allowing them to extend their reach.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Most of the current generation of detectors for drugs, or chemical and biological threats, basically just suck air through a hole and analyze it,” Staymates said. “But dogs have an active sampling system that interacts with its environment in a really unique way, a very sophisticated way.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Check out more in this \u003ca href=\"https://www.pbs.org/newshour/science/inside-nose-rescue-dog\">PBS NewsHour Video\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "these-hairworms-eat-a-cricket-alive-and-control-its-mind",
"title": "These Hairworms Eat a Cricket Alive and Control Its Mind",
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"headTitle": "These Hairworms Eat a Cricket Alive and Control Its Mind | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>[dl_subscribe]The rains in California bring out more than mushrooms and newts. If you’re looking down at the puddles this winter or spring, you might spot a long, brown spaghetti-shaped creature whipping around madly in a figure 8.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s a \u003ca href=\"http://www.nematomorpha.net\">hairworm\u003c/a> — also known as a horsehair worm or Gordian worm. Good news: It isn’t interested in infecting or attacking humans. But if you had happened on the puddle a few hours earlier, you might have witnessed a gruesome spectacle — the hairworm wriggling out of a cricket’s body, pushing its way out like the baby monster in the movie “Alien.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1937830\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 500px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/02/DL_603Hairworms_vs_Crickets_HAIRWORMS_EMERGE_FM_CRICKET.gif\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1937830\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/02/DL_603Hairworms_vs_Crickets_HAIRWORMS_EMERGE_FM_CRICKET.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Three hairworms emerge from a cricket in the lab of biologist Ben Hanelt, at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. The darker-colored hairworm, a male, curls around the lighter-colored females in an attempt to mate. \u003ccite>(Ben Hanelt/University of New Mexico)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>How a hairworm ends up in a puddle, or another water source such as a stream, hot tub or a pet’s water dish, is a complex story. A young hairworm finds its way into a cricket or similar insect like a beetle or grasshopper, and once it has grown into an adult, it takes over its host’s brain to hitch a ride to the water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1937817\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 500px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/02/DL_603Hairworms_vs_Crickets_HAIRWORM_SWIMS_IN_PET_WATER_DISH_CLOSEUP2.gif\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1937817\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/02/DL_603Hairworms_vs_Crickets_HAIRWORM_SWIMS_IN_PET_WATER_DISH_CLOSEUP2.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Pet owners sometimes find a hairworm swimming in their cat or dog’s water dish. \u003ccite>(Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Scientists are slowly unraveling the details of the hairworm’s and cricket’s relationship. What they learn could shed light on parasites that impact human health, such as toxoplasma, which is transmitted in the feces of cats and lodges in the human brain. That parasite can cause brain damage in the babies of infected mothers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Toxoplasma is one that gets into your brain and changes your behavior. And that’s really hard to study in humans,” said \u003ca href=\"https://biology.unm.edu/core-faculty/hanelt.shtml\">Ben Hanelt\u003c/a>, a biologist at the University of New Mexico who researches hairworms. “So we need models to study that, and we know that the horsehair worm system is one where the worm does manipulate the host to do certain things for the worm. And so it’s interesting to sort of look at exactly how this manipulation takes place.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Researchers have described about 350 species of hairworms around the world. Different ones infect different hosts and have slightly different life cycles. But in general, a hairworm’s journey starts in a river or stream, as one of many eggs in a long, whitish egg string laid by a female hairworm.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The eggs grow into squiggly larvae, which get eaten by other developing insects at the bottom of the river, like mayflies. Once inside a mayfly larva, the hairworm larva burrows into the mayfly’s flesh. Then it curls up, grows a hard shell and waits. But the mayfly is just an intermediate host; the hairworm can’t grow inside it. It can develop only inside a cricket, its final host.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1937819\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 500px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/02/DL_603Hairworms_vs_Crickets_PARAGORDIUS_VARIUS_HAIRWORM_LARVA.gif\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1937819\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/02/DL_603Hairworms_vs_Crickets_PARAGORDIUS_VARIUS_HAIRWORM_LARVA.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A hairworm larva uses this pointy part to burrow into the flesh of a host such as a mayfly, where it lies dormant until the mayfly is eaten by a cricket. \u003ccite>(Josh Cassidy/KQED )\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>So the hairworm sits tight while the mayfly larva grows into an adult and heads to dry land. Crickets like to eat dead mayflies, and that’s how the hairworm gets inside the cricket, uncurls and starts feeding on fat inside the cricket’s body.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When they’re infected, the worm takes over and the worm grows, and those crickets are in a developmental hiatus,” said \u003ca href=\"http://canaya19.wixsite.com/hairwormproject\">Christina Anaya\u003c/a>, who is writing her doctoral dissertation on hairworms and crickets at Oklahoma State University.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1937823\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1921px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/02/Anaya_hairworm_1920.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1937823\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/02/Anaya_hairworm_1920.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1921\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/02/Anaya_hairworm_1920.jpg 1921w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/02/Anaya_hairworm_1920-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/02/Anaya_hairworm_1920-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/02/Anaya_hairworm_1920-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/02/Anaya_hairworm_1920-1020x573.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/02/Anaya_hairworm_1920-1200x675.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/02/Anaya_hairworm_1920-1920x1079.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1921px) 100vw, 1921px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">This hairworm, collected in a rain puddle in San Luis Obispo, measured 31 inches. \u003ccite>(Christina Anaya/Oklahoma State University)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Anaya found that over the course of the month it took hairworms to grow inside crickets in the lab, the hairworms absorbed all of the crickets’ lipids, which are the insects’ source of energy. As a result of this deprivation, crickets stop growing and reproducing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Male crickets infected by hairworms even lose their chirp, said Hanelt, who studied this phenomenon with a team at Texas A&M University-San Antonio. Chirping is the sound male crickets create by rubbing their wings together to keep the competition away and attract a mate. By preventing crickets from chirping, hairworms minimize the amount of energy the crickets need and also protect them both.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When the male chirps, he draws in predators, possibly,” Hanelt said. “The worm wants to just shut all that down and ensure the survival of the host.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1937818\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 500px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/02/DL_603Hairworms_vs_Crickets_MALE_HOUSE_CRICKET_CHIRPS.gif\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1937818\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/02/DL_603Hairworms_vs_Crickets_MALE_HOUSE_CRICKET_CHIRPS.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A male house cricket chirps by rubbing its wings together. \u003ccite>(Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>So even as the hairworm is hurting the cricket by absorbing all its energy stores, it’s also keeping it alive. In fact, Hanelt believes that the hairworm transfers its own immune system to the cricket to keep it healthy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The hairworm needs to keep the cricket alive to hitch a ride to the water. Crickets usually avoid bodies of water — they’re not great swimmers and become an easy target for birds and fish.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So after the hairworm has reached adulthood — growing from 1 to 2 feet long — it takes over, boosting chemicals in the cricket’s brain that make the cricket walk around mindlessly, until it happens to reach water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s not that the crickets can smell the water, or sense it from far away. Frédéric Thomas, of the IRD research institute in Montpellier, France, watched and performed experiments on crickets infected by hairworms in a forest in the south of France. After two summers, he and his colleagues concluded that infected crickets weren’t somehow detecting water from afar. Instead, the researchers believe that the hairworms made the crickets walk around erratically so that sooner or later they would arrive at a body of water. Once the crickets were close to the water — a thermal pool, in one experiment – then they jumped in. In video recordings, the hairworm bursts out almost immediately from the cricket and, after thrashing around to extract itself, swims away.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1937816\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 750px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/02/DL_603Hairworms_vs_Crickets_HAIRWORM_WRIGGLES_OUT_OF_CRICKET_Credit_Yves_Elie_VB_Films.gif\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1937816\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/02/DL_603Hairworms_vs_Crickets_HAIRWORM_WRIGGLES_OUT_OF_CRICKET_Credit_Yves_Elie_VB_Films.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"750\" height=\"421\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A hairworm finishes emerging from a cricket and swims away in a thermal pool in Avène, in the south of France. \u003ccite>(Film \"Toto le Némato,\" by Yves Elie/VB Films)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Sometimes more than one hairworm is inside. And when several emerge from a single cricket, they don’t waste any time, curling around each other to mate, even before they’re fully outside the cricket. Then they lay egg strings and the cycle continues.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As for the crickets, if they end up in a stream, the current can carry them away and they’ll drown. Researchers believe that some hairworm hosts, like Jerusalem crickets, die when the hairworm emerges, regardless of whether they drown or not. But Anaya, at Oklahoma State University, has done research that shows that, in the lab at least, most crickets actually survive after the hairworm emerges.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1937820\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 500px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/02/DL_603Hairworms_vs_Crickets_HOUSE_CRICKET_CLIMBS.gif\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1937820\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/02/DL_603Hairworms_vs_Crickets_HOUSE_CRICKET_CLIMBS.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">In lab experiments, biologist Christina Anaya, at Oklahoma State University, found that house crickets like this one can survive infection by hairworms. \u003ccite>(Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Anaya tested female house crickets — the kind that are commonly sold at pet stores and widely used in the lab by hairworm researchers. All but one of the 22 infected female crickets survived after a hairworm, or several hairworms, had grown inside them and emerged.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Once those worms emerge, then they can start being a cricket again and growing and living a daily life, so to speak,” Anaya said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Whether the male crickets ever get their chirps back remains an open question.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Amanda Heidt contributed reporting. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"title": "These Hairworms Eat a Cricket Alive and Control Its Mind | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The rains in California bring out more than mushrooms and newts. If you’re looking down at the puddles this winter or spring, you might spot a long, brown spaghetti-shaped creature whipping around madly in a figure 8.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s a \u003ca href=\"http://www.nematomorpha.net\">hairworm\u003c/a> — also known as a horsehair worm or Gordian worm. Good news: It isn’t interested in infecting or attacking humans. But if you had happened on the puddle a few hours earlier, you might have witnessed a gruesome spectacle — the hairworm wriggling out of a cricket’s body, pushing its way out like the baby monster in the movie “Alien.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1937830\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 500px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/02/DL_603Hairworms_vs_Crickets_HAIRWORMS_EMERGE_FM_CRICKET.gif\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1937830\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/02/DL_603Hairworms_vs_Crickets_HAIRWORMS_EMERGE_FM_CRICKET.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Three hairworms emerge from a cricket in the lab of biologist Ben Hanelt, at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. The darker-colored hairworm, a male, curls around the lighter-colored females in an attempt to mate. \u003ccite>(Ben Hanelt/University of New Mexico)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>How a hairworm ends up in a puddle, or another water source such as a stream, hot tub or a pet’s water dish, is a complex story. A young hairworm finds its way into a cricket or similar insect like a beetle or grasshopper, and once it has grown into an adult, it takes over its host’s brain to hitch a ride to the water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1937817\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 500px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/02/DL_603Hairworms_vs_Crickets_HAIRWORM_SWIMS_IN_PET_WATER_DISH_CLOSEUP2.gif\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1937817\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/02/DL_603Hairworms_vs_Crickets_HAIRWORM_SWIMS_IN_PET_WATER_DISH_CLOSEUP2.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Pet owners sometimes find a hairworm swimming in their cat or dog’s water dish. \u003ccite>(Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Scientists are slowly unraveling the details of the hairworm’s and cricket’s relationship. What they learn could shed light on parasites that impact human health, such as toxoplasma, which is transmitted in the feces of cats and lodges in the human brain. That parasite can cause brain damage in the babies of infected mothers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Toxoplasma is one that gets into your brain and changes your behavior. And that’s really hard to study in humans,” said \u003ca href=\"https://biology.unm.edu/core-faculty/hanelt.shtml\">Ben Hanelt\u003c/a>, a biologist at the University of New Mexico who researches hairworms. “So we need models to study that, and we know that the horsehair worm system is one where the worm does manipulate the host to do certain things for the worm. And so it’s interesting to sort of look at exactly how this manipulation takes place.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Researchers have described about 350 species of hairworms around the world. Different ones infect different hosts and have slightly different life cycles. But in general, a hairworm’s journey starts in a river or stream, as one of many eggs in a long, whitish egg string laid by a female hairworm.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The eggs grow into squiggly larvae, which get eaten by other developing insects at the bottom of the river, like mayflies. Once inside a mayfly larva, the hairworm larva burrows into the mayfly’s flesh. Then it curls up, grows a hard shell and waits. But the mayfly is just an intermediate host; the hairworm can’t grow inside it. It can develop only inside a cricket, its final host.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1937819\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 500px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/02/DL_603Hairworms_vs_Crickets_PARAGORDIUS_VARIUS_HAIRWORM_LARVA.gif\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1937819\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/02/DL_603Hairworms_vs_Crickets_PARAGORDIUS_VARIUS_HAIRWORM_LARVA.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A hairworm larva uses this pointy part to burrow into the flesh of a host such as a mayfly, where it lies dormant until the mayfly is eaten by a cricket. \u003ccite>(Josh Cassidy/KQED )\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>So the hairworm sits tight while the mayfly larva grows into an adult and heads to dry land. Crickets like to eat dead mayflies, and that’s how the hairworm gets inside the cricket, uncurls and starts feeding on fat inside the cricket’s body.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When they’re infected, the worm takes over and the worm grows, and those crickets are in a developmental hiatus,” said \u003ca href=\"http://canaya19.wixsite.com/hairwormproject\">Christina Anaya\u003c/a>, who is writing her doctoral dissertation on hairworms and crickets at Oklahoma State University.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1937823\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1921px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/02/Anaya_hairworm_1920.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1937823\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/02/Anaya_hairworm_1920.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1921\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/02/Anaya_hairworm_1920.jpg 1921w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/02/Anaya_hairworm_1920-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/02/Anaya_hairworm_1920-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/02/Anaya_hairworm_1920-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/02/Anaya_hairworm_1920-1020x573.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/02/Anaya_hairworm_1920-1200x675.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/02/Anaya_hairworm_1920-1920x1079.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1921px) 100vw, 1921px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">This hairworm, collected in a rain puddle in San Luis Obispo, measured 31 inches. \u003ccite>(Christina Anaya/Oklahoma State University)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Anaya found that over the course of the month it took hairworms to grow inside crickets in the lab, the hairworms absorbed all of the crickets’ lipids, which are the insects’ source of energy. As a result of this deprivation, crickets stop growing and reproducing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Male crickets infected by hairworms even lose their chirp, said Hanelt, who studied this phenomenon with a team at Texas A&M University-San Antonio. Chirping is the sound male crickets create by rubbing their wings together to keep the competition away and attract a mate. By preventing crickets from chirping, hairworms minimize the amount of energy the crickets need and also protect them both.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When the male chirps, he draws in predators, possibly,” Hanelt said. “The worm wants to just shut all that down and ensure the survival of the host.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1937818\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 500px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/02/DL_603Hairworms_vs_Crickets_MALE_HOUSE_CRICKET_CHIRPS.gif\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1937818\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/02/DL_603Hairworms_vs_Crickets_MALE_HOUSE_CRICKET_CHIRPS.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A male house cricket chirps by rubbing its wings together. \u003ccite>(Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>So even as the hairworm is hurting the cricket by absorbing all its energy stores, it’s also keeping it alive. In fact, Hanelt believes that the hairworm transfers its own immune system to the cricket to keep it healthy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The hairworm needs to keep the cricket alive to hitch a ride to the water. Crickets usually avoid bodies of water — they’re not great swimmers and become an easy target for birds and fish.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So after the hairworm has reached adulthood — growing from 1 to 2 feet long — it takes over, boosting chemicals in the cricket’s brain that make the cricket walk around mindlessly, until it happens to reach water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s not that the crickets can smell the water, or sense it from far away. Frédéric Thomas, of the IRD research institute in Montpellier, France, watched and performed experiments on crickets infected by hairworms in a forest in the south of France. After two summers, he and his colleagues concluded that infected crickets weren’t somehow detecting water from afar. Instead, the researchers believe that the hairworms made the crickets walk around erratically so that sooner or later they would arrive at a body of water. Once the crickets were close to the water — a thermal pool, in one experiment – then they jumped in. In video recordings, the hairworm bursts out almost immediately from the cricket and, after thrashing around to extract itself, swims away.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1937816\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 750px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/02/DL_603Hairworms_vs_Crickets_HAIRWORM_WRIGGLES_OUT_OF_CRICKET_Credit_Yves_Elie_VB_Films.gif\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1937816\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/02/DL_603Hairworms_vs_Crickets_HAIRWORM_WRIGGLES_OUT_OF_CRICKET_Credit_Yves_Elie_VB_Films.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"750\" height=\"421\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A hairworm finishes emerging from a cricket and swims away in a thermal pool in Avène, in the south of France. \u003ccite>(Film \"Toto le Némato,\" by Yves Elie/VB Films)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Sometimes more than one hairworm is inside. And when several emerge from a single cricket, they don’t waste any time, curling around each other to mate, even before they’re fully outside the cricket. Then they lay egg strings and the cycle continues.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As for the crickets, if they end up in a stream, the current can carry them away and they’ll drown. Researchers believe that some hairworm hosts, like Jerusalem crickets, die when the hairworm emerges, regardless of whether they drown or not. But Anaya, at Oklahoma State University, has done research that shows that, in the lab at least, most crickets actually survive after the hairworm emerges.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1937820\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 500px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/02/DL_603Hairworms_vs_Crickets_HOUSE_CRICKET_CLIMBS.gif\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1937820\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/02/DL_603Hairworms_vs_Crickets_HOUSE_CRICKET_CLIMBS.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">In lab experiments, biologist Christina Anaya, at Oklahoma State University, found that house crickets like this one can survive infection by hairworms. \u003ccite>(Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Anaya tested female house crickets — the kind that are commonly sold at pet stores and widely used in the lab by hairworm researchers. All but one of the 22 infected female crickets survived after a hairworm, or several hairworms, had grown inside them and emerged.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Once those worms emerge, then they can start being a cricket again and growing and living a daily life, so to speak,” Anaya said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Whether the male crickets ever get their chirps back remains an open question.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Amanda Heidt contributed reporting. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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}
},
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"id": "californiareportmagazine",
"title": "The California Report Magazine",
"tagline": "Your state, your stories",
"info": "Every week, The California Report Magazine takes you on a road trip for the ears: to visit the places and meet the people who make California unique. The in-depth storytelling podcast from the California Report.",
"airtime": "FRI 4:30pm-5pm, 6:30pm-7pm, 11pm-11:30pm",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/californiareportmagazine",
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"order": 10
},
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM3NjkwNjk1OTAz",
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},
"city-arts": {
"id": "city-arts",
"title": "City Arts & Lectures",
"info": "A one-hour radio program to hear celebrated writers, artists and thinkers address contemporary ideas and values, often discussing the creative process. Please note: tapes or transcripts are not available",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/05/cityartsandlecture-300x300.jpg",
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"airtime": "SUN 1pm-2pm, TUE 10pm, WED 1am",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "City Arts & Lectures"
},
"link": "https://www.cityarts.net",
"subscribe": {
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/City-Arts-and-Lectures-p692/",
"rss": "https://www.cityarts.net/feed/"
}
},
"closealltabs": {
"id": "closealltabs",
"title": "Close All Tabs",
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"info": "Close All Tabs breaks down how digital culture shapes our world through thoughtful insights and irreverent humor.",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/closealltabs",
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"order": 1
},
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"title": "Code Switch / Life Kit",
"info": "\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em>, which listeners will hear in the first part of the hour, has fearless and much-needed conversations about race. Hosted by journalists of color, the show tackles the subject of race head-on, exploring how it impacts every part of society — from politics and pop culture to history, sports and more.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em>, which will be in the second part of the hour, guides you through spaces and feelings no one prepares you for — from finances to mental health, from workplace microaggressions to imposter syndrome, from relationships to parenting. The show features experts with real world experience and shares their knowledge. Because everyone needs a little help being human.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510312/codeswitch\">\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/lifekit\">\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />",
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"meta": {
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cubnByLm9yZy9yc3MvcG9kY2FzdC5waHA_aWQ9NTEwMzEy",
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"id": "commonwealth-club",
"title": "Commonwealth Club of California Podcast",
"info": "The Commonwealth Club of California is the nation's oldest and largest public affairs forum. As a non-partisan forum, The Club brings to the public airwaves diverse viewpoints on important topics. The Club's weekly radio broadcast - the oldest in the U.S., dating back to 1924 - is carried across the nation on public radio stations and is now podcasting. Our website archive features audio of our recent programs, as well as selected speeches from our long and distinguished history. This podcast feed is usually updated twice a week and is always un-edited.",
"airtime": "THU 10pm, FRI 1am",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Commonwealth-Club-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
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"meta": {
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"source": "Commonwealth Club of California"
},
"link": "/radio/program/commonwealth-club",
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cDovL3d3dy5jb21tb253ZWFsdGhjbHViLm9yZy9hdWRpby9wb2RjYXN0L3dlZWtseS54bWw",
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},
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"id": "forum",
"title": "Forum",
"tagline": "The conversation starts here",
"info": "KQED’s live call-in program discussing local, state, national and international issues, as well as in-depth interviews.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 9am-11am, 10pm-11pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Forum-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED Forum with Mina Kim and Alexis Madrigal",
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 9
},
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM5NTU3MzgxNjMz",
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"id": "freakonomics-radio",
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"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/05/freakonomicsRadio.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "http://freakonomics.com/",
"airtime": "SUN 1am-2am, SAT 3pm-4pm",
"meta": {
"site": "radio",
"source": "WNYC"
},
"link": "/radio/program/freakonomics-radio",
"subscribe": {
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/freakonomics-radio/id354668519",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/podcasts/WNYC-Podcasts/Freakonomics-Radio-p272293/",
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},
"fresh-air": {
"id": "fresh-air",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=214089682&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
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"info": "A live production of NPR and WBUR Boston, in collaboration with stations across the country, Here & Now reflects the fluid world of news as it's happening in the middle of the day, with timely, in-depth news, interviews and conversation. Hosted by Robin Young, Jeremy Hobson and Tonya Mosley.",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510051/podcast.xml"
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},
"hidden-brain": {
"id": "hidden-brain",
"title": "Hidden Brain",
"info": "Shankar Vedantam uses science and storytelling to reveal the unconscious patterns that drive human behavior, shape our choices and direct our relationships.",
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"airtime": "SUN 7pm-8pm",
"meta": {
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"source": "NPR"
},
"link": "/radio/program/hidden-brain",
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},
"how-i-built-this": {
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"title": "How I Built This with Guy Raz",
"info": "Guy Raz dives into the stories behind some of the world's best known companies. How I Built This weaves a narrative journey about innovators, entrepreneurs and idealists—and the movements they built.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/05/howIBuiltThis.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510313/how-i-built-this",
"airtime": "SUN 7:30pm-8pm",
"meta": {
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"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/how-i-built-this",
"subscribe": {
"npr": "https://rpb3r.app.goo.gl/3zxy",
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/how-i-built-this-with-guy-raz/id1150510297?mt=2",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510313/podcast.xml"
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},
"hyphenacion": {
"id": "hyphenacion",
"title": "Hyphenación",
"tagline": "Where conversation and cultura meet",
"info": "What kind of no sabo word is Hyphenación? For us, it’s about living within a hyphenation. Like being a third-gen Mexican-American from the Texas border now living that Bay Area Chicano life. Like Xorje! Each week we bring together a couple of hyphenated Latinos to talk all about personal life choices: family, careers, relationships, belonging … everything is on the table. ",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Hyphenacion_FinalAssets_PodcastTile.png",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/hyphenacion",
"meta": {
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"order": 15
},
"link": "/podcasts/hyphenacion",
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"spotify": "https://open.spotify.com/show/2p3Fifq96nw9BPcmFdIq0o?si=39209f7b25774f38",
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"rss": "https://feeds.megaphone.fm/KQINC2275451163"
}
},
"jerrybrown": {
"id": "jerrybrown",
"title": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown",
"tagline": "Lessons from a lifetime in politics",
"info": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown brings listeners the wisdom of the former Governor, Mayor, and presidential candidate. Scott Shafer interviewed Brown for more than 40 hours, covering the former governor's life and half-century in the political game – and Brown has some lessons he'd like to share. ",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-Political-Mind-of-Jerry-Brown-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/jerrybrown",
"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 18
},
"link": "/podcasts/jerrybrown",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/id1492194549",
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}
},
"latino-usa": {
"id": "latino-usa",
"title": "Latino USA",
"airtime": "MON 1am-2am, SUN 6pm-7pm",
"info": "Latino USA, the radio journal of news and culture, is the only national, English-language radio program produced from a Latino perspective.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/latinoUsa.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "http://latinousa.org/",
"meta": {
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"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/latino-usa",
"subscribe": {
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=79681317&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510016/podcast.xml"
}
},
"marketplace": {
"id": "marketplace",
"title": "Marketplace",
"info": "Our flagship program, helmed by Kai Ryssdal, examines what the day in money delivered, through stories, conversations, newsworthy numbers and more. Updated Monday through Friday at about 3:30 p.m. PT.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 4pm-4:30pm, MON-WED 6:30pm-7pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Marketplace-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.marketplace.org/",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "American Public Media"
},
"link": "/radio/program/marketplace",
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"rss": "https://feeds.publicradio.org/public_feeds/marketplace-pm/rss/rss"
}
},
"masters-of-scale": {
"id": "masters-of-scale",
"title": "Masters of Scale",
"info": "Masters of Scale is an original podcast in which LinkedIn co-founder and Greylock Partner Reid Hoffman sets out to describe and prove theories that explain how great entrepreneurs take their companies from zero to a gazillion in ingenious fashion.",
"airtime": "Every other Wednesday June 12 through October 16 at 8pm (repeats Thursdays at 2am)",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "https://mastersofscale.com/",
"meta": {
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"source": "WaitWhat"
},
"link": "/radio/program/masters-of-scale",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "http://mastersofscale.app.link/",
"rss": "https://rss.art19.com/masters-of-scale"
}
},
"mindshift": {
"id": "mindshift",
"title": "MindShift",
"tagline": "A podcast about the future of learning and how we raise our kids",
"info": "The MindShift podcast explores the innovations in education that are shaping how kids learn. Hosts Ki Sung and Katrina Schwartz introduce listeners to educators, researchers, parents and students who are developing effective ways to improve how kids learn. We cover topics like how fed-up administrators are developing surprising tactics to deal with classroom disruptions; how listening to podcasts are helping kids develop reading skills; the consequences of overparenting; and why interdisciplinary learning can engage students on all ends of the traditional achievement spectrum. This podcast is part of the MindShift education site, a division of KQED News. KQED is an NPR/PBS member station based in San Francisco. You can also visit the MindShift website for episodes and supplemental blog posts or tweet us \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MindShiftKQED\">@MindShiftKQED\u003c/a> or visit us at \u003ca href=\"/mindshift\">MindShift.KQED.org\u003c/a>",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Mindshift-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED MindShift: How We Will Learn",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/mindshift/",
"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 12
},
"link": "/podcasts/mindshift",
"subscribe": {
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM1NzY0NjAwNDI5",
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}
},
"morning-edition": {
"id": "morning-edition",
"title": "Morning Edition",
"info": "\u003cem>Morning Edition\u003c/em> takes listeners around the country and the world with multi-faceted stories and commentaries every weekday. Hosts Steve Inskeep, David Greene and Rachel Martin bring you the latest breaking news and features to prepare you for the day.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 3am-9am",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Morning-Edition-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/programs/morning-edition/",
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"link": "/radio/program/morning-edition"
},
"onourwatch": {
"id": "onourwatch",
"title": "On Our Watch",
"tagline": "Deeply-reported investigative journalism",
"info": "For decades, the process for how police police themselves has been inconsistent – if not opaque. In some states, like California, these proceedings were completely hidden. After a new police transparency law unsealed scores of internal affairs files, our reporters set out to examine these cases and the shadow world of police discipline. On Our Watch brings listeners into the rooms where officers are questioned and witnesses are interrogated to find out who this system is really protecting. Is it the officers, or the public they've sworn to serve?",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/On-Our-Watch-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "On Our Watch from NPR and KQED",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/onourwatch",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "kqed",
"order": 11
},
"link": "/podcasts/onourwatch",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1567098962",
"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5ucHIub3JnLzUxMDM2MC9wb2RjYXN0LnhtbD9zYz1nb29nbGVwb2RjYXN0cw",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510360/podcast.xml"
}
},
"on-the-media": {
"id": "on-the-media",
"title": "On The Media",
"info": "Our weekly podcast explores how the media 'sausage' is made, casts an incisive eye on fluctuations in the marketplace of ideas, and examines threats to the freedom of information and expression in America and abroad. For one hour a week, the show tries to lift the veil from the process of \"making media,\" especially news media, because it's through that lens that we see the world and the world sees us",
"airtime": "SUN 2pm-3pm, MON 12am-1am",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/onTheMedia.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.wnycstudios.org/shows/otm",
"meta": {
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"source": "wnyc"
},
"link": "/radio/program/on-the-media",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/on-the-media/id73330715?mt=2",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/On-the-Media-p69/",
"rss": "http://feeds.wnyc.org/onthemedia"
}
},
"pbs-newshour": {
"id": "pbs-newshour",
"title": "PBS NewsHour",
"info": "Analysis, background reports and updates from the PBS NewsHour putting today's news in context.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 3pm-4pm",
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