• Leaf-Cut­ters Get Their Fix (ni­tro­gen fix, that is)

    by Elio — Ants span a great dis­tance within the hu­man psy­che, from be­ing in­signif­i­cant lit­tle nui­sances to oc­cu­py­ing a promi­nent place in the bi­o­log­i­cal scheme of things. They surely de­serve the lat­ter. Not only do they make up a large pro­por­tion of the an­i­mal bio­mass (up to 25% of the to­tal in the trop­ics), but their so­cial qual­i­ties...

  • Let Them Eat Mush­rooms

    by Elio — Peo­ple who ven­ture into forests in search of mush­rooms have in­sects to con­tend with. I don't mean mos­qui­toes, wasps, and bees. I mean bugs that en­joy eat­ing mush­rooms at least as much as some of us do. Mush­room hunt­ing is a chancy en­ter­prise at best. But as if that weren't enough, some­times we come upon...