Entomologist

University of Illinois UC
Joined April 2009
May Berenbaum retweeted
One might think a raindrop could do serious damage to a tiny water strider. But a study shows that their low-density, hydrophobic exoskeletons allow them to surf jets and craters made by drops—or easily resurface if pushed underwater. In PNAS: ow.ly/Aznz50Qupys
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Thanks, Danaus plexippus, for stopping by for a snack on your way out of town. Have a safe flight to Mexico!
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Schadenfreude? A native spicebush swallowtail (Papilio troilus) enjoys nectar from a Canada thistle (Cirsium arvense), which, name notwithstanding, is invasive from Eurasia (aka "lettuce from hell thistle")
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Fascinating new study in MBE (bit.ly/3QMoeMNon) the Demodex folliculorum genome (Smith et al 2022). As reported in Popular Science bit.ly/3Nn8XiF One major discovery--face mites have an anus. Somehow that discovery seems so well-suited to 2022.
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Anurag Agrawal (@anuragasclepias) of @Cornell is being inducted as a member of the National Academy of Sciences for ecological analysis which has increased our understanding of species adaptation. Watch the #NAS159 livestream: ow.ly/7YNN50IU6qx #ecology
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Over his film career Nicholas Cage has one regret: eating a live cockroach in Vampire's Kiss. "I still feel bad for the cockroach" nyti.ms/3OwF9lr
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Here's my first time recruiting a postdoc via Twitter--a project focused on biology, metagenomics, and toxicology of honey bee pollen, beebread, nectar and honey needs you! igb.illinois.edu/sites/defau…
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The Scientist starts off 2022 with a story about a new paper (Esselstyn et al. 2021) describing 14 new shrew species in Sulawesi; Happy Shrew Year? bit.ly/3mWDzgz
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Yesterday the world lost E O Wilson, who drew paradigm-changing insights from studying "the little things that run the world" Beyond science I'm grateful to him for using his incomparable communication skills and enormous intellect to advocate for protecting Earth's biodiversity.
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This spider showed up at our door with an interesting take on the concept of the exo-skeleton
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A tiger is loose on the UIUC campus! (Fake news? it's a tiger swallowtail nectaring on bee balm at the UI Pollinatarium prairie)
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Victor Robles of the Washington Nationals plays center field with a praying mantis on his cap; maybe the mantis was waiting for a pop fly? nbcsports.com/washington/nat…
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After I spent much of last week searching for moths to celebrate @Moth_Week with little success, this witch showed up literally at our front door. Pretty sure it's a black witch, Ascalapha odorata; its 6-inch wingspan gives it away
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Wow--5000 followers!! Thank you so much, Twitter!! I never thought I'd get there! I did a screen capture just in case it's a momentary blip...
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Thrilled to receive an honorary degree from uOttawa in pandemic style--watching the pretaped ceremony from home on Youtube. Thanks so much/merci mille fois!
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Great to see you--where have you been all spring?!
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