Posts Tagged: news
Revisiting 'The 13 Bugs of Christmas'
This Christmas season isn't the same without University of California Cooperative Extension apiculturist emeritis Eric Mussen, who died June 3 of liver cancer at his home in Davis. Mussen (1944-2022) was an institution. He was a global authority of honey bees. He was family to everyone....
The five gold rings became five golden bees. Here's one of the golden bees, a Cordovan, a subspecies of the Italian. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A queen bee and worker bees. On the 12th day of Christmas, my true love gave to me 12 deathwatch beetles drumming, 11 queen bees piping, 10 locusts leaping, 9 mayflies dancing, 8 ants a'milking aphids, 7 boatmen swimming, 6 lice a'laying, 5 golden bees, 4 calling cicadas, 3 French flies, 2 tortoise beetles and a psyllid in a pear tree. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Matan Shelomi: In the Era of #FakeNews...Predatory Journals
In the era of #fakenews, add #predatoryjournals. What are "predatory journals?" Entomologist Matan Shelomi defines them as those that "appear legitimate, but practice no peer review, no editing, not even a reality check." Predatory journals are especially dangerous during the COVID-19...
Entomologist Matan Shelomi is a fan of Pokémon and a foe of fake news.
First page of Matan Shelomi's fictitious research paper. One of three.
Second page of Matan Shelomi's fictitious research paper. Second of three.
Third and last page of Matan Shelomi's fictitious research paper.
Don't Believe Everything You Read About Spiders--Or Anything Else for that Matter!
Just a hoax. A fear-mongering hoax. A so-called Facebook "public service announcement" on Aug. 21 that warned of a “new deadly spider species” spreading across the United States went viral, but it was all fake news. The images that the South Carolina man posted are of a woodlouse...
The woodlouse spider, Dysderca crocata, is neither a new species nor deadly, contrary to a Facebook hoax disguised as a public service announcement. (Photo by Michel Vuijlsteke, courtesy of Wikipedia)
This is a male woodlouse spider, Dysderca crocata. (Photo © Hans Hillewaert, courtesy of Wikipedia)
Giant hogweed in the news
Invasive plants don't get much coverage in the news, especially at the state and national level. As I've argued previously, this lack of media attention is a problem when it comes to motivating the public and political players into proactively funding invasive plant management and mitigating...
'The 13 Bugs of Christmas'--Revisited
Back in 2010, two innovators with the UC Davis Department of Entomology (now the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology) decided that "The 12 Days of Christmas" ought to be replaced with insects. Remember that iconic song, "The 12 Days of Christmas?" Published in 1780, it begins with "On...
Five gold rings? How about five golden bees? "On the fifth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me: 5 golden bees, 4 calling cicadas, 3 French flies, 2 tortoise beetles and a psyllid in a pear tree. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)