Frontpage » Tag » locust

News tagged with locust

Giving cockroaches the slip (w/ Video)

(PhysOrg.com) -- A breakthrough by scientists at Cambridge University may terminate the threat of termites, cockroaches and other pests such as ants and locusts - responsible for billions of pounds worth of ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Oct 13, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (13) | comments 5

China's wars, rebellions driven by climate: study

Two millennia of foreign invasions and internal wars in China were driven more by cooling climate than by feudalism, class struggle or bad government, a bold study released Wednesday argued.

Other Sciences / Social Sciences

created Jul 14, 2010 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (12) | comments 3

Ladder-walking locusts show big brains aren't always best

Scientists have shown for the first time that insects, like mammals, use vision rather than touch to find footholds. They made the discovery thanks to high-speed video cameras - technology the BBC uses to ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Dec 24, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (8) | comments 1

44-year-old mystery of how fleas jump resolved (w/ Video)

If you thought that we know everything about how the flea jumps, think again. In 1967, Henry Bennet-Clark discovered that fleas store the energy needed to catapult themselves into the air in an elastic pad ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Feb 10, 2011 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (8) | comments 4 | with audio podcast

Secrets of insect flight revealed

(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers are one step closer to creating a micro-aircraft that flies with the manoeuvrability and energy efficiency of an insect after decoding the aerodynamic secrets of insect flight.

Technology / Engineering

created Sep 17, 2009 | popularity 4.4 / 5 (8) | comments 0

How a brain chemical changes locusts from harmless grasshoppers to swarming pests

(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists have uncovered the underlying biological reason why locusts form migrating swarms. Their findings, reported in today's edition of Science, could be used in the future to prevent ...

Biology /

created Jan 29, 2009 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (6) | comments 2

Fruit flies watch the sky to stay on course

Insects, equipped with complex compound eyes, can maintain a constant heading in their travels, some of them for thousands of miles. New research demonstrates that fruit flies keep their bearings by using ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Jan 17, 2012 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (5) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Overgrazed grasslands tied to locust outbreaks

While residents of the United States and much of Europe think of locust plagues as biblical references, locust swarms still have devastating effects on agriculture today, especially in developing countries ...

Biology / Ecology

created Jan 26, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (4) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Swarming locusts need larger brains

One of the most devastating events in the insect world - the locust swarm - has extraordinary effects on the insect's brains, scientists in Cambridge have discovered.

Biology / Plants & Animals

created May 25, 2010 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (4) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

'Velcro' effect in Guianese ants

In Guiana, symbiosis between Azteca ants and the Cecropia tree (or trumpet tree) is frequent. However, a surprising discovery has been made: one species of ant (Azteca andreae) uses the "Velcro" principle ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Jun 28, 2010 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0

Protein associated with learning implicated in causing grasshoppers to swarm

New research has found that a protein associated with learning and memory plays an integral role in changing the behaviour of locusts from that of harmless grasshoppers into swarming pests.

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Dec 19, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Research offers important clues about grasshopper population explosions

Literature and films have left us with vivid images of the grasshopper plagues that devastated the Great Plains in the 1870s. Although commonly referred to as grasshoppers, the infestations were actually by ...

Biology / Ecology

created Feb 25, 2011 | popularity 4 / 5 (3) | comments 0

Swarms of locusts use social networking to communicate

Social studies of Facebook and Twitter have been adapted to gain a greater understanding of the swarming behaviour of locusts. The enormous success of social networking sites has vividly illustrated the importance of networking ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Jul 15, 2011 | popularity 3.7 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Scientists IDs genesis of animal behavior patterns

(PhysOrg.com) -- For the first time, MIT engineers and colleagues have observed the initiation of a mass gathering and subsequent migration of hundreds of millions of animals — in this case, fish.

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Mar 26, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0

Massive mice, locust plagues threaten Australian crops

Plagues of mice and locusts are threatening huge swathes of Australia's farming heartland and could wipe out crops worth one billion dollars (880 million US), scientists warned Wednesday.

Biology / Ecology

created Jul 14, 2010 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (2) | comments 0

Locust

Locusts are the swarming phase of short-horned grasshoppers of the family Acrididae. These are species that can breed rapidly under suitable conditions and subsequently become gregarious and migratory. They form bands as nymphs and swarms as adults—both of which can travel great distances, rapidly stripping fields and greatly damaging crops.

The origin and apparent extinction of certain species of locust – some of which reached 6 inches (150 mm) in length – are unclear.

Locusts are an edible insect and are considered a delicacy in some countries and throughout history.

For more information about Locust, read the full article at Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.