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Plastic-eating mealworms native to Africa discovered
By Jacklin Kwan published
Larvae of the Kenyan lesser mealworm found to feast on polystyrene then break it down in their guts.

Watch mesmerizing video of weird waves that 'shape life itself' inside a fly embryo
By Hannah Osborne published
Video of cell division occurring in a developing fly embryo named winner of the 14th annual Nikon Small World in Motion competition.

Parasitic 'horror' wasp that bursts from a fly's abdomen like an 'Alien' xenomorph discovered in Mississippi backyard
By Patrick Pester published
Scientists accidentally discover new species of wasp that lays eggs inside living, adult fruit flies, which then burst from the hosts' abdomens while they're still alive.

Kamikaze termites blow themselves up with 'explosive' backpacks — and scientists just figured out how
By Jacklin Kwan published
Kamikaze termites in French Guiana carry highly volatile toxic "rucksacks" that are ready to be deployed in an instant, when the termite needs to defend its colony.

These bacteria trigger a sex change in wasps — scientists finally know how
By Tiffany Taylor published
Scientists have uncovered how bacteria borrowed a gene from an insect to create female-only parasitic wasp populations, eliminating the need for males.

Panda ant: The wasps whose black and white females have giant stingers and parasitic babies
By Lydia Smith published
Panda ants are actually wasps masquerading as an adorable ant, with black and white females possessing stingers half as long as their entire bodies.

Ants perform life saving operations — the only animal other than humans known to do so
By Jacklin Kwan published
Florida ants perform amputations and clean wounds to prevent the spread of infection, scientists discover.

Butterflies cross Atlantic ocean on 2,600-mile non-stop flight never recorded in any insect before
By Ben Turner published
Painted lady butterflies discovered in French Guiana — thousands of miles from their usual habitats — got there through a Herculean transoceanic flight.
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