Site Archive
Spring break seems to mark a rite of passage into full-blown adulthood for some college-age students. Many feel compelled to experience it at least once…
READ MORE
The other day I found myself pondering one of life’s biggest entomological questions. Pondering is not an uncommon activity for me. A large part of…
READ MORE
When we see a newborn baby, we sometimes use the phrase “cute as a bug’s ear,” or even more commonly, “cute as a bug in…
READ MORE
I don’t often get questions about new insect outbreaks in the home at this time of year, but when I do it is often near…
READ MORE
Food consumption is on Americans’ minds right now with recent Thanksgiving Day feasts under our belt (literally if not figuratively), and Christmas dinners, Hanukah celebrations,…
READ MORE
As the smallest of six brothers, I was often patted on the top of my head by my grandfather, who would say, “It ain’t the…
READ MORE
The heat of summer is almost in the rearview mirror, bringing thoughts of apples, pumpkins, football and …. crickets. It hit me just now when…
READ MORE
The whole country was abuzz a few months ago when reports of Asian giant hornets hit the media. The news story was evidently a good…
READ MORE
One of our greatest social fears is to appear in public at a party wearing the identical dress or shirt or outfit that another person…
READ MORE
I don’t spend a lot of time pondering what might cause the end of our world as we know it, be it an asteroid colliding…
READ MORE
After my children progressed from the stage where they argued with friends about whose dad was biggest or whose dad could beat up whose dad,…
READ MORE
A lot has happened since my last column. Our sense of normality has been drastically altered. We are staying home more, and when we do…
READ MORE
Viruses are at the top of nearly everyone’s list of concerns right now, and understandably so. COVID-19 has wreaked havoc within our medical community and…
READ MORE
On several occasions photos of huge camel spiders, the size of a human’s calf, have exploded across the internet, accompanied by alarming stories describing how…
READ MORE
An entomological rule of thumb is that insects are active in the spring, summer, and fall, but not the winter. It is what we always…
READ MORE
Leaf-footed pine bugs can be inadvertently carried into a home on Christmas trees. Boxelder bugs brought into a home on firewood. If you are convinced…
READ MORE
When teaching about insects, biologists almost never say “always” or “never.” The words “almost always,” usually,” “most often,” “generally,” “ordinarily,” and “normally” can save a…
READ MORE
Some time ago I wrote a Spineless Wonders column about the invasion of stink bugs – specifically, the brown marmorated stink bug (Halyomorpha halys). I…
READ MORE
Dear Dr. Tim, What’s up with all the locusts, or whatever you call the “hoppy” insects that are all over our neighborhood. Is this the…
READ MORE
As an entomologist, I find that it often falls on me to serve as a sort of de facto mediator in ongoing or potential insect/human…
READ MORE