Author Offers Creepy Look at Critters With Taste for Blood

Our layer of fine hairs aids parasite detection: study

(NEWSER) - Scientists who wondered why human skin still boasts as many follicles as that of great apes—ours, of course, grow hair much, much finer—believe our species' continued hairiness serves as an alarm system that protects us from bedbugs and other biting insects, the Economist finds. The researchers, who shaved a patch of arm hair from 29 volunteers and released hungry bedbugs there and on an unshaved patch, found that their subjects detected the insects' movement much faster when hair was involved—recording it every four seconds, versus every 10—and that the fine hairs slowed down the bugs' feeding. More»

... helping people clean apartments before extermination

(NEWSER) - At least one group of New Yorkers has benefited from the city's bedbug problem: out-of-work actors, many of whom have taken jobs as extermination preparers, the Wall Street Journal reports. They "have great personalities and follow directions well," says the owner of one company who hires them to help clients with the labor-intensive pre-extermination process—apartments must be cleaned, clothes laundered, book and media collections vacuumed, and items sealed in plastic. More»

16-foot creatures could traverse continents: scientists

(NEWSER) - Scientists think they’ve finally figured out how a dinosaur the size of a giraffe was able to soar through the air: It used its huge wings to pole-vault, the Daily Mail reports. Researchers from the UK and US say their theory trumps longstanding claims that pterosaurs couldn’t possibly fly. That belief stemmed from the fact that the majority of birds run to pick up speed, jumping then flapping like mad—a maneuver the massive pterosaur couldn't perform. But these anatomically unique animals had "a distinctly different skeletal structure, wing proportions, and muscle mass," says one of the palaeontologists behind the discovery. More»

They have a smell...that comes from their feces

(NEWSER) - Bedbugs are back in a big way, with infestations closing at least two stores in New York City recently. AOL News lists five things you should know about these creepy crawlers:

1. They smell: If you can smell their sweet, musky scent, chances are you’ve already got an infestation on your hands. Even grosser: The scent comes from their feces.

Trained hounds in high demand as infestations rise

(NEWSER) - The resurgence of an old pest has created new jobs for dogs. Bedbug infestations have soared in American cities over the last four years, creating boom times for exterminators, especially those using canny canines trained to detect the tiny suckers. Handlers say the dogs can expertly sniff out infestations and work their way through buildings a lot faster than exterminators looking for visual traces of the bloodsuckers. More»