Bedbug Dogs Sniff Out Bloodsuckers

... 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»

Leaders in battle against bloodsuckers meet in Chicago

(NEWSER) - These are boom times in the bedbug control business and dozens of scientists, exterminators, and inventors have flocked to a summit this week on dealing with the resurgent pest. At the first-ever North American Bedbug Summit, being held in a suburban Chicago hotel, dozens of vendors displayed ways to trap, poison, fry, freeze, or suffocate the bloodsucking pests, the New York Times reports. 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.

Tiny, frenetic munchers invade homes, snack on electrical wiring

(NEWSER) - Billions of "crazy ants" are munching their way through Gulf Coast counties in Florida and Texas, the Wall Street Journal reports. The tiny insects, believed to have originated in the Caribbean, happily make their homes in human dwellings and are tough to dislodge once they move in. The ants often chew through electrical wiring, shorting equipment, and experts fear they may soon be costing the region billions of dollars in damages, like the fire ants that plague the South. More»

To defeat a 100 milliseconds reaction time, stealthy swatting is crucial

(NEWSER) - Scientists using high-speed cameras have figured out why it is so difficult to swat pesky houseflies, the Independent reports. A fly's tiny brain can detect a threat, adjust flight course, and take evasive action in 100-thousandths of a second. The researchers, writing in the journal Current Biology, recommend thinking one step ahead of the fly. More»