crickets

11 Stories

At Theme Park, Eating a Cricket Gets You in

If that sort of thing doesn't bug you, they come in 5 different flavors

(Newser) - A Georgia theme park is offering guests a free ticket if they eat a cricket. The giveaway may bug some people, chortles the AP . But Wild Adventures Theme Park in Valdosta was giving away T-shirts and free admission Saturday to the first 100 guests to gobble up a roasted cricket....

Cops in the West Issue Warning on Oddly Moving Roads

Swarms of Mormon crickets are plaguing a bunch of states

(Newser) - Farmers in the US West face a creepy scourge every eight years or so: swarms of ravenous insects that can decimate crops and cause slippery, bug-slick car crashes as they march across highways and roads. Per the AP , experts say this year could be a banner one for Mormon crickets—...

School Food Truck Serves Up Crickets

University of Connecticut business says they're selling, too

(Newser) - A food truck at the University of Connecticut is serving up roasted crickets. The Daily Campus reports the university's dining services are advertising the insects as organic, not genetically modified, and earth friendly. The crickets are high in protein and low in fat. They're a source of B...

Invasive Asian Crickets May Well Live in Your House

They could be squeezing out native bugs: researcher

(Newser) - Asian camel crickets are now so common in the US, they may even be beating out their native cousins. Hundreds or thousands of the striped creatures may very well be sharing your house, a study from North Carolina State finds; indeed, 90% of scientists responding to a census found them...

Hiker Survives on Bugs After Harrowing Leg Break

Gregg Hein: Break was so bad bone protruded more than an inch out of leg

(Newser) - Hiking alone has its disadvantages, and experienced climber, rafter, and trail runner Gregg Hein got up close and personal with most of them earlier this month. Two days into a solo hike in the Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks near Fresno, Calif., his footing set loose a boulder that...

How Hungry Maggots Spurred Rapid Evolution

Male crickets new to Kauai, Oahu have altered their wings in just 20 generations

(Newser) - Two sets of male crickets on neighboring Hawaiian islands have been able to avoid attracting deadly parasitic flies by simply shutting up. The crickets likely arrived from Oceania in the late 1990s, and the flies came from North America around the same time. When the crickets tried to lure nearby...

STD Makes Crickets Mate Like Crazy

Highly contagious iridovirus also causes infertility, death

(Newser) - A newly discovered virus boosts the libido, encouraging those infected—that would be crickets, not humans—to have sex more often and with more partners. The highly contagious iridovirus transmits itself via close contact while mating, but not via insemination; it apparently passes from one's antennae to another's...

Cyborg Bugs Could Warn of Fires, Chemical Attacks

(Newser) - Cyborg bugs may sound like creatures in a Michael Bay movie, but they could save your life, New Scientist reports. The Pentagon is trying to implant electrodes in crickets and cicadas—which communicate via wingbeats—and program them to “speak” differently around certain chemicals. “The insect itself might...

Town Cranks Stones, Zeppelin to Fight Crickets

Up to mile-long swarms invade village regularly

(Newser) - A tiny Nevada town faces a yearly menace next month in the form of legions of crickets that can be a mile long and two miles across. Among the more unusual tools in their arsenal: rock music. Residents of Tuscarora swear it works, or at least helps, and are getting...

Mormon Crickets: Earmark to Some, Real Plague to Others

(Newser) - Critics, most notably John McCain, have lambasted the latest omnibus spending bill for its 8,500 earmarks; one frequently cited provision is $1 million to fight Mormon crickets in Utah. “Is that a species of cricket or a game played by the Brits?” joked McCain over Twitter. But to...

Save the Planet: Eat Bugs
 Save the Planet: Eat Bugs 

Save the Planet: Eat Bugs

Switching from beef to protein-packed bugs could help combat climate change

(Newser) - Chowing down on creepy-crawlies is a concept that's likely to nauseate most Americans, but insect eats may be the way of the future, Time reports. The critters are rich in protein and far more efficient to raise than cows or pigs, making them a possible solution to the problem of...

11 Stories