UIUC Entomologists in the News

May Berenbaum

Chicago Tribune, 3/3/95: That's bug TV

Buffalo News, 3/6/95: Entomologist's writings inspire schoolboy crush

Chicago Tribune, 4/17/95: Kills bug dread

St. Louis Post Dispatch, 4/20/95: Professor lets bugs out of closet

Centralia Sentinel, 4/14/95: Professor not bugged by insects

Alton Telegraph, 4/17/95: Entomologist overcomes fear, now bugs public to do the same

DuQuoin Evening Call, 4/15/95: Boy, they bug me...

Chicago Sun Times, 4/15/95: Prof uses knowledge, fun to zap fear of bugs

Rockford Register Star, 04/15/95: Insects don't bug professor anymore

Messenger & Inquirer (Owensboro, KY), 6/28/95: Downed pilot's ant meal doesn't bug the experts

Scientific American, Feb. 95, p. 20: "Nothing personal, you're just not my type"--Most movie aliens cannot reproduce successfully

National Wildlife, Feb./Mar. 95: Revenge of the bugs

The Sciences, Nov./Dec. 94: Metamorphosis: an entomologist who grew up fearing insects has become one of their leading ambassadors

Dallas Morning News, 6/16/93: Study suggests insects caused flowering plants to diversify

Science, 4/11/94: Scientists upset insect orthodoxies

Sunday Journal (Kankakee), 5/20/90: Are plants smarter than people? When it comes to sensible pest control, they just might be

BBC Wildlife, 9/91: Empty-headed evasion

New York Times, 6/22/92: Nibbled plants launch active counterattacks

Nature, 5/16/91: Seeing through the fruits of deception

Fred Delcomyn

IEEE Expert, Apr. 95: Climbing the walls

Dave Barry column, 7/9/95: Robot cockroaches--Here's more proof that `mad scientist' is redundant

News Gazette, 4/20/95: Another step in the evolution of the cockroach

Chicago Tribune, 7/3/95

Robert Metcalf

Dallas Times-Herald, 219/87: Superbugs, resistant microbes called threat

Newark Star-Ledger, 2/19/87: Chemical-proof superbugs pose global threat

Houston Post, 2/19/87: Experts say pesticides create monster bugs

Jornal Do Brasil, 2/19/87: Biologo acusa inseticida de criar os`superinsetos'

Miami Herald, front page, 2/19/87: Superbugs may have beaten us at our own game"

USA Today, 2/19/87: `Monster bugs' sneer at eradication efforts

US News & World Report, 3/2/87, Comment in Update: The shortsighted and irresponsible use of pesticides is producing strains of monster bugs

Chicago Tribune, 3/3/87: Farms overdose on chemicals: Scientist

Dallas Times-Herald, 3/29/87: Bugs and pests find ways to route the newest chemicals

Seattle Times & Post-Intelligencer, 5/17/87: Learning to play God in the garden by using the right pesticides

Omaha World-Herald, 10/6/90: Sweet treat tricks insects, decreases chemical use

Mount Vernon Register, 10/6/90: New `squash perfume' lures bugs to fatal food

Gene Robinson

Discover Magazine, 1/89: A select bunch of bees: the Apian Way

Chicago Tribune, Spring 91

St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 3/15/91

New York Times, 5/21/91: In defense of the hive: a soldier squad lurks among the honeybees

Intl. Herald Tribune, Spring 91: Scientists find a military caste among honeybees

Mundo 21, Fall 91

Equinox, Fall 91

Volkskrant, The Netherlands, 6/15/91

Chicago Tribune, Fall 93

New York Times, 7/30/91 (work habits of bees)

Los Angeles Times, 6/24/92 (kin recognition research)

Chicago Tribune, 5/12/93 (parasitic mites on bees)

Hugh Robertson

New York Times, 1/12/93: `Microbes' odd tricks disrupt reproduction in some insect species

The Scientist, 9/18/95: Bioengineered bugs a `brisk trade'

Science, 12/3/93: Debating the use of transgenic predators

BioScience, 9/94: Mariners and malaria

Here's more proof that `mad scientist' is redundant

Dave Barry

"Speaking of insects, I have here a column from the spring 1995 issue of American Entomologist magazine, sent in by alert reader Jackie Simons and written by May Berenbaum, who discusses a University of Illinois entomology professor who has--you are not going to believe this, but I'm going to tell you anyway--"pioneered the design and use of artificial limbs for cockroaches."

Naturally I had to call this professor, whose name is Fred Delcomyn. He freely admitted to me that he has, indeed, fitted cockroaches with tiny artificial limbs made from toothpicks. He's trying to figure out exactly how cockroaches move--in stark contrast to us normal, non-scientist, sane people, who would like to figure out exactly how to make cockroaches STOP moving, so we could hit them with hammers.

But here's the truly alarming thing: Delcomyn, as part of his research, wants to BUILD A ROBOT COCKROACH. In fact, he has already built one that's a foot-and-a-half long ("not too big, compared to your Florida roaches," he noted, correctly). But his plan is to build a bigger one, a robot cockroach that will be FOUR FEET LONG.

When will these scientists ever learn? We know what's going to happen! We've seen this movie! Everything will be fine at first, with the robot roach doing exactly what the scientists want it to. But thenone night, after the scientists have left the laboratory, there will be a lightning storm, and extra electricity will flow into the roach, and it will COME TO LIFE ON ITS OWN--FrankenRoach!--and escape and terrorize the community.

Why must scientists continue to mess with the natural order of things? Why do we need to create giant cockroaches? We already have the O.J. Simpson defense team! If you are as concerned about these issues as I am, I urge you to take action TODAY in the form of doubling your medication dosage."