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^{Ask Dr. Universe} _Entomology

University Communications Network > Ask Dr. Universe > Academic Subjects > Biology > Entomology

Dr. Universe: What are bees’ wings made of? -Natalia, 13, Kennewick, WA

July 23, 2020 rcwebber

Dear Natalia, Bee wings may be small, but they are really strong. I learned all about bee wings from my friend Melanie Kirby, a honey bee researcher at Washington State University. Kirby said you can think about bee wings as if they were a kite. If you make a kite out of thin tissue, it might rip. But if you make it out of a strong plastic film it will be stronger. Bee wings are made of a material called chitin (KITE-IN) and it’s a lot like keratin, the material that makes up your fingernails. Chitin is what makes up the wings on each side of the bee’s body. Read More ...

Dr. Universe: How can bees fly? - Christopher, Kansas

May 22, 2020 rcwebber

Bees fly like a blur, with wings too fast to see. Often, you hear them before you see them. They’re small, but their sound is unmistakable. Bees hover with a telltale buzz. Read More ...

Dear Dr. Universe: Why do flowers smell so nice? – Miles, 5

April 4, 2019 rcwebber

Flowers not only smell nice to humans, but also to many insects and birds who help the flowers do a really important job. Let’s imagine that you are a bee or a butterfly. You don’t have a nose on your face, but instead use your two antennae to smell things. As you fly around, you catch a whiff of chemicals floating in the air. Down below, you see a field of daisies. The flowers are releasing some chemicals, which are the building blocks of a smell. Read More ...

How do grasshoppers survive the winter? –Lucy, 9

December 6, 2017 rcwebber

Dear Lucy,

There are a lot of different grasshoppers living on our planet. In fact, scientists have discovered more than 11,000 species. Exactly how these grasshoppers spend their winter depends on what kind of winter they experience.

Dear Dr. Universe: I would like to find out how ants are so strong. How is it possible that they can carry weight that is heavier than themselves? –Anita, 11

July 20, 2017 rcwebber

Dear Anita,

Ants are pretty good little weightlifters. My friend Rich Zack, a scientist at Washington State University who studies insects, knows a lot about ants. One kind of ant that he has studied can carry up to 20 times its own weight.

How do viruses affect animals? -Gianni, 10, Cayman Islands

May 3, 2017 rcwebber

Dear Gianni,

Our planet is home to more than seven million amazing animal species. While we have our differences, we also have something in common: We are all made up of a bunch of cells.

How do ladybugs survive the winter? Are ladybugs we see in spring several years old or did they just hatch? Are they worms before they are beetles? – Tanya, Pullman, WA

April 10, 2017 rcwebber

Dear Tanya,

You know it’s springtime when animals start coming out of hibernation. That includes ladybugs that crawl out from their cozy winter hiding places.

Dear Dr. Universe: How do spiders make silk? Also, sometimes spiders hang down from the ceiling, when they climb back up, where does the silk go? –Johnny, 8, Pullman, WA

October 3, 2016 rcwebber

Dear Johnny,

Spiders can do some amazing things with their sticky, stretchy, and super-strong silk. Us cats are pretty curious about these little silk-spinning machines, too.

What is the smallest insect on Earth? -Laurenz, 8, Molino, Philippines

June 30, 2016 rcwebber

Dear Laurenz,

When I saw your question, I set out to explore with my bug net and a magnifying glass. I was searching all around for tiny insects when I ran into my friend Laura Lavine, a Washington State University scientist who studies bugs.

She said there are nearly a million different kinds of insects on Earth. The smallest of all the known ones are called fairyflies.

How far can monarch butterflies fly? -Roarna, 9, New Zealand

November 16, 2015 rcwebber

Dear Roarna,

When cold winters come around, thousands of monarch butterflies begin a long journey in search of warmer weather. Some will fly more than 2,200 miles to find it.

Why do bees make hexagons in their hives? Why not any other shape? -Aditya, 10, New Delhi, India

November 2, 2015 rcwebber

Dear Aditya,

When bees make hexagons in their hives, the six-sided shapes fit together perfectly. In fact, we’ve actually never seen bees make any other shape. That’s what I found out when I visited my friend Sue Cobey, a bee researcher at Washington State University.

Cobey showed me some honeycombs where the female bees live and work. Hexagons are useful shapes. They can hold the queen bee’s eggs and store the pollen and honey the worker bees bring to the hive.

When you think about it, making circles wouldn’t work too well. It would leave gaps in the honeycomb. The worker bees could use triangles or squares for storage. Those wouldn’t leave gaps. But the hexagon is the strongest, most useful shape.

Do spiders have good eyesight? -Kathryn, Comfort, Texas

October 26, 2015 rcwebber

Dear Kathryn,

Most spiders have quite a few eyes, but they usually can’t see very well. Then again, seeing isn’t everything.

I saw a caterpillar and a butterfly in the neighbor's yard. So my question is, what exactly happens inside the little sack they're in while they transform into a butterfly and HOW exactly do they do it? -Eston

April 6, 2015 rcwebber

Dear Eston,

Springtime sets the stage for one of the greatest transformations in the natural world.

“It’s the construction of a butterfly or moth from caterpillar soup,” said my friend David James, an entomologist at Washington State University. James studies the science behind metamorphosis, or how a creature transforms.

Why do bees have stuff that looks like hair? The hair on their legs looks like a real hassle, what with all the crud that sticks to it.*-Elliot

February 4, 2015 rcwebber

That crud is their food, Elliott. That’s what I learned from Steve Sheppard. He studies bees here at WSU.