Pests and Parasites News

October 31, 2026

Top Headlines

Oxford Scientists Discover How Viruses Build Themselves Without a Blueprint

Oct. 22, 2026 Scientists have captured virus-like particles assembling themselves step by step, revealing how a surprisingly simple process of trial and error produces complex structures with remarkable precision. The discovery uncovers a crucial molecular ...

Honey Bees Are Bullying Other Bees, Scientists Discover

Oct. 22, 2026 Honeybees are aggressively pushing wild pollinators away from flowers, with scientists documenting how they chase off rivals and dominate valuable food sources. New research warns that rising temperatures and increasing honeybee populations could ...

Stanford’s New Microscope Reveals Living Cells Like Never Before

Oct. 16, 2026 Stanford scientists have developed a revolutionary microscope that reveals the hidden inner workings of living cells in real time, without the fluorescent labels that can interfere with observations. The breakthrough could provide new insights into ...

Scientists Discover a Plastic-eating “Pac-Man” Enzyme with a Surprising Secret

Oct. 16, 2026 Scientists have discovered a remarkable “Pac-Man enzyme” that helps bacteria devour certain types of plastic and may offer new hope in the fight against plastic pollution. Researchers found that ...

A Fungus Is Threatening the World’s Food Supply. Scientists Just Found a New Defense

Oct. 15, 2026 Scientists have discovered a potential new weapon against a devastating fungus that threatens rice, wheat, and barley worldwide. By engineering a special type of plant immune receptor, researchers ...

Scientists Discover Why a 100-year-old Mushroom Disease Won't Go Away

Oct. 11, 2026 Scientists have uncovered a surprising secret behind a mushroom disease that has frustrated growers for more than a century: It involves more than 17 species of harmful bacteria, not just one. The discovery could explain why treatments have ...

Tropical Trees Built Homes for Ants. Wasps Are Taking Them Over

Oct. 5, 2026 Predatory wasps are hijacking shelters built by tropical trees for their ant defenders, potentially disrupting an ancient partnership that protects the plants from hungry insects. The takeover is far more common in disturbed landscapes such as oil ...

Scientists Discover a Human Brain Gene That Can Jump Through DNA

Oct. 5, 2026 Scientists have discovered a human gene with a remarkable double life: it appears to play an important role in brain cells while still retaining the ability to jump around the genome. Called BC200, the gene evolved millions of years ago from a ...

New “Plant Armor” More Than Triples Strawberry Yields

Oct. 1, 2026 A new protective fabric boosted strawberry yields by as much as 3.56 times while blocking insects and still allowing sunlight, rain, and airflow to reach the plants. Originally inspired by research on military clothing, Plant Armor could also help ...

Mulberry May Reshape Gut Bacteria and Influence Metabolism

Sep. 30, 2026 Mulberry compounds may reshape the gut microbiome in ways that support intestinal health and metabolism, with some combinations showing especially strong effects in animal studies. However, the results vary depending on the plant part and processing ...

Scientists Expected These Galápagos Sea Turtles to Wander. They Stayed Put

Sep. 28, 2026 Yellow-morph green sea turtles in the Galápagos surprised scientists by staying remarkably close to home instead of making the long journeys typically associated with sea turtles. Satellite tracking showed that none left the marine reserve during ...

Scientists Find New Virus Behind Mysterious Tick Illness

Sep. 28, 2026 Scientists have discovered a new tick-borne virus in China that causes flu-like illness and may account for previously unexplained cases of fever, fatigue, digestive problems, and low platelet counts. Most patients with ALTNV alone recovered, but ...

Latest Headlines

updated 11:24am EDT

The Asteroid Killed the Dinosaurs. Why Did Crocodiles Survive?

Oct. 30, 2026 Scientists may have solved a 66-million-year-old mystery: how crocodiles survived the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs. A sweeping analysis of fossils and ancient climates suggests that their ...

Scientists Reveal a Hidden Snakebite Crisis Killing Up to 513,000 People a Year

Oct. 30, 2026 A startling new study suggests that venomous snakebites are killing far more people worldwide than official statistics indicate, with an estimated ...

The Asteroid That Killed the Dinosaurs May Have Helped Ants Conquer the World

Oct. 27, 2026 The asteroid that killed the dinosaurs may have set the stage for ants to conquer the planet, with a surprising boost from “jumping genes” hidden ...

Do Spiders Dream? Scientists Just Found a Surprising Clue

Oct. 27, 2026 Scientists have discovered that spiders may sleep in ways surprisingly similar to humans, complete with distinct sleep stages and a dream-like REM state. Researchers at the University of Bonn studied ...

Chinese Scientists Discover “D-Rex,” a Giant Fungus With Roots Stretching Back 65 Million Years

Oct. 26, 2026 Scientists have discovered a giant new fungus in China that grows up to 20 inches tall and weighs nearly five pounds, making it the largest known of ...

This Bird Flies Thousands of Miles, but Its Wings Have a Catch

Oct. 17, 2026 Scientists have uncovered an unexpected trade-off in the wings of the European nightjar, a bird that migrates thousands of kilometers but sacrifices high-speed flight efficiency to hunt insects with ...

“Crawzilla” Was Huge. Then Scientists Found an Even Bigger Crayfish

Oct. 15, 2026 A nationwide search for giant crayfish uncovered a record-breaking Tennessee specimen and a surprising mystery about how big these freshwater creatures can grow. Scientists found that North American ...

210-Million-Year-Old Dinosaur Discovery Reveals a Lost World in Africa

Oct. 13, 2026 A newly identified 210-million-year-old dinosaur from Zimbabwe is helping scientists uncover a surprisingly distinct prehistoric ecosystem. The discovery suggests that ancient climate differences may ...

97-Million-Year-Old Fossils Reveal the Earliest Known Animal “GPS”

Oct. 2, 2026 Mysterious 97-million-year-old magnetic fossils may be the oldest evidence of an animal using Earth’s magnetic field like a built-in GPS. Their sophisticated magnetic structure could have helped an ...

This Giant Stick Insect Fooled Scientists for Decades

Oct. 1, 2026 Scientists have identified two new species of large Australian stick insects, including one that lays extraordinary “lidded” eggs never before recorded in the group. The discovery also revealed ...

Scientists Discovered Two Bizarre New Sea Spiders That Are “nightmare Fuel”

Sep. 25, 2026 Scientists discovered two strange new sea spider species in the Salish Sea, including a hairy-legged, red-eyed species that can groom itself with comb-like appendages. Another is frequently covered ...

“Parachute Science” Is Failing the Tropics, Home to More Than 80% of Insect Species

Sep. 9, 2026 Insects quietly hold much of the natural world together, yet conservation efforts are overlooking the tropical regions where more than 80 percent of insect species live. Monash University researchers ...

Scientists Discover a Bizarre “devil Flower” Hidden in Thailand

Sep. 3, 2026 Scientists have discovered a strange black “devil flower” in Thailand that lives mostly underground, steals nutrients from fungi, and looks strikingly unlike a typical plant. The newly named ...

The Secret to Longer Life May Be Hidden in Bat DNA

Sep. 11, 2026 Long-lived bats appear to combine powerful immune defenses with unusual strategies for eliminating damaged cells, potentially helping them avoid cancer and disease for decades. Researchers hope these ...

324-Million-Year-Old Fossil Reveals How Insects Conquered Land

Aug. 27, 2026 Ancient fossils suggest insects conquered land through a long amphibious phase rather than making an abrupt jump from water to dry ground. A newly identified 324-million-year-old species still ...

The Secret to Growing Food on Mars Could Be Fungi

Sep. 25, 2026 Scientists think beneficial fungi could help transform nutrient-poor lunar and Martian regolith into a material capable of supporting crops. By helping plants access nutrients and withstand harsh ...

Bird Flu Is Spreading. Your Backyard Feeder Could Make It Worse

Aug. 24, 2026 Backyard bird feeders could become unexpected hotspots for H5N1 as Australia’s bird flu outbreak spreads, bringing species together in ways that rarely occur naturally. Experts say stopping feeding ...

Scientists Just Named a New Snake After Guns N’ Roses Legend Slash

Sep. 18, 2026 A newly discovered snake from New Guinea has been named after Guns N’ Roses guitarist Slash, who has loved reptiles since childhood. Genetic testing and physical differences confirmed that the ...

MIT Turns Bacteria Into Living Transistors

Sep. 4, 2026 MIT researchers have created bacterial “transistors” that can be wired together into living circuits capable of performing calculations and directing chemical signals. One day, these biological ...

The U.S. Eradicated This Flesh-Eating Parasite. Now It’s Back

Sep. 15, 2026 The flesh eating New World screwworm has returned to the United States, threatening livestock, wildlife, pets and potentially people as it spreads north. A new UC San Diego tracking system aims to ...

For 15,000 Years, Humans and Dogs Have Been Changing Each Other

Aug. 10, 2026 Dogs have been shaping—and being shaped by—humans for about 15,000 years, evolving from early partners of hunter-gatherers into an astonishing range of specialized companions. Across the globe, ...

A 60-Year-Old Theory About Ants, Bees and Wasps May Be Wrong

Aug. 15, 2026 Scientists have long thought an unusual genetic system helped ants, bees, and wasps evolve their extraordinary social colonies. A massive new analysis suggests that genetics alone can’t explain ...

Forget the Sperm Race: Fertilization May Depend on Teamwork

Aug. 6, 2026 Millions of sperm do not always compete alone—some species send them into action as coordinated teams. A sweeping evolutionary study found that this cooperation is widespread among arthropods and ...

Two Deadly Flowers Could Inspire Powerful New Medicines

Aug. 3, 2026 Scientists have figured out how two famously poisonous plants create chemicals with surprising medical potential. After tracking thousands of genes in wolfsbane and larkspur, they identified six ...

Wasps Are Disappearing This Summer, and Scientists Are Worried

Sep. 11, 2026 Britain’s wasps have become mysteriously scarce this summer, and scientists suspect an unusual combination of temperature swings, heatwaves, and food shortages may be responsible. Even the wasps ...

Scientists Discover a Powerful New Antivenom Hidden in Rattlesnake Blood

Sep. 8, 2026 Researchers discovered that combinations of toxin-blocking proteins naturally found in rattlesnake blood can powerfully neutralize venom from several dangerous snake species. In lab tests, the ...

These Insect Submariners Survive Depths That Should Crush Them

July 27, 2026 Lake fly larvae plunge more than 200 meters into Lake Malawi each day to hide from predators, using tiny air sacs to control their depth. A rubber-like material called resilin lets them expand or ...

A Coral Reef Thought Dead for 60 Years Is Teeming With Life

Sep. 14, 2026 More than 60 years after surveys suggested a deep coral reef off Benin was probably dead, scientists have found it alive. Cameras revealed healthy-looking coral patches supporting multiple fish ...

Why Are So Many Dead Bumblebees Appearing on Sidewalks?

July 29, 2026 Bumblebees naturally have short lives, but extreme heat and human activity are making survival harder. Pesticides can poison bees or destroy the flowers they depend on, while habitat loss leaves them ...

Plants May Be Evolving the Wrong Traits for a Warming World

Sep. 3, 2026 Morning glories may be getting caught in an evolutionary tug-of-war between surviving climate change and attracting increasingly scarce pollinators. Over just nine years, researchers found that the ...