A study recently published in Science has found that classical models of collective behavior fail to explain the mechanisms driving desert locust swarms—an ecological phenomenon that affects millions ...

Male locusts have long been observed shielding mates from other males. Researchers say this behavior may also protect the females from desert temperatures. By Gennaro Tomma It may seem like a hopeless ...

Researchers wielding artists’ paintbrushes have tickled some insects and come up with a new insight into how a plague of locusts gets started. Left to itself, the desert locust of biblical fame stays ...

For many locusts, life in a swarm is a picnic. Crowded conditions create a locust-eat-locust world. But it turns out some migrating insects deploy a “don’t-eat-me” pheromone that can deter their ...

Locusts are prompted to band together in enormous, destructive swarms by the same brain chemical that is linked to happiness in humans. A fascinating new study has found that locusts that are about to ...

Serotonin is a chemical jack-of-all-trades. It relays messages between the cells of the brain and in doing so, controls everything from anger to sleep, body temperature to appetite. But in one insect, ...

Researchers studying locusts have found that the presence of smell can be determined by simply adding and subtracting the presence of certain neurons. Smell a cup of coffee. Smell it inside or outside ...

NOAA is lending technical support to the United Nations in its battle against a massive locust infestation that’s spread from Africa into the Middle East and Asia. NOAA’s assistance is helping ...

Smell a cup of coffee. Smell it inside or outside; summer or winter; in a coffee shop with a scone; in a pizza parlor with pepperoni — even at a pizza parlor with a scone! — coffee smells like coffee.