Author: Alex Dittrich, Senior Lecturer in Zoology, Nottingham Trent University

Bumblebees die in extreme heat, but there are other reasons too. Jay-Dee/Shutterstock You may be spotting bodies of dead bumblebees lying across pavements near you in the summer months. There are several reasons for this, some to do with the weather and some very much due to humans. Bumblebees are social, living in colonies that […]

The importance of bees for pollinating wild plants and crops is well known. If we lose the bees, we lose our food. But this is only part of the picture. Bees also support a hidden network of other species, sometimes as mutual partners, sometimes as prey, sometimes as other unwilling victims. Many organisms depend on […]

Incy wincy hasn't got time for witchcraft. thatmacroguy/Shutterstock If you’re scared of spiders, Halloween certainly doesn’t help. People decorate their homes with monstrous-looking fake cobwebs and horror movies depict giant spiders hunting humans or creeping around spooky abandoned houses. Spiders’ long association with witches can also make their presence seem a little ominous. In reality […]

Ruslan Suseynov/Shutterstock In Antarctica’s freezing depths, tiny creatures have mastered survival tactics that could unlock secrets to extreme cold resistance, with implications for science and medicine. Some of the most intense battles against the environment are waged by the smallest of creatures. When it’s cold, we, as warm-blooded (endothermic), animals simply put on a coat. […]

We’ve all found ourselves trying to avoid the swarms of midges that are so common in late summer. But as you try to avoid them, what you may not know is that they are equally keen to avoid each other. It’s strange behaviour for creatures that typically move around together. But physicist Andrew Reynolds from […]