Can I Bug You?

Earlier this month, a curator for the American Museum of Natural History was arrested at Istanbul Airport with some 1,500 dead scorpions, spiders and tarantulas in his luggage. Did he commit a crime? If not, aside from the unusual sight of so many dead bugs in a suitcase, why did police suspect that he did? We're talking about that, and biopiracy, on today's episode.

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Ectoparasites like lice, fleas, mites, and ticks live on the outside of their hosts, causing chaos that ranges from intense itching to additional disease. Special guest Amy Murillo, assistant professor of entomology at UCR, talks about her research into ectoparasites that infect poultry, how "fitbits for chickens" can help control them, and whether they can affect people, too.

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Billions of buzzing, beady-eyed insects are emerging in many states after spending 13 or in some cases, 17 years underground. Do they pose any danger? And why might their "butts" fall off? Tune in for answers.

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Part 2 of our discussion of the lesser-known and surprising things that pollinators carry around with them. Featuring special guest Quinn McFrederick, an entomologist at UCR who studies wild bees and the microbes that live alongside them.

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Aah, springtime. Bees floating from flower to flower, eating nectar and taking pollen as they go. But there are other, stranger things that pollinators collect. This is part 1 of an episode featuring UCR entomologist Quinn McFrederick, where we discuss some of the little-known things that pollinators pack and take with them.

Co-hosts Jules Bernstein and Doug Yanega talk about what bugs people that study bugs: using common names for insects that create confusion.

Venerable UC Riverside arachnologist Rick Vetter joins the podcast to discuss the two most toxic spiders in North America: the black widow and the brown recluse. Have a back scratcher nearby - this discussion is going to get itchy!

For Valentine's Day we bring you a special episode of the podcast, a deep dive into the strange sex lives of bed bugs. Turns out the scourge of hotels everywhere are both stranger and less dangerous than you may have believed.

Palm weevils have quietly been destroying all the palm trees in the San Diego area. How long until they've taken the rest of the trees in Southern California? What's at stake if we don't control them now? UCR biological control expert Mark Hoddle joins us to shed light on the answers.