Arthro-Pod

Hello vault dwellers and bug lovers! On today's episode of Arthro-Pod, the gang dips their toes into the cultural zeitgeist to talk about the video game/television show "Fallout" and more specifically about the horrible mutated arthropods that exist in that universe. Tune in to hear about the biology of giant "radroaches", feel the sting of the "stingwing", and maybe befriend your

Welcome bug lovers to our latest episode! Asa vast swath of the eastern US prepares for the "double brood" emergence of the various Magiccicada species, we here at Arthro-Pod got to meet up with engineer, entomologist, and author Alie Kratzer to talk about her new book, "The Cicadas of North America". See below for pre-ordering information.  We talk all about how cool these bu

  Hello lovers of bugs, as well as bugs who are in love! In today's episode, we take a journey through the world of nuptial gifts within the arthropods and find out why sometimes it is best to wrap a gift before trying to go on a date. Tune in to learn the basics of why nuptial gifts exist and how they can help facilitate the mating process and generation of the next generatio

Welcome back bug lovers! Today we venture into the world of worms, both segmented and unsegmented, to talk about jumping worms and hammerhead worms. While neither of them are arthropods, entomologists have been fielding inquiries on both over the last few years. We try to dispel some of the myths surrounding these wiggly wonders and discuss the possible negative effects they could

Howdy bug lovers! Scale insects are simultaneously fascinating and sort of uninteresting. They are notoriously immobile for much of their life, making them the insect of equivalent of couch potatoes. But, with that comes intriguing questions about how they live, thrive, and survive. Today, Mike is flying solo to interview Scott Schneider all about this particular group of true bugs

Hello bug lovers and welcome to a roach filled Valentine's edition of Artho-Pod! Jody and Jonathan meet up with Dr. Andrew Sutherland of University of California Extension. Andrew is an urban entomologist and an area IPM advisor for UC who serves the San Francisco area. As for today's topic, the Turkestan cockroach is an intriguing invasive species that is competing with other roac

  Hello bug lovers and our new machine overlords and welcome to a new episode of Arthro-Pod. Today, Jody, Jon, and Mike, decide to swerve a bit out of their lane and discuss their thoughts about artificial intelligence, specifically the intersection of AI and entomology/Extension. There is a lot of clamor over what AI means for the future and what it means ethically. Extension

 Hello friends, and welcome back to Arthro-Pod! Today's episode is a look at a phenomenon many entomologists will encounter, even if they aren't ready to, known as delusory parasitosis. Also referred to as delusions of infestation and Ekbom's syndrome, this situation involves a person believing that their body and home are infested with some sort of biting or stinging pest, de

  Hello bug lovers! We hope you have had a wonderful 2023 and are looking forward to 2024. To wrap our season for the year, we wanted to do something fun and make a bit of a news round up focused on arthropods (and some adjacent critters) and see what people were saying about our creepy crawly friends. We'll go from worm rain all the way through malaria and how to kill wasps w

 Welcome back bug lovers and ho ho ho, happy holidays! On today's show we're diving into Christmas trees! When these trees are being grown, there are some pests that might make their way onto the leaves and twigs, so we're talking about their biology and management. However, most of our calls that involve trees are in regard to insects that have been accidentally brought insid