Sunday, February 21, 2021, 09:33 GMT+7
Canadian Professor Gard Otis works on a laptop with his team members around during a field trip to Ba Vi District in suburban Hanoi, Vietnam in 2013 in this supplied photo
For nearly three decades, Canadian entomologist Gard Otis has dedicated himself to the study of behavior patterns in a native Vietnamese honeybee species, as well as to the development of local bee farming talent and technology in the north-central province of Ha Tinh.
Otis spent 36 years as a professor at the University of Guelph, Ontario, Canada, where he specialized in honeybee biology and behavior, insect ecology, and forest entomology.
To ward off giant hornet attacks, honeybees in Vietnam will adorn the entrances to their nests with other animals’ feces, a defensive behavior called fecal spotting, according to a paper published last month in the journal PLoS One.
The Addicted Gardener: The big stories of science from 2020
Donna Lane, Columnist
I think we can all agree that 2020 was a real corker and that we are happy to be ringing in a new year. Rather than post a lengthy “remembrance” of all that happened in 2020, I thought I’d share some of the interesting things I’ve discovered in the past couple of weeks.
According to CNN, 503 new species were named this year by London’s Natural History Museum. They include a critically endangered species of monkey, an armored slug and a lungless salamander that breathes through its skin. None of that will help you grow better tomatoes, but I thought you might find it interesting. I did.
A 2020 look at PLOS in the news! Charlotte Bhaskar, PLOS Media Relations Manager
January
Image: Zhu et al, 2020 (PLOS Computational Biology CC BY4.0) An image of the setup for the moth’s navigation experiment and a grid discretizing the moth’s position. –PLOS Computational Biology
(Many of our most popular papers continue to sound the alarm regarding the climate crisis and the need to steward our planet with greater care and consideration. Other popular papers highlight all we can learn from our fellow earthlings–like the moths in this Computational Biology paper.)
–PLOS Medicine
PLOS Computational Biology
(This paper looked at information-seeking in the US during the 2016 Zika virus epidemic–but clearly foreshadows the COVID 19 response in the US, publishing the same week PLOS’ San Francisco office closed as we shifted to working from home.)
ALBIA, Iowa – Kness Pest Defense s Ketch-All Multiple Catch Mousetrap has been awarded the 2020 Retailers Choice Award by the North American Retail Hardware Association (NRHA). Each year, this award is bestowed on standout products that are showcased at the National Hardware Show. The Retailers Choice Committee selected the Ketch-All for the Most Innovative Item category.
This is a great honor to have our product chosen for this award, said Dan Crew, general manager of Kness. We strive to make the most innovative pest control solutions, and the Ketch-All is the perfect example of the company s commitment to that mission.
The award is seen as a result of the unwavering efforts put forth by Kness employees. The award gives recognition of their hard work and dedication. The Kness team works hard to provide our customers with a quality product, whether it is on the production floor or through customer service, said Crew.