Science Corner with Prof. Paterson

Welcome to the Science Corner with your gracious host Brad Paterson

(Note: If you start to nod off within the first section you may skip ahead in the reading)

So Ashley was a witness to an intense swarm event that I am slightly jealous about. She said the swarm materialized out of the dark and it was overwhelming. I did however see the aftermath of that night the next morning. Cars and the ground near light sources were corvered with long translucent wings uniform in size. but there were no bug corpses to be found. I had to get an answer. Termites. You're saying, "they don't have wings Brad," special individuals do. Did you know that termites evolved onto this planet 250 million years ago from a large cockroach type insect that scurried around trying not to be stepped on by the dinosaurs? And yes termites do share the Isoptera order with praying mantids as you were probably guessing. Being around so long they have learned that nests built of such high numbers of individuals consume much resources. In order to perpetuate their existence, similar in aim only to our humble homo sapien species bumbling around trying to do the same, they evolved a clever type of reproductive group that flies far away from the original nest so as not to compete with its creator nest for resources. They emerge and swarm by the thousands on warm days after the rain when the soil is moist for burrowing with nuttin by sex on their 'minds'. Once reprodution is complete they shed their wings and scurry off this mortal coil as it were.
One might ask the question "how come termites even other bugs areattracted to light?" That's a great question that no one knows. This behavior has been labeled phototaxis or attraction to light. It is quite strange that being evolved from cockroaches, who display negative phototactic behavior, these crazy termites swarm the lights here in Chiang Mai. All I can say is that there are many possible theories, one being that their navigation systems may have evolved for travel using the sun or moon and their evolution has not caught up with our fancy fake lights. It also may be an escape centered activity in regards to light and dark areas on the ground.  Also termites swarm in the day so they may be confused. They may stay at light sources because, as you humans may have experienced, there is a temoprary blindness when moving from light to dark and vis versa, some bugs have a much slower light to dark adapting mechanism than dark to light so they become locked in a never ending cycle of blinding themselves. Dont trust anyone who says they know including me.

Mosquitoes! I have settled into a reluctant acceptance to their constant annoyance. Being faced with the frickin' energy they steal from me and Ashley trying to swat them, spot them, chase them, outsmart them (which is impossible but one still tries), itch their bites, put on mosquito repelent, and wash it off I can't help but become facinated with them. I have learned some things about these stupid ubiquitous Mother F$@kers that I will now share with you in the second portion of this the Science Corner blog.
Over 3500 species of mosquitos have been identified. Females are the ones who suck blood not males because they need the nutrients to make eggs with the proteins and sugars they extract from the blood. Their need for blood in order to reproduce puts them in direct danger so thats why they are so crafty at dodging attack. If you miss once they literally disappear. Its either a Klingon cloaking device from Star Trek or they drop out of the air and attach underneath something matching their color exactly. They locate their target by detecting mainly carbon dioxide optically and by smell. The saliva left behind after the bite, which is an anti coagulant, is what causes the itching. Dragonflies are massive killers of mosquitos so give em props next time you see one. For the most part it had become apparent that mosquitoes don't come out until certain parts of the day mainly morning and evening. It is the anopheles species of these punks that carry malaria and they only come out at night. Its weird now I can sense when the magic hour is going to occur. Right as the sun goes down a hush falls over humanity and the mosquitoes are awoke from their lazy ass existence and drop off their resting places in search of my ankles. The light is perfect for making them downright invisible and they don't care whether I'm at a good part in the book or not. Before I know it they have stolen all of my attention and I have to move or put on some repelent. It's the inconsiderate demeanor that's the most troubling really.

I hope you have gathered some super useful information that can be directly used in your everyday lives from the Science Corner with you host Brad Paterson. Take it easy watch out for swarms and magic hours......