Bug Bites

Some are itchy, some are painful, some go totally unnoticed by us every single day...bugs have such variety in the ways they chomp, some chomps aren't even from bug mouths, but from bug butts! Join us while we debate, query, and learn all we can about the wide world of bug bites. SciShow Tangents is on YouTube! Go to www.youtube.com/scishowtangents to check out this episode with the added bonus of seeing our faces! Head to www.patreon.com/SciShowTangents to find out how you can help support SciShow Tangents, and see all the cool perks you’ll get in return, like bonus episodes and a monthly newsletter! A big thank you to Patreon subscriber Garth Riley for helping to make the show possible! And go to https://store.dftba.com/collections/scishow-tangents to buy some great Tangents merch! Follow us on Twitter @SciShowTangents, where we’ll tweet out topics for upcoming episodes and you can ask the science couch questions! While you're at it, check out the Tangents crew on Twitter: Ceri: @ceriley Sam: @im_sam_schultz Hank: @hankgreen [This, That, or the Other: These Ouches Are No Slouches] https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/cla.12103 https://www.press.jhu.edu/books/title/10878/sting-wild [Trivia Question] Size of giant toe-biting water bugs found in Cyprus https://travaux.pensoft.net/article/94457/ https://www.livescience.com/animals/insects/giant-toe-biter-water-bugs-discovered-in-cyprus-for-the-1st-time https://blog.abchomeandcommercial.com/do-water-bugs-bite/ https://cyprus-mail.com/2024/03/20/massive-bug-sighted-keep-your-toes-out-of-the-water/ [Fact Off] Epomis beetle larvae and adults eat frogs as role-reversal predators https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0025161 Bumble bees bite plant leaves to make them flower early https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aay0496 https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/bumblebees-bite-plants-to-force-them-to-flower-seriously/ https://wisconsinbumblebees.entomology.wisc.edu/about-bumble-bees/life-cycle-and-development/ https://academic.oup.com/jxb/article/67/17/4925/2197656 [Ask the Science Couch] Causes of itchiness and how calamine lotion / zinc oxide works https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4862869/ https://www.cuimc.columbia.edu/news/how-stop-bug-bites-itching https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9532860/ https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/immunology/articles/10.3389/fimmu.2019.02090/full https://jsstd.org/calamine-lotion/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4120804/ Patreon bonus: Bugs with big mandibles or bite marks (even if they rarely bite humans) https://pukaha.org.nz/the-wacky-world-of-new-zealand-weta/ https://newzealandecology.org/nzje/2995 https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/stag-beetles.html https://journals.biologists.com/jeb/article/217/7/1065/13119/Biomechanical-determinants-of-bite-force https://www.nps.gov/articles/giant-water-bug.htm [Butt One More Thing] Beaded lacewing (Lomamyia latipennis) larvae paralyze termites with farts before eating them https://www.wired.com/2015/06/silent-deadly-fatal-farts-immobilize-prey/ https://www.nature.com/articles/289506a0