Don’t laugh. The way things are going, it could come to this.
What’s tasty, abundant and high in protein? Bugs! Although less common outside the tropics, entomophagy, the practice of eating bugs, was once extremely widespread throughout cultures. You may feel icky about munching on insects, but they feed about 2 billion people each day (Mmm, fried tarantulas). They also hold promise for food security and the environment. Emma Bryce makes a compelling case for dining on bugs.
According to Albert Einstein, when honey bees become extinct, humans would follow within four years. He argues that honey bees play a key role in the pollination of plants which end up supplying food to humans and other animals. Without the plant bees therefore, the plants will not be able to multiply resulting in food shortage and an end to human race.
Where would we be without bees? As far as important species go, they are top of the list. They are critical pollinators: they pollinate 70 of the around 100 crop species that feed 90% of the world. Honey bees are responsible for $30 billion a year in crops.
That’s only the start. We may lose all the plants that bees pollinate, all of the animals that eat those plants and so on up the food chain. Which means a world without bees could struggle to sustain the global human population of 7 billion. Our supermarkets would have half the amount of fruit and vegetables.
It gets worse. We are losing bees at an alarming rate. Possible reasons include the loss of flower meadows, the crab-like varroa mite that feasts on their blood, climate change, and use of pesticides.
How close are we to losing our bees? Earth Unplugged’s Maddie Moate explains all.
In this animated Ted-Ed lesson, Rose Eveleth explains the difference between poison and venom.
Would you rather be bitten by a venomous rattlesnake or touch a poisonous dart frog? While both of these animals are capable of doing some serious damage to the human body, they deliver their dangerous toxins in different ways. Rose Eveleth sheds light on the distinction between poison and venom (and why you shouldn’t treat either one like you’ve seen in the movies).
Hank Green of SciShow explains why some planets, like Saturn, have rings and others do not.
Hank fields one of the most commonly asked questions about our solar system: Why does Saturn have rings? Part of the answer has to do with the fact that it’s not the only planet that has them.
