Insights From Insects: What Bad Bugs Can Teach Us

This fascinating, beautifully illustrated book profiles twenty "troublesome bugs," showing how the study of these creatures has led scientists to many basic discoveries that have enhanced our understanding of life.The reader learns how an American entomologist was awarded France's gold medal of honor for rescuing the French wine industry from destruction by the aphid-like "grape phylloxera"; how the World Health Organization almost completely eradicated malaria through the use of DDT before the insect adapted to the insecticide and became resistant; how some insects disguise themselves to avoid detection; how others survive the subzero temperatures of winter; why some flies have a uterus and a mammary gland; and many more strange and tantalizing true tales about these wonderful, troublesome "pests"-pests that have taught us vital lessons about survival, nature, and the environment.

Gilbert Waldbauer is professor emeritus in the entomology department at the University of Illinois and the author of the highly acclaimed What Good Are Bugs?, The Handy Bug Answer Book, and Millions of Monarchs.