Justin Schmidt, an entomologist at the University of Arizona, has been stung by insects hundreds of times over the course of his career. In the mid-1980s, he decided to categorize these experiences scientifically. The result is a "pain index" that reads almost like a wine tasting guide. At the low end of the scale, you'll find species like pharaoh ants and the Costa Rican wasp Polybia diguetana. At the scale's upper limit are the tarantula hawk wasp (top photo) and bullet ants.

Florence Dunkel, an entomologist at Montana State University, is the subject of this news video on entomophagy (eating insects). Dunkel says about 80% of the world's population actually consumes insects and it's time that the United States jump on that bandwagon, but it's something that the Western world has not taken a liking to just yet. Watch the video below.
 

Lyric Bartholomay, director of Iowa State University’s Medical Entomology Lab, was interviewed by the Des Moines Register about her work on mosquito surveillance. Read the interview.

Frank Zalom, a professor of entomology and former vice chair of the UC Davis Department of Entomology, was recently elected to be the Vice President-Elect of the Entomological Society of America. This means he'll move up to vice president and then president, and finally, serve a year as past president. Overall, it's a four-year commitment.

Michael Raupp, a University of Maryland professor and "Bug of the Week" blogger, is the subject of this article from the Baltimore Sun. Dr. Raupp's communications skills have made him a popular guest on such national TV programs as "Good Morning America" and "The Dr. Oz Show," and locally as a speaker at the Howard County Conservancy. Read the article.

Danielle Wishon, an entomology major at the University of California, Davis and president of the UC Davis Entomology Club, has received the UC Davis Department Of Entomology’s Outstanding Undergraduate Student Award.

Read the full article.

Scott O'Neill, a medical researcher at Monash University in Australia, is featured in this NPR story on a new approach to control mosquitoes by infecting them with Wolbachia bacteria. O'Neill infected hundreds of thousands of mosquitoes and released them in two small communities. These results appear this week in the journal Nature. Read the article or listen to the broadcast.

Tracy Leskey, a research entomologist with the USDA, was interviewed by West Virginia Public Broadcasting about the brown marmorated stink bug and the damage it is doing to fruit and vegetables. Listen to the interview.

Joe Keiper, an entomologist at the Virginia Museum of Natural History, was interviewed by NPR about a "Bugnado" -- a cloud of insects the size of a tornado -- that swept across flooded corn fields in Iowa.

Click here to listen to the interview or read the article.

A video of the Bugnado is also available below.

Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart Museum of Entomology and professor of entomology at the University of California, Davis, has discovered a shiny black wasp that appears to be the "Komodo dragon" of the wasp family.