Insights from Insects: What Bad Bugs Can Teach Us (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781591022770)

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.

Author: Gilbert Waldbauer
ISBN-10: 1591022770
ISBN-13: 9781591022770
Publisher: Prometheus Books
Language: English
Published: 03/11/2005
Pages: 311
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.80lbs
Size: 8.30h x 5.40w x 0.70d

Review Citation(s):
Booklist 03/15/2005 pg. 1253
Science Books & Films 09/01/2005 pg. 216
Publishers Weekly 01/24/2005 pg. 230
Ingram Advance 04/01/2005 pg. 108
Science Books & Films 11/01/2005 pg. 245