Researchers combined adaptive optics and parallel optical coherence tomography to capture high-speed, 3D views of individual cells in the living retina. This non-invasive advance could drastically improve the early  detection and monitoring of chorioretinal diseases. 

Agricultural scientists are rethinking their battle plans against plant parasites that cause billions of dollars in annual yield losses for American farmers. 

Chemical nematicides, soil treatments and biological controls have had mixed success against the soybean cyst nematode, and many potential solutions carry environmental or economic limitations.

Host resistance — breeding soybean varieties that can withstand infection — has been the most effective and environmentally friendly management tool, but its usefulness is declining. Asia Kud, an assistant professor of nematology in the department of entomology and plant pathology for the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station, the research arm of the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture, Kud was awarded a $298,913 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture to continue researching a strategy to stop these pest nematodes from feeding and reproducing by interfering feeding sites they create with proteins called effectors.

Pollinators are commonly classified into functional groups based on similarities in morphology and behavior, under the assumption that such groupings reflect comparable contributions to plant reproduction. Researchers at University of Tsukuba challenge this conventional assumption by analyzing pollen carried on insect bodies. The team found that even among morphologically similar pollinators differed substantialy in both the types and composition of pollen they transported. These differences suggest considerable variation in floral fidelity—the tendency to repeatedly visit specific plant species—and may also affect the potential for heterospecific pollen transfer (HPT).

Some insects and microbes develop symbiotic partnerships, which become so interdependent that they can no longer survive without each other.

But how specific are these heritable symbioses? Is it possible for the same species of bacteria to flourish across different species of insect hosts, or are these partnerships more fixed, honed over millions of years of evolution?

An enigmatic new species of wormlion fly, whose larvae construct clever pitfall traps to capture prey, has been revealed in a study led by researchers at Dali University in China. The fly, described in a recent paper in the open-access journal ZooKeys, was identified after a 2025 expedition successfully collected adult specimens in Yadong County, southern Xizang.

The genetic mechanisms regulating the metamorphosis of worker and queen bees from genetically identical insect larvae is poorly understood. A team of researchers recently identified 842 candidate enhancer sequences from 17,349 worker Apis mellifera transcription start sites that may help regulate the development of worker honeybees in this genus’ complex social caste system.

Inspired by the multimodal perception characteristics of insect antennae (for force, temperature and gas), the ECUST interdisciplinary team developed the Electronic Multifunctional Sensing Antenna (EMSA)—a flexible thin-film self-decoupling multimodal sensor fabricated via a maskless laser direct writing process. The sensor realizes intrinsic decoupling of temperature and strain, as well as simultaneous thermo-mechanical-gas trimodal monitoring, with four core technological breakthroughs.

In a novel experiment at the University of Cincinnati, researchers isolated kissing bugs, fruit flies, mosquitoes and spider beetles in a climate- and light-controlled environment and found that they responded predictably to cycles of humidity in the same way they do temperature and daylight. After the humidity cue was removed, the insects continued to respond to the cyclical fluctuations of humidity and dryness established in the experiment.