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"Insects Fiction"
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Because a little bug went ka-choo!
The mere sneeze of a bug triggers a chain reaction involving, among others, cows, turtles, policemen, and an entire circus parade.
Book
drones, swarms and becoming-insect: feminist utopias and posthuman politics
Insects and 'the swarm' as metaphors and objects of research have inspired works in the genres of science fiction and horror; social and political theorists; and the development of war-fighting technologies such as 'drone swarms', which function as robot/insect hybrids. Contemporary developments suggest that the future of warfare will not be 'robots' as technological, individualised substitutions for idealised (masculine) warfighters, but warfighters understood as swarms: insect metaphors for non-centrally organised problem-solvers that will become technologies of racialisation. As such, contemporary feminist analysis requires an analysis of the politics of life and death in the insect and the swarm, which, following Braidotti (2002), cannot be assumed to be a mere metaphor or representation of political life, but an animating materialist logic. The swarm is not only a metaphor but also a central mode of biopolitical and necropolitical war, with the 'terrorist' enemy represented as swarmlike as well. In analysing the relations of assemblage and antagonism in the war ontologies of the drone swarm, I seek inspiration from what Hayles (1999, p. 47) describes as a double vision that 'looks simultaneously at the power of simulation and at the materialities that produce it'. I discuss various representations and manifestations of swarms and insect life in science/speculative fiction, from various presentations of the 'Borg' in Star Trek (1987-1994, 1995-2001, 1996), Alien (1979) and The Fly (1958, 1986) to more positive representations of the 'becoming-insect' as possible feminist utopia in Gilman's Herland (2015 [1915]) and Tiptree's Houston, Houston, Do You Read? (1989 [1976]). Posthuman warfare also contains the possibilities of both appropriating and rewriting antagonisms of masculine and feminine in the embodiment of the subject of war in the swarm. This piece seeks to analyse new ways of feminist theorising of the relations of power and violence in the embodiment of war as the swarm.
Journal Article
Creep! Crawl!
A wordless picture book shows animals quietly racing or inching their way through nature.
Book
Pulp Fiction: Why Some Populations of Ripe-Fruit Specialists Ateles chamek and A. marginatus Prefer Insect-Infested Foods
Fruit pulp is an easily handled energy source for many frugivorous species but generally has little protein. Accordingly, ripe-fruit specialist primate species with diets dominated by fruit pulp risk protein deficiency. While some species use leaf and flower buds, young leaves, and arthropods as an alternative protein supplement, highly frugivorous spider monkeys (Ateles spp.) use protein-rich young leaves and/or fig fruits. However, not all spider monkey populations have access to abundantly available figs. Comparing infestation frequencies of fruits on trees with those eaten by spider monkeys, we tested the hypothesis that, under such circumstances, spider monkeys preferentially choose those nonfig fruits with pulp infested by insect larvae (a highly protein-rich resource). We predicted that: (i) a large proportion of plant species eaten by Ateles would have insect larvae-infested fruits; and (ii) Ateles would actively select infested fruits. We tested these predictions with Ateles chamek and Ateles marginatus on the banks of the Tapajós River, Brazil. Across a 13-month sampling period, we recorded 27 plant species in the diet of the 2 Ateles species. Of these, 23 (85%) had larvae-infested fruits when sampled; 11 species (40%) had high levels of individual fruits infested (35-78%). We used Ivlev Values to quantify selectivity for infested/uninfested fruits in 20 plant species. Infested fruits were positively selected in 12 species (60%), while aversion to infested fruits occurred in 4 species (20%). This covert carnivory/faunivory in spider monkeys is a largely overlooked aspect of their feeding ecology. This situation would be nearly impossible to ascertain from behavioral observations alone, showing the value of integrated, multimethod approaches. The strategy used by Ateles spp. on the banks of the Tapajós highlights the flexibility of primate foraging choices and the importance of indirect source of protein to ripe-fruit specialist primates.
Journal Article
Still life with insects
Following a nervous breakdown, Elwyn Farmer finds stability and broad insight by keeping a journal of his insect sightings--an endeavor that also reveals a great deal about his family and himself.
Book
Donkey Hodie. Season 1, episode 39, Bright bright bugs/Panda's purple break
Donkey and Panda camp out to see the music-loving Bright Bright Bugs. When their instruments break, can they find another way to attract the bugs? Next, Panda is feeling tired of his purple things today, so Donkey helps him take a break.
Streaming Video
Bean thirteen
Two bugs, Ralph and Flora, try to divide thirteen beans so that the unlucky thirteenth bean disappears, but they soon discover that the math is not so easy.
Book
Electrical Stimulation of Coleopteran Muscle for Initiating Flight
Some researchers have long been interested in reconstructing natural insects into steerable robots or vehicles. However, until recently, these so-called cyborg insects, biobots, or living machines existed only in science fiction. Owing to recent advances in nano/micro manufacturing, data processing, and anatomical and physiological biology, we can now stimulate living insects to induce user-desired motor actions and behaviors. To improve the practicality and applicability of airborne cyborg insects, a reliable and controllable flight initiation protocol is required. This study demonstrates an electrical stimulation protocol that initiates flight in a beetle (Mecynorrhina torquata, Coleoptera). A reliable stimulation protocol was determined by analyzing a pair of dorsal longitudinal muscles (DLMs), flight muscles that oscillate the wings. DLM stimulation has achieved with a high success rate (> 90%), rapid response time (< 1.0 s), and small variation (< 0.33 s; indicating little habituation). Notably, the stimulation of DLMs caused no crucial damage to the free flight ability. In contrast, stimulation of optic lobes, which was earlier demonstrated as a successful flight initiation protocol, destabilized the beetle in flight. Thus, DLM stimulation is a promising secure protocol for inducing flight in cyborg insects or biobots.
Journal Article
Stories from bug garden
A series of vignettes provide an imaginative glimpse into the secret lives of a garden's unusual insects, including a ladybug who likes making mud angels and a cricket who dreams of grand adventures.
Book
New Directions in Literary Studies and Public Humanities
The chapters are edited by John Cullen Gruesser, senior research faculty at Sam Houston State, who is well known in the Poe studies community for his books, edited volumes, and articles about Poe and other nineteenth-century American writers. Some chapters gesture toward broader theoretical interventions into animal/human relations and the scholarly boom in ecocriticism, posthumanism, biopolitics, and the like, represented by the Critical Perspectives on Animals series from Columbia University Press, to cite an example. While affirming that \"Poe's primary interest in 'Rue Morgue' is the power of the analytical mind\" [50], Phillips argues that \"many of Poe's readers would have likely made the connection\" between the murderous animal and the conventions of nineteenth-century racism [49]. Phillips includes a discussion of Emmanuel Frémiet's 1859 sculpture, Gorille enlevant une négresse (with a corresponding illustration), to discuss the fear of race-mixing hinted at in the story and amplified by many later illustrations of the story peppered throughout the chapter.
Journal Article