Skeptics Stack Exchange
Skeptics Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [entomology]

Use this tag for questions on insects and spiders. Entomology is the scientific study of insects, a branch of arthropodology. Historically this also included other arthropods such as arachnids (spiders).

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Is Vitamin B12 an effective mosquito repellent?

In a question on Travel.SE, a user claimed that Vitamin B12, taken regularly, can be an effective mosquito repellent. Is there any evidence behind this claim?
jrdioko
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Bumble bees shouldn't be able to fly?

There is a common belief that according to the known laws of physics, bumble bees should not be able to fly. The quote usually goes something like this: “Aerodynamically, the bumble bee shouldn't be able to fly, but the bumble bee doesn't know…
MSpeed
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Does garlic repel mosquitoes?

I have heard claims that garlic repels mosquitoes. Specifically, this site claims that Eating a diet heavy in onions and garlic can make you unattractive to mosquitoes. Is there any evidence supporting that claim?
Kit Sunde
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Has any person ever died from a tarantula bite?

From Wikipedia:Tarantula: [N]o fatalities have been attributed to tarantula bites... From Nationalgeographic.com: According to researchers, there's never been a single confirmed human death from a tarantula bite. Neither backs up its claims with…
user5582
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Are artificial sweeteners useful as insecticides against ants?

My dad uses Fun Light (a brand of Light Lemonade), which contains aspartame and acefulfam K, to kill ants. He claims that the human body can't process the artificial sweeteners and they just pass through, but that they actually are quite toxic to…
Wertilq
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Are tomatoes carnivorous?

New research shows that [tomatoes] capture and kill small insects with sticky hairs on their stems and then absorb nutrients through their roots when the animals decay and fall to the ground. It is thought that the technique was developed in…
user7920
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Were Love Bugs "Engineered" at the University of Florida?

Today while discussing cleaning cars with a co-worker, he mentioned how much he hated driving in Florida because of "Love Bugs" and stated that the "University of Florida researchers genetically engineered lovebugs." Yes, it is a common claim, and…
Larian LeQuella
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Is the apparent drop in insect deaths on windshields due to a decline in insect populations?

The "windshield phenomenon" is a term given to the anecdotal observation that people tend to find fewer insects smashed on the windscreens of their cars now compared to a decade or several decades ago". This effect has received coverage…
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Does switching the lights off help avoiding mosquitoes?

This Travel Stack Exchange answer states something I long considered for granted (probably because my parents told me so): if you want to avoid mosquitoes, switch off the light. Opening the window only works well if the temperature on the outside…
Glorfindel
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Can a wasp ingest and use a snake's venom?

Some people claim that if one comes across a dead venomous snake one should always cut of and bury the head as otherwise wasps could reach the venom and add it to their own stinger, for example this Answers.com answer: You bury a venomous snake's…
Thijser
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Can a house spider survive being vacuumed up?

There are a lot of Q&A/forums where it is suggested that it is possible these spiders can survive being vacuumed ("hoovered") up (and in some cases crawl back out the vacuum cleaner later). Is it possible for these spiders to survive the vacuuming…
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Is the total biomass of ants roughly equal to the total biomass of humans?

According to About.com The total biomass of all the ants on Earth is roughly equal to the total biomass of all the people on Earth. Is the above statement just a myth or its in fact real? Are there any hard facts to prove this?
saiy2k
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Do dryer sheets repel insects?

I recently asked over on Judaism.SE about how to keep bees away from a Sukkah. I got a reply that suggested that by hanging dryer sheets around, bees would stay away. I looked around online and seem to be getting conflicting reports with some…
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Do termites produce 10 times more CO2 than humans?

On October 21 2019 Australian Federal MP Malcolm Roberts posted an image to his Facebook feed claiming termites produce 10 times more CO2 than humans in a year. Is there a factual basis to this? Screen shot of post for reference:
user1605665
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Do Ostrich Eggs repel Spiders?

After someone told me that Ostrich eggs repel Spiders I had to google it. I haven't been able to find a scientific explanation but throughout the Internet there are a lot of articles that mention it somewhere. Also the Wikipedia article about this…
Jutschge
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