Tag: insects

Scientists issue stark warning after harmful creatures breed to form hybrid species: ‘We have confirmed the presence of hybrid swarms’

Invasive species can wreak havoc on your local ecosystem, but imagine two invasive insects coming to your area and breeding.

That’s exactly what’s happening in Florida.

According to News Channel 8, “The Formosan subterranean termites and Asian subterranean termites” are mating in southern areas of the Sunshine State.

What’s happening?

Associate Professor Thomas Chouvenc from the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences had his suspicions about these two species breeding 10 years ago. He noticed both males and females from each species showing courtship behaviors.

A study from the university, published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, confirmed that these two invasive creatures have bred to form a hybrid species.

Chouvenc’s team began collecting termite samples “in the Fort Lauderdale area that didn’t match the shape or form of either termite species,” per News Channel 8.

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Government Funded Group Explores Using Psychological Propaganda to Make People Eat Bugs

A UK government-backed group is exploring how to use “nudge” tactics (psychological propaganda) to convince the population to start eating insects.

The National Alternative Protein Innovation Centre (NAPIC), which is funded by UK Research and Innovation, a government quango, is trying to sell the public on “meat alternatives” in the name of reducing carbon emissions as part of the UK’s net zero agenda.

Prof Anwesha Sarkar, from the University of Leeds, where the research centre will be based, told the Telegraph: “We want to make alternative proteins mainstream for a more sustainable planet.”

That diet includes “mince created from crickets” and various insects ground up into something that “looks like a burger.”

Disgusting.

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The Push for Bug-Based Diets Continues

Mealworm meatballs, anyone? Or how about a salad with a side of crickets? With the recent changes transpiring in the food industry, it’s highly possible that these will be the food choices you’ll see on restaurant menus in the future.

In Singapore, the movement toward a more insect-inclusive diet is progressing rapidly. The Singapore Food Agency (SFA) recently approved the import of insect and insect products for human consumption, set to take effect immediately.1

SFA Approves 16 Insects for Human Consumption

Reports about Singapore planning to add more edible insects and insect products to their food supply actually made news in the last quarter of 2022. It was estimated that by the end of 2023, the SFA would give the green light for 16 types of insects to be approved for human consumption or to be used in animal feed.2

However, the approval was pushed back; it was only on July 8, 2024, when the agency finally gave the go-signal for these insects to be used as food. According to the SFA’s press release:3

“As the insect industry is nascent and insects are a new food item here, [the] SFA has developed the insect regulatory framework, which puts in place guidelines for insects to be approved as food.

With immediate effect, [the] SFA will allow the import of insects and insect products belonging to species that have been assessed to be of low regulatory concern.”

The 16 insect species included in the SFA’s list have different stages of growth — there are adult house crickets (Acheta domesticus) and grasshoppers (Oxya japonica), Superworm beetle mealworms (Zophobas atratus/Zophobas morio) and Whitegrub larvae (Protaetia brevitarsis), and Silk moth pupa and silkworm larvae (Bombyx mori).4

Various insect-containing products are also allowed. “Among the insect products that Singaporean authorities have said can be imported are: insect oil, uncooked pasta with insects as an added ingredient, chocolate and other confectionery containing no more than 20% insect, salted, brined, smoked and dried bee larva, marinated beetle grub, and silkworm pupa,” The Guardian reports.5

Local restaurants are gearing to accommodate these novel products, making notable changes to their menus to attract “more daring” customers. For example, the restaurant House of Seafood is planning a menu with at least 30 insect-infused dishes, which include silkworm- and crispy cricket-garnished sushi and salted egg crab with silkworms.6

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All Things Bugs: Bill Gates, U.S. Military Among Investors in GMO Insect Protein for Humans

While regulators in non-U.S. countries, including Singapore, have issued approvals for specific insect-based foods, in the U.S., the regulatory landscape is murkier — there is no legal approval process or clear-cut prohibition of insects for human consumption.

As a result, insect-containing foods have reached U.S. consumers, even though one of the few existing U.S. laws that address insects in the food supply refers to them as “filth” and a form of “adulteration.”

Crickets and grasshoppers reach U.S. consumers in a variety of forms, from protein bars to protein shakes. They’re also found on restaurant menus and are promoted as pet food and animal feed ingredients.

With few U.S. regulatory barriers to contend with, investors like Bill Gates and Big Food giants such as Tyson Foods have also begun investing in “alternative protein” startups — despite mainstream media “fact-checks” claiming Gates doesn’t support the consumption of insects.

Internist Dr. Meryl Nass, founder of Door to Freedom, told The Defender lax U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulations — under which many insect-containing foods can be classified as “Generally Regarded as Safe” (GRAS) — “means they don’t require testing” and enable the FDA to “look the other way.”

“How long will it take before we learn whether these foods are safe? It could take generations,” Nass said.

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“Experts Are Working Hard To Make Insects Part of Your Diet”: New Study Recommends Hiding Insect “Flour” in Popular Foods

Experts are recommending hiding insect flour in popular food products, as it becomes clear that overcoming the “yuck factor” associated with insects is proving too much for Western consumers.

A paper presented at the recent European Congress on Obesity, in Venice, Italy, revealed that only 13% of UK adults indicated they were willing to consume insects on a regular basis, with 47% saying they would not do so under any circumstances.

The researchers found that perceptions about eating insects were generally negative, with participants anticipating lower levels of enjoyment and taste than other foods.

The researchers found, however, that incorporating insect “flour” into processed foods such as bread, pasta and pizza, could help overcome sensations of disgust associated with eating insect products.

Insect flour is already being added to products like energy bars and snack chips.

“The disgust factor associated with eating whole insects could be overcome by incorporating insect flours into processed foods. This has been done successfully with rice products fortified with cricket or locust flours in other parts of the world,” says co-author Dr. Maxine Sharps from De Montfort University in a media release.

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Bloomberg Pushes Climate Doom As Reason Why You Must Eat Bugs

The US is one of the world’s largest exporters of agricultural products. Still, the corporate press continues to promote ‘climate change’ disinformation (read: here) to accelerate the normalization of insects and lab-grown meat into the food supply.

Bloomberg is the latest corporate media to use fear to sell what might be a World Economic Forum agenda of introducing bugs and lab-grown meat into the food supply: 

“You may see lab-grown meat and insects on the menu in future decades, as the world grapples with challenges to food security posed by climate change and conflict.” 

Bloomberg’s Keira Wright was covering Sydney’s South by South West festival earlier this month, when she said panelists were talking about lab-grown meat, edible insects, and vertical farming. 

Wright continued with more climate doom in the article: 

“Climate change has made weather more volatile and hotter in many parts of the world, damaging corn crops in the US, slashing wheat crop forecasts in Australia and even accelerating the spread of deadly pests in China.” 

However, did anyone tell Wright, the editors, or maybe even billionaire Mike Bloomberg about the inconvenient truth of 1,600 international scientists who said in August, “There is no climate emergency.” 

Meanwhile, Bezos’ The Washington Post recently advised Americans to eat ants and crickets. 

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Scientists create first genetically modified animal that can have offspring asexually

Developmental biologist Alexis Sperling became obsessed with something she saw in the lab when she was studying for her PhD. A praying mantis had young spontaneously, without having sex with a male. A virgin had had children.

This ability has never been observed in mammals, including of course humans, but in the rest of the animal world there are certain species capable of doing it. Many of the cases have been observed in zoos where the females had spent years alone without the possibility of mating.

In 2015, a team discovered one of the first cases of sexless reproduction in the wild: the smalltooth saw fish, which was on the brink of extinction. And just two years ago, at the San Diego Zoo, two females of the endangered California condor gave birth asexually, despite the fact that in this case there were breeding males available.

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Insect Ears Inspire Superefficient Microphones 

Insect ears are inspiring the design of tiny 3D-printed microphones that could pinpoint a sound’s direction, replacing the much bulkier, energy-hungry gear currently needed for such purposes, researchers say.

The insect ear possesses a thin sheet of tissue, known as the tympanum, that is much like the human eardrum. Sound waves make this membrane vibrate, and the sensory apparatus within the ear converts these vibrations into nerve signals.

Although an insect’s tympanum is typically a millimeter or so wide, insects are capable of feats of hearing that currently require devices much larger in size. For instance, to pinpoint which direction a gunshot came from, the vehicle-mounted Boomerang system from Raytheon depends on a microphone array roughly a half-meter wide. In comparison, the nocturnal moth Achroia grisella can also identify which direction sounds are coming from, and can do so with just one tympanum only about half a millimeter wide. (The moth likely evolved this skill for both detecting predatory bats and ultrasonic mating calls.)

In order to mimic what insect ears can accomplish, scientists at first attempted to copy insect structures with silicon microelectromechanical systems (MEMS). However, the resulting devices lacked the flexibility and the microscopic 3D structural variations seen in real insect ears that help them hear so well, says Andrew Reid, an electrical engineer of the University of Strathclyde, in Glasgow.

Now Reid and his colleagues are experimenting with 3D printing to more faithfully copy insect ears. He detailed his team’s research at the annual meeting of the Acoustical Society of America on 10 May in Chicago. The research builds upon the team’s earlier work to understand how insects have such stellar directional hearing.

The researchers have 3D printed a variety of membranes to copy a range of insect tympana. The base material for these membranes is typically a flexible hydrogel such as polyethylene glycol diacrylate. The membranes also often include a piezoelectric material such as the perovskite oxide crystal known as PMN-PT, which can convert acoustic energy to electric signals, and electrically conductive silver-based compounds, Reid says.

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How Neonicotinoid Insecticides Adversely Affect Nervous System Health

Research published in Environmental Health Perspectives finds the presence of nine various neonicotinoids, or neonics, and six neonic metabolites within human cerebrospinal fluid (CSF).

CSF is an essential part of the central nervous system (CNS), especially for CNS development.

Specific chemical biomarkers (measurable indicators of biological state), like pesticides, found in CSF are useful for diagnosing and evaluating numerous neurological diseases.

The nervous system is an integral part of the human body and includes the brain, spinal cord, a vast network of nerves and neurons, all of which are responsible for many of our bodily functions — from sensed to movement.

However, mounting evidence over the past years shows that chronic exposure to sublethal (low) levels of pesticides can cause neurotoxic effects or exacerbate preexisting chemical damage to the nervous system.

The impacts of pesticides on the nervous system, including the brain, are hazardous, especially for chronically exposed individuals (e.g., farmworkers) or during critical windows of vulnerability and development (e.g., childhood, pregnancy).

Researchers identify the role agricultural chemicals play in CNS impacts causing neurological diseases, like amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and Parkinson’s disease, dementia-like diseases such as Alzheimer’s and other effects on cognitive function.

Over 300 environmental contaminants and their byproducts, including pesticides, are chemicals commonly present in human blood and urine samples and can increase neurotoxicity risk when crossing the brain barrier.

Therefore, studies like this highlight the importance of understanding how chemical accumulation in the body can impact long-term health and disease prognosis.

The study explores whether the presence of neonics and their metabolites in CSF is an indicator of adverse CNS effects.

From April 2019 to January 2021, researchers gathered 314 CSF samples from patients aged one month to 89 years in the First Affiliated Hospital of Shantou University, Shantou, China using a clinical lumbar puncture.

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Crushed Bug ‘Additive’ is Now Included in Pizza, Pasta & Cereals Across the EU

As of yesterday, a food additive made out of powdered crickets began appearing in foods from pizza, to pasta to cereals across the European Union.

Yes, really.

Defatted house crickets are on the menu for Europeans across the continent, without the vast majority of them knowing it is now in their food.

“This comes thanks to a European Commission ruling passed earlier this month,” reports RT.

“As per the decision, which cited the scientific opinion of the European Food Safety Authority, the additive is safe to use in a whole range of products, including but not limited to cereal bars, biscuits, pizza, pasta-based products, and whey powder.”

But don’t worry, because the crickets first have to be checked to make sure they “discard their bowel content” before being frozen.

Lovely stuff.

Critics suggested that once bugs become widely accepted as a food additive, their consumption will become normalized across the board.

“The Liberal World Order has decided that the little people must eat bugs to prevent the climate from fluctuating, in accordance with ruling class ideology,” writes Dave Blount.

“Yet rather than mindlessly obey The Experts as most did with Covid policy, people have resisted. So our moonbat overlords are furtively sneaking insects into food.”

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