It’s Bugs’ World and We’re Just Living In It with Jessica Ware

About This Episode

Why are bugs so weird? Neil deGrasse Tyson and Negin Farsad sit down with entomologist, Jessica Ware, to dig into the extraordinary world of bugs, insects the size of navel oranges, how they invented flying and so much more.

What actually is a bug? Learn how the way an insect eats determines whether they are a bug or not. Jessica traces insects back 400 million years to their single common ancestor. Discover how dragonflies were the original flying design for living things. Why are insects so successful on Earth? They predate dinosaurs by hundreds of millions of years, were the first animals to fly, and have had enough time to fill every ecological niche on the planet.

Learn about dragonfly eyes and how their methods for mating impact their vision. What do dragonfly brains actually look like and what can they remember? Would territorial dragonflies have larger brains than non-territorial ones? Do migratory insects develop bigger brains to navigate? Is there a single common ancestor for all insects? We talk about the species unique to New York, cockroaches that only reluctantly share our spaces, and how warming weather will make our future more buggy. What would actually happen if we eliminated mosquitoes entirely? Jessica walks through why wiping out the three most dangerous species would be a net positive for humans, while the things that eat mosquitoes would largely survive.

The episode closes on the alarming collapse of insect populations worldwide. We break down all the ways that humans impact insects from light pollution disrupting firefly mating, urbanization destroying habitat, and the sobering reality that all life on land came after insects and still depends on them. Plus: what did bed bugs feed on before beds existed, and just how big can an insect actually get?

Thanks to our Patrons Farouk, David Arnold, Michael Gugel, Forbidjon, Lech Kaniuk, Jay C, Taylor -, Colton Harward, Patrick Duncan, Jimmy, William R. Turk IV, Melisa Benard, Bob Woitas, Louie W., Mohd Amri, Daniel Rodriguez, Michael Davison, Keith Knight, Lincoln, Trevor Forbess, Lisa Terry, Joseph Diaz, Kylrean, Steve, Steve, Lee T., Zilgaro, DJ Lenny Ducano, Jens Lundvang, Brian Moore, Richard Dressner, Cory Hartman, Joshie Versace, Leigh Miller, Tonya, aaron bremner, BeatBakker, Mark, Joe Brandt, Khalled Alves, David Eddy, Kai Shire, Ross Mackenzie, PreserveCommunity, Niko Schultz, Dave Baxter, Keith Spillane, Jessica Whitney, Brandon Doyle, Zach Free, Connie Tran, Daniel Haynes, Darryl Barotn, Aila Rousu, Joshua Dickerson, Red, XEnterprise, Ahmad Al Khalifa, Gaetan Nicodeme, and Vincent Bauer for supporting us this week.

NOTE: StarTalk+ Patrons can listen to this entire episode commercial-free.