A need to avoid overdosing on that dangerous gas—oxygen—may be what drives some insects to shut down their breathing holes periodically. That’s two researchers’ proposal to explain why many ants, ...

I like big bugs. I cannot lie. But which insect is the biggest? I asked my friend Rich Zack. He’s an insect scientist at Washington State University. He told me the answer depends on how you define ...

Scientists have known that some insects can hold their breath for hours or even days. A new study suggests why: Too much air would kill them. Subscribe to read this story ad-free Get unlimited access ...

DIAPAUSING pupae of some saturniid moths overwinter in an environment in which temperatures may drop to −30° C. In such conditions of cold and low humidity there are opportunities for pupae to ...

Hundreds of insect species spend much of their time underwater, where food may be more plentiful. MIT mathematicians have now figured out exactly how those insects breathe underwater. Hundreds of ...

FOR insects, heavy breathing can be fatal. If resting butterflies breathed all the time, so much oxygen would build up in their delicate bodies that it would kill them. Most animals use proteins such ...

INSECTS do not breathe in quite the way we thought. The revelation has caused a sharp intake of breath among zoologists, because after centuries of study it means we may have to rethink our ideas ...

THE presence of peripheral inhibitory nerves in insects is now well established and in many respects they seem to be similar to those in Crustacea 1–3. Their physiological properties are well defined ...

Discover interesting facts about insects, the critters whose combined weight on the planet is 70 times that of all humans.