(no subject)

This article (or rather answer to a question) in New Scientist brought back some memories for me.

When I attended Queensland University as an exchange student, I took an entomology course. I had always wanted to take one as an undergrad, since insects interest me at least as much as marine critters, but could never fit it into my schedule. It was quite a fascinating class, with a lot of emphasis on controlling insects in agriculture. There was a lot of classroom discussion, which got interesting when it touched on evolution as there were several creationists in the class (i.e: "I can't buy evolution because it's just too far fetched that two animals with the same mutation could come about at the same time, find each other and mate." *Rolls eyes* Honestly, how did that person get as far as they did in biology without learning you only need one to pass on a characteristic!) It was also interesting in that our grade was based entirely on a paper and an oral final, which the instructor quite rightly insisted was more like real life.

The first day of class he told us that insect annually consume something like 30% of all stored product, and if that could be stopped, world hunger might end. I believe I remarked that if the percentage was that high, we ought to be finding a way to be eating more bugs (C'mon, if we can make tofu taste edible, we should be able to do the same with insects!). The professor grimaced and said something about not caring much for weevils in his muesli, but from then on, he and his TA (who was kind of cute, btw) had me pegged as someone needing to influence to change their career path. And if I had, I'd probably be making a lot more money now.

Anyhow, since I stuck to marine biology, I did my paper on one of the few truly marine insects: Halobates, the sea skimmer. Dr. Cheng's name was very familiar to me.

(no subject)

This article (or rather answer to a question) in New Scientist brought back some memories for me.

When I attended Queensland University as an exchange student, I took an entomology course. I had always wanted to take one as an undergrad, since insects interest me at least as much as marine critters, but could never fit it into my schedule. It was quite a fascinating class, with a lot of emphasis on controlling insects in agriculture. There was a lot of classroom discussion, which got interesting when it touched on evolution as there were several creationists in the class (i.e: "I can't buy evolution because it's just too far fetched that two animals with the same mutation could come about at the same time, find each other and mate." *Rolls eyes* Honestly, how did that person get as far as they did in biology without learning you only need one to pass on a characteristic!) It was also interesting in that our grade was based entirely on a paper and an oral final, which the instructor quite rightly insisted was more like real life.

The first day of class he told us that insect annually consume something like 30% of all stored product, and if that could be stopped, world hunger might end. I believe I remarked that if the percentage was that high, we ought to be finding a way to be eating more bugs (C'mon, if we can make tofu taste edible, we should be able to do the same with insects!). The professor grimaced and said something about not caring much for weevils in his muesli, but from then on, he and his TA (who was kind of cute, btw) had me pegged as someone needing to influence to change their career path. And if I had, I'd probably be making a lot more money now.

Anyhow, since I stuck to marine biology, I did my paper on one of the few truly marine insects: Halobates, the sea skimmer. Dr. Cheng's name was very familiar to me.