All posts tagged: flies

CIA director flies unannounced to Moscow to hold talks, source says

CIA director flies unannounced to Moscow to hold talks, source says

Published by Sam Flores

WASHINGTON — CIA Director John Ratcliffe flew to Russia to hold unspecified talks in Moscow, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. The person declined to say whom Ratcliffe was meeting with or what the focus of the talks was. The CIA declined to comment. It’s Ratcliffe’s first known trip to Moscow as CIA director. He made headlines with a visit to Venezuela in January to meet with interim President Delcy Rodríguez about two weeks after the U.S. military seized President Nicolás Maduro in a raid in Caracas. He also traveled to Cuba in May to meet with government leaders. He was the highest-ranking Trump administration official to visit the island, which is under severe economic pressure after the U.S. tightened sanctions. News of Ratcliffe’s travel came as mystery swirled around a U.S. military transport aircraft that landed in Moscow, according to tracking data. It was not known who was on board the plane and why it was in Moscow. When asked, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said he did not have information about …

Insect Expert Explains Why Flies Rub Their Creepy Legs Together

Insect Expert Explains Why Flies Rub Their Creepy Legs Together

Published by Sam Flores

While I’m terrified of daddy longlegs (even learning that they’re completely harmless hasn’t helped), I’m a bit more tolerant of spiders and flies. There’s one exception, though. I do not like it when bluebottles sit on my windowsill, rubbing their creepy legs together like they’re plotting my downfall. Of course, that won’t be the real reason behind the movement. But to be honest, I had no idea what was – until recently. Why do flies rub their legs together? Speaking to The New York Times, Dr David Grimaldi, entomologist and curator at the American Museum of Natural History in Manhattan, explained they’re actually strategically grooming themselves. “Flies have chemical receptors not just on their feet, but on their legs, as well,” the expert said. This means they can literally taste the surface they’re on ”with their feet, and so they have to keep them very clean”. Oh, good. A little bit like cats’ tongues, BBC Discover Wildlife added, flies clean themselves with comb-like bristles on their legs. Aside from helping them to perceive the world …

The eight best tips to get rid of spiders and flies from your home

The eight best tips to get rid of spiders and flies from your home

Published by Daniella Wilson

Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more Homes across the UK are seeing an increase in creepy crawlies as the hot weather sees many people leaving their windows open throughout the day. Some people won’t mind but many are not keen to share their homes with spiders and flies. Spiders in homes will commonly be found in rooms with a water source, because they need water and so does their prey. “You’re most likely to find spiders in your bathroom or kitchen, because their food is attracted to dark, moist areas”, explains Alex Woods from Victorian Plumbing. “Spiders are attracted to the warmth of a home, particularly when the weather is cold or wet, which we know all too well can be the reality of a British summer. Female spiders tend …

Seaside town plagued by flies in ‘biblical’ scenes making people ‘physically sick’ | UK | News

Seaside town plagued by flies in ‘biblical’ scenes making people ‘physically sick’ | UK | News

Published by Sam Flores

People in this seaside town say they are being plagued by flies (Image: Getty/David Jones) Residents living in a famous UK seaside town say they are being plagued by an infestation of flies which is leaving them “physically sick” and unable to cook or eat in their own homes. One resident said it was a “recurring nightmare” that they have to deal with year after year. The issue has been affecting people in an area of Llanelli in south-west Wales since June and investigations are ongoing to determine the cause. But this isn’t the first year the area has seen scores of the insects descend on it, with the cause seemingly a mystery. Resident David Jones told WalesOnline: “It’s been going on for a few weeks now this summer but the truth is this is a recurring nightmare that keeps coming back to plague us year after year. It affects every single part of daily life. You can’t open the windows or doors to let a breeze in, even when it’s boiling hot, because they …

Bird-inspired robot swims, plunges, and flies using flapping wings

Bird-inspired robot swims, plunges, and flies using flapping wings

Published by Jenni Sidey

A lightweight robot modeled on diving birds can swim underwater, break through the surface, and continue flying without using feet or propellers. The feat exposes a difficult mechanical compromise between movement in dense water and thin air. Engineers at MIT and EPFL in Lausanne, Switzerland, built the flapping-wing aerial-aquatic vehicle, or FAAV, to explore how animals such as puffins, petrels, gulls, and loons move through both environments. The untethered robot weighs about 250 grams and resembles a small bird. It has a slender waterproof body, two flexible membrane wings, a battery-powered motor, and a steerable tail. Researchers can replace the wings and tail to test different dimensions and mechanical properties. Raphael Zufferey, left, and Moritz Hüsser work on their robot design. (CREDIT: John Freidah) Balanced design Experiments in tanks, a wind tunnel, indoor flight spaces, and Lake Geneva showed that one carefully balanced design could fly, swim, plunge into water, and launch back into the air. The results will appear in the journal Science. The work provides a robotic test bed for questions that are …

Why summer flies by as an adult—but lasted forever when you were 10

Why summer flies by as an adult—but lasted forever when you were 10

Published by Jenni Sidey

Get the Popular Science daily newsletter💡 Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. By signing up, you confirm you are 16+, will receive newsletters and promotional content and agree to our Terms of Use and acknowledge the data practices in our Privacy Policy. You may unsubscribe at any time. Do you remember the last day of school before summer break? The clock ticking down to the end of the day, and then that wild, wonderful feeling of freedom? You have all summer to do literally anything you want.  Cut to summers in adulthood, where you blink and suddenly there are Halloween decorations up. What gives? Why do summers seem to last forever when you’re growing up but only a couple of days as an adult? Well in a new episode of Popular Science’s Ask Us Anything podcast, we explore just that. Ask Us Anything answers your most outlandish, mind-burning questions—from the everyday things you’ve always wondered to the bizarre things you never thought to ask. So, yes, there’s a reason you can’t …

The US Has a Plan to Combat Screwworm. It Involves a Lot More Flies

The US Has a Plan to Combat Screwworm. It Involves a Lot More Flies

Published by skeptic

A flesh-eating parasitic fly that poses a major threat to livestock has returned to the United States after 60 years. This week, the US Department of Agriculture confirmed the presence of New World screwworm in a calf in southern Texas. Eliminated in the US in 1966 and as far south as Panama by 2006, its recent reemergence in Mexico made it likely that the screwworm would eventually enter the country again, with modeling showing that it could arrive as soon as summer 2025. It took slightly longer, but the screwworm has arrived. And to head off an outbreak, officials are deploying a tried-and-true technique: releasing lots and lots of adult screwworm flies. A screwworm infection occurs when a female fly lays its eggs in open wounds or other body parts of warm-blooded animals. When the eggs hatch, maggots emerge and feed on living tissue before turning into flies. As adults, screwworm flies do not bite or feed on flesh. Scientists in the 1930s and 1940s thought if they could prevent female flies from reproducing, they …

Zelenskyy’s top negotiator flies to Berlin for talks with Germany, France, UK – POLITICO

Zelenskyy’s top negotiator flies to Berlin for talks with Germany, France, UK – POLITICO

Published by Sam Flores

The diplomatic engagement comes at a crucial moment after Russia executed a massive attack on Kyiv over the weekend and threatened further “consistent and systemic strikes.” The Russian foreign ministry urged diplomats and foreign citizens to leave the city “as soon as possible,” while the EU’s ambassador to Ukraine rejected the demand, saying, “We stay in Kyiv. We stay with Ukraine.” U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio indicated Friday that America would backtrack from Ukraine peace talks it was leading, saying they “were not fruitful, unfortunately” and adding, “If someone else would like to handle it, they should.” European officials have in recent weeks discussed whether to reach out directly to Russian President Vladimir Putin for negotiations, with names such as former German Chancellor Angela Merkel being floated for the role — although she said she wouldn’t be the right person. German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul told German daily Welt earlier this month that the E3 group was “making a fresh attempt to re-enter negotiations — with Europe playing a greater role in the coming …

‘Lord of the Flies’ reminded me to resist my literary narcissism : NPR

‘Lord of the Flies’ reminded me to resist my literary narcissism : NPR

Published by Sam Flores

David McKenna as Piggy in Netflix’s new Lord of the Flies adaptation. J Redza/Eleven/Sony Pictures Television hide caption toggle caption J Redza/Eleven/Sony Pictures Television Watching Netflix’s new adaptation of William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, I found myself struggling. Grappling might be the better word, actually. I wasn’t grappling with the show itself, an ambitious, gorgeously shot if ultimately thin take on a book I absolutely hated, back in ninth grade when my fellow classmates and I got pedagogically frog-marched through its ham-fisted symbolism. (“What do Piggy’s spectacles represent? Write 500 words.”) The new series’ creator, Jack Thorne, co-created Adolescence, last year’s grim chronicle of youth and violence and masculinity — hey, guy’s got a niche. What I was grappling with was my own reaction to the show — namely, how the only character I could manage to care about was Piggy, the brainy, bespectacled fat kid who’s forever carping about looking out for others, fire safety and finding water. (In both the series and in Golding’s book, he represents civilization, judicious restraint, the voice …

Two dead after car flies off Pittsburgh bridge in horror 5-vehicle smash | World | News

Two dead after car flies off Pittsburgh bridge in horror 5-vehicle smash | World | News

Published by Sam Flores

Two people have been killed after a horror five-vehicle smash that sent a car flying off a bridge. The tragic crash unfolded near the Fort Duquesne Bridge in Pittsburgh, bringing rush hour traffic to a standstill for several hours. The incident happened around 3pm on Wednesday, May 6, just a few miles from Acrisure Stadium, home of the Pittsburgh Steelers, and forced the closure of southbound Route 65 at the Fort Duquesne Bridge ramp. An SUV involved in the crash flipped off the bridge and plunged onto Reedsdale Street on the North Side near Acrisure Stadium, killing the driver, authorities said. The driver has been identified as 52-year-old Michael Smith, according to The Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office. A woman was rushed to hospital in critical condition after being pulled free with the “jaws of life,” but she later died, Pittsburgh Public Safety spokesperson Cara Cruz said. She has yet to be identified. “Really a tragic scene here today at rush hour, probably lots of witnesses having to see this heartbreaking scene,” Cruz said. Authorities …