SPACE INVADERS

SPACE INVADERS

The aliens are back.
Just when I thought they were through with me they reappeared, sliding silently through walls that appear solid (but the quantum physicists know better). Suddenly they are everywhere. Staring at me from the rim of a glass when I open the cupboard. Calmly observing me as I sleep from my sweetheart’s framed photo on the bedside table. These aliens aren’t otherworldly galactic hitchhikers, though. They’re Earthlings. Members of the Pentatomoidea clan (aka shield bugs).

SMALL, DARK & HANDSOME

SMALL, DARK & HANDSOME

As you might imagine, I was caught completely off-guard when, strolling through the shire one evening, a dashing young prince in the guise of a Blanchard’s cricket frog (Acris blanchardi) bounced out of the shadows and onto the path before me, demanding a kiss.

LONG-STEMMED

LONG-STEMMED

BY KIERAN LINDSEY, PhD Daddy longlegs are the jazz cats of the arachnid world! This realization came to me as I watched a single backlit note bebop across the asphalt path in front of me. A soundtrack of jazz piano greats immediately began to play in my head — Willie...
THE GREAT PUMPKINSEED

THE GREAT PUMPKINSEED

BY KIERAN LINDSEY, PhD Setting out for a walk, I paused just past my building’s threshold to savor morning air crisp as a fresh Granny Smith apple, perfumed with a blend of cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves that have been whisked, infused, and frappéd into breads,...
STRANGERS IN THE NIGHT

STRANGERS IN THE NIGHT

BY KIERAN LINDSEY, PhD Have you ever listened to the mesmerizing serenade of field crickets (Gryllus spp.) on a crisp autumn evening and wondered why they’re doing that? I mean, the mercury’s definitely headed south, the nights are going to become pretty...