In the News: The Creepy and the Curious

Fig.1. Dermestid beetles on a skull (Credit: Josh More via Flickr, 2014)

From parasite collections to ship graveyards, creepy and curious science is featured in this week's news. Read to learn about the importance of flesh-eating beetles to natural history museums, the sheer diversity of spider species, worms that look like vermicelli, and more:

• Take a tour with Dr. Tim Littlewood into the depths of the parasite collection in London’s Natural History Museum: “Fleas Are Great! But Watch Out For A Worm That Looks Like Vermicelli,” NPR (28 October 2015)

• The 45,000 described species of spiders are only a small percentage of what might be out there. Luckily, the chance of getting a spider bite is still very small: “Spiders: The First Web Developers,” The Brain Scoop (14 October 2015)

• This ship graveyard holds 22 shipwrecks near the Fourni archipelago and could reveal more about ancient Greek trade and travel: “A Shipwreck Graveyard Has been Found Off This Greek Archipelago,” Smithsonian Magazine (29 October 2015)

• The Museum of Vertebrate Zoology at UC Berkeley is just one out of many museums around the world that relies on the voracious appetite of this flesh-eating beetle: “These Flesh-Eating Insects Offer A Gruesome But Important Service To Museums,” Tech Insider (28 October 2015)