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Insects

Insects are all around you and sometimes they're closer than you think.

Some of your listeners may be imbibing a beverage, consuming a food, or caking on some cosmetics that feature the dried up

pulverized bodies of cochineal bugs. It's Wednesday October 30th and

you're listening to Science Friday. I'm Cyfry producer Rasha Arredi.

Did you know that there are 10 quintillion individual insects on the planet?

That's a 10 with 18 zeros after it.

That means that for each and every one of you, dear listeners, there are 1.25 billion insects hopping, buzzing and flying around.

And that incredible menagerie of insects has fundamentally changed the world. Think

honey bees, silk moths, fruit flies, and for better or worse, critters like mosquitoes and flees.

Here's guest host Sophie Bushwick with more.

Joining me is entomologist and author, Dr Barrett Klein.

Welcome to Science Friday.

I am thrilled to be with you on Science Friday.

How far back in time does the relationship between humans and insects go?

Do we know that?

Well, it's most certainly precedes Homo sapiens.

So when we hit the scene, insects were already on the scene for 400 plus million years.

So being surrounded by insects, we had a source of sustenance, food.

We heard the first musicians, and were surrounded by insects that we could use in all manner of ways.

So some of the hints of these connections came way later.

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