ADVERTISEMENT
Nautilus Members enjoy an ad-free experience. or Join now .
Sign up for the free Nautilus newsletter:
science and culture for people who love beautiful writing.
NL – Article speedbump
“Insects outnumber us and they outweigh us. It’s basically their planet.”Photograph by OakleyOriginals / Flickr

One of the best jokes May Berenbaum, an entomologist at the University of Illinois, has ever told at a conference goes like this: A man walks into a doctor’s office, imploring her for help. “I think I’m a moth,” he says. The doctor goes, “It’s clear you have a problem, but I’m a pediatrician not a psychiatrist. Why did you come here?” The man says, “The light was on.”

Nautilus Members enjoy an ad-free experience. Log in or Join now .

There’s more where that came from. Berenbaum used to write the humor column for The American Entomologist. It’s a natural gig for someone who once said that, in a way, she’s not a “serious” scientist, because she thinks “insects are just hilarious and inspiring.”

But she’s also adamant that insects are no joke. In the video below, produced by the Science Philanthropy Alliance, she explains how studying insects—and all curiosity driven research—isn’t just fun, but necessary: It catalyzes unexpected, useful discoveries. Insects, Berenbaum explains, have helped us make advances in medicine, like in flu vaccine production, and better manage our environment.

ADVERTISEMENT
Nautilus Members enjoy an ad-free experience. Log in or Join now .

Which shouldn’t come as a surprise. As she says, “Insects outnumber us and they outweigh us. It’s basically their planet.”

Brian Gallagher is the editor of Facts So Romantic, the Nautilus blog. Follow him on Twitter @bsgallagher.

ADVERTISEMENT
Nautilus Members enjoy an ad-free experience. Log in or Join now .
close-icon Enjoy unlimited Nautilus articles, ad-free, for less than $5/month. Join now

! There is not an active subscription associated with that email address.

Join to continue reading.

You’ve read your 2 free articles this month. Access unlimited ad-free stories, including this one, by becoming a Nautilus member.

! There is not an active subscription associated with that email address.

This is your last free article.

Don’t limit your curiosity. Access unlimited ad-free stories like this one, and support independent journalism, by becoming a Nautilus member.