Darren Incorvaia

Darren Incorvaia is a writer and comedian based in Chicago. His writing has also appeared in Scientific American, Discover Magazine, and Reductress. He has a Ph.D. in ecology, evolution, and behavior from Michigan State University. His favorite animal is all of them.

All Stories by Darren Incorvaia

  1. A swarm of locusts flies over a field.
    Animals

    Insect swarms might generate as much electric charge as storm clouds

    Honeybees flying over a sensor measuring atmospheric voltage sparked a look into how insect-induced static electricity might affect the atmosphere.

  2. A honeybee on a white background with three black squares around it.
    Animals

    Honeybees order numbers from left to right, a study claims

    In experiments, bees tend to go to smaller numbers on the left, larger ones on the right. But the idea of a mental number line in animals has critics.

  3. Bacillus subtilis spores
    Microbes

    How dormant bacteria spores sense when it’s time to come back to life

    Bacterial cells shut down and become spores to survive harsh environments. An internal countdown signals when it’s safe for bacteria to revive.

  4. image of a downy woodpecker (gray body, black and white wings, and a red crest) pecking a tree
    Animals

    Drumming woodpeckers use similar brain regions as songbirds

    Woodpeckers drum on trees and other objects using brain regions similar to those that songbirds use to sing, suggesting a common evolutionary origin for the complex behaviors.

  5. A queen Harpegnathos saltator ant on a gray backdrop
    Animals

    A clever molecular trick extends the lives of these ant queens

    Ant queens typically live much longer than their workers by blocking a key part of a molecular pathway implicated in aging, a new study suggests.