My Mushrooms Bring All The Bugs To The Yard

Damn right, it glows brighter than yours.

Source

No, but if you're growing mushrooms, that's illegal, you know (otherwise, why would you be growing regular mushrooms?).

Ever seen mushroom that glow in the dark, just like luminescent light? Unless you roam around tropical climates, where you spend time at night in the jungle for some reason, probably not.

As you can see, they're beautiful. They're called bioluminescent fungi  and in case you're wondering, they're shining for a purpose.
At least that's what researchers from Cell Press have found out as of late.
Upon investigating the species of bioluminescent fungi, at first experts thought that the process of releasing light was a constant event. However, later it turned out that the circadian clock has a huge influence on the light intervals of these mushrooms.

A circadian clock is the function that makes living beings like insects, fish, birds and even mammals match their biological cycles and behaviour patterns to daylight changes and seasonal transitions.
This made scientists think that the phenomenons were intertwined, and the fungi's light show was possibly made for an audience.

The best way to enlighten themselves (pun intended) was to recreate these extraordinary fungi and see who falls for the trick.
And you know who always gets attracted by light, right? Insects, bugs!
Not without purpose, though. When the little guys (usually flies, wasps and ants, as well as beetles)
come for a light snack (again, pun intended), they end up as carriers of these mushrooms' spores, their legacy.
Something known as a ..

The bugs help the fungi species colonize potential new territory. And by adding the factor of the correlation between their clocks and the bioluminance, the process becomes even more efficient.

It's precisely this interaction that really fascinates researchers, and lures them into investigating further. They will now be looking even more into the genes themselves, that the fungi possesses.
What's curious as well is that this type of mushrooms, that were particularly put under the microscope, called Neonothopanus gardneri also play a vital part in tropical forests' ecosystems.

They turn cellulose into a more organic form, which otherwise would seriously affect the carbon cycles of Earth, making the entire planet depend on such organisms.
It's nice to know that insects got another chance to make their impact in the well-being of nature, serving as loyal (even if gullible) servants.

Also a sort of double agents, as they let us humans look closer into the essence of these glowing fungi, their reproduction cycles and methods as well.

Cyanide & Happiness: Insects Doing Pest Control

You've heard about Cyanide & Happiness, of course?
In case you haven't, it's a very inspiring story about 16 year old boy, who can't even draw, becoming the most popular artist on the Internet of the past few years.
Don't ask me, some people just make deals with Satan.

Truth is these comics are winning people on the Internet over with an increasingly controversial sense of humour! So much, that the creators even made their own KickStarter campaign, which managed to raise enough funds to create a TV show, based on the comics.
Well, not so much a TV show, more like randomness and hilarity working together in the form of animated illustrations.

Pest Control Cyanide Style

Ever heard this line in the movies, a man kills a wolf in the wild or something and then he looks into the distance dramatically, saying "He'd do the same to me."

Screen-writing at its best.

Wasp control

Well, here is what would happen if a wasp was driving and you suddenly flew into the car:

Oh well, the human still came out a winner in this situation. I'd just watching the whole episode (it's called A Day At The Beach) just for the sound effects of this pest flopping around in his bare butt in the wasp's lap.

Cockroach control

You know that quintessential scene, part of the life of any student, or anyone who ever had to live in a badly maintained tenement building ? You want to go into the kitchen in the middle of the night, you turn on the light and it looks like you're the police who just broke up an illegal rave party, and the kids (which are roaches in this case) start scattering around, like they are running for their life (which in this case, they probably are).

Or did you ever wonder, if the insect was in the power position, would it show mercy towards you? The way you sometimes do, when there's people watching.




Or if they were just as grossed out with us, as we are with them?



Not that I wouldn't be grossed out if a bunch of naked babies started flying towards me with emotionless faces. I might prefer the caterpillars, in fact.

But perhaps, even if we lived in a parallel Universe where could be more like people..



.. maybe they still wouldn't be good for much either.

What I would have liked to see from Cyanide & Happiness on the topic of reverse pest control, is this: Pest exterminators try to spray the bare-butt human babies with like carcinogenic chemicals and the humans are all like "We've been eating that s*** for so long, we've grown resistance to it."

The Worst Pictures of Insects and Spiders You Have Ever Seen

This is pest control from hell, after all. The reason you will look at these images is the same reason why you continuously press your tongue against aphtae in your mouth.
Because you're an idiot. Ready?

Let's start with the strange fluffy-looking object that you should totally check out because what's the worse that could happen?

Bed Bug Horror Stories To Keep You Awake

If anyone ever wondered if the life of a pest exterminator ever gets curious and exciting, I might be able to answer this question. I've recently collected a few actual stories from different sources, that show that at times the tough (and nasty) part of the job is actually dealing with the people behind the phone calls, not the bugs that caused it.

For starters, here is one to give you the creeps.

A pest controller walks into a bar..
No, he walks into an apartment,