It’s not difficult to accidentally learn too much about bugs. Unfortunately, though, we have to, because they’re spreading out, inventing new ways to torture us and just generally making life less pleasant.
Take houseflies: They thrive in warmer temperatures, and it turns out they’re not just annoying; they can also be what bug nerds call mechanical vectors of disease. Put simply, it means they walk through garbage and then around your countertops, leaving salmonella and untold other pathogens along with their tiny fly footprints.
Or how about longhorned ticks? They first popped up on American shores in 2017 — and they can clone themselves. Female ticks just make thousands of self-Xeroxes; on the extremely rare occasions males are produced, it’s thought to be by mistake. Unsurprisingly, they’re a growing concern for the US, too.
In another especially science-fictiony case, ticks’ very saliva can spark a severe allergy to such delights as ice cream and hamburgers.
And that’s not even to mention the New World screwworm.
