Japan, insects, and a high jump

Something fun for a Friday afternoon!  I have commented before on how I find Japanese culture both baffling and fascinating. The butt-biting bug was one example–here’s another one.
A game show contest that involves a high jump. But…also…
The contestants are dressed as giant insects.
And if you fail at the high jump, two girls dressed as spiders [...]

Aphid Farming!

A really cool new paper about just how ants keep aphids as “cattle”:
Ant semiochemicals limit apterous aphid dispersal. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. Thomas H Oliver, et al.
Some background:
Aphid poop is actually a concentrated sugar solution–it’s called “honeydew“. Some species of ants tend aphids, and “milk” them for [...]