Scientists, particularly those involved with nonapplied or “basic” science, are often asked to justify the broader impacts of their work, or more acutely, how they and their work contribute to society. Although it may be difficult to articulate the immediate importance of providing names for new flies, the inherent value of knowledge is undeniable. At times, however, the positive impact scientists have on society, or even on a single individual, can burst into reality in real-time. Here we examine one such example: a tweet and hashtag that circled the globe in support of a young girl being bullied for her entomological passion. We explore the responses to the tweet, within Twitter and in the larger media landscape, and what they mean for entomology, scientific societies using social media, and the promotion of women in science, and provide recommendations for increasing engagement on social media to improve representation of science.

Research-isolation is a common problem affecting many researchers who are disconnected from their research communities. It can be caused by a number of factors, including physical isolation, unfamiliar research topics, diversity, and the nature of the supervisory relationship. All of these aspects can have an impact on both work and the mental health of researchers. Increasingly, researchers are turning to social media for support, by both looking for communities and for increasing the impact of their work. In this paper, we set out a brief introduction to a range of social media platforms used by researchers and present a discussion of the networks within those platforms aimed at reducing research-isolation. These examples highlight just a few of the number of small communities that have grown online to meet the needs of those seeking support through social media. We conclude with some recommendations for those affected by research-isolation and highlight the need for more research into the role of social media on mental health in academics.

In both large bookstore chains and local comic book stores, it is relatively easy to find comics that focus on politics, history, and autobiographies. These comics are often incorporated into the curriculum in social studies classes at the primary, secondary, and college level, but there are far fewer science comics and even less research about their implementation. In this article, a brief rationale for the use of science comics is given based on five qualities—that they are motivating, visual, permanent, intermediary, and popular. Research projects that have studied the effectiveness of comics are summarized, but in many cases these studies have a small sample size or lack control groups. Following an introduction to science comics and their implementation, guidelines and resources are provided to help science communicators produce their own comics and to encourage educational studies into their use. As case studies, comics that I have worked on are described along with the results of how they were used, including page views and research projects.

Social media has revolutionized the way research and museum collections communicate with the general public by disseminating knowledge and information in real time. Currently there are limited studies examining the use of social media by museums and entomological collections to engage the general public online. Social media has the power to promote museum and collection events, research, and staff, as well as raise awareness of entomological collections and demonstrate their relevance to the public, industry, policy makers, and potential students of entomology. Here we introduce SCOPE, a new framework for promoting museums and entomological collections using social media. The SCOPE framework streamlines strategy development, content choice, refinement of online engagement, choice of social media platform, and evaluation of social media campaigns using altmetrics. Case studies from the Australian National Insect Collection, CSIRO, and National Museums Scotland following the SCOPE framework are provided so that other museums, entomological collections, staff, and students can replicate it to develop and maintain their own social media presence.

The entomological community recognizes the imperative for diversifying our profession, by promoting an agenda to broaden participation of junior scientists who are members of groups underrepresented in our discipline. Progress has been inadequate. I describe approaches to professional development and recruitment of students from Minority-Serving Institutions that can result in more equity and diversity in our community. I describe an informal science communication project, using a blog and social media, to communicate with other scientists about effective practices supporting the inclusion of undergraduates in the context of a Minority-Serving Institution. I provide a set of recommendations for entomologists who wish to support the professional development of students from underrepresented groups and communicate about this work more broadly.

The lack of a representative scientific workforce is a challenge being addressed by federal agencies, funding bodies, and research institutes. As organizational units emphasize the work of training, recruiting, retaining, and promoting an inclusive scientific body, issues around bias and metrics appear frequently in the literature. The goal of this manuscript is to introduce some of the most commonly misunderstood areas of bias, and ways to adjust hiring and promotion practices; and to focus on innovative ways to quantify scientific outputs through metrics other than journal impact factors and paper citation numbers. These alternative metrics, or altmetrics, are increasingly reliable predictors of impact for a scientific community that is asked to engage more frequently and more effectively with the public. Additionally, we address discipline-specific concerns around metrics used for hiring and promotion in biosecurity and biosafety, taxonomy, and researchers in government and regulatory roles. We conclude that in the future, societal and scholarly impact will be more closely tied. This is a critical time to ensure scientists are adequately trained and recognized for their contributions as public intellectuals, and supported in this important work.

Carrion provides a multifaceted model to investigate basic and applied aspects of insect ecology and behavior. In this study, we analyzed differences in the attractiveness and suitability of vertebrate carcasses to sarcosaprophagous species of Diptera (Calliphoridae, Sarcophagidae, Muscidae, and Fanniidae). Carcasses of fish and rat were used as substrates in a fragment of rainforest in Northeastern Brazil. The diversity of adults that visited the carcass was compared with the diversity of species that effectively used them as substrates for the development of larvae (colonizers). All insects were collected daily until complete skeletonization of the carcasses. Insects of at least 31 species were attracted to the carcasses, of which Chrysomya albiceps (Wiedemann, 1819) and Chrysomya megacephala (F., 1794) were the most abundant. Only nine species effectively colonized the substrates, as evidenced by the emergence of colonizers. Most species did not discriminate between the carcass as visiting adults and as colonizers. A higher species richness and abundance of dipterans occurred in the intermediate stages of decomposition. The exotic Chrysomya species outcompeted native species in terms of abundance and dominance on both carcasses. Although Calliphoridae dominated the assemblage of visitors, species of Fanniidae were, proportionally, the most effective colonizers, when abundance was taken into account. Blow flies emerged earlier than species of Fanniidae and Sarcophagidae, which completed their development 19 d postcollection. The results contribute to understand the dynamics of carrion colonization and provide further evidences on the potential of necrophagous insects for forensic entomology.

Most social insects are free living and produce castes that develop in response to extrinsic environmental cues. Caste-forming polyembryonic insects, in contrast, are all endoparasitoids that form social groups inside the bodies of host insects. The best studied polyembryonic wasp is Copidosoma floridanum (Ashmead), which produces ∼3,000 clonal offspring that develop into two castes named reproductive and soldier larvae. Caste determination in this species is mediated by whether or not embryos inherit primary germ cells (PGCs). Prior results showed that C. floridanum increases the proportion of female soldier larvae it produces per host in response to other parasitoids like Microplitis demolitor. Here we show that caste ratio shifts occur through increased formation of embryos lacking PGCs. Our results further indicated that increased soldier production was a specific response to multiparasitism elicited by the chorion of M. demolitor eggs.