Move complete!

Final post from the old Magic Bulb

Ten years already?! Moving over to the bigger shop at 6221 Allisonville (just on the other side of Big Lots). Plenty of space, and we plan to use it. See you on the other side!

Coffee beans!

Even after all the stress they've endured, nature comes through! Counting at least a dozen beans, many if not most healthy and good-sized.

The experiment continues!

there's yer trouble

Natural predators sneak a trick past mealy bugs defenders

ladybird beetle larvae trick ants by resembling mealybug adults

Therein lay the evolutionary problem confronting ladybird beetles, whose larvae were highly vulnerable to ant attack.

To avoid being killed as they poach the ant's scales, ladybird larvae evolved to produce two anti-ant defences: an impregnable woolly coat of wax filaments, and glands which produce defensive chemicals. Most of the ladybird family's 6,000 species are found in lineages with one or both of these defences.

it works ... almost!

Tool installed