3-Minute Insect Essential #52 from the INSECT NEWS NETWORK

DIPTERA: Flies in the Face of Conventional Wisdom (INN #52 . This broadcast - and many other episodes of the Insect News Network - will always fly in the face of convention wisdom. To hear the full broadcast visit www.insectnewsnetwork.com and type in #52 - that's pound 5-2.

Today's episode of the Insect News Network flies in face of conventional wisdom.

What do machine guns, Godiva chocolate and coffins have in common?

If you can believe it, the same thing that has to do with your garbage can.

Flies.

Those myriad, maddening, and mindboggling bugs that seem to be present in every facet of our lives and follow us everywhere we go. On this show i explain just how diverse they are. Many are the worst vectors of disease on the planet, others are invaluable to our happiness.

For example, a small blood-sucking midge also pollinates most of the chocolate around the world. There is a fly called an Uzi fly which haunts the silk groves of the world. And the smallest flies in the world, coffin flies - lay their eggs in the heads of some of the most pestilent ant species in world - fire ants.

I also report on the dispersal of genetically modified mosquitoes to control the spread of dengue fever by interviewing the chief med doctor of Monroe county in Florida.