3-Minute Insect Essential #45 from the INSECT NEWS NETWORK

BIONEERS 2012 [Part 1] – The Headliners – INN #45. This is Cultural Entomology at its best! To hear the full broadcast, visit www.insectnewsnetwork.com and type in number 45 - that's pound 45 - in the search bar. And be sure to Join the Insect Tribe! Sign up for our newsletter, the Periodical Buzz.

I don't think that anyone would argue that rice is an important crop. For many it's THE most important crop.

Would you believe that this most staple of foods - rice is the most important grain with regard to human nutrition and caloric intake, providing more than one-fifth of the calories consumed worldwide by the human species - is protected b the tiniest of insects. The grain that accounts for almost 700 million tons of food finds one of its most important allies in a creature that weighs less than 50 nanograms?

It's true - and they are called fairy flies. How cute is that. This is the sort of stuff you can learn on Part 1 of the Bioneers Edition 2012 of the Insect News Network.