Word: bug
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...perplexing, often debilitating disease tends to run in families. Shingles itself is not contagious, although exposure to it can trigger chicken pox in someone who has never had that infection; both are caused by the same virus. Approximately 1 in 3 chicken-pox veterans suffers a reactivation of the bug as an adult, as was the case with my patient in Michigan. Whether the virus, which can lie dormant for decades, resurfaces appears to depend on a lot of things: Age is a risk factor, since most cases occur in people 60 or older. Stress and trauma have been implicated...
...rest of the world soon caught the bug. Except the U.S. When the band finally toured here in 1979 (ABBA, SWEDISH QUARTET, IN NEW YORK DEBUT, observed the New York Times), critics compared the foursome unfavorably to Fleetwood Mac, the Eagles and the Beach Boys...
...discovery, the insect had become the most common species in the garden and was spotted in other central London parks, sending Barclay on a worldwide hunt to identify it. Correspondence with colleagues around Europe led Barclay to discover that the insect, which resembles the common North American box elder bug, is actually most closely related to Arocatus roeselii, a relatively rare species of seed eaters usually found in central Europe. But those bugs are associated with alder trees rather than sycamores. An insect specimen found in Nice, France, which is now in the collection at the National Museum in Prague...
...trade barriers between member states. So in the past decade and a half, we've been importing a lot more from Italy and Spain and Southern France, and we've had this climatic change--so we have two potential causes." Whatever the reason for the appearance of the new bug in London, Barclay says its spread is harmless. But he concedes, "It does show what's possible [if more damaging species invade...
...identify the critter displays not only the mystery of nature, but also the fickleness of the science of taxonomy. Identifying insect species can be extremely difficult; some scientists estimate we have managed to identify only 10% of the insect world so far. The rest, like Barclays' almond-shaped mystery bug, are perfectly happy to crawl along without any christening or approval from their relatively gargantuan cohabitants. But that won't stop scientists like Barclay from trying. For him, the question asked by his five-year old son last March is a calling he still feels compelled to answer...