“This is an insect planet that we’re just happening to live upon at this moment,” says Melillo, the William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of History and Environmental Studies, in a recent edition of public radio’s Living on Earth series.
Melillo speaks with host Bobby Bascomb about the astonishing number and variety of insects in the world, and goes into detail about three types that are vital to the human economy and are the subjects of his 2020 book: worms that produce silk, Kerria lacca insects that secrete a substance used to make shellac and cochineal insects that are crushed to make red dye.
Other topics explored in the interview include the sacred roles of insects in some world religions; the human consumption of insects as food; the career of Charles Henry Turner, a late-19th-century African American zoologist who advanced the scientific understanding of bees; and fun ways to engage children in the study of insects.