Every summer, a plague of wasps gathers, ruining picnics, harassing trampers and disrupting ecosystems.


	The coming swarm Where wasps abound, biodiversity suffers: butterflies disappear, songbirds stop breeding and invertebrate communities are looted. But there’s hope on the horizon. Scientists are developing weapons, both biological and genetic, in a bid to cure the pestilence, once and for all.

Flight potential

Round or oval? The shape of a bird’s egg reflects its ability to fly. The less aerodynamic the egg, the more likely the bird is to be flightless.

Bicycle horns

New Zealand’s most entertaining group of cyclists, the intrepid Christchurch Bicycle Band, operated for a quarter of a century from 1895 until WWI. These suited daredevils cycled in formation down the city’s streets, melodiously trumpeting with one hand.