Insects in film, insects in art, insects in medicine, insects in magic – you name it and insects have been in it! Add together all the dragonflies and honey bees, beetles and butterflies, locusts and lice, and the number of different species of insects on earth is already nearly one million. Little wonder then that insects have meant many different things to many different cultures throughout history.
This edition of the Research File celebrates the symbolism and the science, the magic and the menace of these 6-legged creatures which were around before the dinosaurs and may well outlast mankind.
Producer: Anne Blair Gould
Broadcast: October 26, 2001