Call it the tempest in the Frappuccino. Some Starbucks patrons have been distressed to learn that the chain's Strawberry and Creme Frappuccino owes its pink coloring to crushed insects. The coloring ...

Last week I talked about the uses of the lac insect. Today I’m introducing another very useful scale insect, but this one is more controversial. It is the cochineal insect, (Dactylopius coccus). You ...

THE commercial value of the insects from which cochineal, lac, and Japanese white wax are obtained were briefly referred to, by Dr. L. O. Howard, in the course of a short paper on a useful American ...

One family in central Mexico is struggling to preserve the production of cochineal dye, an intense, natural red pigment so prized that, after gold and silver, it was probably the most valuable thing ...

Q: I have a prickly pear with an increasing number of chalky-white splotches forming on the pads. Is this a fungus? Can it be treated? Should I just get rid of the plant? (It isn’t very big). A: What ...