Neurosurgery in beetles uncovers yet another way that having sex can make life shorter.
Many insects and some other animals tend to die younger if they mate than if they don’t, says Michael Siva-Jothy of the University of Sheffield in England. After 200 or so organ transplants in mealworm beetles, he and Sheffield colleague Jens Rolff propose that a burst of so-called juvenile hormone triggered by mating revs up the insects’ reproductive system but with a dire cost: a weakened immune system.
Log in
Subscribers, enter your e-mail address for full access to the Science News archives and digital editions.