I like big bugs. I cannot lie. But which insect is the biggest? I asked my friend Rich Zack. He’s an insect scientist at Washington State University. He told me the answer depends on how you define ...

Recent research shows that insects and humans have something surprising in common: Some six-legged species take in oxygen using a similar means to the way we fill our lungs. Scientists from the Field ...

The process of oxygenating a body differs among many animal species. Mammals have lungs that expand and contract for proper ...

Insects have been assumed to breathe through a system of tracheal tubes (considered passive air channels), with gaseous exchange being driven by body movements or hemolymph circulation. However, the ...

The subsequent development of lungs as invaginations of the upper gastrointestinal tract can be understood in terms of current terrestrial fish that maintain gas exchange by swallowing air. This ...

What might be mistaken for a waterslide in this image is actually the breathing tube, or trachea, of a dragonfly. This tube connects to openings in the insect's exoskeleton (outer “shell”) called ...