Brooke Jarvis, Arthur Shapiro and David Wagner discuss the insect apocalypse. (12/11/18)

Published: Dec. 11, 2018, 8:35 p.m.

“Because insects are legion, inconspicuous and hard to meaningfully track, the fear that there might be far fewer than before was more felt than documented,” writes New York Times reporter Brooke Jarvis's article “The Insect Apocalypse Is Here: What does it mean for the rest of life on Earth?” reads. “People noticed it by canals or in backyards or under streetlights at night — familiar places that had become unfamiliarly empty. The feeling was so common that entomologists developed a shorthand for it, named for the way many people first began to notice that they weren’t seeing as many bugs. They called it the windshield phenomenon.” In this installment of “Leonard Lopate at Large” on WBAI, Brooke Jarvis is joined by two of the scientists quoted in her article, Dr. Arthur Shapiro of UC Davis and Dr. David Wagner of the University of Connecticut, for a discussion of what is behind this massive insect disappearance.