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The Iowa Stater
Dec. 15, 1995

Cartoon Science

When researchers publish their findings, the most they usually can hope for is the dry rendering of results often found in staid scientific journals. It's rare when a scientist can say, "See you in the funny pages" and mean it. A couple of Iowa State researchers can.

Cartoonist Larry Gonick's creative juices were piqued after reading how Iowa State and University of Massachusetts entomologists had answered the question: How do male moths locate female moths for mating?

Gonick, a contributing editor for Discover magazine, contacted Tom Baker, who headed the project at Iowa State, and Neil Vickers, a former ISU postdoctoral researcher. Armed with descriptions and photos of the project, Gonick set to work.

The result: a two-page comic strip in Discover's August issue. One panel depicts Vickers strapping antennae to a moth with Velcro.

"It's humorous, but it's also one of the clearest explanations of the research that I've seen," Baker said. "It's amazing how many people from around the country have called or written me, saying they read it."

By the way, the answer to the question is: Male moths follow the wind when they smell a scent put out by females. Without a breeze, males are clueless as to the scent's source.

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