Why Insects Matter: Earth’s Most Essential Species

Course Overview

Discover why the world belongs to insects in this 24-lecture course dedicated to Earth’s most populous and vital creatures.

Course No. 10150
Insects are Earth’s ultimate survivors—outnumbering, outweighing, and outlasting humanity. With over 1 million identified species (23% of all life forms!), they’ve thrived through three mass extinctions across 480 million years.

Professor Scott Solomon reveals their astonishing world:

• Evolutionary marvels: Silk stronger than steel, flight before birds, and aquatic adaptations.
• Ecological roles: Pollinating 80% of crops ($195B/year), decomposing waste, and sustaining food webs.
• Human connections: From disease vectors to future food sources and biomimicry inspiration.

Without insects, ecosystems would collapse. This course illuminates their irreplaceable genius—and why our survival depends on theirs.

Video Lectures

Module 1: Insect Basics

1. Insects Living All Around You! (32 min)

• Coexisting with household insects (spoiler: sometimes doing nothing is best).

1. Insect Bodies and Human History (32 min)

• Exoskeletons, compound eyes, and how they conquered every habitat.

1. Insect Life Cycles and Reproduction (32 min)

• From silkworm threads to monarch butterfly migrations.

Module 2: Behavior & Ecology

4. Insect Behaviors and Communication (29 min)

• Decoding honeybee “waggle dances” and pheromone signals.

4. Why So Many Beetles? (30 min)

• Why 400,000+ species make beetles evolution’s MVP.

4. Pollinators We Cannot Live Without (31 min)

• How insects sustain 80% of global crops.

4. Insect Herbivores (31 min)

• 300 million years of plant-eating innovations.

Module 3: Insects & Humans

8. Insect Pests (32 min)

• Balancing control with ecological wisdom.

8. Insect-Borne Disease (33 min)

• Mosquitoes: Deadliest animals in human history.

8. Insects as Food for People (26 min)

• Why 2 billion people eat insects—and you might too.

8. Insect Recyclers (30 min)

• Termites: Nature’s architects inspiring green buildings.

Module 4: Survival Strategies

13. Insects as Predators (28 min)

• Mantis strikes and assassin bug “liquefaction.”

13. Insects as Parasites (31 min)

• Gruesome egg-injecting survival tactics.

13. Insects That Fly (30 min)

• The first fliers (40M years before birds!).

13. Insects as Farmers (31 min)

• Leafcutter ants: Master fungal agriculturists.

Module 5: Conservation & Future

23. The Disappearing Insects (30 min)

• Pesticides, habitat loss, and silent collapses.

23. Sharing Planet Earth (34 min)

• How insect wisdom can guide human survival.