Gross out? (Activities & Oddities).

You probably won't find fried grasshoppers (chapulines) or succulent butterfly larvae (gusanos de maguey) at your local burrito joint--but for 80 percent of the world's population, bugs are hot menu items. "In Mexico, you can buy them everywhere," says chef Dudley Nieto, co-author of Cuisines of Hidden Mexico.

Insect eating (entomophagy) goes way back, says Faith Thayer, an insect scientist at the University of Massachusetts: "As long as humans have existed, people have picked up insects and eaten them." Of 1 million known species of insects (six-legged creatures with segmented bodies), humans consume about 1,400 types.

Take the worm-like larvae called gusanos de maguey, for example. Skipper butterflies (Aegiale hesperiaris) lay eggs in a type of Mexican cactus called agave. The eggs hatch into fleshy caterpillars that feed on agave and grow up to 65 millimeters long. For laborers who harvest agave, gusanos de maguey are a vital food source. A 100-gram serving (small handful) packs 650 calories, the amount in two heaping plates of rice. And their protein builds healthy muscle and tissue. They're also loaded with calcium, a mineral critical for healthy bone growth. But chef Nieto says he nibbles insects solely for the taste: "Grasshoppers taste like bacon and shrimp, if you can imagine that."--K.M.

EXPLAIN THIS!

What happened to this guy?

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

What Is It?

Watermelon 

Explain This:

The man survived a lightning strike. The fernlike pattern on his back, caused by damaged capillaries beneath the skin, traces the path where he was struck.