Many animals are famous for their extravagant courtship dances. Consider the male Costa's hummingbird, who hovers in front of potential mates with his violet mantle feathers outstretched in the shape of a baby octopus. Or the male greater sage-grouse, who pops his colorful air sacs in a display that seems far less suitable for work than it is. It's not just birds. A flamboyantly colored male…

The screwworms are here, as we predicted they would be. More than half a century after the parasitic pest was declared eradicated, the insects have escaped containment in South America and made it all the way to Texas, where they have not been seen since 1966. There are now five cases of the flesh-eating parasite in the United States, all confirmed in under a week. The first two were in calves in…