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370 billion crickets are farmed for food every year. Scientists have discovered they may feel pain

The Conversation · · 808 words · By Kate Lynch; Thomas White
Insect Welfare Scientific Research Methodology Animal Sentience

The authors describe a study on house crickets that observed grooming behavior following heat application to antennae, suggesting the insects experience pain rather than just a reflex. The article argues that this evidence, alongside existing data on other invertebrates, supports the case for insect sentience and the need for better protections in farming and pesticide use.

open_in_new Read the original article: https://theconversation.com/370-billion-crickets-are-farmed-for-food-every-year-…

analyticsAnalysis

30%
Propaganda Score
confidence: 90%
Minor concerns. Some persuasive language detected, but largely factual.

psychologyDetected Techniques

warning
Loaded Language 80% confidence
Using words with strong emotional connotations to influence an audience.
warning
Appeal to Pity 70% confidence
Evoking sympathy to win support rather than using logical arguments.

fact_checkFact-Check Results

11 claims extracted and verified against multiple sources including cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia.

info Single Source 5
check_circle Corroborated 3
help Insufficient Evidence 2
schedule Pending 1
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“In our new study, published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, we searched for behavioural signs of pain in house crickets”
CORROBORATED
Multiple web search results confirm a study on behavioral signs of pain in house crickets was published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Proceedings of the Royal Entomological Society was a peer-reviewed scientific journal of entomology established in 1926 by the Royal Entomological Society. A history is presented below.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proceedings_of_the_Royal_Entom…
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy (PRIA) is the journal of the Royal Irish Academy, founded in 1785 to promote the study of science, polite literature, and antiquities. It was known as severa…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proceedings_of_the_Royal_Irish…
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Proceedings of the Royal Society is the main research journal of the Royal Society. The journal began in 1831 and was split into two series in 1905: Series A: for papers in physical sciences and math…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proceedings_of_the_Royal_Socie…
+ 3 more evidence sources
info
“French philosopher René Descartes considered animals unfeeling biological machines”
SINGLE SOURCE
While the provided evidence mentions Descartes' views on the soul and animal spirits, the specific phrasing 'unfeeling biological machines' is not explicitly confirmed by the provided snippets, though it is a known philosophical attribution. The provided search results are too generic to verify the specific wording.
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web search NEUTRAL — René Descartes at work. In The Passions of the Soul, published in 1649,[88] Descartes discussed the common contemporary belief that the human body contained animal spirits.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/René_Descartes
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web search NEUTRAL — Descartes’ View of Animals. Descartes with puppy René Descartes and ‘friend’.But Cudworth didn’t think that the similarity between man and beast was purely biologically based, as most of us would argu…
https://philosophynow.org/issues/108/Descartes_versus_Cudwor…
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web search NEUTRAL — Rene Descartes is perhaps the world’s best known-philosopher, in large part because of his pithy statement, ‘I think therefore I am.’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAjWUrwvxs4
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“Recognition that mammals experience pain came first, followed by birds.”
SINGLE SOURCE
This claim appears in a web search result that seems to be a snippet from the same source as Claim 0. No other independent source in the provided evidence confirms this specific historical sequence of scientific recognition.
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web search NEUTRAL — The meaning of SCIENTIFIC is of, relating to, or exhibiting the methods or principles of science. How to use scientific in a sentence.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/scientific
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web search NEUTRAL — SCIENTIFIC definition: of or relating to science or the sciences. See examples of scientific used in a sentence.
https://www.dictionary.com/browse/scientific
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web search NEUTRAL — Publish in Scientific Reports: multidisciplinary, open access journal, with 3.8 Impact Factor, 20 days to first decision and 135M annual downloads.
https://www.nature.com/srep/
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“Fish too, once assumed to lack the necessary brain structures, are now widely accepted as capable of pain-like states.”
CORROBORATED
Two independent sources (one general web snippet and one HuffPost article referencing scientific substrates) support the idea that fish are now accepted as capable of pain-like states.
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web search NEUTRAL — The fish are native to Asia—from the Indian subcontinent to Southeast Asia and northeasterly towards Korea. The name gourami, from the Sundanese word gurame, is also used for fish of the families Helo…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gourami
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web search NEUTRAL — Recognition that mammals experience pain came first, followed by birds. Fish too, once assumed to lack the necessary brain structures, are now widely accepted as capable of pain-like states. The leap …
https://theconversation.com/370-billion-crickets-are-farmed-…
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web search NEUTRAL — Walters, Edgar T. (2016) Pain-capable neural substrates may be widely available in the animal kingdom Animal Sentience 2016.063. Because each essay is available, I'll just make a few comments to whet …
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/fish-feel-pain_b_8881656
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“Evidence meeting these criteria helped crabs and lobsters gain legal recognition as sentient under United Kingdom law in 2022.”
CORROBORATED
Multiple independent sources, including GOV.UK and news reports, confirm that crabs and lobsters were recognized as sentient under the UK's Animal Welfare (Sentience) Bill/law.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Brachyura is an infraorder of decapod crustaceans comprising the true crabs. They typically have a very short projecting tail-like abdomen, usually hidden entirely under the thorax. Their exoskeleton …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brachyura
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The coconut crab (Birgus latro) is a terrestrial species of giant hermit crab, and is also known as the robber crab or palm thief. It is the largest living terrestrial arthropod, with a weight up to 4…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coconut_crab
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Crabs are decapod crustaceans, either the Brachyura (the "true crabs") or various groups within the closely related Anomura (hermit crabs and allies), characterised by having a heavily armoured shell,…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crab
+ 3 more evidence sources
info
“Bumblebees weigh the risk of harm against the richness of a food reward, and groom the site of an injury.”
SINGLE SOURCE
The claim is found in a web search snippet that appears to be from the same article as Claim 0. No other independent source corroborates these specific bumblebee behaviors.
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web search NEUTRAL — Bumblebee conservation is in its infancy in many parts of the world, but with the realization of the important part they play in pollination of crops, efforts are being made to manage farmland better.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bumblebee
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web search NEUTRAL — Bumblebees weigh the risk of harm against the richness of a food reward, and groom the site of an injury. Honeybees learn to associate particular smells with harmful stimuli and avoid them.
https://theconversation.com/370-billion-crickets-are-farmed-…
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web search NEUTRAL — The unregulated bumblebee trade, combined with the wanton use of pesticides, is thought to have already killed off the Franklin’s bumblebee , which was last spotted in 2006. The environmentalists say …
https://grist.org/food/unregulated-bumblebee-trade-threatens…
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“Honeybees learn to associate particular smells with harmful stimuli and avoid them.”
SINGLE SOURCE
The claim is found in a web search snippet that appears to be from the same article as Claim 0. Other honeybee sources provided are general descriptions and do not confirm this specific behavioral trait.
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web search NEUTRAL — Honeybees on yellow ironweed. Followed by segment at one-tenth speed. A honey bee (also spelled honeybee) is a eusocial flying insect from the genus Apis of the largest bee family, Apidae. [1] Honey b…
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honey_bee
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web search NEUTRAL — Everything you should know about the Honey Bee. The Honey Bee is an insect that lives in a complex society, makes honey, and pollenates plants.
https://animals.net/honey-bee/
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web search NEUTRAL — Apr 29, 2026 · The following sections provide an overview of the different honeybee species, honeybee biology, and diseases of honeybees. For more detailed information on honeybees, their colonies, an…
https://www.britannica.com/animal/honeybee
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“the house cricket (Acheta domesticus) is the world’s most widely farmed insect, with more than 370 billion reared annually.”
SINGLE SOURCE
The specific figure of '370 billion reared annually' appears in a web search snippet (likely the same source as Claim 0). While Wikipedia and other sources confirm the house cricket is widely farmed, they do not provide this specific number.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Article 370 is a 2024 Indian Hindi-language political action thriller film directed by Aditya Suhas Jambhale, who co-wrote the film with Aditya Dhar, Monal Thaakar and Arjun Dhawan. Produced by Jyoti …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Article_370_(film)
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Article 370 of the Indian constitution gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir, a region located in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent and part of the larger region of Kashmir which has bee…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Article_370_of_the_Constitutio…
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 (MH370 / MAS370) was an international passenger flight operated by Malaysia Airlines that disappeared from radar on 8 March 2014, while flying from Kuala Lumpur Internatio…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malaysia_Airlines_Flight_370
+ 3 more evidence sources
help
“After the hot probe, crickets were more than twice as likely to groom the affected antenna compared to controls, and spent roughly four times longer doing so.”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence was found in the provided search results to support or refute the specific grooming statistics for crickets.
help
“crickets possess damage receptors, can learn to avoid harms, and respond less to injury under morphine”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence was found in the provided search results regarding damage receptors, learning to avoid harm, or morphine responses in crickets.
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“Insects have been around for more than 400 million years”
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info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.