Early in his career, when insects were generally viewed as black boxes in which the inner workings were of little interest, Arnold de Loof saw the complexity in their physiological system and wanted to further his understanding. He has spent his life researching and identifying dozens of insect hormones and has concluded that not only is the insect hormonal system as complicated as that of vertebrates, but many of the hormones are exactly the same. De Loof also commends the strategy of insects to miniaturize their parts and notes that in some ways, they are many years ahead of us.

Press play to hear more about de Loof’s research and to be enlightened with a unique definition of “life.” De Loof has also written two books, What is Life: The Immaterial Dimension, and Communication, Life, Mega-Evolution: Decrypting Life’s Nature, and has authored several papers, many of which can be found in databases such as Medline.

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