Cornell's John Losey, associate professor of entomology, and Linda Rayor, senior research associate in entomology, will be featured on the TV program "CBS Sunday Morning," hosted by Charles Osgood, Sept. 9. The program airs 9-10:30 a.m. on WTVH-TV (Channel 5) in Syracuse and on WBNG-TV (Channel 12) in Binghamton.

Losey will tout the positive economic impact of insects, while Rayor will discuss the benefits of spiders.

A study that Losey co-authored last year found, for example, that the dollar value of some insect services is more than $57 billion a year in the United States. Native insects are food for the wildlife supporting a $50 billion recreation industry and provide pest control worth more than $4.5 billion. They also provide crop pollination, valued at $3 billion, and clean up grazing lands, saving ranchers some $380 million a year.

Rayor teaches spider biology at Cornell and directs a naturalist outreach program aimed at children. Her passion for the exotic and exquisite natural world radiates throughout the community and beyond via her student "speakers' bureau," a cadre of students who use live specimens and dynamic teaching tools to communicate enthusiasm for biology. In the past 10 years, the spider ambassadors have spoken to more than 25,500 people via some 735 presentations to classrooms, clubs and community groups.