Take the orange-and-black insects that were sitting on curled viburnum leaves and about to be exterminated. “That’s why we included a whole section of beneficials on the website,” Dr. Sadof said. The person in charge knew they were conifers, and therefore assumed that if they were alive, they would be evergreen — but dawn redwoods are among the few deciduous conifers. The key, these scientists agree, lies in cultivating our curiosity about what’s going on — even the nasty-looking stuff. “If you go in there with this attitude of ‘yuck,’” Dr. Beckerman said, “that’s the kryptonite of curiosity.”

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