Meet Violet Clinton: New York student tracked 11,377 moths using beer-soaked T-shirts

Image: The New York Times At 16, Violet Clinton has turned her fascination with insects into an ambitious scientific research project, documenting 11,377 insects during a seven-month study of moth diversity and abundance in New York. A student at Horace Greeley High School, she spends two or three evenings a week exploring the Eugene and Agnes Meyer Nature Preserve in Armonk, using ultraviolet lights, a butterfly net and homemade bait made from bananas, brown sugar and beer to attract moths. Her research examines three habitats under different weather conditions and moon phases. The project has also earned her recognition at a scientific competition, where she secured second place among college and graduate student researchers, according to a report by The New York Times.How Violet Clinton tracked 11,377 moths in seven monthsClinton's interest in insects began during childhood, when she regularly searched for grasshoppers and other small creatures. One of her earliest memorable encounters with moths occurred when she was about seven and brought home two woolly bear caterpillars she had found crawling along a pavement.During winter, she thought the caterpillars had died. When spring...