Word: insectes
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Scientists anxious to find a safe but powerful pesticide have long been fascinated by the juvenile hormone that is secreted by insects. At certain stages of an insect's life cycle, the hormone must be present to regulate growth and control the transformation from larva to pupa. At other times the hormone must be absent, or the insect will develop abnormally and never reach sexual maturity. If a sufficient dose is given to a mature female, it can make her sterile for life thus eliminating future generations. The trouble is that the hormone, synthesized in commercial quantities and sprayed...
...Czech-mating technique works on other insect species, it may provide a final answer to man's bug problems. Unlike the spraying of DDT and other chemical pesticides, the hormone technique affects only the treated species of insect and does not contaminate plant and animal life. And insects cannot develop immunity against it, for if they did, they would become immune to the hormone that is essential to part of their life cycle. The new technique is also superior to the release of radiation-sterilized male insects, which often fail to compete with their unradiated brothers in mating with...
...prime goals in attacking pollution ought to be a vast shrinkage of the human impact on other creatures. The war on insects, for example, might actually go a lot better without chemical pesticides that kill the pests' natural enemies, such as birds. One of the best strategies is to nurture the enemies so they can attack the pests; more insect-resistant crops can also be developed. Florida eliminated the screwworm fly not by spraying but by sterilizing hordes of the male flies, then liberating them to produce infertile eggs. A still newer method is the use of sex attractants...
...next morning, a few hours before taking a C-47 cargo plane to Da Lat, I found Mike waiting outside the IVS compound with a green duffle bag of things for me--insect repellent, army-issue boots, socks, shorts, and--hold on--an M-3 45 cal. machine gun and 2 clips of ammunition, something that looks like an auto mechanic's grease gun and, in fact, is called a grease gun. I declined everything except the repellent but I was genuinely touched by his concern for my safety. We exchanged APO addresses and agreed to take...
...island. Tiny flightless rails nestle amidst Aldabra's bushy scrub and mangrove forests, while above them swoop red-footed boobies, sacred ibises and fruit-eating bats. Twenty of the island's plant species are nonexistent elsewhere in the world; so are a host of its insect inhabitants...