I worry that humanity kind of shot their shot on pests in the last 100 years. We cracked down pretty brutally and now we get to witness evolution at work. Mosquitos, ticks, deadly fungi, ash...
I worry that humanity kind of shot their shot on pests in the last 100 years. We cracked down pretty brutally and now we get to witness evolution at work.
Mosquitos, ticks, deadly fungi, ash borers, etc. are all coming at us with a vengeance. I worry about bacteria, viruses, and prions too.
Does anyone know if we have new ideas or upcoming technologies to actually deal with all of these things?
In the agricultural sector, we are seeing a sharp rise in the use of IPM (Integrated Pest Management) techniques. Lots of different strategies fall under the category, from the banal (like laying...
In the agricultural sector, we are seeing a sharp rise in the use of IPM (Integrated Pest Management) techniques. Lots of different strategies fall under the category, from the banal (like laying insect mesh over crops) to the complex (like breeding aphids that don't target your crops and releasing them into a banker crop — a secondary crop growing alongside your main crop that exists just to feed these aphids — in order to maintain a healthy population of parasitic wasps that target both your domestic aphid species and the wild aphid species in your crop).
We should soon be able to tailor-make viruses to target pests with virtually no collateral damage, and that is more humane. Imagine a rodent control that only targets rats from the genus Rattus,...
We should soon be able to tailor-make viruses to target pests with virtually no collateral damage, and that is more humane. Imagine a rodent control that only targets rats from the genus Rattus, sterilizes them instead of killing them, and self-terminates after 72 hours, for example.
Any research on this that doesn't sounds like an inevitable pandemic waiting to happen through human hubris? It's a cool idea but it sounds like one more way we screw up ecosystems or inevitably...
Any research on this that doesn't sounds like an inevitable pandemic waiting to happen through human hubris? It's a cool idea but it sounds like one more way we screw up ecosystems or inevitably wipe ourselves out
That seems like a staggering high percentage of households with bed bugs...
I worry that humanity kind of shot their shot on pests in the last 100 years. We cracked down pretty brutally and now we get to witness evolution at work.
Mosquitos, ticks, deadly fungi, ash borers, etc. are all coming at us with a vengeance. I worry about bacteria, viruses, and prions too.
Does anyone know if we have new ideas or upcoming technologies to actually deal with all of these things?
In the agricultural sector, we are seeing a sharp rise in the use of IPM (Integrated Pest Management) techniques. Lots of different strategies fall under the category, from the banal (like laying insect mesh over crops) to the complex (like breeding aphids that don't target your crops and releasing them into a banker crop — a secondary crop growing alongside your main crop that exists just to feed these aphids — in order to maintain a healthy population of parasitic wasps that target both your domestic aphid species and the wild aphid species in your crop).
We should soon be able to tailor-make viruses to target pests with virtually no collateral damage, and that is more humane. Imagine a rodent control that only targets rats from the genus Rattus, sterilizes them instead of killing them, and self-terminates after 72 hours, for example.
Any research on this that doesn't sounds like an inevitable pandemic waiting to happen through human hubris? It's a cool idea but it sounds like one more way we screw up ecosystems or inevitably wipe ourselves out