The insect glue, produced from edible oils, was inspired by plants such as sundews that use the strategy to capture their prey. A key advantage of physical pesticides over toxic pesticides is that pests are highly unlikely to evolve resistance, as this would require them to develop much larger and stronger bodies, while bigger beneficial insects, like bees, are not trapped by the drops.
The drops were tested on the western flower thrip, which are known to attack more than 500 species of vegetable, fruit and ornamental crops. More than 60% of the thrips were captured within the two days of the test, and the drops remained sticky for weeks.
Work on the sticky pesticide is continuing, but Dr Thomas Kodger at Wageningen University & Research, in the Netherlands, who is part of the self defence project doing the work, said: “We hope it will have not nearly as disastrous side-effects on the local environment or on accidental poisonings of humans. And the alternatives are much worse, which are potential starvation due to crop loss or the overuse of chemical pesticides, which are a known hazard.”
A key advantage of physical pesticides over toxic pesticides is that pests are highly unlikely to evolve resistance, as this would require them to develop much larger and stronger bodies.
Goddammit, stop playing with fire, scientists!!
In the Jurassic period there were giant insects like dragonflies with 4ft wingspan. Turns out THIS is how we get to Jurassic park
Insect body size is dictated by oxygen levels, and since they absorb oxygen through their skin if they get too large with too little oxygen they suffocate.
Carboniferous period. Jurassic was about 100m years later.
Carboniferous Park
Shit was fire (30% atmospheric oxygen levels)
35%, even. It’s more like 20% today, for comparison.
Let’s make s movie!
It was a wild guess and I was hoping someone smarter than me would correct me ❤️
In my defense the dinosaurs from Jurassic Park came from wildly different eras so Carboniferous super bugs can still fit in!
I just asked ChatGPT because I knew something was off.
Yeah and human-sized scorpions
You are thinking of sea scorpions who for one werent scorpions and for two were aquatic in nature only going onto the pre carboniferous land as a shortcut since there was nothing on land.
Not unless the level of oxygen in the air goes up dramatically, that’s what allowed those big bodies when they had no lungs
Isn’t that Lamarckism? If I recall correctly, that’s an older model of evolution that is not commonly recognized anymore.
slightly stronger ones survive to pass their genes to their offspring, that’s the idea.
Natural selection is usually implied. So, in long form, smaller insects would have to be less reproductively successful, and that’s hard when you’re a pest that really benefits from being tiny, stealthy and energy-economical.
All jokes aside, this is another great example of a trend towards bio-inspired engineering.
There are plenty of ways we shorten a specific phrase that renders it general but still understand it as the specific version.
The word “chemicals” is rarely misunderstood when used this way. Colloquially, many/most people mean “harmful chemicals” when they say it.
Is there room for misunderstanding? Yes. Is that a problem? Not any bigger than most problems with using spoken/written language to communicate.
You don’t come off as wise when you point this inaccuracy out, and It doesn’t invalidate the whole article.
You are correct, but having spent 7 years of my life learning general chemistry, biochemistry, and organic chemistry… I will fight with my last breath that chemicals exist.
To play devils advocate, lets say we “agree” that “no chemicals” means no harmful chemicals… now we have given corporations the weasel defense to say anything has “no chemicals” because they will define away any measure of harm.
Pointing out the incorrectness of the article doesn’t mean it has no merit, but now the critical reader must be extra cautious because the author has demonstrated very poor domain knowledge, and their conclusions are suspect.
Well “technically correct” is the best kind of correct, so I’ll agree.
Why not just say “no toxins”?
“Toxin” is somewhat subjective.
Raisins aren’t a toxin… for us. But they are for cats and dogs.
And not all harmful chemicals are toxic, per se.
Sodium hydroxide does not produce systemic toxicity, but is very corrosive and can cause severe burns in all tissues that it comes in contact with.
