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- Out of turn
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- Diesel: when bad policy makes for toxic hell 38
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- Temporary solution, permanent jam 25
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Insects
Hook in the gut
Issue Date: Aug 15, 1995
A HAU-INCH long parasite that thrives on
blood extracted ftom the gut of the host,
the hookworm is playing havoc with the
health of about 900 million people
worldwide, predominantly in the Third
World. According to the World Health
Organization, the parasite affects 132
million people in Africa, 104 million in
Central and South America and about
685 million people in Asia. Now, some
recent discoveries have suggested excellent possibilities of developing a vaccine to conquer the worm (Scientific
American, Vol 272, No 6).
The life cycle of a hookworm begins
On elastic wings
Issue Date: Jun 15, 1995
FLYING insects have elastic mechanisms
in their wings, which both store and
release energy in an attempt to reduce
the immense effort required for flight,
according to Michael H Dickinson, assistant professor of organismal biology and anatomy at the University of Chicago.
Dickinson has designed a sophisticated tabletop flight simulator to confirm that in flying insects, the energy
released after one stroke is reused to
BACTERIA CURBS MOSQUITO BREEDING
Issue Date: May 15, 1995
A GHANAIAN research institute says
that after 9 years of research, it has
identified a bacteria which can
control breeding of malaria-carrying mosquitoes.
Janet Ofori, principal research
officer of the Accra-based Institute
of Aquatic Biology, says, "We have
identified a bacterial strain,
Bacillus sphaerius, which has been
found to have a toxic effect on mosquito larvae." The bacteria is easy
to produce, store and transport,
she claims.
Bug eat bug
Issue Date: Apr 30, 1995
Researchers at the us Agriculture Department claim that pest population in grain stores can be controlled by increasing the population of a tiny insect-eating bug.
Lycotcoris Campestris -- the larger pirate bug -- is found in grain stores thriving on the insects that thrive on grain. According to entomologist Thomas Phillips, it can be removed from grain during processing.
Army pests attack Zimbabwean farmers
Issue Date: Feb 15, 1995
Zimbabwean farmers, already under severe stress, thanks to a meagre and delayed rainy season, are now pitted against an army with a difference. Their croplands have been invaded by an "army worm" -- a swarm of flying pests.
The army worm has spread to many of Zimbabwe's main grain-producing northern Mashonaland provinces. It came into the country from neighbouring Zambia. But, says Di Taylor, an entomologist with the Commercial Farmers Union, Zembabwean "farmers are on top of the situation and the crops are generally safe". The stand has been reiterated by the government.
A pox on pests
Issue Date: Jan 31, 1995
INSECTS destroy a major part of standing crop, damaging the predominantly agrarian economy of the developing countries. That traditional pesticides are indisputably environmentally detrimental is an established fact. The International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (icipe), in Nairobi, Kenya, directed by scientists from the developing world was founded in 1970 to curb the depredations of the pest.
Gossamer research
Issue Date: Jan 31, 1995
Loony crabs
Issue Date: Dec 15, 1994
Do you get crabby when the moon waxes? Don't be surprised: scientists at the Goa-based National Institute of Oceanography (NIO) have discovered that even crabs begin to behave differently under the influence of the moon (Indian Journal of Marine Sciences, Vol 23, No 3).
Batty architects
Issue Date: Nov 15, 1994
Some bats could well be making the belfries they live in. Jae Choe of Harvard University has recently discovered in Panama a bat (Uroderma bilobatum) that constructs sophisticated wigwams in several leafy tiers (BBC Wildlife, Vol 12, No 9).
Butterflies are not for free
Issue Date: Sep 30, 1994
THE seizure of thousands of butterflies and moths from 2 German nationals at the Delhi airport on August 15 has prompted the Union ministry of environment and forests (MEF) to frame an order under the Export Trade Control Rules to ban the export of all genetic material.
