Scientists Use Sex-Crazed Bugs As Pesticide 107
ByronScott writes "In today's 'gross news' category, some female insects just might be getting lucky. As an alternative to toxic pesticides, scientists at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have created 'super-sexed' sterilized male leafhoppers to knock bug boots with females in the wild, resulting in decreased populations. Yes, that means that the female bugs will miss out on the joys of motherhood, but the idea that the insects will be having some fun instead of being gassed to death by poisons is pretty cool."
Cool ! (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Cool ! (Score:3, Insightful)
Nature... finds a way.
Re:QFTS (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Free as in beer? (Score:2, Insightful)
Assuming you're married or have a girlfriend, you would know that you pay. Maybe not in dollars in cents, but you pay...
FAIL (Score:3, Insightful)
The bug will not only have sex with one, but many male bugs. And one of them will have working sperm. Done.
Maybe making the females sterile would make a bit more sense. ^^
For database designers: It’s a one-to-many relationship.
Re:Cool ! (Score:4, Insightful)
No, a lot of times it really doesn't [wikipedia.org].
What scienists say (Score:4, Insightful)
What scientists say: (insert abstract followed by lengthy, scholarly work which includes some mention of sex).
What journalists hear: SEX, SEX,SEX,SEX,SEX,SEX,SEX,SEX... Oh, BTW SEX!
The preceding was an homage to Gary Larson [google.com] author of The Far Side.
E-birth control? (Score:2, Insightful)