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Dogs may be the key to getting rid of these common pests
Researchers from Virginia Tech and Texas Tech Universities trained over 180 dog-and-owner teams to identify the camouflaged egg masses.
In trials, 92 per cent of trained dogs successfully located the eggs, achieving 61 per cent accuracy in outdoor settings, which surpasses human detection rates.
Dogs' superior sense of smell, tens of thousands of times more acute than humans ', enables them to find the eggs without disturbing the environment.
This canine detection method offers a vital tool in combating the spread of spotted lanternflies, which could cost the US grape industry millions of dollars in damage.
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The Guardian
3 hours ago
- The Guardian
If we're serious about protecting pregnancies, we need to stop spraying pesticides
As a biochemist trained in environmental health, I was relieved to see coverage of pesticide exposure and pregnancy risk (Exposure to a mix of pesticides raises risk of pregnancy complications, study suggests, 19 July). But one key detail is missing: food is not the main route of exposure for most women, especially in urban environments. While dietary pesticide levels are regulated, many studies – including urine biomonitoring – have shown less difference in pesticide load between children eating organic and conventional diets in cities than we would expect. Why? Because exposure is happening elsewhere. Pesticides are being sprayed by building managers, neighbours, city governments and businesses – on sidewalks, in apartment hallways, in parks, and even indoors. Many women are exposed without ever handling these chemicals themselves. In fact, a 2020 study found that urban women who used pesticides at home had the same increased risk of birth defects as women exposed to farm drift: a threefold increase in holoprosencephaly, one of the most common birth defects in the US. We must shift the conversation beyond food. These chemicals are in the air women breathe and the homes they live in – often without their knowledge or consent. If we're serious about protecting pregnancies, we need to stop the ShaveOlympia, Washington, US
Telegraph
10 hours ago
- Telegraph
Neanderthals loved to eat maggots, study finds
Neanderthals loved eating maggots and were not the total carnivores people often believed they were, a study has found. It has long been believed that Neanderthals, the ancient cousin species of human ancestors, ate almost nothing but meat in a similar way to lions or wolves. But a study has found this to be incorrect and proves that Neanderthals instead dined largely on maggot-riddled meat. The meat from successful hunts would be stashed and inevitably left to fester but the maggots which took root were also likely a staple of their diet, new analysis has found. Previous studies of Neanderthal remains have shown they had the same chemicals in their bones as hypercarnivore predators, which is indicative of a purely carnivorous diet. This, combined with the knowledge that Neanderthals hunted animals such as mammoths, bison, deer and reindeer, led to the widespread assumption that Neanderthals ate almost nothing but meat. But Dr Melanie Beasley, an anthropologist at Purdue University in Indiana, US, suspected this to be incorrect and studied maggots feasting on human remains to see if they could account for the chemical signature which implies a carnivore diet. Analysis found that when a carcass rots the muscles themselves become only marginally enriched with the specific form of nitrogen found in Neanderthal remains. But when maggots eat the flesh and themselves are consumed these can be up to 43 per cent richer in the nitrogen which scientists have previously thought proved carnivore behaviour. 'We suggest that the nitrogen values are inflated, perhaps substantially so, because these dedicated hunters of large mammals would have stored or cached portions of their kills for later use to compensate for unpredictable returns,' the study team wrote. 'Backup reserves of animal foods, either as packets of processed meat and fat, or as partial or complete carcasses, would have been placed in expedient above-ground rock or log cairns, suspended from tree branches or placed on above-ground racks or stages, immersed in ponds and swamps, or buried in below-ground pits. 'Such reserves, whether fresh, dried, or smoked, readily attracted flies while they were being processed, and, over the use life of the reserve, the contents almost inevitably began to putrefy and become infested with maggots.' This slowly rotting meat which was being devoured by maggots could have been eaten weeks, months, or even years after it was first hunted, the scientists concluded. Human bodies buried for study To gauge what nutrients maggots contained the scientists buried 34 human bodies donated for research at the Body Farm facility of the University of Tennessee. After two years, the maggots were studied and it was found that they were the likely reason for the high nitrogen content in Neanderthal remains that led to the assumption they were almost exclusively carnivores. Another factor in the scientists' conclusion about the Neanderthal diet is that it is impossible for a human body to survive for very long if it is consuming more than 300g of protein a day. Prolonged exposure to a diet beyond this, which is around 1,200 calories of pure protein, can lead to 'rabbit starvation' in which the body begins to shut down. This biological incompatibility with the protein-heavy diet and the maggot nitrogen finding are strong evidence that the Neanderthal was not a hypercarnivore like lions, the scientists say. 'A lion, on average, consumes anywhere from double to four-and-a-half times more protein per kg of body weight than the absolute maximum a Late Pleistocene hominin would be capable of tolerating,' the scientists wrote. The Neanderthal diet was likely to have included tongue, ribs, briskets, entrails, kidneys and other internal organs, and probably also the brain, the scientists believe. 'Fascination' of hypercarnivore image But Dr Beasley believes Neanderthals 'often ate these fat-rich tissues in a tainted or putrefied state together with their almost inevitable infestation of living and dead maggots'. 'It seems very likely that Late Pleistocene hominins would often have found themselves consuming animal foods from tainted or putrefied reserves laced with living and dead maggots,' she told The Telegraph. 'I think for a long time the hypercarnivore narrative about Neanderthals has been wrong but that image adds to their exceptionalism and fascination, so that narrative has persisted. 'Hominins ate meat regularly starting with Homo erectus, but they ate a diversity of other foods too. 'We are just saying that we need to consider those other dietary inputs like the inevitable stored foods laced with fatty maggots that would have been nutritionally beneficial.'
The Guardian
14 hours ago
- The Guardian
If we're serious about protecting pregnancies, we need to stop spraying pesticides
As a biochemist trained in environmental health, I was relieved to see coverage of pesticide exposure and pregnancy risk (Exposure to a mix of pesticides raises risk of pregnancy complications, study suggests, 19 July). But one key detail is missing: food is not the main route of exposure for most women, especially in urban environments. While dietary pesticide levels are regulated, many studies – including urine biomonitoring – have shown less difference in pesticide load between children eating organic and conventional diets in cities than we would expect. Why? Because exposure is happening elsewhere. Pesticides are being sprayed by building managers, neighbours, city governments and businesses – on sidewalks, in apartment hallways, in parks, and even indoors. Many women are exposed without ever handling these chemicals themselves. In fact, a 2020 study found that urban women who used pesticides at home had the same increased risk of birth defects as women exposed to farm drift: a threefold increase in holoprosencephaly, one of the most common birth defects in the US. We must shift the conversation beyond food. These chemicals are in the air women breathe and the homes they live in – often without their knowledge or consent. If we're serious about protecting pregnancies, we need to stop the ShaveOlympia, Washington, US
