Posted on 06/19/2022 4:16:52 PM PDT by Scarlett156
(audio)
Scientists say they've figured out at least part of North America's invasive, imported fire ant problem by turning a virus that kills them into a weapon.
A group of researchers from Tennessee, Florida and North Carolina universities said in their new study, published in the print edition of the Journal of Invertebrate Pathology this month, that they successfully reduced wild Florida populations of imported fire ants. The ants reduce nearby biodiversity, so the team used a virus called Solenopsis invicta virus 3 to kill them.
"Laboratory tests have shown that Solenopsis invicta virus 3 may be an effective natural control agent against its host, the red imported fire ant," the so-authors wrote.
The Washington Post says both the imported red and black fire ants are native to South America and were introduced in the 1930s.
(Excerpt) Read more at futurism.com ...
I want Fauci’s opinion.
I can’t decide if this is going to become “Them”, “The Last Man On Earth/Omega Man” or “Consider Her Ways” (Alfred Hitchcock Presents, “https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x7mxcmx“)
Have they considered nuclear weapons? That idea may be better than this virus thing.
Well looking for natural ways to kill things that are invasive species often can be a good way to go.
Invasive species need something in the new environment that can keep them in check.
Sure, why not. It’s what they’re trying to do to us.
What could go wrong? Get the Chinese on it.
Or Empire of the Ants starring Robert Lansing and Joan Collins!
Virus to ants, to insects, to birds, to pigs to humans.
Isn’t that how it goes?
Gee what could go wrong?
the Ant People
I miss, Silverfish, Crickets, June Bugs, Roly Polys, dragon flies, earth worms... what is wrong with people. All of these little critters have a function. They open up the pores of the Earth to receive oxygen, to receive rain. They remove refuse, and create humus. Wow... just like the exterminators that spray tables in restaurants. HOW MANY GOOD microbes do they kill. Folks, we need these. Some of them are good.
I cough and spit on the ant hills in my yard.
I hope they die. From Covid, perhaps.
If the don’t they will mutate and evolve and grow and attack me in the middle of the night.
I have seen the movies.
Uh, considering our present record, I’d say EFFING NO!
Give kids free .22 ammo for ant carcasses brought in.
Ten years from now the lead-in sentence will begin with “In a series of unfortunate events...”
Why don’t they just use a magnifying glass like normal people?
We are the ants.
Phase 4 (1974) movie
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