Free Republic

The beady eyes in my taco glare back amid the citrus salsa and avocado, and peek out from behind a leaf of cilantro. The first bite is crunchy, and faintly nutty, like toasted corn — if toasted corn came with six legs and a pair of wings. Before long I’m popping individual fried locusts into my mouth like peanuts. But this isn’t a street stall in Oaxaca, Mexico. I’m in my Jerusalem apartment and my girlfriend is having a conniption over the pile of disembodied grasshopper legs I’ve left on the chopping board in the kitchen. Over the phone, my...

Scientists map high-tech war on Utah crickets Tiny radios track the critters, give clues on how to stop them from marauding By Valerie Bauman The Associated Press CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - Armed with a glue gun and radio transmitters the size of a penny, a University of North Carolina scientist is trying to stop mass insect migrations that devastate ranches in the Mountain West. Mormon crickets, also known as flightless katydids, travel in massive packs, devouring all surrounding terrain as they move. Packs of the bugs can cover more than a mile a day and devastate crops. Scientists are trying...