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- cross-posted to:
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The insect glue, produced from edible oils, was inspired by plants such as sundews that use the strategy to capture their prey. A key advantage of physical pesticides over toxic pesticides is that pests are highly unlikely to evolve resistance, as this would require them to develop much larger and stronger bodies, while bigger beneficial insects, like bees, are not trapped by the drops.
The drops were tested on the western flower thrip, which are known to attack more than 500 species of vegetable, fruit and ornamental crops. More than 60% of the thrips were captured within the two days of the test, and the drops remained sticky for weeks.
Work on the sticky pesticide is continuing, but Dr Thomas Kodger at Wageningen University & Research, in the Netherlands, who is part of the self defence project doing the work, said: “We hope it will have not nearly as disastrous side-effects on the local environment or on accidental poisonings of humans. And the alternatives are much worse, which are potential starvation due to crop loss or the overuse of chemical pesticides, which are a known hazard.”
You don’t serve the greater good by misusing words. A new sticky substance as an alternative to chemicals? If you want to educate people through your reporting, then you try to make it accurate and choose words carefully.
It doesn’t invalidate the whole article, fair enough. But it does make a “wise” person question what else they got wrong.
Everything is chemicals.
Which is why it should be considered bad practice to use the word “chemicals” as a synonym for “poison.”
Yep. Cooking is a chemical reaction.
Beware of dihydrogen monoxide.
Oh, but I long for the days when this was a joke. ;-(
Not thermal?
You’re right, I should have said "causes chemical reactions.’
https://www.chefsresource.com/is-cooking-a-chemical-or-physical-change/
No, because a wise person would understand that the journalist understood the audience they were speaking to, ie: the general public, and used the proper verbiage.
An unwise person would argue language semantics.
Exactly. Intelligence is knowing what the right words are. Wisdom is knowing what words to use to get your point across to people who aren’t as intelligent as you.
Hard disagree. Science reporting has to summarize and simplify, but it should strive to remain accurate and not “dumb down.” By making “chemicals” the Boogeyman it misleads people. Certain chemicals are dangerous and others are just fine. Natural chemicals, oxidized or not, can be very toxic. Lab made chemicals can be mostly inert.