Posts Tagged ‘pesticides’
High insecticide levels in dead honeybees
PURDUE (US) — Honeybee populations have been in serious decline for years, and scientists may have identified one of the factors that cause bee deaths around agricultural fields. Continue…
Friday, January 13, 2012 12:30 - 8 Comments
Science & Technology - Nov 30, 2011 14:26 - 1 Comment
Chemical in spider silk repels ant attack
U. MELBOURNE (AUS) — Researchers have shown for the first time how Golden orb web spiders (Nephila antipodiana) add a chemical to their web silk to repel invading ants. (more…)
Health & Medicine - Oct 21, 2011 10:34 - 1 Comment
Birth defect risk up 450% in rural China
U. TEXAS-AUSTIN (US) — Pesticides and pollutants are linked to an alarming 450 percent increase in the risk of spina bifida and anencephaly in rural China, a new study shows. (more…)
Science & Technology - Oct 3, 2011 9:39 - 1 Comment
Self-cleaning cloth breaks down chemicals
UC DAVIS (US) — A new self-cleaning fabric made from cotton can kill bacteria and break down toxic chemicals such as pesticide residues when exposed to light. (more…)
Health & Medicine - Apr 22, 2011 14:23 - 1 Comment
Pesticide exposure linked to low IQ
UC BERKELEY (US) — Children exposed prenatally to pesticides commonly used on food crops score as much as seven points lower on standardized intelligence tests when they reach the age of 7. (more…)
Earth & Environment - Feb 28, 2011 13:24 - 2 Comments
Invasion of the fire ants! (Blame Dixie)
U. FLORIDA (US) — The worldwide explosion of red imported fire ants can be traced all but entirely to the southern United States. (more…)
Health & Medicine - Aug 23, 2010 10:58 - 1 Comment
ADHD links back to early pesticide exposure
UC BERKELEY (US)—Children exposed to pesticides while still in their mother’s womb are more likely to develop attention disorders years later, according to a new study. (more…)
Earth & Environment - Jun 28, 2010 10:37 - 2 Comments
Slower sex change for fish in unpolluted water
U. COLORADO (US)—Male fish are taking longer to be “feminized” by chemical contaminants that act as hormone disrupters in Colorado’s Boulder Creek following the recent upgrade of a wastewater treatment plant, according to a new study. (more…)
Earth & Environment - Jun 1, 2010 15:38 - 0 Comments
Tuber moth spit yields superior spuds
CORNELL (US)—When a major South American pest infests potato tubers, the plant produces bigger spuds. How? The secret is in the spit. (more…)
Science & Technology - Nov 5, 2009 16:20 - 7 Comments
Don’t let the (rebounding) bedbugs bite
RUTGERS (US)—Changlu Wang and his team are studying the habits of blood-sucking bedbugs in an effort to identify novel ways to capture and kill them. Ignored by researchers for decades, bedbugs are proliferating in the wake of a ban on the pesticide DDT. (more…)
Earth & Environment - Nov 3, 2009 0:36 - 2 Comments
Good vs. bad in battle of the bugs
PENN STATE (US)—The control of spider mites, which damage tree leaves, reduce fruit quality and cost growers millions of dollars in the use of pesticide and oil spraying, is being biologically controlled in Pennsylvania apple orchards with two tiny insects known to be natural predators. (more…)
Earth & Environment - Sep 16, 2009 19:25 - 1 Comment
Soybeans with built-in bug repellent
“There are many reasons not to spray, but you can’t tell the growers to stop spraying until you give them an alternative,” Bryony Bonning, professor of entomology. (Credit: Robert J. O’Neil and Ho Jung Yoo/Purdue University)
Earth & Environment - Aug 18, 2009 4:00 - 0 Comments
Clues to bee collapse raise questions
“While the study’s results don’t indicate a specific cause of CCD, the results do help scientists narrow the direction of future CCD research by showing that some possible causes are less likely,” says Jeff Pettis, an entomologist with the ARS Bee Research Laboratory. (Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons/http://commons.wikimedia.org)
