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Study: Roundup Weed Killer Could Be Linked To Widespread Bee Deaths
The controversial herbicide Roundup has been accused of causing cancer in humans and now scientists in Texas argue that the world's most popular weed killer could be partly responsible for killing off bee populations around the world.
A new study [open, DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1803880115] [DX] by scientists at the University of Texas at Austin posit that glyphosate — the active ingredient in the herbicide — destroys specialized gut bacteria in bees, leaving them more susceptible to infection and death from harmful bacteria.
Researchers Nancy Moran, Erick Motta and Kasie Raymann suggest their findings are evidence that glyphosate might be contributing to colony collapse disorder, a phenomenon that has been wreaking havoc on honey bees and native bees for more than a decade.
Also at Science Magazine.
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Extensive Study Concludes Neonicotinoid Pesticides Harm Bees
Lithium Chloride May Help in Fixing Bee Colony Collapse Disorder
European Regulator Finds That Neonicotinoid Pesticides Threaten Bees
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(Score: 2) by takyon on Thursday September 27 2018, @04:39AM (2 children)
What we need is a robot that can pick weeds and shoot down bugs with a laser. Adapt to that!
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 1) by kiffer on Thursday September 27 2018, @11:44AM (1 child)
You would only want to shoot down insects that are harmful to crops, so you would obviously tune the system to ignore ladybirds/ladybugs.
This will place a pressure on the pest insects to look more and more like non-pest insects.
if you set the system to kill all insects, then smaller insects will still get through the system, and you won't have any ladybirds to eat all the aphids.
(Score: 2) by CZB on Thursday September 27 2018, @04:53PM
And all the wasps are good! (Except maybe in some orchard fruit crops.)