It’s really just a shorter clip from a longer video about the elimination of pink bollworms, a type of moth, that feed on cotton crops. And that’s kind of boring, to me! But instead just imagine your face positioned right behind that irradiated moth cannon, and then imagine all the nightmares you’ll have from that image.
You’re welcome.
The thinking behind the system is pretty straightforward, as Mother Jones explains it:
The process starts by raising bollworms in a lab that are fed a red, oil-based dye. When the bollworms mature into moths, the coloration stays with them, so they can be distinguished from wild moths. The lab moths are blasted with radiation, which makes them sterile. Then they’re released into the wild over fields with bollworm infestations. When the sterile lab moths mate with the wild ones, they’re tricked into thinking they’re going to reproduce, but don’t. So no new moths.
I think this is something the Youths might say is akin to “catfishing,” but I’m not entirely sure. Anyways, irradiated sterile moth cannon!
Humanity invented fire. And then we invented this.
Contact the author at ballaban@jalopnik.com.
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