Silent Earth
An award-winning entomologist and conservationist, drawing on thirty years of research, examines the evidence of an alarming drop in insect numbers around the world, which could cause an ecological disaster.
Stats for nerds
1recommend
2mentions
2people
2022–2023years
50% recommend50% neutral
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- I don't think the view on neonicotinoids is mixed in any useful sense. They are definitely harming bees (and many other insects almost certainly), it's a small question on whether they are doing so in a sustainable way, but the complex landscape in which this additional pesticide operates (amongst herbicides/air pollution/lack of habitat) means that it's almost impossible to quantify the exact impact neonic use has at large.
I highly recommend The Silent Earth by Dave Goulson for more. It's not a strident eco piece, I'd call it more of a lamentation, but it's also very clear headed and fairly detailed on the evidence and the issues around good science in this space.
- There are so many examples in the insect world of mind control its truly bizarre.
The other day I encountered an example in David Goulson's recent book Silent Earth (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/56470413-silent-earth) that I did not know yet about; the emerald cockroach wasp (ampulex compressa).
Rough transcription; for its reproduction, the wasp injects a cockroach with poison to paralyze it, then stings it in exactly that part of the brain responsible for its flight reflex to make it docile. After knibbling a bit on the cockroach's antennae and enjoying the hemolymph seeping out of the cockrach, the wasp takes the cockroach by its antennae and, even though it is much bigger than the wasp, directs it to its nest like a dog on a leech. In the nest of the cockroach the wasp lays an egg, which soon hatches a larvae that in turn proceeds to eat the cockroach alive while it is still dazed...And this is just the top of the ice berg.
