Days are numbered for mozzies

[Shewie]

I heard an interesting article on Radio 4 tonight on a new method of mozzie control which is just about to be put to the test.

Skip this programme onto 26:25 for a listen

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/b00l560g

 

[troy ap De skog]

but don't most of our small birds live off mozzies?
could this be a major flaw in any plans to control their numbers?

 

[East Coaster]

Interesting find Rich.
This could be very helpfull. I've had malaria and it is not pleasant.

 

[Shewie]

I wonder if it could be adapted for midgies ?

 

[jojo]

I know I am a cynical old git, but that sounds to me like a recipe for disaster. Think DDT. That was meant to be safe. And using insects to eat other insects, like those ladybirds who are now displacing our own indigenous species ladybird.. Scientist always seems to come up with miracle cures and rush headlong into using them,but they never seem to foresee what disastrous side-effects their misguided tinkering is going to bring.

 

[Bushwhacker]

but don't most of our small birds live off mozzies?
could this be a major flaw in any plans to control their numbers?

+1 for that.

What's the knock on effect?

 

[Tengu]

Much as Im in favour of small birds I think anyone who has had the `fen bailiff` will disagree.

We forget what a major problem malaria still is in some places, not so much fatalities, but general illness and debilitation.

 

[British Red]

Scientist always seems to come up with miracle cures and rush headlong into using them,but they never seem to foresee what disastrous side-effects their misguided tinkering is going to bring.

 

[jojo]

And I forgot myxomatosis, GM foods, nuclear power.....I am sure there are plenty others.

We've far too much faith (and I use the word advisedly) in science and scientists. Just like we had far too much faith in God!

Now, I'll go hide.......

 

[British Red]

Ahh I agree - I have said before "science is the new religion".

Nobel forbid that we criticise it - even though it has its high priests (Nobel Laureates), its sects (string theory anyone), it mantras (peer reviewed journal).

Above all else it has its screams of "heretic" if you dare to criticise it.

Someone will be along with a bell, book and candle shortly Joel - to tell you that everything that science has done wrong is because the people were misguided and failed to follow the "true path"

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[gregorach]

Sure, there's been plenty of cockups... But who wants to go back to the days of cholera epidemics, pre-industrial agricultural labour, and no internet? Also, most (if not all) of the scientifically-induced problems we now know about were discovered and publicised by other scientists.

It's not all bad. It's not all good, certainly, but it's not all bad.

Oh, and technically it's not usually the scientists themselves who "rush headlong into using them"... There are a whole bunch of other policy-makers involved too. People like to blame Oppenheimer for The Bomb, conveniently forgetting about all the people who asked him to make it and then decided to use it. Try not to confuse science with technology and policy. To take the DDT example, Othmar Zeidler (the inventor of DDT) did not decide to use it for mass agricultural crop protection - that decision was made by a bunch of industrialists about 30 years after his death. He didn't even know it was an insecticide.

 

[locum76]

Presumably the effects on the environment will be studied prior to any major use. Its unlikely that they'll just wade in and start the process.

 

[troy ap De skog]

shorly if there are too many mozzys just create more bird habitates and let nature reduse there numbers... plus if mozzy number decrease nature will take it corce and reduse the bird numbers... there fore less of a problem.. and i get to have small bird pie

 

[jojo]

Well, if the bloke who invented DDT had spent more time playing with his three-dimensional tiddlywinks, no one would have thought of using it, would they!!! Same with the bomb man.

BR, I'll be ok.. I have invented myself a super-scientific Bushcraft shield.. It resists lightning bolts from the heavens, the death rays from the mad scientists and anything anyone can throw at me.

It's got a thick skin on top......

 

[Shewie]

Well, if the bloke who invented DDT had spent more time playing with his three-dimensional tiddlywinks, no one would have thought of using it, would they!!! Same with the bomb man.

BR, I'll be ok.. I have invented myself a super-scientific Bushcraft shield.. It resists lightning bolts from the heavens, the death rays from the mad scientists and anything anyone can throw at me.

It's got a thick skin on top......

Would that be a 3mm veg tanned thick skin Joel ?

 

[jojo]

Would that be a 3mm veg tanned thick skin Joel ?

Nah, I used 1/2 tanned leather.. but in a special way

Seriously, I dislike mozzies because they love my blood for some reason. I realise it's not all bad with science. But I still think scientists too often think they got the "right" answer. Everything has got to have a "scientific" backing. Just because its scientifically possible to do something does not mean it's right to do it. And the repercussions of doing it can be catastrophic for the environment, and for us too.

As to the politicians using science as an excuse for their own ends, I won't even go there, cos I'll start to rant...

 

[Dingo]

And I forgot myxomatosis, GM foods, nuclear power.....I am sure there are plenty others.

We've far too much faith (and I use the word advisedly) in science and scientists. Just like we had far too much faith in God!

Now, I'll go hide.......

We are all aware of the bad things left behind from so called good experiments and miracle cures, what about all the real cures and methods found out by science, we're all living longer and healthier lives 'apparently'
seriously, the bad is always remembered, without which we wouldnt have the good i suppose!
enough of my gobbledegook

good morning to you all.