locusts

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Scientists Have New Climate-Change Warning: Locusts

Researchers say climate change will prompt more outbreaks of crop-destroying insects

(Newser) - Extreme wind and rain may lead to bigger and worse desert locust outbreaks, with climate change likely to intensify the weather patterns and cause higher outbreak risks, a new study has found. The desert locust—a short-horned species found in some dry areas of northern and eastern Africa, the Middle...

Delhi Braces for an Invasion: 'Make Noise' and 'Don't Panic'

Locusts are out in huge numbers, earlier than usual

(Newser) - Hungry locusts are causing widespread devastation to crops in India and Pakistan, and they might have their sights set on a more unusual target: the densely packed city of Delhi. A change in the wind might spare the city in the coming days, reports the Guardian , but if not, residents...

For Africa, Apocalyptic News Just Got Worse

Locust swarms are back, and much bigger

(Newser) - Weeks before the coronavirus spread through much of the world, parts of Africa were already threatened by another kind of plague, the biggest locust outbreak some countries had seen in 70 years. Now the second wave of the voracious insects, some 20 times the size of the first, is arriving,...

UN Pleads for Help Amid 'Devastating' Locust Invasion

Somalia, Ethiopia, Kenya all overtaken; UN says locust numbers could grow 500 times by June

(Newser) - Last month, the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization reported on the plague of locusts that had overtaken Somalia and Ethiopia, and now a new East African nation is being beleaguered by the bugs. The FAO says Kenya is also dealing with an "unprecedented" and "devastating" number of...

Locust Plague Swoops Down Upon 2 Nations

Somalia, Ethiopia seeing worst invasion of desert locusts in 25 years: UN food agency

(Newser) - Crops on nearly 173,000 acres of land have been destroyed in Somalia and parts of eastern Ethiopia in what the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization is deeming the region's worst desert locust invasion in a quarter century. The FAO notes the insect plague is imperiling farmers' livelihoods...

30M Locusts Swarm Egypt
 30M Locusts Swarm Egypt 
Mar 4, 2013 7:45 AM CST

30M Locusts Swarm Egypt

Gov't says it has most of outbreak near Cairo under control

(Newser) - Cue the locusts: Some 30 million of the insects descended on Egypt over the weekend, in a development that had the country's agricultural ministry scrambling to deploy insecticide-spraying helicopters to contain the outbreak. The main swarm appears to be centered around Giza, near southern Cairo, where Ynet reports that...

With Gadhafi Gone, Locusts Plague Libya

Insect swarms threaten crops in neighboring countries too

(Newser) - One little drawback to Gadhafi's downfall: Locust swarms are buzzing around the Libyan desert and putting croplands at risk, Mother Nature Network reports. "The fall of Gadhafi was an enormous factor, to be honest," says the top locust forecasting officer at the Food and Agricultural Organization. "...

New Way to Fight E. Coli: Cockroach Brains

Pests could be valuable new source of antibiotics

(Newser) - Scientists believe they've finally found a use for cockroaches. The brains and nervous systems of cockroaches and locusts hold molecules that can kill off up to 90% of MRSA and E. Coli bacteria without damaging human tissue, Bloomberg reports. Researchers believe the insects could be key to developing next-generation antibiotics...

Try Some Locusts on Your Pizza
 Try Some Locusts on Your Pizza 
Apr 19, 2010 4:00 PM CDT

Try Some Locusts on Your Pizza

Australians beset by plague of insects try to make the best of it

(Newser) - When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. When life gives you swarms of locusts, make pizza. One enterprising politician in the Australian state of Victoria, which is under siege by the aggressive insects, collected a garbage bag full to be used in place of pepperoni and meatballs. "You can't...

Locusts Swarm Northeast Kenya
Locusts Swarm Northeast Kenya
Dec 7, 2007 2:28 PM CST

Locusts Swarm Northeast Kenya

Voracious pest could strip bare nation's crops

(Newser) - Threatened by the largest swarm of locusts seen in Kenya since the 1960s, authorities have begun spraying crops in affected areas in hopes of exterminating the rapacious pests before they have a chance to lay eggs. The locusts, each of which can consume its own weight in food daily, have...

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