Swarms of Engineered Voodoo Wasps Will Seek and Destroy Crop Pests
A day of reckoning has come for destructive crop pests, in the form of vicious voodoo wasps that can convert hapless insects into zombies. Scientists have cracked the genome code for three species of the parasitic wasp, in hopes of deploying them against pests that destroy billions of tons of crops per year, The Independent reports. The research team especially wants to figure out which wasp genes control which species of pests the wasps attack. Precise target control on the genetic level could make wasps a potent natural weapon against farm pests. And an added bonus could come from developing the wasp venom into new medical drugs. Related ArticlesNature's Grossest CreaturesThe Voodoo WaspRobotic Insects Could Pollinate Flowers and Find Disaster VictimsTagsScience, Jeremy Hsu, agricultural pests, crops, farm pests, fields, genomes, insects, voodoo wasps, wasps, zombies Tiny voodoo wasps already help regulate the pest population by laying their eggs inside zombified victims. The wasp...