Word: compounding
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Multifaceted compound eyes, often mounted on the ends of posts or stalks, give bisects something approaching 360° vision, as anyone who has tried to swat a housefly can verify. Their sensitive antennae enable them to smell food sources or find mates; some insects can smell the sex pheromones, or attractants, emitted
...During the late Middle Ages, people attempted to control tree-destroying insects by exposing the roots of afflicted trees, pouring in old wine lees and then closing the hole. Infusions of tobacco were used in France as early as 1690 to fight lace bugs on pear trees. Pyrethrum, a compound obtained from the chrysanthemum family, was used as far back as 1800 to kill fleas. Rotenone, which can be extracted from various plants, was introduced in 1848 to attack leaf-eating caterpillars. Synthetic insecticides were introduced during the 19th century, and one?Paris green?was used against the Colorado potato...
...single most significant development in insect control was the discovery of a compound with the unpronounceable name of dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, or, as it came to be known, DDT. First synthesized in 1874, the chemical languished in the laboratory until 1939, when Chemist Paul Miiller of Switzerland's J.R. Geigy chemical company discovered its insecticidal properties. The U.S. Army considered the chemical so effective that it classified it "top secret," and first used it against a typhus epidemic in Naples, Italy, in 1943. It worked so well that the military promptly began applying DDT against a wide variety of insects responsible...
...pelicans were declining. These revelations were followed by the publication in 1962 of Rachel Carson's book, Silent Spring, which began to crystallize anti-insecticide sentiment. But the coup de gráce was administered by later studies showing that DDT could cause cancer in laboratory animals. Deciding that the compound was a hazard to humans, the Environmental Protection Agency ordered DDT sales to be restricted in 1972 and banned its use in the U.S. except in cases of sudden serious epidemic or infestation, when it still can be applied against disease-carrying insects. Its use is also allowed in certain...
HORMONES. Scientists are beginning to identify and mimic the hormones that regulate the growth, development and reproductive activities of insects. Zoecon Corp. of Palo Alto, Calif., has just started marketing a compound called Altosid SR-10, which is chemically similar to the juvenile hormone secreted by insects during an early stage of development. Approved for use against floodwater mosquitoes only, the compound prevents harmless juveniles from maturing into annoying adults. Mosquitoes exposed to the chemical are trapped and die in their larval or pupal stages. William Robbins, of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's research