Word: offing
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Dates: during 1970-1970
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Left to die a natural death, the insects would decompose and the next rain would wash their internal cargo of long-lived pesticides and toxic metals back into the water supply. But Metcalf proposes breaking the natural cycle. Since the insects are attracted to light, they can easily be caught...
Bruce McDuffie is a chemistry professor at the State University of New York at Binghamton. When a student suggested recently that he "test some tuna" for mercury, McDuffie analyzed cans of Grand Union tuna that he took from his kitchen shelf. To his astonishment, the first can tested at .75...
Dumping bilge oil at sea is a naval routine as old as diesel-powered ships. But when Navy ships recently dumped 637,000 gal. of sludge and oil off Mayport, Fla., threatening resort beaches along the Florida coast, the public outcry was heard in Washington. Testifying before a Senate subcommittee...
Researchers have lately pondered the fact that aquatic organisms (fish, plankton, diatoms, insect larvae) concentrate the dissolved pollutants in their bodies. That fact led Robert Metcalf, head of the University of Illinois' zoology department, to a fascinating idea: Why not use certain insects to sop up the pollutants?
Breaking the Cycle. In a report to the Entomological Society of America, Metcalf pointed out that mosquitoes, May flies, midges and stone flies spend a great part of their lives as larvae in the water before metamorphosing into their more familiar buzzing selves. In a controlled experiment, Metcalf built a...