Detecting Pests By Eavesdropping On Insects

Short Wave

NPR

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4.7 • 6K Ratings

🗓️ 30 August 2024

⏱️ 16 minutes

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Summary

From Indonesia to Wisconsin, farmers all over the world struggle with a huge problem: pests. On top of that, it's tough for farmers to identify where exactly they have the pests and when. Reporter Lina Tran from NPR member station WUWM in Milwaukee joins host Emily Kwong to tell the story of how researchers in the Midwest are inventing new forms of pest detection that involve eavesdropping on the world of insects. Plus, hear what aphid slurping sounds like.

If you liked this episode, check out behind-the-scenes photos of Insect Eavesdropper experiments in Lina's digital story!

Interested in hearing more insect news? Email us at [email protected].

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Christian nationalists want to turn America into a theocracy, a government under biblical rule.
0:07.0	If they gain more power, it could mean fewer rights for you.
0:12.0	I'm Heath Drusen and on the new season of Extremely
0:15.0	American I'll take you inside the movement. Listen to Extremely American
0:19.8	from Boise State Public Radio, part of the NPR Network.
0:24.0	You're listening to Shortwave.
0:26.0	From NPR.
0:29.0	Hey Shortwaivers, Emily Kwong here.
0:31.0	I've got Lena Tran with me. She's a reporter WU WM, an NPR network station in Milwaukee,
0:38.4	Lena. Hey, hey Emily, thanks for having me. Your latest reporting project is about insects, specifically insect
0:45.6	sounds, I'm so excited for this. I love the hidden worlds of the critters beneath our
0:50.7	feet. Where does this begin?
0:53.2	Our story starts with a young entomologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
0:57.9	Her name is Emily Bick and her whole thing is coming up with better ways to find agricultural pests, pests that can cause
1:05.1	serious economic damage. We lose 20% of our crop to these pests so we should
1:10.2	probably be doing something if we want to conserve more land for, you know,
1:13.8	non-agricultural use.
1:15.6	A few years ago, this huge sugarcane farm in Indonesia, almost a hundred square miles,
1:21.8	comes to her with this challenge.
1:24.0	Could she come up with a way to directly and immediately detect the moths chewing up their sugar cane?
1:30.0	Like the ones that are actively eating up their crop.
1:33.4	For a hundred square miles a farm that is a lot of property to monitor.
	...

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