Los Angeles will soon be raining down two million fruit flies in the neighborhood of Leimert Park in an attempt to combat three cases of Mediterranean fruit flies detected in the area last month. Yes, just three specimens of the so-called medflies were enough to prompt such swift and slightly extreme measures. It's considered one of the most destructive agricultural pests in the world, threatening a variety of fruits and vegetables such as apples, pears, apricots, peaches, and citrus. So, how will letting loose a million other fruit flies solve the problem?
The key aspect of these millions of fruit flies is that they are sterile, with the idea that the existing medflies will mate with the sterile ones, fail to reproduce, and thus eliminating the whole issue once they die out in a few weeks. Will it work? Apparently it has before. It's a more organic means of preventing the mass destruction of crops, but apart from this operation, Los Angeles is also imposing quarantines on the flies as well as treating areas with organic insecticides. Check out the full story on Popular Mechanics.
(Image credit: Jari Segreto/Wikimedia Commons)