Arthro-Pod

Usually, the Arthro-Pod crew is all about tying to convince people that insects are cool and to be appreciated. However, they are only human and even they have some insects that they have convoluted pasts with. Some of them they may have come around on but others... well maybe it's best they stay separated! Tune in to hear each host's story!

Welcome back to Arthro-Pod! Today is part two of our deep dive into the history of DDT, a long and convoluted story that has lots of effects on us today. This portion of the story is about the long fall that DDT had, beginning with the publication of "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson and ending with the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency in 1970. We talk about the way people viewed Rachel Carson and her work, what the problem is with believing in a "silver bullet", and how DDT may have helped politicize environmentalism.

Show notes
Learn more about Rachel Carson and her work at https://www.rachelcarson.org

This is also a good look at current perspectives on her and her work
https://slate.com/technology/2012/09/silent-spring-turns-50-biographer-william-souder-clears-up-myths-about-rachel-carson.html
If you enjoyed the show, the majority of the research for it came from David Kinkela's book "DDT and The American Century". It's highly recommended if you want to see more of the primary sources and the inspiration for a lot of our discussion.
https://uncpress.org/book/9781469609775/ddt-and-the-american-century/
Questions? Comments? Follow the show on Twitter @Arthro_Podshow

If you have been watching the news lately, you have undoubtedly heard the phrase "murder hornet" being thrown around. There’s a lot of fear-mongering and sensationalism out there. We’re all stressed out and anything nicknamed a “murder hornet” can’t be good.
The Arthro-Pod gang is here with a special podcast episode to tell you it will be okay and there is little/no chance of you being murdered by one of these hornets. If you have a life-threatening allergy to bees/wasp venom, and even if you don’t, be aware of your surroundings and avoid disturbing hives or nests. Even the cutest, most helpful honey bee will sting you of she thinks the colony is in danger.
We are including some helpful resources here from reliable sources if you are interested in learning more about the Asian giant hornet, Vespa mandarinia. But please stop calling it the “murder hornet”. Entomologists do not and have never referred to them as such.
Bottom line: Chill don’t kill.
Photo: Quinlyn Baine, Washington State Department of Agriculture.Resources
SDA APHID New Pest Response Guidelines (Last update 2020)https://cms.agr.wa.gov/WSDAKentico/Documents/PP/PestProgram/Vespa_mandarinia_NPRG_10Feb2020-(002).pdf
Washington State:

Howdy, there bug folks! Today's show is going to be the first part of a two parter on the insecticide known as DDT. The topic is a little dark, so we hope you'll take care when exposing younger listeners. We're going to cover the initial discovery of DDT, what kind of world it came to be popular in, and how DDT became forever linked to American ideas abroad. It's a complicated story with lots of twists and turns and one that is still having reverberations today. We hope you'll tune in and learn along with us!

We start by covering the beginning of widespread insecticide use in the US, which involved a lot of application of Paris green for mosquitoes. Paris green is an arsenic based insecticide which had numerous side effects for the environment and people. Here we can see a man mixing Paris green with gravel dust so it can applied to marshes and a propaganda poster advertising the benefits of Paris green.
The Colorado potato beetle is an insect that reoccurs in the story of DDT. Issues with this insect led to the use of Paris green as an insecticide, it was one of the first pests controlled by DDT, and was of concern to the Nazi government. Here we can see propaganda posters related to the beetle and its invasion of Germany.
DDT was released into the civilian market in 1945 and advertisements had been preparing people to buy and use it. World War Two had helped to show the homefront that there was an insecticide coming that would help cure their ills.

Howdy bug lovers! Today we are excited to have Dr. Greg Pask on the show. Greg is an expert in insect olfaction, how they smell the world. Smell plays a huge role in an insect's life and Greg studies the ways their sensory organs work and how insects use them in a smelly world. It's an important part of insect anatomy and of entomology history. So tune in to hear all about sensilla, pheromones, and how we can manipulate insects with their odors!

Want to learn more about insect smell?
https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/when-did-insects-learn-to-smell/
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/14/science/insects-dont-need-noses-to-sense-a-stench.html
Questions? Comments? Follow the show on Twitter @Arthro_Podshow

Follow the hosts on Twitter @bugmanjon, @JodyBugsmeUNL, and @MSkvarla36

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