Polarized light guides cholera-carrying midges that contaminate water supplies
Friday, October 31, 2008 - 05:21
in Paleontology & Archaeology
Cholera is a major killer and since the first pandemic in the early 19th century it has claimed millions of lives. According to Amit Lerner from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel, the lethal infection is harboured by an equally infamous insect: chironomids (midges). Lerner explains that the females contaminate water sources with the deadly bacteria when laying their eggs.