I will put out the trap tonight for the first time in ages to celebrate the role of moths in fighting the pandemic (on which score, I hope that everyone and their friends and families are keeping safe, well and in good spirits).
You have probably seen the references in reports today or recently on the Novavax vaccine and its use of moth cells - actually a method which goes back a long way as per this detailed article in the American magazine Science which contains the diagram above.
I won't go beyond my limits in such a specialist subject but I think that we can cautiously say Hooray for moths!
Hi Martin,
ReplyDeleteInteresting stuff! I'm intrigued that the Fall Army-worm (Spodoptera frugiperda) goes from being a pest needing eradication to the saviour of mankind in one fell swoop!!
Yes, there's something satisfyingly like a children's story about it, isn't there? The outcast who had a very important contribution to make. Aren't the scientists amazing, too! All warmest, M
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