The Disappearing Spoon: a science history podcast with Sam Kean cover image

The Screwiest—and Perhaps Most Original—Idea of the 20th Century

The Disappearing Spoon: a science history podcast with Sam Kean

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How Did Edward Nippling Eradicate Screwworms?

Edward Nippling came up with a plan to eradicate screwworms. He mass-produce sterile male flies in the lab, then release them into the watt. Male flies made multiple times, while female flies just once. The idea was that if he kept releasing swarms of sterile males over and over and over, he could drop the population numbers more and more each round.

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