There are two ways to keep a crop variety from going extinct, and I keep switching sides on which one matters more. One is to dry the seed, seal it, and freeze it in a mountain. The other is to keep planting it every year in the place where it was bred. People call these ex situ and in situ …
The New World screwworm doesn’t wait for an animal to die. Its larvae feed on living tissue — a fly lays eggs in any open wound, even one as small as a tick bite or a navel that hasn’t healed, and the maggots burrow in and keep eating while the host is still alive. Left untreated, a single infested …