ARS
researchers are on a hunt for some hungry bugs. What's unusual about these
bugs is what they like to eat: the same things you and I do!
Most people think about insects munching on grass, leaves
and other bugs. However, not all bugs are satisfied with that. Pests like
the red flour beetle and lesser grain borer eat grains. That's right!
If given the chance, they'll readily gobble up yummy, good-for-you grains
like wheat, rice, and corn.
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The lesser grain borer develops and feeds
inside wheat kernels. |
Worse still, these bugs often steal our grains before
we ever get to take a bite of them. They sneak into warehouses where the
grains are stored or crushed into meal for making our foods. Each year,
insects ruin about $1 billion worth of U.S. grains!
Every morning you probably have a serving of these grains.
Think about cereal, oatmeal or breakfast bars; what's your favorite? Whole
grains found in these foods make us healthy and strong.
Because these foods are an important part of the human
diet and because some bugs are eating them, scientists with ARS have come
up with a way to help.
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Click
Bugsy
to go to a music-making page! |
That Wheat Is Singing!
One thing they've done is develop a special tool that
can help grain inspectors know which boxes of grain have been invaded
by insects. Grain inspectors are specially trained to help make sure the
grains we eat don't contain bugs or dirt.
Right now, these inspectors have to study the small bits of grains--one
at a time--to find out if they're being chewed by insects. Imagine
sifting through thousands of grains of rice, looking for a bug that's
no bigger than the tip of your pencil!
ARS researcher Tom Pearson has come up with an easier way to find out
if bugs are nibbling on the grains. Plus, his tool makes its own
kind of music!
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On the left, red flour beetles failed to grow to
adulthood. Healthy adults on the right. |
Pearson discovered that wheat kernels that have been nibbled
on by insects make a different sound than unchewed kernels when colliding
with a metal plate.
These grains are so small that they don't make a very loud
"ping" when they hit the metal plate. But a special microphone
picks up the soft sounds and sends them to Pearson's computer. The
computer reads this "music." It tells the sorting tool
whether or not the grains are "good" (with no insects) or "bad"
(crawling with them).
Then the special sorting tool puts all the insect-chewed kernels in one
bunch, away from the other ones.
Thanks to Pearson, inspectors will have a much easier time making sure
our grains are safe enough to eat. Get lost, bugs!
--By Erin Peabody, formerly Agricultural
Research Service, Information Staff |