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<ul class="summary-list"><li>Swarms of <keyword id="1660797" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="locusts">locusts</keyword> in East African countries are threatening the food supply of more than 20 million people.</li><li>Now, experts are looking for creative solutions to deal with the pests — including eating them.</li><li>Desert locusts are the most destructive migratory pest in the world, and a swarm can eat the same amount of food in a day as 35,000 people.</li></ul>Swarms of locusts in East African countries are threatening the food supply of more than 20 million people at a time when food is already scarce because of the coronavirus pandemic.Now, experts are looking for creative solutions to deal with the pests — including eating them.Desert locusts are considered the most destructive migratory pest in the world. They usually live solitary lives in desert environments, but heavy rainfall allowed their eggs to survive in unprecedented numbers this season.The swarms first appeared in <keyword id="6360004" type="LOCATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="kenya">Kenya</keyword> in late December 2019, with a second wave following in April. The region is now bracing for a third, possibly bigger wave in the weeks ahead. Locusts haven't been seen at this scale, in these numbers, for 70 years.According to the United Nations, a locust swarm 1 square kilometer in size can eat the same amount of food in a day as 35,000 people, a devastating amount of destruction for local farmers."They have destroyed our maize, our pawpaw tree, so it has given us a hard time," Kenyan farmer Victor Juma told Reuters.Control methods for the swarms include traditional pesticides, which raise environmental concerns, newly developed biopesticides, which are more eco-friendly, and capturing the locusts with nets to turn them into food."Go to some of those remote areas where locust swarms are actually prevailing — a lot of people are eating them," said Chrystanus Tanga, a researcher with the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology in Nairobi."We think it's something to promote so that a lot more people will engage in this practice, rather than them shying away thinking that it is a primitive man's food."<div type="image" title="Locust Swarm Kenya " height="1333" width="2000" msid="77663221" hostid="261"></div>But eating locusts could come with health drawbacks if they've eaten plants that were sprayed with pesticides, Tanga said."If these animals are being killed by chemicals and they happen to be eaten by humans, it's definitely going to have an impact on their health," he told Reuters.So scientists at the insect research center are exploring other control options. Most recently, they figured out that a specific pheromone may trigger them to swarm. They've also found a fungus that can poison the locusts without killing other creatures in the environment.While several countries and NGOs have donated over $160 million to contain the swarms, making some progress, many fear the coming months will still be devastating."Within some time you just — all the trees are just naked," Kenyan locust scout Achilo Christopher told Reuters." Even they go inside the farms, they strip the farms, so it is a very big impact on the food security."

A swarm of locusts of biblical proportions is threatening the food supply of 20 million people in East Africa

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Large <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/desert-locust-plague-devastates-africa-photos-history-2020-2">locust swarms</a> have been destroying crops in parts of Africa and Asia this year, which could <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/450-billion-locusts-killed-but-africa-faces-near-biblical-plague-2020-6">cause millions of people to go hungry</a>.</li><li>These insects alternate between solitary and social phases.</li><li>Scientists recently figured out what prompts <keyword id="1660797" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="locusts">locusts</keyword> to <keyword id="1297748" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Swarm">swarm</keyword>: a specific pheromone, or chemical scent.</li><li>That trigger could be the key to controlling and killing locust swarms.</li></ul>A single locust is just bigger than a paper clip.But when these solitary critters attract others into a growing swarm, billions of locusts wind up flying together, forming a moving carpet that can block out the sun and strip the landscape of plants and crops.Giant swarms like this have devastated large swaths of crops in Africa and Asia since January, threatening food supplies for millions.But until now, scientists weren't sure what causes the insects to come together and abandoning their solitary lifestyles. <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2610-4">A study</a> published Wednesday in the journal Nature pinpointed the trigger: Migratory locusts respond to a pheromone called 4-vinylanisole (4VA).4VA is specific to that one type of locust, but the finding could offer a way to control many devastating swarms, including those wreaking global havoc this year. The study authors suggest using 4VA to corral locusts into areas in which they can then be killed en masse with pesticides. <h2>A chemical klaxon</h2><div type="image" title="migratory locust" height="690" width="1024" msid="77508799" hostid="261"></div>The migratory locust is the most widely distributed locust species on the planet. Like all locust species, these insects can follow one of two paths as they mature: some become solitary creatures, while others gather together in a cohesive mass. Locusts can also transition from solitary to gregarious creatures at any point during their life cycle.Scientists had long thought this change in lifestyle might be prompted by a pheromone put out by other locusts. Yet until the discovery of 4VA, they hadn't figured out what that chemical klaxon was."This study has found the long-anticipated but never-before-described aggregation pheromone that is responsible for bringing solitary locusts together and turning them into gregarious, dangerous swarming locusts," Leslie Vosshall, a neurobiologist who wrote <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-020-02264-x">an article</a> accompanying the new study, told Business Insider. The study authors found that 4VA was equally attractive to male and female migratory locusts, as well as juveniles and adults. Their results also showed that as the density of a locust swarm grew, the amount of 4VA in the air "increased markedly," Voss wrote. That could explain why swarms, once they start, gather more and more solitary locusts over time.Additionally, the researchers found that once four or five solitary locusts crowd out together, they begin to produce and emit 4VA.<div type="image" title="In this photo taken Saturday, Feb. 1, 2020, desert locusts jump up from the ground and fly away as a cameraman walks past, in Nasuulu Conservancy, northern Kenya. As locusts by the billions descend on parts of Kenya in the worst outbreak in 70 years, small planes are flying low over affected areas to spray pesticides in what experts call the only effective control. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)" height="2542" width="3813" msid="77508801" hostid="261"></div>As a substance, 4VA would smell sweet to humans, according to Vosshall.<h2>Trapping locusts with their own scent</h2>Vosshall added that pesticides "are the only effective weapon for fighting such locust plagues," but the size and unpredictability of the swarms <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/450-billion-locusts-killed-but-africa-faces-near-biblical-plague-2020-6">force governments and farmers</a> to spray it unnecessarily far and wide.<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-we-found-when-we-tested-a-botanical-pesticide-to-combat-locust-invasions-133105">These chemicals can harm other animals</a>, plants, and possibly people.<div type="image" title="man sprays locust with pesticides.JPG" height="1333" width="2000" msid="77508806" hostid="261"></div>But the discovery of 4VA could facilitate a more surgical approach to fighting swarms: The study authors suggest deploying a synthetic version of the scent to lure locusts into traps where they can be killed.They tried this on a small scale, baiting sticky traps with 4VA. They trapped dozens of locusts. Another option, they wrote, might be to figure out ways to stop locusts from detecting 4VA at all.Locusts detect the pheromone via their antennae; the molecules attach to an olfactory receptor. So the researchers genetically engineered locusts to lack that receptor, and found that the mutant locusts were less attracted to 4VA than their wild counterparts. Based on those findings, the authors think "anti-VA" chemicals could be developed to obstruct the locusts' olfactory process."Such molecules could be widely deployed to prevent locust aggregation, in effect making the locusts blind to their own scent," Vosshall said.<h2>'This year is a plague year'</h2><div type="image" title="Ethiopian locust swarm.JPG" height="1232" width="2000" msid="77508810" hostid="261"></div><a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-020-02264-x">In her article</a>, Vosshall described how heavy rains has helped birth a growing population of swarming desert locusts in Africa and Asia."This year is a plague year," she wrote.Although the desert locust is not the species she studied, Vosshall said that it nonetheless "seems very likely that what was learned from the migratory locust can be applied to the desert locust.""Probably 4VA is not the aggregation pheromone for these locusts, but this paper provides the blueprint for finding it," she added.

Scientists have identified the scent that makes some locusts swarm. They could use the pheromone to trap and kill the insects.

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Regions of <keyword id="12925" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="60" keywordseo="Africa">Africa</keyword>, <keyword id="21718" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="60" keywordseo="Asia">Asia</keyword>, and the Arabian Peninsula harassed by locust swarms could experience increased <keyword id="147608" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="food-insecurity">food insecurity</keyword> as <keyword id="8763838" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="covid-19">COVID-19</keyword> complicates the response to pest control in already poverty-stricken areas. </li><li><keyword id="1660797" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="locusts">Locusts</keyword> can decimate entire farms of crops in a day, eating the same amount as 35,000 people.</li><li>COVID-19 is disrupting supply chains, making it harder for nations to fend off locusts as distribution of equipment, pesticides, and man-power lags.</li></ul>Desert locust swarms raging in the Greater horn of Africa, the Arabian peninsula, and southwest Asia are creating a potential food crisis for local populations, <a href="https://www.wri.org/blog/2020/05/coronavirus-locusts-food-insecurity">according to a newly released report by the World Resources Institute</a>.The droves of insects have been sweeping across these regions since October. A swarm covering a square kilometer is capable of eating the same amount as a group of 35,000 people in a single day. And the population of locusts has the potential to grow 20 times its current size, <a href="https://www.wri.org/blog/2020/05/coronavirus-locusts-food-insecurity">according to WRI researcher Tina Huang.</a>While the swarms of locusts threaten to decimate crops, the <keyword id="1754604" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="coronavirus">coronavirus</keyword> pandemic could intensify the damage as disruption to supply chains across the globe hinder the disbursement of equipment, pesticides, protective gear, as well as the movement of personnel to combat the pests, <a href="https://www.wri.org/blog/2020/05/coronavirus-locusts-food-insecurity">Huang writes</a>. "The biggest challenge we are facing at the moment is the supply of pesticides, and we have delays because global air freight has been reduced significantly," Cyril Ferrand, a team leader for the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization, <a href="http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/1270183/icode/?platform=hootsuite">said in a press release</a>."Our absolute priority is to prevent a breakdown in pesticide stocks in each country. That would be dramatic for rural populations whose livelihoods and food security depend on the success of our control campaign," Ferrand said.Kenya, Ethiopia, Somalia, and Yemen are particularly vulnerable to the dangerous impacts of locust swarms because of economic crisis, climate change, and armed conflict, which is now being compounded by COVID-19, <a href="https://www.wri.org/blog/2020/05/coronavirus-locusts-food-insecurity">according to the WRI report</a>.Other countries, such as Saudi Arabia, are also likely to feel the effects of the locust invasion but are less vulnerable because of preparedness to combat the swarms as well as having a higher level of food security to begin, <a href="https://www.wri.org/blog/2020/05/coronavirus-locusts-food-insecurity">Huang writes in her report.</a>To see real-time data about food insecurity and other global crises visit <a href="https://resourcewatch.org/data/pulse">Resource Watch's interactive map.</a>Read the original article on <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-makes-fighting-locust-swarms-that-ruin-crops-even-harder-2020-5">Business Insider</a>

Locust swarms devour fields of crops in a single day that would feed 35,000 people — and COVID-19 threatens to make the pest problem even worse

By Shakoor Rather New Delhi, Feb 6 () The recent locust outbreak along the India-Pakistan border may have been driven by the longer-than-usual monsoon rains across the region, and frequent cyclones in the Indian Ocean, scientists say. In India, the outbreak -- the biggest in 26 years -- began late last year in Gujarat and Rajasthan states, and recently Punjab was also affected. In Pakistan, the government declared national emergency last week to eliminate the attacking swarms of desert locusts, which were destroying crops on a large scale in the country's Punjab province. "The current locust outbreak is the biggest in 25 years in Ethiopia and Somalia, 26 years in India, 70 years in Kenya," Keith Cressman, locust forecasting officer at the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) told . "The outbreak started after heavy amounts of rains over east Africa and the Arabian Peninsula," Roxy Mathew Koll, a climate scientist at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM) in Pune added. According to the FAO, locusts are the oldest migratory pests in the world. These insects differ from ordinary grasshoppers in their ability to change behaviour, and form swarms that can migrate over large distances. The most devastating of all locust species is the Desert Locust (Schistocerca gregaria), according to FAO. The locusts, which are considered to be among the most dangerous pests known to humanity, reproduce fast -- 20-fold within three months, the FAO experts noted. An adult locust can eat quantity equal to its weight daily, and just a single square kilometer of swarm can contain up to 80 million adults, they said. Koll noted the heavy rains which drove the locust outbreak occurred due to intense storm activity sourced from the Arabian Sea during the last two seasons. "Heavy rain triggers growth of vegetation in arid areas where desert locusts can then grow and breed," he said. Koll explained that recently climate change accentuated the phenomenon called the "Indian Ocean Dipole", with warmer than usual waters to its west, and cooler waters to its east. "On top of that, the rising temperatures due to global warming made the Western Indian Ocean particularly warm," he said. Cressman added that the current locust invasion in India by an unprecedented number of swarms originated in southern Iran from their breeding in spring last year. "Summer breeding along both sides of the Indo-Pakistan border was much higher than normal due to the swarm invasion and the monsoon rains lasting one month longer than normal, allowing up to three generations of breeding," Cressman said. The outbreak originated from two cyclones (May and Oct 2018) that allowed three generations of breeding - from June 2018 to March 2019 -- in the Arabian Peninsula, and caused an 8,000-fold increase in locust numbers, he added. According to Cressman, this was followed by further breeding after unusually heavy rains in Iran and Yemen, and finally another cyclone in the Horn of Africa in early December 2019. "Generally enhanced convection (cloud formation and rains) and cyclone activity follows the warm waters as they derive the energy and moisture from the ocean," Koll explained. As a result, he said, regions surrounding the warm western Indian Ocean -- such as East Africa, Arabian Peninsula and Indian subcontinent received a lot of rains during the last two seasons. "Along with that, the cyclone activity over the west Indian Ocean was also exceptional -- we saw the largest number, and the strongest cyclones this year -- releasing more rains. This might have triggered the locust outbreak," he said. India has not witnessed any full-blown locust cycles after 1962, however, they experts said, large-scale upsurges were observed during 1978 and 1993. Globally, Cressman said, the current generation of swarms formed shortly after last season's crops were harvested, but there has been considerable damage to pastures -- a primary livelihood in the Horn of Africa. "It is not only warm temperatures that favour locusts but also rainfall. The latter is not expected to occur is sufficient quantities until the start of the summer monsoon in Rajasthan which is usually in July, therefore, breeding now is not very likely in India," he said. "Climate models do show that the number and intensity of Indian Ocean Dipole events -- like the one we saw in 2019 -- are going to increase further in the future," Koll added. SAR VIS AKJ SARSAR

Prolonged monsoon in Indo-Pak region drove recent locust outbreak: Scientists

Google Maps/Business InsiderA map of locusts infested area in Kenya based on information from UN Food and Agricultural Organization<ul class="summary-list"><li>Swarms of locust as large as 250 football fields have descended on Kenya, and the country only has 5 airplanes to fight back, <a href="https://apnews.com/854648cd0a9f634ec0473f7442469295">the AP reported</a>. </li><li>If left unchecked, millions across East Africa could go hungry. </li><li>The UN is asking for $76 million immediately to stop the swarms, but only has $15 million so far. </li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/?hprecirc-bullet">Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories</a>.</li></ul>The situation is almost biblical: swarms of locust are plaguing parts of East Africa. Each swarm, local authorities told the Associated Press, can be as a large as 250 football fields and have as a many as 150 million locust.Now, the United Nations is calling for $76 million dollars to combat the insects. In Kenya there only 5 light aircrafts being used to spray pesticide to fight the infestation, <a href="https://apnews.com/854648cd0a9f634ec0473f7442469295">the Associated Press reported</a>. Kenya is currently engulfed with billions of finger-length locusts, which made their way from neighboring Somalia and Ethiopia and there's worry they could spread to Uganda and South Sudan. "One especially large swarm in northeastern Kenya measured 60 kilometers long by 40 kilometers wide (37 miles long by 25 miles wide)," according to the AP. This is the worst outbreak Kenya has seen in the past 70 years, and <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-51348517">according to the BBC</a>, these are the largest swarms to hit Somalia and Ethiopia in the last 25 years.Somalia has already declared a national emergency over concerns that the insects, which eat plants may not go away before the country's harvesting season in April. The infestation could cause a hunger crisis for millions of people. Only $15 million has been used so far to stop the infestation, Dominique Bourgeon, emergencies director with the UN Food and Agriculture Organization told the AP.This outbreak is in part due to changing climate, specifically "unusually heavy rain over the past few months," according to the AP. The locust can't survive as a well in drier conditions, which are not expected to start till June.The heavy rain, which is increasing fresh vegetation is also creating the perfect environment for the locust to reproduce. Salat Tutana, the chief agriculture officer in Isiolo county in Kenya told the AP, that despite killing several swarms, new ones pop up on a weekly basis. Local authorities also told the AP that they need more assistance because it is still unclear how large the issue could get. The BBC reported that in a day the insect can eat it's weight in food and travel up to 93 miles. Njeri Mwangi/REUTERSA Samburu man walks through a swarm of desert locusts flying over a grazing land in Lemasulani village, Samburu County, Kenya January 17, 2020.Earlier this month, an Ethiopian Airlines flight from Djoubti to Dira Dawa was forced to land in Addis Abba after 30 minutes in the air when a swarm of locust blocked the pilots view and "slammed into the plane's engine, windshield and nose," <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-51098209">the BBC reported.</a><a href="http://www.fao.org/ag/locusts/common/ecg/562/en/DL496e.pdf">The United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization said</a> the issue in Kenya could become worse and spread to the northern and central areas. They also warned "breeding will cause a further increase in locusts in number with hatching and band formations during February and March." For some farmers in Ethiopia, the swarms have already destroyed as much as 90 percent of their crops, the AP reported. Swarms can destroy an entire pasture within hours. <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-make-submit-your-own-emoji-start-finish-2019-8">62 new emoji and emoji variations were just finalized, including a bubble tea emoji and a transgender flag. Here's how everyday people submit their own emoji.</a></h3>

Kenya is being menaced by swarms of billions of locusts, and only has 5 small planes spraying pesticide to fight back

Swarms of locusts forced Somalia to declare a national emergency. Skin-crawling photos show how menacing their plagues can be.

Giulia Paravicini/REUTERSAn Ethiopian girl attempts to fend off desert locusts as they fly in a farm on the outskirt of Jijiga in Somali region, Ethiopia January 12, 2020<ul class="summary-list"><li>Billions of desert locusts in East Africa are swarming at "unprecedented numbers" and pose a huge threat to the region's food insecurity, the UN warns.</li><li>The swarms are so bad that Somalia declared a national emergency. Ethiopia and Kenya are struggling to maintain the plague, and scientists fear that the insects could spread across Southwest Asia and the Middle East.</li><li>The swarms are a result of heavy rainfall and cyclones at the end of 2019, which provide ideal environments for rapid breeding.</li><li>Photos reveal a skin-crawling look at locust plagues and how menacing they can be.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/?hprecirc-bullet">Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories</a>.</li></ul>Africa's worst locust plague in decades is threatening the continent at an unprecedented scope. And there's no telling just how far the ravenous creatures will travel.Desert locusts are the most <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/africas-worst-locust-plague-in-decades-threatens-millions-11580475600">destructive of all locust species</a> - known for their speedy growth and enormous appetites. A swarm containing hundreds of millions of locusts can travel 90 miles a day, and each insect can eat its own weight in food.To put it into perspective, an expert told the Wall Street Journal that "a swarm the size of Manhattan can consume as much food in a day as the population of the New York tri-state area."The insects have already destroyed <a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2020/01/1055631">hundreds and thousands of acres</a> of crops in East Africa, and the UN is calling for international help to quell the crisis. They fear the numbers could grow <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-51234135">500 times by June</a> and reach 30 different countries.These photos show just how damaging the desert locust can be.

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><a href="http://labs.seas.wustl.edu/bme/raman/barani.html">Barani Raman/Washington University</a>Professor Raman and his research team are biomechanically engineering locusts to detect explosives.</div></div></div>Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis hope that in the future, cyborg locusts could play an important role in <keyword id="6354810" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="Defense">defense</keyword> in national security.<a href="http://labs.seas.wustl.edu/bme/raman/barani.html">Baranidharan Raman</a>, assistant professor of biomedical engineering, and his team are actually biologically engineering locusts to be able to detect the scent of explosives and let us know. The project is being done under a 3-year grant funded by the Office of Naval Research.Because locusts detect smells through their antennae, the researchers will <a href="http://www.techtimes.com/articles/168440/20160706/engineers-working-on-cyborg-locusts-that-can-sniff-out-explosives.htm">implant electrodes into the locusts' brains</a> to read the electrical activity passing through their antennae. To transmit this electrical activity data, each insect will be equipped with a tiny backpack that acts as a transmitter. The scientists are also experimenting with adding silk to the locusts' wings to convert light into heat. This would allow the operators to control the flight of the insects, effectively turning them into little remote-controlled drones. <h2>Why locusts?</h2>Nature still has the upper hand over technology when it comes to detecting smells. "Biological olfactory systems are still the gold standard for chemical sensing - think sniffer dogs," Raman told Business Insider. "The idea here is to use a simpler biological system, hence, the choice of insects for this study."Raman's team previously had been working to understand the insect's sense of smell when they discovered that locusts can be trained to detect specific scents, even when there are other distracting smells around them. The size of locusts also part of the reason they were chosen. "These insects are an engineering marvel, as they have so much functionality packaged into portable, miniaturized sizes," Raman said. And unlike some other insects, locusts can survive this type of procedure. "They are sturdy and robust," he explained. "[They are] one of the few insect species that can survive the surgery to implant electrodes in their brain."Raman said his team hopes to reach the initial prototype testing phase with their cyborg locusts in 1-2 years. So it will still be a while before we find out if these creatures can be integrated into the future of this country's defense. <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/how-greek-eratosthenes-calculated-earth-circumference-2016-6">This incredibly accurate science experiment was centuries ahead of its time</a></h3> <div> <div> <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="92djVoNDE6Efjmomp7oN1cKWaf4QldXh" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div> </div> </div> </div>

In the future, locusts could possibly sniff out explosives

<div class="image-container float_right" style="width:400px"><div class="image"></div><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9qwErc20Xs">via YouTube</a></div>As <keyword id="6355882" type="COUNTRY" weightage="60" keywordseo="israel">Israel</keyword>'s agriculture department begins preparations for a <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/mar/06/israel-battles-swarm-locusts-egypt">vast swarm of locusts coming from Egypt</a>, famed Israeli Chef Moshe Basson has begun Israelis how to make locust souffle.
That's right, Israelis are being told to eat their way through the locust <keyword id="56255" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Plague">plague</keyword>.
Basson, a chef who specializes in "biblical cuisine" at <a href="http://www.the-eucalyptus.com/">his restaurant in Jerusalem</a>, <a href="http://www.haaretz.com/blogs/routine-emergencies/when-god-gives-you-locusts-make-locust-stew.premium-1.507666">appeared on a popular</a> Israeli morning show to give some tips and tricks eat locusts, Ha'aretz reports.
Basson isn't the ony one giving culinary advice either.
Rabbi Natan Slifkin wrote a piece for The Times of Israel this weekend <a href="http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/the-locusts-are-coming-yum/">encouraging</a> Jews to eat the bugs, pointing out they are kosher. 
"I have eaten locusts on several occasions," Rabbi Slifkin writes. "They do not require a special form of slaughter, and one usually kills them by dropping them into boiling water. They can be cooked in a variety of ways – lacking any particular culinary skills, I usually just fry them with oil and some spices."
They're actually a good snack, Rabbi Slifkin claims. "It’s not the taste that is distinctive," he writes, "so much as the tactile experience of eating a bug – crunchy on the outside with a chewy center!"
Rabbi Slifkin says that the locust, the most common in that region, would be kosher as, historically, if the bugs had eaten all the crops, the affected Jews would have eaten the bugs.

Israelis Are Being Advised To Eat Their Way Out Of Upcoming Locust 'Plague'

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Plaguet03.jpg">en.wikipedia.org</a></div></div></div>It will not have been a Happy Passover in markets according to <a href="http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000266918">CNBC's Jim Cramer</a>.
"This market, it's got a disease," he warned on Monday's episode of Mad Money. "We've been hit with a plague of initial public offerings. That isn't over yet. And for those of you celebrating passover tonight, the plague of IPOs is worse than the plague of locusts, frogs, definitely not as bad as the whole death of the first born thing though."
Cramers concern is pretty straightforward.
"A stock market is like any other market, it's all about supply and demand," he said. " That's basic economics 101. So when you flood the stock market with too much new supply, say via endless torrent of IPOs, that puts real downward pressure not just on those stocks but on the entire averages."
He cited data from Renaissance Capital showing that in Q1 alone, 64 companies came public, raising a $6.10 billion.
"Just in the first quarter of 2014 we've seen twice as many deals as we had during the first quarter of last year," he noted.
Biotech stocks have been particularly voluminous: Historically, the market averaged about 12 biotech IPOs per year; we just had more than double that for the year in one quarter.
"No wonder that group has fallen for five straight weeks and now down an average 22%," he says.
Fortunately, the plague will eventually have to cure itself.
"What would a cure look like?" he asked. "If we get less enthusiasm for IPOs like we saw last week I think that would be a good thing. We are not going up with these all priced, we are going down. Bottom line, we're beginning to see the possibility of a decline in the number of new deals."
Watch the full clip:

CRAMER: The Market Has Been Hit With A Plague That's Worse Than Locusts And Frogs

NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio went into his first appearance on The Daily Show swinging.
"I just wish we'd done a better job getting that snow up to the Upper East Side," he said.
Residents of the affluent neighborhood complained that city cleanup crews - no longer under the management of one of their own, billionaire Michael Bloomberg - had ignored the "snow-torn" area during recent winter storms.
De Blasio <a href="http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2014/01/de-blasio-visits-snow-torn-upper-east-side.html">apologized for their inconvenience</a> the first time, but after storms two and three the Mayor seems less willing to entertain their complaints.
"Under Mayor Bloomberg, 12 years, never snowed once," host Jon Stewart joked.
"I think he paid the right guy... he had the money," de Blasio retorted.
After bantering about filling Mayor Bloomberg's "teeny tiny shoes" and how City Hall is reacting to Che Guevara posters everywhere, Stewart asked, "what else can we do to the Upper East Side?"
"We have an experimental effort to get locusts up there," de Blasio joked.
Upper East Side, consider yourself nationally trolled.
Watch the video below:
 
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De Blasio Trolls Upper East Side On The Daily Show, Says He'll Unleash Locusts On The Neighborhood

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Apple's ad for the new <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/new-apple-ipad-pro-air-launch-2024-5">iPad Pro</a> shows various artistic tools being crushed. It feels off.</li><li>It hit a nerve: People are concerned with human creativity being replaced by tech, like the iPad.</li></ul><a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/apple">Apple's</a> promotional video for the newly upgraded iPad Pro has struck a discordant tone. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tim-cook">CEO Tim Cook</a>, who tweeted it, is being ratioed to the heavens on X over the ad.The video shows a large pile of creative tools — cans of paint, a piano, a trumpet, a record player, books, a vintage arcade video game — being slowly crushed in a hydraulic press.When the press reopens, it's all replaced by the ultrathin iPad Pro.Of course, it's meant to show off how an iPad is a great tool for creatives.But it also struck a raw nerve. We're in a moment of heightened anxiety about the idea of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ai-radically-reshape-job-market-global-economy-employee-labor-innovation-2023-8">AI replacing human creativity</a>. Already, visual artists, photographers, musicians, and writers are seeing that <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ai-taking-jobs-fears-artists-say-already-happening-2023-10">their work can be mimicked by AI</a> — and they see it as a very real threat to their livelihoods. And it's not just artists who are upset about this; the public is also uneasy about the idea of soulless computer-generated music or visuals.We're also seeing how AI is accelerating the "enshittification" of the internet — Facebook pages loaded with AI images of "<a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/bad-ai-art-is-overrunning-facebook-2024-3">shrimp Jesus</a>" are <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ai-spam-google-ruin-internet-search-scams-chatgpt-2024-1">just the tip of the iceberg</a>.The reactions online were probably not what Apple was expecting:Yes, the ad is a rare miss for Apple, which has some iconic advertising, like the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/apple-1984-super-bowl-ad-history-2019-2">"1984" hammer ad</a>, the dancing silhouettes for the iPod, and Zooey Deschanel asking Siri, "Is that rain?"I'll admit, the thinness of that <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/new-ipad-pro-magic-keyboard-pencil-pro-cost-3k-2024-5">new iPad Pro</a> really is impressive. It's thinner than an iPhone! And it has the new M4 chip even before the MacBook Pro. And an OLED screen. All that stuff is thanks to human ingenuity. It's a shame the iPad ad wants to crush it.

You Searched For "locusts" and got 12 results

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Kenya is being menaced by swarms of billions of locusts, and only has 5 small planes spraying pesticide to fight back

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Swarms of locusts forced Somalia to declare a national emergency. Skin-crawling photos show how menacing their plagues can be.

Swarms of locusts forced Somalia to declare a national emergency. Skin-crawling photos show how menacing their plagues can be.

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In the future, locusts could possibly sniff out explosives

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De Blasio Trolls Upper East Side On The Daily Show, Says He'll Unleash Locusts On The Neighborhood

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