The
Zapped Bugs Revenge
There is no theme that is more universal among philosophers than the ideal
of philosophical balance. I have said many times in Turtle Digest that
a great number of our problems today can be linked to a lack of balance
in out lives. But the ideal of philosophical balance goes much farther.
The universe seems to have an uncanny way of balancing all of the actions
that we take. You know the old truism "If you live by the sword you
will die by the sword."
In the June 19th Science News I came across a most incredible example
of philosophical balance. It seems that James E. Urban and his group,
at Kansas State University, have been studying these electric bug zapers
that electrocute bugs that fly into them. You know they hang on people’s
back porches and consist of a light, which attracts the bug, and an electrified
screen or grid that surrounds the light. When the bug flies to the light
he hits the grid and is gruesomely electrocuted with a loud zap and pop.
Well these researchers have found that when the bugs are getting zapped
they actually explode and send a spray or shower of bacteria, viruses
and other microbes shooting out up to 6 feet away.
You may zap me but I’ll zap you back.
