Spraying chemical pesticides on the world's crops could become a thing of the past, thanks to "safe and nearly permanent" smart pesticides developed by Paul Stamets. A leading mycologist, Stamets has taken entomopathogenic fungi, which destroys insects, and re-engineered it so it does not produce spores. This attracts insects, who eat it and are then destroyed by the fungi from the inside out. The pesticides can control over 200,000 species of insects. Stamets was granted a patent for smart pesticides in 2006.
Spraying chemical pesticides on the world's crops could become a thing of the past, thanks to "safe and nearly permanent" smart pesticides developed by Paul Stamets. A leading mycologist, Stamets has taken entomopathogenic fungi, which destroys insects, and re-engineered it so it does not produce spores. This attracts insects, who eat it and are then destroyed by the fungi from the inside out. The pesticides can control up to 200,000 species of insects. Stamets was granted a patent for smart pesticides in 2006.