Chemical and biological warfare (I): the research program

Biological warfare is the intentional use of living organisms or their toxic products to cause death, disability, or damage in man, animals, or plants. The target is man, either by causing his sickness or death, or through limitation of his food supplies or other agricultural resources. Man must wage a continuous fight to maintain and defend himself, his animals, and his plants in competition with insects and microorganisms. The object of BW is to overcome these efforts by deliberately distributing large numbers of organisms of native or foreign origin, or their toxic products, taking full advantage of the ability to utilize more effective methods of dissemination and unusual portals of entry. BW has been aptly described as public health in reverse.-"Effects of Biological Warfare Agents," pamphlet published by Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, July 1959.     

Chemical and biological warfare (I): the research program

The first of two articles on chemical and biological warfare (Chemical and Biological Warfare (I): The Research Program, Science, 13 January 1967) incorrectly stated that the Illinois Insti tute of Technology is among institu tions conducting research on CBW. IIT is conducting no work on CBW and does not engage in classified research. The work in question is being per formed at the Illinois Institute of Tech nology Research Institute, a separate organization affiliated administratively with IIT.     

Chemical defense of brood by a social wasp

Ants are a constant threat to the nests of tropical social wasps. Adults of the neotropical social wasp Mischocyttarus drewseni apply a secretion to the nest stem which is repellent to ants foraging for food by scouting and recruiting, and effectively keeps them from gaining access to the nest and discovering the brood.