3. Samurai Wasp vs. Brown Marmorated Stink Bug

Food + Science

Have you seen a brown marmorated stink bug? If you live in most of the US, the answer is probably yes. Since first being observed in 1998, it has spread to at least 43 states and Washington, D.C. An all-purpose pest, it damages crops and gets inside our houses to keep warm over the winter. Besides that, it is particularly resistant to many insecticides simply based on its body shape. So what can we do?

In this episode, we talk with Peter Jentsch, an entomologist at Cornell University's Hudson Valley Laboratory, about the project he's involved in looking for natural enemies of the Brown Marmorated Stink Bug, with a mission to reduce their populations and the damage they cause. The answer, and tiny wasp with a fierce name, the Samurai Wasp.