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Show I Radio Death-Wave May Soon I Aid War On Insect Hordes ! , " J. F. Witkowski i Principal, School of Radio, International Correspondent Schools Associate Member, Institute of Radio Engineer FOR centuries man has battled agalnHt the insects for supremacy. suprem-acy. To date the battle is still not won. Man has called science to his aid to develop methods which enable him to slay hla insect enemies ene-mies by the millions, but other millions mil-lions aro born to threaten hla existence ex-istence by spreading disease or deatroylng his food eupply. Radio's short-waves, whose importance im-portance in long-distance radio trauBiiilsalou is familiar to all radio anihuHiaBlH, are the latent scientific weupou which gives promise of bringing nearer man's victory, at least on the food-supply front As dxperlmeriU contiuue the posslbll-ty posslbll-ty Increases that we may be able '.O develop what would be in effect l radio death-wave for marauding nsects. and one thut would operate in a wholesale scale. At the present stage of development, develop-ment, an adjustable short-wave .ransmltter Is connected to two . jondenser teBt plates. Plants bear-ng bear-ng the insects which are to be (tiled are placed between the two plates. The radio waves Induce "f"'" v" - ' if J . :urrentn In the Insects' bodies 'hkli make them hot to the touch tnd kill them within ten to thirty seconds. Since the margin be-:ween be-:ween the frequencies which kill Insects and plants Is wldo, the plants oro not damaged by the current. cur-rent. So far the d.eath-wave for iimccU has been UMed only on a laboratory J. F. Witkowtkl scale. The ultimate objective, of course, Is to develop It to the point where the condenser plates can be placed one at each end of a long row of plants, with the deadly waves transmitted the entire length of the row. |
