happy crickets

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"I just can't get enough, enough, enough of you!"

Iridovirus. 

Remember the term. You may be hearing it soon on late-night infomercials about a revolutionary new product that will put the spring back into your step. That is if only they can get it to work on people the way it affects crickets.

Iridovirus is a group of viruses that can produce a contagious aphrodisiac that makes crickets want to mate and mate and mate, thus moving the iridovirus from host to host through contact. 

Post doc researcher Shelley Adamo and her team at Dalhousie University in Halifax discovered the Valentine Bug but they'll have to work out a few...well, bugs...before it can go commercial, nasty side affects: the crickets become sterile, their guts turn bright blue and they die in a few weeks. It's a lot like going on your honeymoon to an exotic island and not coming back, alive.

(Quandary: Is it better to die happy with a blue belly in the arms of Aphrodite or alone in a cold, damp basement?)

For the complete THIS IS REAL story go to NPR Happy Crickets.


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