RAT PACK

Ra Oats can't vomit. This may be a function of their anatomy-their stomachs are "not well structured for moving contents towards the esophagus" is how one study delicately put it--or it may have something to do with their brain circuitry, or it may be a combination of the two. Whatever the cause, the result is that rats, contrary to their popular (or unpopular) image, are fussy eaters. Even as they pick through the trash, they're hesitant to try new foods. This makes poisoning them complicated; quite often and quite literally-they won't take the bait.
In 1942, a Johns Hopkins biologist named Curt Richter discovered a new poison that rats apparently couldn't taste.
His breakthrough caught the attention of the United States Office of Scientific Research and Development, the Second World War equivalent of DARPA. The agency, among its many worries, feared that the Axis powers were at work on biological weapons that would use rats as vectors. (In fact, the Japanese did try to spread plague during the war, with some success.) The O.S.R.D. had the poison-alpha-naphthyl thiourea, or ANTU for short-tested in the back alleys of Baltimore. The city was so pleased with the resulting carnage that it appointed Richter to lead a new rodentcontrol office, based in City Hall. By 1946, ANTU-laced corn had been spread over more than fifty-five hundred blocks and, according to Richter, "well over a million rats" had been killed.
By that point, however, ANTU was starting to lose its efficacy. Apparently, rats were learning to associate adulterated corn with unpleasant consequences and becoming bait-shy. New measures, it was realized, would be needed, and an even more ambitious research effort was born-the Rodent Ecology Project.
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der October 07, 2024-Ausgabe von The New Yorker.
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Diese Geschichte stammt aus der October 07, 2024-Ausgabe von The New Yorker.
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ELIAS
Fiction
LETTER FROM FRANCE: SCHMEAR CAMPAIGN
Is a European conspiracy behind a ban on a virally popular hazelnut spread?
FIRST THINGS FIRST DEPT.ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
At four o'clock on a recent Friday, Kevin McCullough found himself staring at a line of text on a poster in the Graham Avenue subway station, in Williamsburg.

CONTINUING EDUCATION DEPT.TUSKS UP
In early May, the N.H.L.’s newest team, a year-old Salt Lake City-based franchise provisionally known as the Utah Hockey Club, unveiled its official name and mascot, after considering such options as Black Diamonds, Blast, Blizzard, Canyons, Caribou, Freeze, Frost, Fury, Glaciers, Hive, Ice, Mountaineers, Outlaws, Powder, Squall, Swarm, Venom, and Yeti. Behold: the Utah Mammoth.

AN UPDATE ON OUR FAMILY
First, a sincere thanks to the friends, neighbors, and homeowners' association representatives who have reached out during the past four months. We've heard from so many of you—a couple of times via a note tied to a rock thrown through our window—as we've navigated this journey.

STILL LIFE
The “forever business” of Green-Wood Cemetery.

THE HEAT OF THE MOMENT
To stop violent crime, we need to grasp what really drives it.

BROTHERS OF THE CLOTH
The Met's take on Black male style.

AWAKENINGS
Whatever happened to Margaret Fuller?

ANNALS OF AVIATION - TURBULENCE
Amelia Earhart’ husband pushed her to keep tempting fate for the sake of fame.