🪰 Did you know the U.S. drops 14.7 million of live flies on Panama every single week? Sounds bizarre, right? But this isn’t some strange military operation—it’s actually a scientific mission to protect all of Central and North America. 🌎 A dangerous parasite called the screwworm fly. Female screwworms lay eggs directly in open wounds of animals—and even humans. When they hatch, the larvae feed on live flesh, causing pain, infections, and livestock deaths. 🐄💀 To stop them, scientists use the Sterile Insect Technique—they breed male flies, sterilize them with radiation, and release them into the wild. These males mate with wild females, but the eggs never hatch, quickly shrinking the population. 🚫 This method wiped out screwworms in the U.S. by the 1950s. Instead of guarding the long U.S.-Mexico border, the U.S. built a biological barrier at the Panama Isthmus, the continent’s narrowest point, to block the parasite from moving north 🌍

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