Study shows what makes locusts swarm

A brain chemical that lifts people out of depression can transform solitary grasshoppers into swarming desert locusts, a finding that could one day help prevent the devastating plagues, University of Cambridge researchers said.

Increases of serotonin, the nerve-signalling chemical targeted by many antidepressants, appears to spark the behaviour changes needed to turn the normally harmless insects into bugs that gang up to munch crops, they said.

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