FireRANT

In an unappetizing move combining ingenuity and the munchies, a Texas A&M doctoral candidate has devised a new method of studying fire ants' natural enemy, the phorid fly.  Robert Puckett uses pizza stands -- the hard-to-describe circular devices you find in the middle of your pie -- to attract phorid flies. 

He coats the stand with Tanglefoot insect trap and surrounds it with a field of decaying fire ant carcasses.  The dead fire ants release chemicals called kairomones, which attract phorid flies to their favorite target.  Scientists then observe the flies with the hopes that they gain information to help stop the spread of the fussy fire ant.

It seems a bit unclear as to how this helps fight fire ants, since phorid flies that are stuck to pizza stands don't really pose a threat to fire ants.  Hopefully, however, this enterprising student and his colleagues at the University of Texas and USDA Agricultural Research Service are successful in learning the habits of phorid flies.

We just hope we don't find any phorid flies in our pizza.