Meteorology: Tiros v. Locusts

In other councils, Israelis and Egyptians would hesitate to even sit at the same table. In the rambling building overlooking London's Hyde Park, they converse with a frank respect for each other's opinions. There, for a change, they have joined forces to fight a common enemy: the desert locust. In the conference rooms of Britain's Anti-locust Research Center, which works with the United Nations, entomologists and agricultural scientists from 30 nations in Asia, Africa and the Middle East gather to mount a defense against the ugly winged brutes known as Shistocerca gregaria.

Until a few years ago, practically nothing could...