Links 7/16/10

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The ubiquitous active ingredient in insect repellent, DEET, is a great solvent. Anyone who's spent much time outdoors has discovered this empirically, as he's inevitably seen it fog polycarbonate glasses, dissolve a gear sack, or destroy $500 raingear.
The catnip plant belongs to the genus Nepeta. The molecule responsible for its odd effects on cats is called nepetalactone:
"West Nile Virus Season Starts In New York City"
Members of the "we hate Rachel Carson" club have been touting a new study on indoor residual spraying as showing that DDT remains effective against malaria even when the mosquitoes are resis