Insecticides are essential for protecting crops against pests and ensuring bountiful harvests, yet they also pose significant environmental hazards. Insecticides kill insects, but the vast majority of insects are not pests and killing them can be detrimental to local ecosystems.

In an ideal world, insecticides would only kill pest species while leaving beneficial insects unharmed. A team at the University of Sydney, led by Professor Joel Mackay, Professor Ron Hill and Dr Emily Remnant, is working on developing a pesticide that will be lethal to one of the world’s most significant agricultural pests – the Varroa mite – but will be safe for other insect species including honey bees.