The 150-Year Shadow of a 19th-Century Silkworm Experiment
A 1869 accident in Massachusetts, where a French naturalist’s silkworm larvae escaped into the wild, led to the spongy moth becoming North America’s most costly forest pest. After a 20-year delay, the species defoliated 360 square miles and continues to strip over a million acres annually, costing the U.S. $868 million yearly.