The Cold War was not just a time of heightened tensions and global competition, but a period of rapid technological growth and scientific advancement. In laboratories all over the world, scientists were working on other breakthroughs, including in a new and largely untouched section of science: discovering new elements. Thankfully the transfermium wars did not go nuclear, even though they were fought over nuclei.
Solenopsis invicta, the “Red Imported Fire Ant”, native to South America, has proven a tenacious and destructive pest in the United States, costing Americans billions of dollars every year. That is why, in the late 1950s, the United States embarked on an all out war against the six-legged menace.