The Silver Institute highlighted some of the advancements using silver in the latest edition of Silver News.Silver nanoparticles can apparently kill biting midges without the use of harsh pesticides. Biting midges are tiny flying insects that spread deadly diseases among livestock. Eradication of these pests usually requires draining wetlands that are vital to the ecosystem or using toxic insecticides that detrimentally affect the environment. There may be a better solution. Researchers at Kansas State University, the University of Arkansas, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture have found that 250 milligrams per liter of silver nanoparticles in water can destroy about 90 percent of midge larvae.;