Pleased with myself that the treatment methodology they're using is at least physically what I guessed might be used. As others are noting, the mildness of the treatment might come with its own risks. I wonder if they're measuring the residual O2 levels in the sacks after time. I'm sure there's some way to model the diffusion of O2 out of the books, but could there also be impermeable pockets inside books that support sleeping bugs?
When opening this I didn’t expect such an advanced level of insect infestation described in the library, so the entire collection is classified as infected and must be treated all at the same time. They have to remove about 100,000 handbound books and i guess bc of the age of some of these books the best treatment is oxygen deprivation but “the abbey hopes all the beetles will be destroyed” after 6 weeks is not a promising statement
Controlling humidity could be the simplest option. RH <50% makes it really hard for anything living to propagate in an otherwise "dry" space.
Discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44552362
Although preserving the original copy is important too, I believe many of the risks could be mitigated if those books were scanned (or are they?).
I'm surprised that they use such a tame method for eradication. I expected the use of huge loads of insecticides.
You could spray insecticides and kill some percentage while damaging the books further.
Or you put them in a sealed environment with no oxygen, killing every single one of these beetles.
I'm not sure that the more lethal option is "tame".
How about stuffing the books in a freezer? Apparently this can kill both bugs and their eggs, although I'm not sure it works on the particular kind of bugs in these books:
https://www.reddit.com/r/IsItBullshit/comments/orpifq/isitbu...
Also there exist "ultra low" freezers which can bring temperature waay lower than the regular -20 Celsius. Like -80 or something. I doubt any bug or egg can survive such environment, although the books should suffer no harm.
I do not doubt that freezing them would kill the bugs. I would be worried that unless it is very carefully managed it might damage the books though. In particular i would worry that moisture from the air would freeze on the books and as they are thawed they would get water damaged. Or that moisture trapped inside the bindings would form ice crystals and physically damage the books as they form.
None of these are concern with the hypoxic treatment they choose. Plus the nitrogen atmosphere treatment is so much simpler on the practical level. Instead of bringing in freezers and powering them for the whole duration of the treatment all you need is some crates, plastic bags and nitrogen bottles. Makes it much easier to bring the treatment where the books are, thus you avoid all kind of complications with transporting the books.
The only good bug is a dead bug!
Do you want to know more?
This isn't reddit.
[flagged]
The issue is Memes alone aren’t very substantive. And the snark snapback doesn’t set a healthy tone. Guidelines for everyone…
“Omit internet tropes.”
“Please don't post comments saying that HN is turning into Reddit. It's a semi-noob illusion, as old as the hills.“
So they are both in the wrong?
I'm doing my part!
Reminds me of this: https://www.barstoolsports.com/blog/366053/at-his-peak-pablo...