Richard Pollack finds himself moderating an uneasy negotiation between Israelis and Jordanians, as part of an international effort to stem a scourge of houseflies.

Richard Pollack is a public health entomologist serving academia (Harvard School of Public Health & Boston Univ) and government service, and operates the consulting venture, IdentifyUS. He has traveled the globe to study, teach about, and guide policy issues relevant to medically relevant pests, such as mosquitoes, lice, ticks, bed bugs, and the microbes they transmit. When not in the lab or field, he often is embroiled in efforts to base policy decisions on evidence rather than folklore and fear.

This story originally aired on September 8, 2013.