To Catch a Mosquito

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/09/19/to-catch-a-mosquito?mbid=social_twitter&currentPage=all

by kawera • 10 years ago

18 8 10 years ago

jfoster2• 10 years ago

I've heard that mosquitoes are attracted to some people more than others, so I've often wondered whether it would be possible to make devices that are more attractive than any human. Once you know how to attract mosquitoes, you've got them cornered.

I think it wouldn't even be all that difficult to experiment with new things that attract them. In any place where there's a substantial number of mosquitoes, you could set up a camera and some CV software and run it like a split test. (Old method of attraction v new method of attraction)

lfender6445• 10 years ago

i hardly ever get bit but i know people who are bitten all the time. i'm sure there is something here, unless i am getting bitten and don't have a physical reaction.

et-al2• 10 years ago

What's your blood type and how's your metabolism? Supposedly mosquitos are more attracted to people with Type O blood.

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/ist/?next=/science-nature/why-...

bjelkeman-again• 10 years ago

Same experience here. My wife can sit next to me with several mozzies pestering her, whereas I have none.

et-al2• 10 years ago

The article actually mentions using traps:

[NYC's Medical Entomology Laboratory] has also acquired new mosquito-hunting swag: the laundry-hamper thing was one of a hundred BG-Sentinels (two hundred dollars each), mosquito traps designed to target both albopictus and aegypti.
The new trap is cylindrical and shiny, with sides made of black fabric and a white plastic top. If you were a mosquito, you might find it good-looking—especially compared with regular mosquito traps, which resemble buckets. This is intentional. According to Shah, albopictus prefers “attractive visual cues.”
Regular traps release small amounts of carbon dioxide, to mimic humans breathing. The albopictus lure is more sophisticated: it releases a bouquet of substances commonly found on human skin, like ammonia and lactic acid, which are present in sweat and breath. The mosquitoes come to feast, and get sucked in. Shah unscrewed the trap’s bluish-white lure and took a whiff. It smelled like a hot subway car during rush hour. “Whoa,” he said. “It gets me every time.”

The problem with consumer traps is that they're rather expensive (~$200) and don't catch all the mosquitos. Also, I wouldn't put it past nature and evolution to quickly make a trap obsolete.

jfoster2• 10 years ago

Yeah, I'm talking about improvement of traps. Take the existing mixture, and put it next to a variety of other mixtures. In doing so, you can test which appeals the most to mosquitoes.

They may well evolve to avoid that mixture, but if the mixture is like humans, they might inadvertently evolve to avoid humans.

danmaz74• 10 years ago

I did some reading time ago about the matter, and from what I remember, it's more that some people have strong reactions to most mosquito bites, some only to a few, and some almost never. People who don't have a reaction won't notice they got bitten at all.

To Catch a Mosquito

Related Stories