Scientists from universities in Malaysia, Japan, Indonesia and Thailand were surprised to find that music changes the behavior of mosquitoes. That is, they not only hear it, but also react in a very specific way. What was doubted before.
On the one hand, it was known that rhythmic low-frequency oscillations facilitate the sexual interactions of insects, while random noise, on the contrary, interferes - makes the corresponding signals that are exchanged between females and males illegible. However, it was believed that at least mosquitoes do not perceive sounds of the "human" range, including music and songs. Although, before pairing, they themselves try to squeak in unison - that is, they can tune in to each other like strings.
The researchers decided to test the mosquitoes' reactions to music. What was reported on the portal of the National Center for Biotechnology Information - - NCBI. They caught the most harmful - malaria, divided into two groups. In one they listened to music, and in the other they didn't.
Bloodsuckers got songs from the mini-album Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites by the British artist Skrillex. These peculiar pieces, characterized by a ragged rhythm and a tempo of more than 130 beats per minute, as it turned out, greatly annoyed mosquitoes. Especially females, whose appetite spoiled and the desire to mate disappeared. Perhaps they needed much less blood from this. As a result, the mosquitoes almost stopped biting. And those who did not listen to music continued eagerly.
Skrillex is a mosquito thunderstorm.
It turns out that mosquitoes are not indifferent to music. Experimenters believe that their discovery will help the developers of some acoustic means of protection against bloodsuckers. Maybe they will find some stylized sounds that only annoy mosquitoes effectively. Learn to broadcast them in a sparing mode. In order not to coerce others, without ceasing, listen to Skrillex along with mosquitoes.
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What mosquitoes don't like
The author of the mini-album Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites, so disliked by mosquitoes, is called Sonny John Moore. Skrillex is his pseudonym. The artist creates in the brostep genre, which emerged in 2009 as one of the offshoots of dubstep.
Whether it is possible to scare away mosquitoes with something else of the same style of brostep or compositions of the previous dubstep, scientists do not report. But here everyone is free to conduct their own experiments: to attach a column with a brostep-dubstep to themselves - into the forest. And then there, but without her. This is really scientific. The results can be reported on social networks.
VLADIMIR LAGOVSKY