Dubstep Music Found To Protect Against Mosquito Bites, Says Study (bbc.com) 99
According to a new study published in the journal Acta Tropica, listening to electronic music -- specifically dubstep, produced by U.S. artist Skrillex -- could protect against mosquito bites. The BBC reports: Sound is "crucial for reproduction, survival, and population maintenance of many animals," says a team of international scientists specializing in mosquitoes and the diseases they carry. They subjected adults of the species Aedes aegypti, known as the yellow fever mosquito, to electronic music to see whether it could work as a repellent. Scary Monsters And Nice Sprites, a track by Skrillex which features on his Grammy-award winning album of the same name, was chosen because of its mix of very high and very low frequencies.
"In insects, low-frequency vibrations facilitate sexual interactions, whereas noise disrupts the perception of signals from conspecifics [members of the same species] and hosts," the scientists said. Female adult mosquitoes were "entertained" by the track and attacked hosts later and less often than those in a dubstep-free environment. Scientists said "the occurrence of blood feeding activity was lower when music was being played." The scientists also found that mosquitoes exposed to the song had sex "far less often" than mosquitoes without music. "The observation that such music can delay host attack, reduce blood feeding, and disrupt mating provides new avenues for the development of music-based personal protective and control measures against Aedes-borne diseases."
"In insects, low-frequency vibrations facilitate sexual interactions, whereas noise disrupts the perception of signals from conspecifics [members of the same species] and hosts," the scientists said. Female adult mosquitoes were "entertained" by the track and attacked hosts later and less often than those in a dubstep-free environment. Scientists said "the occurrence of blood feeding activity was lower when music was being played." The scientists also found that mosquitoes exposed to the song had sex "far less often" than mosquitoes without music. "The observation that such music can delay host attack, reduce blood feeding, and disrupt mating provides new avenues for the development of music-based personal protective and control measures against Aedes-borne diseases."
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Half ass "fact-check"... BBC article might be from Aprils 1st but the study was published March 25th.
This is a very good example of Dunning–Kruger effect, thinking yourself too smart for your own good and falling quite short of it.
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Plus: Ultrasonic mosquito repellents have been around for decades.
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My reviews of mosquito repellents.
Ultrasonic = Ineffective
Thermacell products (some chemical released by battery power) = Ineffective
Citronella = Not Effective
Picaridin = Slightly effective, enough to notice
Deet = Effective. 25% for the kids, 50-100% for me in the summer.
Battery powered tennis racket bug killer = Effective and the most fun (doesn't hurt much when directly killing)!
In total I've spent well over a year camping outside. Deet is the answer unless one wants to play tennis.
Re: Checked the date on the article... (Score:1)
Iâ(TM)d rather not put that crap on my skin; or breath it in while applying.
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My pals hate it lol. We all went to a park down here last year when they were out pretty heavy and my buds were getting bit left and right. You could see 6 or so on their [my pals] backs/arms at any given time. Not one bite on me. They always ask when I use and I just say nothing. Now gnats, gnats are a different
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Depends on the use case - I have found live citronella plants *extremely* effective at entrances/exits. We now have them at every entrance/exit at my work, to my homes' screened in porch, and to the front door. We went from ~5 conference room mosquitos/day to 0 with a couple of plants.
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https://mec.imgix.net/medias/s... [imgix.net]
This stuff is the best I've tried. I do fishing up in Northern Quebec and it's the only thing I've found to keep black flies manageable.
Grammy award (Score:5, Funny)
Perhaps the Grammy awards can have a new category for best insect repellent.
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Don't feed the trolls.
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I don't know, I checked it out on Amazon's clips and thought it merely repellent. Sort of like Eat Static with no artistry meets Rap.
Re:Grammy award (Score:4, Funny)
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My larger question is.....what IS dubstep?
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To record your own Dubstep track, fill an old washing machine with typewriters and push it down a long set of stairs.
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The cure is worse than the disease.
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Or 365 days early, (if I counted right, there’s a February 29th between now and the next April first).
Also, if this weren’t an April Moron-Day joke, I would have to weigh being bitten by mosquitos and risking contracting various mosquito-borne illnesses against having to listen to dubstep. Not sure which is worse.
Don't complain, it could have been 1940s German umpapa music.
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This story is a day late...
No it isn't. Look at the dateline on top of that BBC the article. It was indeed published yesterday.
Yeah thanks to the wonder of "journalists" copying and linking each other without fact checking, nowadays April first lasts until July :-)
BBC fools (Score:1)
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-47769857
Wrong conclusion/statement (Score:1)
Dubstep Music Found To Protect Against Mosquito Bites
It's like saying that insecticides protect humans against insects.
The conclusion should be that Dubstep music is harmful for mosquitos. And other animals, for example humans.
Never post seroius stuff at this time of the year (Score:2)
The whole thing reads like a joke yet the links appear real and the paper appears to have been published on the 25th March. If you are really going to do such bizarre research the get a clue and don't publish in late March...
If it isn't an April Fools joke... (Score:3)
Only the mosquitoes? (Score:2)
"The scientists also found that mosquitoes exposed to the song had sex "far less often" than mosquitoes without music."
s/mosquitoes/humans/g
Dubstep may be many things, but a romantic turn on it ain't.
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Maybe even a ginger [youtube.com] or two [youtube.com]
Great (Score:1)
Is it really so surprising (Score:5, Funny)
That mosquitos, too, are repulsed by dubstep?
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I still have no idea what "dubstep" actually is. I just tried listening to a Skrillex song and couldn't even make it through a full minute.
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No news.. (Score:1)
Skrillex's "music" kills my sex drive too! =,^ )
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systemd did that for me already.
April fools (Score:2)
Goes to show... (Score:2)
well then (Score:2)
The scientists also found that mosquitoes exposed to the song had sex "far less often" than mosquitoes without music.
I guess that could explain the self-limiting nature of the 90s ...
Insect Population Decline (Score:2)
Personally, (Score:2)