Skrillex Music is not enough to protect you from mosquitoes



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Researchers in Malaysia published a study last month suggesting that Skrillex's "Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites" song could change mosquito behavior. According to them research, insects bite less and refrain from mating when the song is played.

But would it really be worthwhile to disturb a peaceful summer evening with loud dubstep, just to annoy mosquitoes?

The Aedes aegypti mosquito is a vector of the dengue virus. new research suggests that he can not mate when he is exposed to music by Skrillex.

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Considering that mosquitoes use sound to communicate, Hamady Dieng and his colleagues at the University of Malaysia in Sarawak wonder if their behavior could be disrupted while playing on a Skrillex track. They set up an experiment to compare the feeding and mating of mosquitoes in the presence of the piece "Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites" with that of mosquitoes not listening to any music.

the paper attracted a lot of media attention, but it also raises questions. Why only Skrillex? Why not other music? Why not try different frequencies of sounds rather than a music track? The researchers were not available to answer these questions, but in their article, they stated that they "had used this electronic song in the experiments because of its loudness and pitch."

There is a good reason to want to stop the mating behavior of mosquitoes. In tropical climates, the Aedes aegypti The mosquito (used in the study) is the main vector responsible for the spread of the dengue virus. Dengue fever is a serious illness that resembles flu and can lead to death. In the absence of mosquitoes, the risk of catching them is much less important, one of the strategies to prevent dengue epidemics is to look for new ways to fight against mosquitoes.

But would music be able to do the business? Professor James Logan, head of the Department of Disease Control at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, is skeptical. "Certainly mosquitoes can hear and you can manipulate the behavior with sound," he says. Mosquitoes detect frequencies and vibrations in the air and communicate by sound. But, adds Logan, there is no reason to use music to study this behavior and it would be impractical to use it as a repellent. "It's not possible to use that noise level in a given situation to repel mosquitoes – unless you're at a music festival and that was anyway."

Instead, Logan recommends using one of the mosquito repellents recommended by the World Health Organization for mosquito control: DEET, PMD, Picaridin or IR 3535. They are all based on the principle of disturbing the olfactory perception of the mosquito and are more effective than others. sound methods of mosquito control.

So, from both a practical and safety standpoint, it's not a good idea to rely on Skrillex music to keep mosquitoes away. Even Skrillex himself seemed skeptical: he tweeted "Everything seems to be an April Fool" just after retweeting the news about its anti-insect properties. Two days later, he was tired of history and followed her with "More mosquitoes, man.

Yet, he did some advertising. In recent days, his 2010 piece received a new wave of unexpected attention. The comment section of the correspondent video on his YouTube channel, there are now a lot of people saying things like, "Does anyone else play because he keeps mosquitoes away?" and "All dislikes come mosquitoes ".

Anyway, if you have already planned to listen to Skrillex all summer, know that your risk of mosquito bites is slightly reduced, but know that there are much more effective ways to remove them. According to James Logan, "No one should ever rely on reading this song or any other song in any situation to protect themselves from mosquitoes. This could be potentially very dangerous.

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Researchers in Malaysia published a study last month suggesting that Skrillex's "Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites" song could change mosquito behavior. According to their research, insects would bite less and refrain from mating when playing the song.

But would it really be worthwhile to disturb a peaceful summer evening with loud dubstep, just to annoy mosquitoes?

The Aedes aegypti mosquito is a vector of the dengue virus. new research suggests that he can not mate when he is exposed to music by Skrillex.

Getty

Considering that mosquitoes use sound to communicate, Hamady Dieng and his colleagues at the University of Malaysia in Sarawak wonder if their behavior could be disrupted while playing on a Skrillex track. They set up an experiment to compare the feeding and mating of mosquitoes in the presence of the piece "Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites" with that of mosquitoes not listening to any music.

The newspaper has attracted a lot of attention from the media but also raises questions. Why only Skrillex? Why not other music? Why not try different frequencies of sounds rather than a music track? The researchers were not available to answer these questions, but in their article, they stated that they "had used this electronic song in the experiments because of its loudness and pitch."

There is a good reason to want to stop the mating behavior of mosquitoes. In tropical climates, the Aedes aegypti The mosquito (used in the study) is the main vector responsible for the spread of the dengue virus. Dengue fever is a serious illness that resembles flu and can lead to death. In the absence of mosquitoes, the risk of catching them is much less important, one of the strategies to prevent dengue epidemics is to look for new ways to fight against mosquitoes.

But would music be able to do the business? Professor James Logan, head of the Department of Disease Control at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, is skeptical. "Certainly mosquitoes can hear and you can manipulate the behavior with sound," he says. Mosquitoes detect frequencies and vibrations in the air and communicate by sound. But, adds Logan, there is no reason to use music to study this behavior and it would be impractical to use it as a repellent. "It's not possible to use that noise level in a given situation to repel mosquitoes – unless you're at a music festival and that was anyway."

Instead, Logan recommends using one of the mosquito repellents recommended by the World Health Organization for mosquito control: DEET, PMD, Picaridin or IR 3535. They are all based on the principle of disturbing the olfactory perception of the mosquito and are more effective than others. sound methods of mosquito control.

So, from both a practical and safety standpoint, it's not a good idea to rely on Skrillex music to keep mosquitoes away. Even Skrillex himself seemed skeptical: he tweeted "Everything seems to be an April Fool" just after retweeting the news about its anti-insect properties. Two days later, he was tired of history and followed her with "More mosquitoes, man.

Yet, he did some advertising. In recent days, his 2010 piece received a new wave of unexpected attention. The comment section of the correspondent video on his YouTube channel, there are now a lot of people saying things like, "Does anyone else play because he keeps mosquitoes away?" and "All dislikes come mosquitoes ".

Anyway, if you have already planned to listen to Skrillex all summer, know that your risk of mosquito bites is slightly reduced, but know that there are much more effective ways to remove them. According to James Logan, "No one should ever rely on reading this song or any other song in any situation to protect themselves from mosquitoes. This could be potentially very dangerous.

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