Bitten by mosquitoes is one of those annoying experiences. To get rid of him, the way we often do is to pat him to death.
However, who would have thought that a missed punch also proved successful in making the mosquito did not get closer.
These findings are the first in revealing the behavior of mosquitoes and following up on previous studies.
In previous research, scientists found that mosquitoes can learn. The newly published study explores how mosquitoes learn from experience while biting humans.
Research led by neuroecologist Jeffrey Riffell of the University of Washington has tested between 2,700 to 3,000 mosquitoes.
All the mosquitoes have evolved to identify and bite us. Mosquitoes are very sensitive to temperature, sweat, body odor, and carbon dioxide coming out of human breath. The whole system of such mosquito sensors is designed to be able to find human.
Although mosquitoes can bite dogs or cows, but they will be more interested in biting humans if there is a chance.
To test how mosquitoes behave, scientists put thousands of these mosquitoes into a flying simulator that smells of humans, rats, and chickens.
As a result, all the mosquitoes, including Aedes aegypti, were able to recall the human smell and could link the odor with unpleasant interactions before. At least, their memory lasted for 24 hours.
When a mosquito bites a human, he or she will remember the human smell it bites. As you move your arm to shake off, the mosquitoes will feel the thrill of the blow. He will remember the connection between body scent and vibration from your blows.
When the mosquito has remembered our scent, he will not get closer until 24 hours. Instead, mosquitoes will look for other non-aggressive prey.
This research indicates that hitting a mosquito is an effective way to keep mosquitoes from disturbing us again.
In addition, this study may be a reference for other scientists to create new tools to repel mosquitoes.
For example we can make tools that utilize the ability of mosquitoes in terms of studying bad experiences with humans or utilizing this research for our benefit.
He added that the key is on dopamine. Because, researchers found that mosquitoes that have been modified to lack of dopamine receptors can not recognize the human smell.
Mosquitoes are not only annoying, they can be deadly or crippling with the terrible diseases they can carry. More research on mosquitoes is needed to reduce and eliminate their threat.
Thank you for the informative post
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit