Associative learning turns DEET from aversive to appetitive in Aedes aegypti
36 points
2 days ago
| 4 comments
| journals.biologists.com
| HN
gobdovan
3 hours ago
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In plain English, they made mosquitos like repellent.
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Y-bar
3 hours ago
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Tldr: Repelln’t.
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zeafoamrun
3 hours ago
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Could this already be happening out in the wild?
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OutOfHere
2 hours ago
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I hope these mosquitoes were not released in the wild.

The simple answer would be to add a natural strongly repellent gentle oil to the DEET spray.

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Foobar8568
59 minutes ago
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A couple years back, I spray some DEET on my shoes, 5 seconds later, a tiger mosquito tried to bite me on that spot (and yes on the shoe itself, just insane to see it trying ).

They already loved that shit.

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cbdevidal
1 hour ago
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Spray made from lemon eucalyptus works[1]. Not as well as DEET, but it works.

Or go carnivore. Mosquito bites no longer itch for me, though they are still annoying. I think because of reduced histamines. Super handy since I live in Florida B-)

[1] https://www.consumerreports.org/health/insect-repellent/oil-...

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AyyEye
1 hour ago
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At that point just skip the deet.
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trhway
3 hours ago
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that explains. I was always wondering why in Siberia (where i worked for 2 summers back then at university times) coming out from house with freshly applied DEET you're getting covered with mosquitos - i was attributing that to the especial ferociousness of the mosquitos there - yet it sounds like the smell of DEET for them in those towns may have become like a BBQ smell for us :)
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HPsquared
1 hour ago
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A bit like how capsaicin was evolved to prevent things being eaten by mammals, but... Well.. humans came along and developed a taste for it.

"Evolution! Can you give me capsaicin, to deter mammals? I want birds to spread my seeds!"

https://youtu.be/1fW2uTRdUJU

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raverbashing
15 minutes ago
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So maybe the solution is to apply DEET to a bug zapper
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MiracleRabbit
2 hours ago
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Freshly marinated in DEET
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