7 ms·
How Mosquitoes Sniff Out Human Sweat To Find Us
- timkpaine 8y agoI am a very sweaty person, and I always get destroyed by mosquitos more than those around me. It's funny how sometimes meaningful research merely confirms things people already believe to be "obvious".
- trophycase 8y agoIt's unfortunate that the epistemology of science is such that we can't just take certain things for granted like this, but I understand why it is the way it is. I find psychology research to be particularly guilty of this, so much that in my head I often refer to it as the science of pointing out the obvious.
- codetrotter 8y agoThe thing is that while a lot of things that seem obvious will be confirmed, a lot of seemingly obvious things will turn out to not be true. So we need to apply scientific methods in order to determine which “truths” really are true and which are not. (In cases where the truth is testable — not everything is.) Beyond that, the fact that they have identified what receptors the mosquitoes use for sensing sweat means, like the article says, that new ways to foil the mosquitoes from sensing humans might be possible to devise in the future.
- hrktb 8y agoFor psychology, sadly it’s more that researchers are lurred towards seemingly obvious or seducing results. The reproductibility project was really a god send in this respect: https://osf.io/ezcuj/ https://osf.io/ezcuj/
- jcims 8y agoWhat’s your blood type? I have a double trouble situation with being super sweaty and being o negative (which seems to also be an attractant).
- Abishek_Muthian 8y agoI'm facing the same problem & I've heard people talking about certain blood group being more attractive to the mosquitoes;but has this been proven? The article doesn't mention blood group & specifically mentions that the merit of the research in finding the path i.e. CO2, Odour. I dont' understand how blood can form path, unless it applies to only second bite i.e. Mosquitoes prefereing individuls with certain blood group after tasting it once.
- A2017U1 8y ago> I've heard people talking about certain blood group It's O-type blood that's far more attractive to mosquitos.
- dmonagha 8y agoI lived in Florida my whole life and have spent a lot of time in tropical places around the world. I do not generally attract mosquitoes, much less than people around me. I have O-type blood. In the South, we have a saying when you attract them: "You must have that sweet blood"
- theironlily 8y agoI am the same way but I started taking vitamin b1 and that seemed to help me a ton in reducing the number of bites.
- tluyben2 8y agoI am a very sweaty person and mosquitos do not touch me. When other people suffer, I usually did not even notice there are any mosquitos around at all. So not that obvious for me.
- jcims 8y agoCan you share your blood type? I’m o neg, of the sweaty persuasion, and get destroyed by the buggers. My father in law is AB, is probably normal on the sweat spectrum, smokes and mosquitoes don’t bug him.
- scruple 8y agoI'm a sweaty dude and I'm also O-. I very rarely ever notice mosquitoes around and maybe contend with 2-3 bites a year. My wife is an A type, who doesn't sweat profusely, but she is harassed by mosquitoes every year. She gets it really bad, to the point where we're both actively trying to defend her against them with sprays and portable fans when we're out hiking or backpacking, etc...
- beagle3 8y agoI used to be a very sweaty person, but always had less moquito bites than those around me (though I did have quite a bit if I was alone). So it's far from trivial. (And preepting the question: I stopped being ultra sweaty after a 20 day water-only fast, never to be sweaty again)
- tluyben2 8y ago> I stopped being ultra sweaty after a 20 day water-only fast, never to be sweaty again Was that the goal of the fast? And if yes, where did you learn that this works?
- beagle3 8y agoNo goal. I lost my appetite, and I don’t eat unless I have appetite. Took about 20 days for it to come back. Actually felt hunger at that point, which is a distinct feeling from appetite - one rarely felt in the 1st world)
- gcatalfamo 8y agoYou only had water for 20 days? How do you do that?
- azernik 8y agoPeople can go without food for a lot longer than they can go without water. 20 days is near the upper end, and not something you should do often, but very much within the normal human limit. EDIT: s/food/water/
- cf498 8y agoIts quite common with prisoners on hunger strikes. Apparently the feeling of hunger stops after a few days. Have to mention that you should be rather careful with that, the long hunger strikes where people died after month were with a forced feeding tube. With 20 days of total starvation you are already up there.
- 8y ago
- anonytrary 8y agoWhile outcomes may be obvious, mechanisms are seldom obvious. Understanding mechanisms often helps us discover new outcomes that weren't so obvious before.
- galfarragem 8y agoI don't buy it. I'm not sweaty at all and mosquitos always 'liked' me more than those around me.
- dao- 8y agoEverybody sweats, you too. I don't think you need to be very sweaty to attract mosquitos, but everybody's sweat is different so that likely plays a role.
- DantesKite 8y agoProbably explains why (anecdotally) white vinegar is so effective at repelling mosquitos.
- dao- 8y agoThis makes sense. I use white vinegar to treat a skin disease. It changes the acidity of your sweat, which then affects what bacteria can flourish on your skin. It's the bacteria that produce the smell.
- skosch 8y agoRead the article – it's bacteria that produce the smell humans perceive as "sweaty", but it's not that smell that attracts the mosquitoes, but rather acidic compounds that are already present in our sweat.
- TheSpiceIsLife 8y agoSo can we now build a decoy that emits CO2, human sweat odour, and heat, that traps and kills mosquitos?
- AirborneUnicorn 8y agoHere's a product I found awhile back: http://www.mosquitomagnet.com/ http://www.mosquitomagnet.com/
- geomark 8y agoYeah, I found that product shortly after moving to Thailand. Unfortunately, the price in Thailand is many times the price shown on their website, over US$1,000. Here for example https://shopee.co.th/BlackHole-%E0%B9%80%E0%B8%84%E0%B8%A3%E0%B8%B7%E0%B9%88%E0%B8%AD%E0%B8%87%E0%B8%94%E0%B8%B1%E0%B8%81%E0%B8%88%E0%B8%B1%E0%B8%9A%E0%B8%A2%E0%B8%B8%E0%B8%87%E0%B8%A3%E0%B8%B8%E0%B9%88%E0%B8%99-Mosquito-Magnet-Pioneer-i.107214889.1747737234 https://shopee.co.th/BlackHole-%E0%B9%80%E0%B8%84%E0%B8%A3%E... That's the cheapest I have seen it in Thailand and at 39,000 Thai baht that is more than US$1,200.
- choonway 8y agoWe can just as easily build a drone that senses CO2, humans sweat odour and heat, that kills humans.
- TheSpiceIsLife 8y agoI’d suggest that may cause some legal difficulties. Or military interest. It could also lend itself to a new interpretation of the term SWATing.
- mikeash 8y agoA mosquito carrying a deadly disease is already this, and self-replicating too.
- tmp192489 8y agoAny reason why some people seem to attract mosquitos more than others? Is it really just sweatiness or something else in a person's blood or scent?
- jsjw7sbw 8y agoI saw a video on youtube that said theres 4 or so genes that have an effect on your attractiveness to mosquitos.
- flurdy 8y agoI am not convinced it is just sweat. But it may be a contributing factor. My father grew up on a farm in a part of the world with a lot of mosquitos. He says he would work in the fields all summer shirtless and never even notice any mosquitos. I hate going there in the summer because of the little bastards. (And the horseflies, I really hate them). Wind forward 50 years of mostly city living in other parts of the world, and whenever he flies back to his childhood home for a few weeks holiday he gets eaten alive. His blood type has not changed. He may be more sweaty as he is a little chubbier, but he was probably quite sweaty working in the fields as a kid as well. I suspect it has to do with lifestyle. For him (and me) mostly working in office environments for most of the year for many years, makes your skin/odour/heat different than if you were an outdoorsy person that has a more hardened skin that is less attractive to mossies. Perhaps. That said I don't really hear of anyone that lives in the mosquito heavy area that is susceptible to them whether they are office or farm people. Only outsiders. That may be self-selecting as they would move away though.
- yomly 8y agoDiets have changed considerably since then too
- ssener2001 8y agoIt is understood from this these animals are created for biting human beings and sucking from our body. Maybe there are some benefits we may does not know
- obituary_latte 8y agoNot humans specifically but any warm blooded animal. The only benefits likely are to the insect (not animal) itself.
- darkpuma 8y agoSounds like a naturalistic fallacy and/or a just world fallacy. There's not a silver lining to everything. Some things just suck. Nature is brutal, not caring. Many relationships between organisms are purely parasitic, exploitative, not symbiotic. If you really want a downer, look up what some varieties of the cordyceps parasitic fungus do to ants.
- lorenzhs 8y agoFor anyone else not familiar with cordyceps fungi, here's a three-minute clip from BCC Planet Earth: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XuKjBIBBAL8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XuKjBIBBAL8
- 50656E6973 8y agoMosquitos kill more humans than any other animal
- NicoJuicy 8y agoI know a guy that has a small DNA mutation. Musquittos died when bit him ( his parents have it to). I haven't seen it in real life, but he was an honest it guy. So I give him the benefit of the doubt
- huffmsa 8y agoIt's both interesting and expected that we're only just now really getting a grasp on mosquito targeting. Viruses and bacteria tend to have single targets, easier for us to figure out, whereas more complex mosquitoes logically have more complex targeting systems. We'll probably have it sorted in a decade. Now, as for my unique anecdotal contribution: I 1) don't attract many mosquitoes but 2) when one of them does find its way to me, I'm non-reactive (no itchy bump). I'm both a sweaty and oily person, but I don't really produce BO. No stinky armpits (I save a fortune on deodorant), no stinky feet, etc. My father has a similar situation and he's non-attractive for them, but my siblings are less sweaty, but do produce BO and get eaten alive.
- EForEndeavour 8y ago> I 1) don't attract many mosquitoes but 2) when one of them does find its way to me, I'm non-reactive (no itchy bump) There's potential for bias here: (2) might be over-inflating your impression of (1). An alternative hypothesis (not trying to contradict your own experience!): you attract mosquitoes as much as the next person, but since you're nonreactive, you simply don't notice that mosquitoes are bothering you unless you happen to catch them in the act of biting you (which they're good at avoiding), or if you see or hear one flying around you (which could be chalked up to random flight, or them having trouble locating you). > I'm both a sweaty and oily person, but I don't really produce BO Another comment on this story (https://news.ycombinator.com/reply?id=19535422&goto=item%3Fid%3D19513708%2319535422 https://news.ycombinator.com/reply?id=19535422&goto=item%3Fi...) points out that mosquitoes home in on lactic acid, which is produced by non-odour-causing eccrine sweat glands, which explains why there is actually no correlation between human-perceptible body odour and mosquito attractiveness.
- rando444 8y agoThis follows with one of the most effective mosquito repellents already in use today. A rotating fan. It mixes everything in the room around so that the carbon dioxide, sweat, and everything else can't be as easily used to target you.
- xavivives 8y agoIt seems relevant to point out that there are two types of sweat glands [1]. And they secrete different stuff: "Eccrine sweat is clear, odorless, and is composed of 98–99% water; it also contains NaCl, fatty acids, lactic acid, citric acid, ascorbic acid, urea, and uric acid. Its pH ranges from 4 to 6.8. On the other hand, the apocrine sweat has a pH of 6 to 7.5; it contains water, proteins, carbohydrate waste material, lipids, and steroids. The sweat is oily, cloudy, viscous, and originally odorless; it gains odor upon decomposition by bacteria. Because both apocrine glands and sebaceous glands open into the hair follicle, apocrine sweat is mixed with sebum." The article mentions acid lactic as a signaling metric. Only the Eccrine glands sweat contains it. This explains why the no-correlation between strong oddor (casused by the apocrine sweat). [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweat_gland https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweat_gland
- est31 8y agoSome east Asian populations have no or almost no odour at all: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ABCC11 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ABCC11
- doodlebugging 8y agoThis might be a great opportunity to try to understand why Avon Skin-so-Soft functions as an effective repellent when other purpose-developed products fail. Perhaps looking closely at the components in the SsS mix to see which masks the lactic acid signal would be a good place to start.