6 ms·
Associative learning turns DEET from aversive to appetitive in Aedes aegypti
- lazide 5mo ago[flagged]
- danparsonson 5mo agoIt's OK, we still have picaridin
- jameslk 5mo agoPicaridin is the better choice as well. DEET is gross stuff that ruins many materials used for outdoor clothes and gear
- lazide 5mo agoI read the paper - if they can train them to like deet this way, picaridin will be child’s play.
- OutOfHere 5mo agoDEET should ruin things less if you stick to 35-40%. There is practically no benefit in going higher anyway. Those using 100% are asking for damage. Picaridin gives me worsened tinnitus, so I can't use it unless maybe I slowly try to condition myself to it over a week. DEET doesn't.
- gobdovan 5mo agoIn plain English, they made mosquitos like repellent.
- Y-bar 5mo agoTldr: Repelln’t.
- zeafoamrun 5mo agoCould this already be happening out in the wild?
- cactusplant7374 5mo agoI use a lot of bug spray and I am still swarmed sometimes.
- fooqux 5mo agoAs I understand it, DEET just prevents biting as they don't like the taste of it, and they taste with their feet. Thus, it doesn't do much to prevent initial attraction. Edit: thought I'd include a link to a study about this as it's not well known. https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(19)30402-6 https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(19)...
- exabrial 5mo agoI believe DEET interferes with their ability to locate prey actually.
- fooqux 5mo agoThere may be multiple ways it works, but we don't fully understand all of them. However, here is one study about the feet to show I'm not spouting AI generated bullshit: https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(19)30402-6 https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(19)...
- trhway 5mo agothat 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 :)
- aaron695 5mo ago[dead]
- MiracleRabbit 5mo agoFreshly marinated in DEET
- HPsquared 5mo agoA 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 https://youtu.be/1fW2uTRdUJU
- tardedmeme 5mo agoThey got the ultimate seed-spreading, since we farm them.
- raverbashing 5mo agoSo maybe the solution is to apply DEET to a bug zapper
- OutOfHere 5mo agoI 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.
- AyyEye 5mo agoAt that point just skip the deet.
- cbdevidal 5mo agoSpray made from lemon eucalyptus works[1]. Not as well as DEET, but it works. [1] https://www.consumerreports.org/health/insect-repellent/oil-of-lemon-eucalyptus-insect-repellents-a7989538414/ https://www.consumerreports.org/health/insect-repellent/oil-...
- cbdevidal 5mo agoI don’t understand why sharing an objective study with good news would be downvoted, someone please explain? I’m not saying you have to use it; it’s good news for people who have concerns about other chemicals. It works—less effectively, but it works. “Repellants containing (..) oil of lemon eucalyptus have also been found to be effective.”[1] [1] Iowa Department of Health, “Controlling Spread of West Nile Virus“ https://hhs.iowa.gov/health-prevention/providers-professionals/center-acute-disease-epidemiology/epi-manual/reportable-diseases/west-nile-virus-1 https://hhs.iowa.gov/health-prevention/providers-professiona...
- OutOfHere 5mo agoI have seen the same behavior on this site. Insightful information gets downvoted to -2, and useless comments that merely "feel good" get upvoted to +8. I think the theory is that each post identifies with a certain topic, e.g. DEET, which identifies with a cultish subset of users surrounding that topic. There is no broad academic curiosity among the cult's members, and they suppress all competing topics as to them they represent other cults.
- OutOfHere 5mo ago
- exabrial 5mo agoThe answer is just to use Picaridin instead of DEET, or perhaps a combination of both. Picaridin is sold as "Off - Clean Feel" or in Sawyer products in the USA. The exact mechanism is not completely understood, but it's thought that DEET works because it interfere's with mosquitos ability to locate their prey. It is not thought to discourage bites as "they don't like the taste", just by interfering with sensing. A newer repellent, Picaridin, not only interferes with locating prey, but actively deters mosquitos like pepper spray mace. It's an engineered molecule, derived from a compound called piperine, a substance found in black pepper plants. Studies show that "Picaridin is as effective as DEET", but my personal experience is it is about twice as effective as DEET. I spend an enormous amount of my free time outdoors and I can attest that Picaridin is far more effective than DEET for both mosquitos and ticks (we have two main species in the Kansas/Missouri/Arkansas region, others are present but less common). As a personal data point, I had a friend trip on a hike this spring and fall into a grassy/bushy area. He did not put any repellent on. When we stood up, he was _covered_ in ticks. We got back to the truck and started peeling them off him, probably 15+ plus we flicked off or crushed. Unfortunately, we kept finding more, so we tried spraying Picaridin after the damn things hated that stuff so bad they jumped or fell off instantly. You do not want to get Picaridin in your eyes or mouth, holy shit, that stuff is like bear mace. Also make sure you're downwind when you're spraying, your friends with appreciate that. The other advantage of Picaridin is that it does not melt certain plastics. If you have life saving gear made of certain plastics, DEET can melt many times of plastics! (Notably some PVCs, polycarbonates, acrylics, acetates, and elastics).
- random3 5mo agoThat’s interesting! As I’m researching this (for my family) I have questions :) - have you tried entomol? How does it compare? - is it advisable with for young kids, if it’s irritant? - how long does it stay on? - what do you do when you get so many ticks on yourself? Watch if you get spots after 30 days? Entomol is hydrogenated catmint oil
- exabrial 5mo agoNever tried Entomol. But I've found any of the essential oils simply don't work more than 10-20mins after application. I'd be very skeptical, but I'll try it if I can find an EPA/FDA approved spray. Picaridin is safe for everyone, but follow all label instructions. Also use the 20% concentration. I find that 10%-15% is about as effective as DEET, 20% is about twice as effective (in my completely uncontrolled, unscientific, testing).
- fooqux 5mo agoI couldn't tell from the paper, but perhaps I missed it. Is this learned behavior hereditary?
- guiambros 5mo agoIt doesn't seem the case; the study was made purely on behavioral conditioning. And mosquitoes don't live very long, so it's unlikely they'd learn this in practice, outside of a very controlled environment. But there's a natural selective pressure, and it's plausible that mosquitoes would eventually evolve their sensors to become attracted to DEET, over multiple generations. And with each generation lasting only 20-30 days and a single female mosquito laying 300-500 eggs in total, they can evolve orders of magnitude faster than us.
- YeGoblynQueenne 5mo agoIf all they wanted to achieve was attract mosquitoes they could have just hired me to stand there for a few minutes. Very reasonable rates, guaranteed mosquito attraction or your money back. But if what they wanted to achieve was to show how to make DEET ineffective then I hope their entire research department is proscribed as the terrorist organisation it really is by every nation on Earth.
- DannyBee 5mo agoI always found DEET interesting because it is a toluene derivative, which is why it is remarkably effective at destroying plastics and such, in addition to being a repellant. Yet people spray it with abandon and then wonder what melted their watch or glasses or …