Summer will soon be here, meaning the arrival of those dreaded mosquitoes. They ruin our camping trips and outdoor excursions as soon as the weather gets warm. But now a new study is showing that dubstep music, particularly tracks from Skrillex, might be all we need to ward off those pesky bloodsucking bugs. And nope, this is not an April Fools’ joke folks. This is for real.
The new study was recently published in the journal Acta Tropica, which was ostensibly on mosquito feeding and breeding habits (via BBC News.) The study found that those darn skeeters are far less likely to eat or reproduce when the song “Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites” by Skrillex is playing for them. The mosquito in question is Aedes aegypti. The so-called “the yellow fever mosquito” carries a plethora of deadly diseases in addition to the yellow one.
A team of international scientists recently made this amazing discovery about mosquitoes and dubstep. They understood that sound is crucial for reproduction, survival, and population maintenance of many animals. Adult mosquitoes were “entertained” by the electronic dance tracks, which is an interesting development in any such study. As a result, they attacked hosts later and less often than those in a fully dubstep-free environment.
In addition, it turns out that the occurrence of blood feeding activity was lower when music was being played. Mosquitoes exposed to the song also had sex far less often than those mosquitoes which weren’t exposed to it. Now, we want to know what happens to the sex lives of mosquitoes when exposed to the sexy grooves of Barry White and Marvin Gaye? That’s a study that someone needs to conduct. In the meantime, this summer you can save on the bug spray perhaps and instead buy a few new dubstep albums instead. Your skin may thank you.
Images: CBS