By Stephen Ornes
October 12,2011
Article:
Have you ever wondered what is it on sprays that makes mosquitoes or any bugs not want to come close? Is it the smell that makes them not want to suck our blood out? Or is it just because they already have too much blood? Honestly, it's none of them. A new study has been concluded for now, the one about DEET and its affects on bugs. DEET is an insect repellant that keeps farm land/our skin etc. away from bugs. Have you ever used DEET? Probably yes, or even if you just used the perfumes you plug into the electricity, you are still using a repellant from bugs and insects. The scientists think insects don't exactly know what they are smelling, it's the molecules that help it detect smells. DEET keeps bugs away from short and long distances, if insects don't smell than how do they recognize what is good and what is not? Simple, the molecules of DEET confuse mosquitoes because of the way they are constructed. Insects pick up smells and differences in the environment with the help of the antennas which pick up different chemicals sending information through nerves of the body to the brain. During the studies it was detected that when DEET was around of bugs the smell-detectors were affected. The detectors are smart, they can send different messages according to if they find a large amount of DEET, small amount, or if it is mixed with different substances. As a result, scientists have concluded that DEET doesn't always make bugs disappear for no reason, but because all the odors make them confused.
“It’s as if you are hungry and you love hamburgers,” Pellegrino told Science News. “If DEET is present, it doesn’t smell like hamburger anymore, even if a hamburger is right in front of you.”
When I first heard of the article, I thought: Well of course DEET drives bugs away because of the awful smell, but after reading this article I figured out that bugs don't use noses so they can't smell. It was also surprising to me that scientists just uncovered this because now we have an answer of why bugs don't come close and what it is that bugs them. I have never been a fan of bugs, but after reading this I learned that bugs have interesting organisms and work in different ways. Knowing all this information, we can now hope that insects won't bother us, so that we won't be forced to bother them !
October 12,2011
Article:
Have you ever wondered what is it on sprays that makes mosquitoes or any bugs not want to come close? Is it the smell that makes them not want to suck our blood out? Or is it just because they already have too much blood? Honestly, it's none of them. A new study has been concluded for now, the one about DEET and its affects on bugs. DEET is an insect repellant that keeps farm land/our skin etc. away from bugs. Have you ever used DEET? Probably yes, or even if you just used the perfumes you plug into the electricity, you are still using a repellant from bugs and insects. The scientists think insects don't exactly know what they are smelling, it's the molecules that help it detect smells. DEET keeps bugs away from short and long distances, if insects don't smell than how do they recognize what is good and what is not? Simple, the molecules of DEET confuse mosquitoes because of the way they are constructed. Insects pick up smells and differences in the environment with the help of the antennas which pick up different chemicals sending information through nerves of the body to the brain. During the studies it was detected that when DEET was around of bugs the smell-detectors were affected. The detectors are smart, they can send different messages according to if they find a large amount of DEET, small amount, or if it is mixed with different substances. As a result, scientists have concluded that DEET doesn't always make bugs disappear for no reason, but because all the odors make them confused.“It’s as if you are hungry and you love hamburgers,” Pellegrino told Science News. “If DEET is present, it doesn’t smell like hamburger anymore, even if a hamburger is right in front of you.”
When I first heard of the article, I thought: Well of course DEET drives bugs away because of the awful smell, but after reading this article I figured out that bugs don't use noses so they can't smell. It was also surprising to me that scientists just uncovered this because now we have an answer of why bugs don't come close and what it is that bugs them. I have never been a fan of bugs, but after reading this I learned that bugs have interesting organisms and work in different ways. Knowing all this information, we can now hope that insects won't bother us, so that we won't be forced to bother them !