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Athens Breeding "Super Mosquitoes"
Chemisor writes "Air pollution and cramped housing conditions in Athens, Greece, are creating a new breed of mosquitoes which are bigger, faster, and can smell humans from farther away. The super insects have color vision and detect humans from 25-30 meters, which is about 50% farther than the ordinary mosquitoe. Beating their wing 500 times a second provides them with extra speed, and the larger bodies (by 0.3ug) presumably allow larger bloodsucking capacity." And in a similar vein (har har) New Scientist had a piece about what mosquitoes like or hate about people.
Growing up, I was ravaged by mosquitoes daily in the summers. There were years when they were particularly bad and they would literally swarm you. They were huge too. If you think it's cold in Minnesota and we don't have mosquitoes, you're wrong. They just had to be that much bigger and drink that much more blood to survive. You would be out playing baseball and three of them would hold you down while another worked his proboscis through your breastplate directly into your heart. Often times there wouldn't be much left of me but skin and bones when I got home. And that was if you were lucky. If there were six or more, oftentimes they'd just grab your shoulders and carry you back to their nest and you'd never be seen again.
If you have someone that loves "all of God's creatures" then you should throw them in pond filled with mosquitoes and see how long it takes them to become a killing machine. Not very long I'd wager. In fact, mosquitoes are pretty good proof that there is no god. Why would a being of infinite good unleash such a horrible plague upon man?
It seemed that the people who produced the most sweat and breathed the hardest were the most attractive. These features seem to come hand in hand with being overweight but I never really bought the idea that overweight people's blood tasted better. If that were true, all the mosquitoes would have moved to Wisconsin.
Instead, you'd have mosquitoes buzzing around your mouth & ears. Why? Because I guess they are attracted to carbon dioxide big time. You accumulate natural carbon dioxide in the wells of your ears and it pours out of your mouth. They also somehow detect lactic acid which you'll find about large animals.
For those of you who don't know, mosquitoes breed in water (when the eggs hatch, they look like this). Not moving water, but standing water. One of the tasks I used to have was laying silage down, putting a tarp over it and weighting the tarp down with old tires. Invariably, rainfall would fill the insides of the tires with just enough water to make them each a breeding well for mosquitoes. It's not a fun job but you have to make sure that all that old scummy water is emptied out otherwise you'd find yourself engulfed with mosquitoes at the end of the summer.
I've never underestimated mosquitoes, I think they need to be very good at detecting carbon dioxide, scents, heat & water vapor in order to successfully find food for their eggs and lay them. This is quite a task considering what they've got and I think that it's amazing they manage to reproduce at all. I dream of the day when mosquitoes are endangered organisms.
*mental note* Do not hold Olympic summer games in Athens, Greece.
My work here is dung.
Did Dan Quayle write this summary?
The super insects have color vision and detect humans from 25-30 meters, which is about 50% farther than the ordinary mosquitoe.
Your name is strikingly apropos to the subject, my friend.
I may make you feel, but I can't make you think.
Regular mosquito species are dichromats. In other words, all mosquitos, like many insects that I know of have color vision. Some insects like bees are actually trichromats (like humans), but have their photopigments tuned higher up in the spectrum. So, super mosquitos having color vision is no different than regular mosquitos, unless they have developed a third chromophore which the article does not state.
Visit Jonesblog and say hello.
If this is happening due to many humans being in even smaller spaces, why the hell does the insect need color vision, and the ability to smell humans from even FARTHER away? I don't see how that need could have evolved to be beneficial... the speed thing I can see... I'm truly confused as to why such a feature would evolve with seemingly no benefit.
---
Programming is like sex... Make one mistake and support it the rest of your life.
...live in the city. The air quality is so bad here I'd be amazed if any mosquitoe could survive long term.
*''I can't believe it's not a hyperlink.''
Find a company located in Athens that specializes in insect repellent and invest invest invest!!!
Note to self. "Nosquito" is kind of a lame name for repackaged Off. Need better brand name.
I thought of it first!!
My idea! Stay away!
This is perfect. If I had a legitamatley good idea for a movie, Sci-Fi would warp it beyond recognition, but with something like this I bet they would take it word for word!
Random evolutionary question, are there any drawbacks from an evolutionary point of view to the "new design"? If not, that why didn't the variation predominate earlier? Just because the evolutionary drift didn't lean that way?
SO YOU'RE GOING TO DIE: The Comic for Dealing with Death
This speaks nothing to the possiblity that Athenians are getting smaller, slower, and smellier.
As a rule, I never trust dark brown ketchup.
Didn't these scientists ever watch Jumanji? We do not need super mosquitos, the ones we already have will do.
/whisper/ Thanks for the candy!
The most potent repellent chemical were then isolated by strapping miniature electrodes to the antennae of female mosquitoes and checking their responses to specific compounds. Logan will not divulge the names of the chemicals until they are patented.
How in the world can a chemical that every human produces be patented? Isn't that prior art? Ridiculous. I could understand if it were some new compound they synthesized, but this is a nothing more than greed.
Dan East
Better known as 318230.
Air pollution and cramped housing conditions in Athens, Greece, are creating a new breed of mosquitoes which are bigger, faster, and can smell humans from farther away.
Don't you mean:
"In all his mighty wisdom, God is creating a new breed of mosquitoes which are bigger, faster, and can smell humans from farther away, through his system of Intelligent Design. It is his plan."
I'm not sure how big they are exactly, but you should bring your baseball bat.
Generally when somebody says their all-natural product 'compares favorably' to some chemical alternative, them mean that it works 'almost as well'. If it worked better, they'd be saying that it works better than DEET.
In my experience, DEET does absolutely nothing to repel biting insects from me. If this new stuff 'compares favorably' to DEET, I guess I have nothing to look forward to here.
It doesn't really have to work though... He just needs to put 'Organic' on the bottle, and people will buy it even if they have no clue what the hell is in there. They'll swear it works too.
...so I have to.
I, for one, welcome our new giant color-seeing long-distance mosquito overlords.
Procrastination -- because good things come to those who wait.
I don't see articles saying that cramped conditions and the pollution of high heat and humidity in rain forests breed "super" bugs and plants that are highly dangerous and adapted to their environmental niches. It makes it sound like someone doesn't like cities. When cities and suburbs have been around as long as rain forests, evolution will provide adaptations and species differentiation that may rival the beauty and diversity of the rain forest.
How much larger is a 3 microgram mosquito? I think a percentage would be slightly more informative, or at least the weight of a "normal" mosquito.
Correct me if I'm wrong (in which case, sorry), but I though mozzies could detect the increased CO2 concentration from suckable creatures in the air from something in the region of a mile away? At least, females can.
Okay, I could be wrong, but David Attenborough is like the voice of God to me, so I'll need some convincing.
Meta will eat itself
The scientists are not making new mosquitoes. the conditions are causing them to evolve.
Uhhh....
Too late.
Mansquito
http://www.scifi.com/mansquito/
Sci-Fi has already had a movie about mosquetos.
Errr, I mean how much larger is x + 3 microgram mosquito. (I.e. what is x)
When I was in Belize, not only were there Iguana running around peoples gardens like the common sparrow or blackbird but the mosquitoes were massive.
I mean i'm talking an inch and a half long, socking great legs...absolutely massive.
Not that it matters.
>>>Scanning for I.D.I.O.T.S. >>>
>>>I.D.I.O.T.S. FOUND! >>>
So, does the mosquito wearing the white robes bite the Caucasian because only true Aryan blood will do, or the Afro-American because, for so many years they have lived off their blood and sweat?
Thanks for the smile, rovingeyes.
init 11 - for when you need that edge.
so try a old tech solution. get a block of dry ice, throw it in a cooler and put the cooler in the back corner of your yard.
Voila 90% of the mosquitos go over there to die as a giant source of Co2 means lots of good things to eat to the little buggers.
My grandfather was doing this a decade ago.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
I've read all that and do believe myself that DDT is the best anti-mosquito chemical out there. There was an interesting story on the BBC this morning related to DDT and it's affect on humans. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/5145450.stm
Fly me to the moon Let me sing among those stars Let me see what spring is like On jupiter and mars
Hopefully these Mosquitoes will turn on other Mosquitoes and drive them off, or kill them completely- why? Because the regular ones aren't bad enough, and the way the article describes these things sucking sounds like my SUV with the pedal to the floor, so bring 'em on, Raid 2.0 is ready.
That's got to be doing something to the humans as well. Might we be breeding people who need air pollution to live? If so, then cleaning up the environment could be like genocide!
Uhm .. we've had these in Winnipeg for decades ... this is hardly news.
Thanks for the article -- I've seen similar ones, but that encompasses quite a bit of the facts that need to be addressed.
I believe that nearly _ALL_ chemicals can cause harm to fetuses. I don't think there is any "safe" product out there that can't harm or kill someone if used incorrectly. That being said, I also think that many items that cause harm can ALSO increase health based on its usage. Even cigarette smoking has a good amount of positives in clinical studies, especially in people with memory loss and age-related mental issues. This is why I am against the national governments telling people what to do and what not to do. DDT should be a community-selected issue. If you're dealing with massive mosquito-borne diseases, there is a CBA that should be performed to see if the benefits outweigh the costs.
The issue is a lot more complicated than either of us can debate in this forum, but I believe the issues must be brought back up, especially when it comes to governments that would rather see millions die over a few generations than a few thousand be slightly mentally hampered while in the womb. Long term studies on these mental problems also should be looked into by privately funded research companies and organizations -- I'd happily give a few hundred dollars for research. Yet we can't use DDT in much of the world, and I believe that is a bigger problem that was created by fiat and mandate than by research and reality.
x is about between one 405millionths and one 324millionths of a VW beetle.
(where an average mozzie is 2.0 to 2.5 milligrams and a VW beetle is approx 810 Kgs - source wikipedia (except for the calculations which are mine so probably wrong)).
The better vision allows you to see more chicks to impregnate.
Just because you can't immediately see why evolution would lead to something - doesn't mean that it won't happen - it just means your not looking at the situation right.
http://skeptobot.blogspot.com/ - A site for the Renaissance man and woman
we don't need no steenking eagles!
No, I'm pretty sure they were "intelligent designed"....
And to think: all this time I've been getting bitten by inferior insects. Well, no more!
WHO THE HELL GREEN LIGHTS THESE PROJECTS?
Those who believe the Internet is private,
find their privates are on the Internet.
So that means that the mosquitoes are about 0.1% bigger than average... Wow. North Americans must be pretty dangerous, then, if 0.1% larger in weight makes one "Super"
From TFA: It's very exciting," Logan told New Scientist, "because these are totally natural chemicals with an effectiveness that compares favourably to harsher chemicals such as DEET
I seriously doubt that this will work as well as a repellant. All he did was figure out what flavor of human mosquitos like. Sure, if there are lots of humans around, they will go after the one they like, but in a pinch, they are still comming after you. It's like saying, we did research and found that oni prefers chocolate ice cream, so we are only selling vanilla - that wll keep him away.
No, actually it wont. If you're the only ice cream shop in town, I'll make do with vanilla. Similarly, if you're out walking alone in the woods, the mosquitoes are going to bite you even if you don't taste just the way they like.
This discovery is still good for when you are in a group of people - unless everyone in the group makes use of it, then you're back where you started.
I say Athens runs with this and jumps on the declining popularity of the event in Spain and creates the annual "Running With the Mosquitos" celebration, in honor of the Greek god Hera. Winner gets a lifetime supply of V8.
Hi The spelling of mosquito in English is "mosquito" and not "mosquitoe".
It's not the size, is the quantity. We had big, even HUGE mosquitoes in Michigan, but it was the tenacious little bitsy ones that appeared in great quantities and stung the most. Smaller mosquitoes also are able to get through smaller holes and gaps and were typically the ones found indoors.
It's been said "Intimidation is being in a dark room with a mosquito." As tired as you may be, lying in bed, there's something about that faint whine that can make the most tired very alert.
I like Dave Barry's line about armor piercing stealth mosquitoes and think this is what the Greeks are up to. Screw the North Koreans, it's the greeks we need to keep an eye on.
One last thing: Ponds are filled with mosquitoes. Larvae perhaps, but not the adults. Mosquitoes prefer long grass or shade, which is why it's often a good idea to just write off the golfball hit into the brush or edge or woods. Worst around ponds are deer flies, which I used to refer to as Flying Bastards
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
Welcome our new greek killing, buzzing overlords!
From the New Scientist article:
...
The most potent repellent chemical were then isolated by strapping miniature electrodes to the antennae of female mosquitoes and checking their responses to specific compounds. Logan will not divulge the names of the chemicals until they are patented.
"It's very exciting," Logan told New Scientist, "because these are totally natural chemicals"
So, what is the status of the situation which allows companies to patent naturally occurring phenomena, such as DNA and now a scent which comes from a chemical naturally produced by the human body?
RTFM; please, I beg you.
Bring back DDT and mosquitos go away. So do upwards of 2 million malaria deaths per year, a totally preventable third-world genocide caused entirely by that evil idiot Rachel Carson and perpetuated by environmentalist morons.
Or since this is Slashdot, maybe a more high-tech colution.
GetOuttaMySpace - The Anti-Social Network
Hell, I can tell you that without reading the article.
Mosquitoes like:
-that humans have blood
Mosquitoes hate:
-that humans squash them
There you go.
It knocks out their sense of smell so they can't find you. I work outside a lot and really notice if I forget to put on the DEET. It does work.
Athens mosquito technology has surpassed us!? This is disgraceful. We need to step up our pollution and cramped housing! [i]The super insects have color vision and detect humans from 25-30 meters, which is about 50% farther than the ordinary mosquitoe[/i] We need to give them infravision! and the ability to detect humans across a span of 30 miles! Forget a size of .3ug ... we need to make them 10, no 20 lbs. And we must give them technology. Radar, sonar and laser beam eyes! Yes, yes, our minions will traverse this mortal coil and bring everyone under our mosquito superpower! And then we will feast my brethren.... feast.
In Soviet Russia these Soviet Russia jokes aren't considered the least bit amusing...
Will this be as bad as ... Mansquito?
--Somewhere there is a village missing an idiot.
The cognitive effects of the nicotine alkaloid are virtually identical to its sister alkaloid, caffeine.
And advantage is that the caffeine intake mechanism is considerably less deterimental.
I read one study recently that suggested coffee is the main source of antioxidants for most Americans.
the Eagles were wrong
Anybody want a peanut?
Mosquitos can bite me all day long and I never get a welt. My mother on the other hand, gets two bites and puffs up like the Michelin Man (TM).
I am convinced that I do NOT have a natural resistance to mosquito venom, rather I believe that I have 'tuned' my body to be resistant. You see, growing up as a child I had the idea in my head (don't know how it got there), that if I just let the mosquitos bite me that eventually my body would adapt and become resistant. So while everybody else was slapping their arms and waving their hands about in the air, I would sit there and let them suck away... after I figured they had enough blood, I would pick them off by the leg and let them fly away.
Is there any merit to this? I'm not sure, but I can tell you that I USED to swell up after begin bitten, but NOW I'm all but immune.
I, for one, welcome our new blood-sucking, human seeking overlords.
<ducking and covering>
Could this mean a Mr. Mosquito 2? Oh god I hope not... Being from Florida I detest mosquitos due to many of the rivers, creeks, and swamps. You can keep them Greece, we don't want em.
I will forever be a student.
We have these in ohio: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crane_fly and they look just like enormous mosquitos, so much so that you can't help freaking out if one gets near you!
stuff |
Make it war! Give the super mosquitoes no quarter; leave no water standing (still!) See a mosquitoe swarm? Spray it down; it's your civic duty! Never leave home without that bug spray. Back the attack by crushing or shredding cups or other shaped garbage that may hold water if it rains. Let no trash can go without cover (so water can't collect.) Coat the city in repelent by plane (not ddt!) Just call it "Gas Mask Day" and give people the day off. If you have large bodies of water (as in sewers, ponds, ect.) make sure you aggrevate it constantly; a vibration device powerful to make small wave will do well. Do your part and help wipe out the super mosquito menace before it spreads. When people organize, no animal can escape extinction!
I think the evolution theory is correct, but hell if anythings gonna change on my watch!
Demented But Determined.
Using DDT against mosquitos is like using a nuke against locusts. I mean, sure, it works, but the unwanted side effects might just as well be more of a problem than the problem you tried to get rid off.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
I can imagine they'd be a pain in the ass. Or thigh. Or hand. Or practically anywhere, for that matter.
*rimshot*
Ne Cede Malis.
I do believe, my good sir or madam, that your reflex-like reaction has been thoroughly debunked already. Maybe it's time to put this in the slashdot FAQ.
Religion is what happens when nature strikes and groupthink goes wrong.
Athenian Scientists get so focused on creating "Super Mosquitoes", that they never stop and ask themselves "should we do this". We can only hope Spartan Scientists don't escalate the situation by bio-engineering "MegaFrogs".
I've heard that garlic is a natural mosquito repellant (seems to repel many bugs such as ants and cockroaches). I've read that spraying one's self with a garlic tea works, or even eating a clove of garlic (not sure how long before mosquito exposure). Does this have any affect on super mosquitos of the northern midwest? And how bad does a garlic spray smell? Mosquito repellants
Got any actual, non-biased sources for any of that information?
Get these motherfucking mosquitos off this motherfucking plane!
You should be dragged into the street and shot in the face because you're so fucking stupid.
1. It's dragged, not drug.
2. The scientists did not create anything. They're just reporting findings.
Dumbass.
Indeed, DDT has proven to be very effective for breeding strong, highly resistant mosquitoes.
Trust me, I work for the government.
Next time one jabs you, don't squish it, tense up that part of the body rapidly and repetitively. If the mozzie is on a vein that happens to suddenly get an influx of blood flowing through... pop!
Te Quiero, Puta!
Clearly you didn't read the links or if you did you didn't understand them. The DDT myth was perpetuated by opinions in a popular book that weren't based on ANY evidence at all. And here we are with 3 million deaths per year, a large portion of which would have been prevented.
Right, i know where not to go on holiday this year, Roma here i come.
i know not what weapons the next world war will be fought with, but world war IV will be fought with sticks and stones.
Heh. Just make sure that the cooler is left open, so that it doesn't explode. I say this, because my own cooler has a metal latch that is quite strong (Coleman stainless teel model). Now, it may still allow enough CO2 to escape to prevent a big POP!, but I have no desire to experiment with my expensive cooler...
What possible purpose could this serve? Let's not spend our time on cancer/AIDS research, lets make EVEN MORE BOTHERSOME misquitoes. These scientists should be shot. The only thing misquitoes ever did for mankind was provide a plot for Jurassic Park.
I am convinced that although the electric bug zappers take out a lot of insects, and can be enjoyable to watch, they also seem to attract all the bugs from your neighbors yards into yours..
For more info on Bat conservation and plans to build your own bat house check out Bat Conservation International
From the BatCon FAQ
far...out
alright, I'm convinced... where can I order one?
The MAFIAA is a bunch of mindless jerks who will be the first up against the wall when the revolution comes
"Mosquitos in a Tent"
Double barreled shotgun - the new fly/mosquito swatter.
If O2 is good, O3 must be 1.5 times better!
No realli! She was Karving her initials on the møsquitøe
with the sharpened end of an interspace tøøthbrush given
her by Svenge - her brother-in-law - an Oslo dentist and
star of many Norwegian møvies: "The Høt Hands of an Oslo
Dentist", "Fillings of Passion", "The Huge Mølars of Horst
Nordfink".
Mynd you, møsquitøe bites Kan be pretty nasti...
that /. is inhabited by more republicans than democrats or libertarians.
My next Hollywood script pitch.
This is evolution on equal terms. Unfortunately, the mosquito has used the traits it has developed. We have developed the ability to change their genome. For instance, cross the mosquito with the firefly. Release a few breaders into the world and we could see them at 30 meters. Got a blinking bug on your ass? BAM! Dead. We must be holding back due to some stupid british style fair play type logic.
Having to work for a living is the root of all evil.
...range is a weird adaptation to living in an overpopulated city where your next meal is at close range, don't you think?
Doesn't it make you feel good to know that our freedoms are protected by politicans, lawyers and journalists.
For your reading pleasure:
http://timlambert.org/2005/12/ddt-ban-myth-bingo/
Please, post some more. I'm getting close to a bingo!
What has air pollution to do with breeding mosquitoes? And the same goes for "cramped housing conditions". Of course mosquitoes evolve to suck peoples' blood more efficiently. There are only three factors in the mosquito equation: blood donors (where they feed) and water (where they reproduce). If you don't have puddles lying around, and if there are fish that feed on the mosquito larva, you can control them. If you have wire meshes on the windows (as is customary in North America, but not in Europe), you reduce the number of bites. Because mosquitos can sense body heat, it helps to wear white clothes (that don't radiate at the body temperature) - a trick a Puertorican friend told me. You should also wash yourself, because mosquitoes sense lactic acid. You shouldn't breathe, because mosquitoes sense carbon dioxide that you exhale. In my travels I've noticed the stealth Indian mosquitos (carry malaria) are noiseless. The Norwegian mosquitoes managed to bit me through two layers of clothing. The Rocky Mountains mosquitoes are puny but plentiful. The European mosquitoes are loud but smart: they attack in the dark.
What places are there to get dry ice? And while we are at it, where can I buy liquid nitrogen? Probably the places you recommend will not be available to me, but I am curious to know.
In the case you could only read the headline because of a disability: Sorry.
In Maine, we have our own brand of bio-terrorism against the Devil-creatures: dragonflies. The state used to provide homeowners with a batch in the late spring so that by summertime you'd have a glorious army of ravenous winged assasins. I read somewhere that dragonflies eat 20x their body weight in mosquitos a day (no ref., sorry).
I worked for a pharmacist once who was also a BSA troop leader and canoe enthusiast. He took frequent canoe trips to some of the most inhospitable areas of the Florida Everglades (with his sons, not his scouts) and swore by taking large doses of Thiamine aka Vitamin B1. One to two hundred mg per day should do the trick. The vitamin that is not absorbed is excreted via the pores and acts as a pretty effective repellant as the mosquitos don't like the smell.
:P. We also like to say that there is not one single mosquito in the Everglades. (They're all happily married with zillions of children.)
This is a particularly good tip for fishermen traveling deep into the Everglades or Ten Thousand Islands area. If you have doused yourself in toxic DEET and then stick your hands in the livewell, you will soon find yourself with a bucket full of dead bait (my ex actually did this and ruined a trip for us). It's not fun when you've planned an expensive fishing trip and it's an hours long boat ride to the nearest bait shop. I've fished and camped in the 'Glades and other South Florida areas where we are plaqued with mosquitos and the B1 trick works pretty well. The key is to take a dose at least 24 hours before you are going to be outside, and then continue it each day you are out in the open.
Then there's also my brother's old tip that I can't vouch for as I havent tried it: Extend your arm and cover it in cheap whiskey. Then take a handful of sand and rub it over your arm. The mosquitos land, get drunk, and pretty soon they're so busy trowing rocks at each other that they don't bother you anymore.
What if the Hokey Pokey really is what it's all about?
Shouldn't you try a solution before applying a colution?
<ducks>
This was many years ago, and not in Minnesota, but the worst mosquito problem I ever encountered was playing a high school baseball game, played near a wooded, marshy area, after dark, under the lights. The game was called off after the 3rd inning because of mosquitos -you couldn't throw a ball or swing a bat without hitting some. Standing still at the plate waiting for the pitch was torture. Fortunately, the pitcher didn't want to stand too still too long either. The umpire apologized to the coaches for not calling it earlier. He initially thought we could make it through 5 innings to make it an officially completed game, but soon realized he wouldn't last that long.
Some people tried coungint their bites after we were safely away, but I don't think it was possible to get an accurate count.
*** Goes out to buy even bigger bug zapper. ***
"Look Ma its them there fireworks again."
~Should i be worried when the real world starts lagging?
of the chemicals until they are patented." Figures. So I guess all you African and South American mofos will just have to suffer a while longer. Let's hope somebody a little less greedy can find out what the checmicals are before the patent is approved. And besides, why are we going to let anybody patent a naturally occurring substance anyway? If they are patenting the method of seperation, well, that's a different story. But the chemical itself? No way!
What?
Sure, there'd be a guano-management issue, but you'd be able to seriously scare the neighborhood kids...
And you'll make millions on the guano.
What?
What? The planet isn't warm enough for you already?
What?
That sounds like a great way to:
1. Breed DDT-resistant mosquitos
2. Contaminate the groundwater for generations, leading to
3. Retarded children and children with other developmental disabilities
4. Massive environmental damage, especially massive bird die-off
It's amazing how many great ideas you can have when you stop believing those so-called "scientists" and "researchers"
"Any connection between your reality and mine is purely coincidental." -Slashdot
Yup, even the Oxford dictionary agrees there: http://www.askoxford.com/concise_oed/mosquito?view =uk
Jumpstart the tartan drive.
We have the midge!
It puts the mosquito to shame. But not because it's bigger and bites harder... No the midges are too clever for that. They evolved to be smaller so seeing them and swatting them is more difficult and they can get into much smaller places. Think of them as a form of distributed mosquito. Half a million of them in a 2 square metre area.
Hell they're so vicious we had to invent machines to kill them by the million and prevent them breeding: The Midgeater.
Might work with mosquitos, you never know.
Deleted
I read your links, and they contain numerous factual inaccuracies based on neo-nazi anti-environmentalist memes.
1) The USA banned DDT. No, we didn't, you can buy it today, and anyone who says you can't is flat-out lying. The USA banned DDT for agricultural use, which is quite reasonable since that use causes DDT-resistant pests to evolve very rapidly. DDT should be used for targeted pest control - and it still is, except in the many areas worldwide where agricultural use has destroyed its effectiveness.
2) Rachel Carson's book "Silent Spring" is the root of all evil and contains lies. No, the book contained some science that has since been disproved, but it's main message - that pesticides should not be used with a "more is better" philosophy, and that use of chemicals should be regulated when a global commons can be damaged - is still relevant. To quote Carson's book directly, "Practical advice should be 'Spray as little as you possibly can' rather than 'Spray to the limit of your capacity.'"
3) People are dying of malaria because the US banned DDT at Rachel Carsons' instigation. No, people are dying of malaria because DDT was used indiscriminately and now there are DDT-resistant malaria mosquitoes. There are other pesticides that have the same problem - because knuckleheads overused them agriculturally they are now useless for disease vector control. This is not a consequence of environmentalism - remember, environmentalists like organic agriculture!
People who tell you this shit just want to recruit more mindless drones for their army of environmental destruction. Their end goal is the elimination of all commons, particularly air and water , which they believe should be owned and not shared .
Read wikipedia's article on DDT if you want to know both sides of the story. But if you go in assuming "environmentalism is evil" or "corporations are evil" you have already given up your objectivity.
Your local Dairy Queen should have a supply on hand to sell to you. If they don't have any available, it's usually not difficult to have them order some in for you.
Skeptical Limericks
In fact, mosquitoes are pretty good proof that there is no god.
Actually, mosquitos are pretty good proof that there is a God, and therefore also a Satan, and the mosquitos are definitely minions of the latter.
I believe that nearly _ALL_ chemicals can cause harm to fetuses.
Well, you're wrong about that.
DDT should be a community-selected issue. If you're dealing with massive mosquito-borne diseases, there is a CBA that should be performed to see if the benefits outweigh the costs.
DDT use cannot be a community-selected issue because the environment is common to all.
Water runoff from one community flows into another community, seeps into aquifers that feed wells, drains into the ocean.
This seems to be a typical blind spot for "libertarians," even the smarter ones. The. Environment. Can't. Be. Privatized.
The issue is a lot more complicated than either of us can debate in this forum, but I believe the issues must be brought back up.
The issues have been brought up. Well, all of them except for the issue of how this chemical ravages the natural world.
I brought that up in another post, but I doubt anyone will address it, because there's so many other reasons why using DDT is a manifestly stupid idea.
If you wanted to bring up the issue of environmentalism vs. utilitarianism, you could have easily picked a better issue. For example, is it moral for governments to drain swamps, and destroy the indiginous creatures living there, in order to reduce fatalities from malaria and other mosquito-borne diseases? Instead, you picked an issue where the harm to the public is obvious.
Yet we can't use DDT in much of the world, and I believe that is a bigger problem that was created by fiat and mandate than by research and reality.
Yes, I'm so sad that the government banned a chemical that was wiping out entire species of birds, causing retardation, and contaminating the groundwater. Private industry and selfishness would have solved the problem so much better. "More of this terrible gibberish," to borrow a phrase from Hunter S. Thompson. Man, I wonder what would have happened if he had been locked in a room with Ann Coulter for a few hours. I guess the world will never know.
"Any connection between your reality and mine is purely coincidental." -Slashdot
Make it read - Aliens Breeding "Super Mosquitoes" - and it's solid. Ready for the Weekly World News and other fine publications. Perhaps even the theregister.co.uk.
The "article" is advertising masquerading as content for a company which has bred superskeeters and patented naturally occurring bio-compunds.
They should be prosecuted, not featured in New Scientist.
Jeesh!
The big problem with DDT was its use in agriculture.
Farmers were using shiatloads of DDT on their fields.
Literally kilograms of the stuff per acre.
Rain + Field = DDT Runoff
DDT, in the quantities used in/around the home, is not terribly harmful.
Unfortunately, the hysteria over DDT gave it such a bad reputation that nobody will pay for it to be used at all, despite the fact that the ban is only on agricultural use.
[Fuck Beta]
o0t!
I have to reply on the Libertarian front.
Two things.
First, tragedy of the commons is not exactly unfamiliar to libertarians, and there are many possible solutions for protecting the interests of all impacted. Some that work considerably better than a corrupted government administration.
Second.
At the recent Libertarian National Convention, apart from the anarchists, many delegates thought of the question of what *would* be an acceptable method to fund government, assuming some basic level of government to provide services at various scopes for protection of fair play and related.
Two came to forefront that I remember. Tariffs, where at least criminal penalties aren't involved, they just don't let your stuff enter a certain area they patrol. Aaaand, this one came up several times - atmospheric taxes for any use of the commons, scaling up with the impact.
-- perl -e'print pack"H*","6e656d6f406d38792e6f7267"'
"drug" is sometimes used as a non-standard past tense and past participle of the verb drag.
Thanks for making me waste my time to make you sound like the dumbass.
If carrots got you drunk, rabbits would be fucked up. - Comedian Mitch Hedberg R.I.P. 03/30/68-2/24/05
I read this in a novel set in Louisiana, which I gather is famous for its mosquitos. A guy is lying in bed, and he hears two musquitos arguing. He shudders when he realizes that they're arguing about him: "I don't want to eat him here. Let's take him home." "No! If we try to move him, the big guys will take him away from us!"
Someone should do us the courtesy of at least being consistently stupid, then.
I did misread that article though, I thought it said they were engineering them. My bad. Seriously though, did it offend you or something?
If carrots got you drunk, rabbits would be fucked up. - Comedian Mitch Hedberg R.I.P. 03/30/68-2/24/05
From the article: "..unlike their colour-blind counterparts elsewhere in the country that only smell blood at 15-20 metres." Someone probably already mentioned this but mosquitoes don't detect animals by "smelling blood." They can sense high concentrations of CO2, which conviniently happens to be what humans exhale. The way propane traps work is by producing a large amount of CO2 thus attracting mosquitoes, and killing them when they get in range.
I entirely agree with the idea that bats make a better bug-killer than zappers.
However, relevant to the first post above (Minnesota State Bird) as a Minnesotan, I'm frightened to know that I house on my half-acre property a colony of 75+ bats who seem frightfully well-fed and happy. And it's STILL nearly intolerable to be outside around dusk or dawn, due to mosquitoes.
-Styopa
I guess you didn't get the religious component of it. Or you have a level of irony way higher than normal.
Thanks for the correction anyways, no matter how skilled I get in english, I always skip some details
Clearly, both you and the mods who awarded you points are joking. Sick fucks.
DDT was the safest insecticide to have been used, you could eat large quantities without any damage to your body. after the ban or DDT, insecticides killed people because they ate the poison by accident. with DDT malaria would have been wiped out like polio and smallpox. if DDT can save lives, how can you say its a bad chemical?
The parent of this post was a very good refutation of this guy's points.. it should be given at least 1 if not 4.
VLC FOR MAC IS DYING! IF YOU DEVELOP, PLEASE SAVE IT!!
warning: This post is likely to contain gobs of dripping sarcasm. Consume at your own risk.
Mosquito 2.0 - Ah, screw it, I'm not upgrading until the "point one" release. You know the round numbers are always unstable.
I have built several bat houses to place around my yard to try and increase their population in my local vicinity. and decrease the biting insect population .
What are you thinking, man? Bats? BATS! You've got allergies to garlic, no reflection, lost soul and a greatly increased susceptibility to sun induced skin cancer. I'd rather have the mosquito bite.
You've got to think these things through man.
Why would you do this? Isn't enough that the people of this world (namely Minnesota) suffer with these devils children already? Being from Minnesota myself I know that some of these guys have landing lights on their wings. Its scary to see some people get picked up and carried away by these things.
So lets ask the important question here......why in God's name would you create a "super" mosquitoes?? Don't we try to kill them off already? If you ask me it almost sounds like another senerio for the downfall of man.
1. Man creates super mosquitoes
2. Man gets eaten by super mosquitoes
3. Earth is then inherited by the super mosquitoes
4. They then create a new civilization....better than humans
I see a plot here.......
Reaction probably varies from person to person, since some people in this study of poison ivy became more sensitive with repeated exposure.
Personally, I'd squish the buggers anyway, rather than let them reproduce.
It only makes 'em madder.
In one of the books, a dark Jedi used the force to repel the insects on Yavin 4 while traversing through the jungles...or was it Yavin 5?
In other news, school boards across Kansas reiterated their demands that all science textbooks contain a sticker that says, "Evolution is just a theory."
Hey, Windows users, there is no such thing as "forward" slash, there is only slash and backslash.
We should engineer all mosquitoes to be super! That way, with all mosquitoes being super, none will be super.
Next step: patent kevlar suits to wear whenever we go outdoors.
The Christian Right is Neither (Christian nor right). See: Matthew 23, Matthew 25, Ezekiel 16:48-50
would come to the conclusion that the mosquitoes on this planet aren't good enough?
Trust me A-Holes...the insects around the world DON'T need your fucking help.
Lessons about invading and genetically modified insect species:
1. Fire Ants in the southern US kill people and cause Bilions worth of damage and medical costs a year.
2. A form of asian lady bug is brought to the US to take out aphids and other crop infesting bugs; in turn creating a species of ladybug with a painful bite, that likes to swarm.
3. No-See-Ums (aka. Sand Fleas, biting midges) brought from South America that invade US shorelines after dusk. (Ask any Marine who's been through boot camp at Parris Island, SC about these horrific "flying teeth".)
4. Killer bees brought from Africa to create a more robust honey bee in South America swarms and kills thousands a year.
5. Gypsy Moths in the northern states of the US dessimate 1000's of acres of trees and forest a year, killing forests and the tourism industry.
6. Emerald Ash Borer brought from Asia recently, destroyed all the Ash trees and other hard wood species in Southern Michigan, Ohio, Indiana.
Those scientists should be locked up.
They invented mosquito spray and chemicals that kill mosquitos. So someone had to go and invent a better mosquito.
While I am pretty freaked out myself by the impending collapse of various ice shelves, etc., I believe that dry ice is made by condensing CO2 out of the atmosphere and has no significant carbon footprint (aside from the electricity used to run the compressor maybe.)
;-) )
(And since it is the summer here in the US of A, I'd also point out that charcoal is made from trees and is also carbon-neutral
You will not drink with us, but you would taste our steel? - Walter Matthau, The Pirates
These so-called midges are a marketing ploy. Ever noticed they are only around when the pubs are open? As long as you stay inside and drink beer you're ok - and who's benefiting from that? The brewers! My guess is they grow them in these huge containers you see at breweries and distribute them with their delivery trucks, pouring them out all over city's villages and countryside through the exhaust pipe, masking as diesel fumes.
The Business Software Alliance has an adventure base????
General Relativity: Space-time tells matter where to go; Matter tells space-time what shape to be.
Kilos per acre? Wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong. An ounce per acre.
If animals would consistently move towards places where food was more tasteful, the human race would long ago have left the US, wouldn't it?
super-mosquitos breed Athenians.
How does a 7-person democracy cut a pie? Into 4 pieces.
I haven't played Civilization IV yet, but what benifit will the Greeks get when The Super Mosquito Wonder is built in Athens? Some sort of increase in the effectiveness of bioweapons?
On a related funny story, in Western Canada, our mosquitoes are frequently larger than a quarter. Sometimes a loonie. Infrequently, a toonie. Most people will swear they saw at least one the size of a $5 bill. No-one has seen the fabled $10 bill version yet.
In rural counties, when the Greyhound or other transport truck drives through, they have to stop at regular intervals to clean the front of the vehicle off. The bugs are so thick, especially on poorly lit rural roads, that their dead carcasses tend to completely block the radiator grill (thanks to the fine-mesh anti-snow grill we all use up here).
The last time I took a greyhound through saskatchewan, we stopped after a few hours, the driver got out a stick, and knocked off a solid mat of dead insects, probably 1.5" thick, that covered the fronts of both side mirrors. It was heavy enough it made a "thump" when it hit the ground. The windshield wipers were hidden. The front grill was mostly covered, again almost 1" thick. He said that on differently designed busses with their altered aerodynamics, sometimes the bugs end up hitting the headlights, and frequent stops are required or you're soon driving in the dark.
They can be so vicious, animals locked in a small pen are driven mad. City children who go out to the country for a day have been bitten so bad they can't flex their arm or leg (presumably, rural kids are used to it, or have developed some armour-like skin that the farmers are keeping secret until the revolution). Falling asleep without repellant on is just not done, as you'd wake up with bites over your entire body, even in the middle of the city. Inadvertantly wandering into a marshy area with a mosquito breeding area and stirring them up can seem to block out the sun. Even at my old house, in a small park in the middle of the big city, if i didn't keep the grass trimmed, I couldn't walk from car to house without getting bitten a dozen times.
It's widely recognized as the severest hazing ritual, to take the young man, clothe him completely, tape him to a tree in a woody area, and then unzip and expose his manhood.
Not for the embarasement factor, or the fun, but because after a few hours his manhood will be unrecognizable and he will be crazy with the urge to scratch.
Many people have been bitten so severely, in normal, everyday circumstances, that they scratch themselves until they bleed.
But, yeah, these Greek ones can see colour. Oooohhh, scary.
If I knew the wedgies I gave you back in 6th grade would have resulted in this . . . I might have taken a moments pause.
It is said you will not get stung by mosquito's if you use large amounts of B vitamins. While people near me are stung by mosquito's, I don't get stung much.
Your post was very interesting. It's the first time I've ever heard a self-labeled Libertarian say there might be some use for taxation.
Libertarianism would have a fantastic appeal to the average joe if you could just resolve the protection of the commons issue; look how many former libertarians have defected to the Green party!
Taxation on pollution of commons (air and water at the very least) is an extremely reasonable way to fund government, which supposedly exists "for the common good" after all. It's a hell of a lot better than taxing wages anyway.
Excuse me, but I call bullsxxt on this one.
I live in Athens and I don't see either giant mosqitoes, nor do I see more mosqitoes than usual. In fact I'll be happy to leave town for an island in summer, but I'm not looking forward to the increase in mosquitoes I will have to face there compared to Athens.
One wonders why the Athenians haven't evolved pollution filtering mechanisms in their respiratory systems or a toxin carried in their blood that wards off these SUPER KILLER INSECTS FROM HELL.
In fact, mosquitoes are pretty good proof that there is no god.
No. Mosquitoes are proof that God hates us.
Looks like Athens should be working on increasing their bat population. a single little brown bat such as we have here in the US can catch about 1200 small insects (such as mosquito's) in a single hour.
Just so long as they use their bat population and don't do something stupid like importing someone else's bats. Just ask Australia how well that sort of thing works.
Why do the mosquitos get faster and bigger? If there is plenty to eat I would expect the mosquitoes to get bigger (all animals get bigger or more numerous when conditions are good) but they could also afford to get slower and dumber.
Well, disclaimer that of course I speak mostly from personal opinion below, and that not all arguments are
necessarily supported by evidence or reason due to constraints of space, time and my own study.
There has been a significant shakeup at the most recent national convention of the Libertarian Party platform.
While I agree in principle that force and coercion for "the greater good" are reprehensible, in the real world,
tracing who is doing the forcing and who is not is not as easy as the anarchist elements claim, who always have a lynch mob ready to dispense fair justice when one's rights are infringed to avoid those all-too-complex systems of courts and police and lawyers.
Anyone calling themselves a libertarian would disagree strongly with the use of criminal proceedings to jail someone for failing to give the government money it did not earn for a nebulous public good. The force is clear, it is violent, and it places a strong infringement of close personal liberty (one's body, one's freedom of movement) against many far less important liberties enjoyed by a larger group. It places the collective above the individual.
I personally think one could argue in some situations the government may even be collecting a toll on the behalf of the citizenry on certain individuals or organisations who are making use of portions of the property of all. In all cases though, one must consider the individual's liberty to be the supreme good, and judge the results accordingly.
Maximising individual liberty is an excellent goal I think. In the short term, it will help to pick the targets more judiciously. Trying to pluck apart this web of injustices could result in cutting out a piece something else depended on causing short-term harm to many. That's just a personal opinion though, one could really argue that both ways.
There is a need for police forces, I think there always will be some government - trying to do these functions purely through exchange of information between ad-hoc mobs and various empowered agencies is simply beyond us or anyone non-borg... I just think the more local, the more regulated, the greater the separation of powers and the more accountable to the citizenry that government is, the better.
At the recent convention the platform plank was dropped, pending rewrite. If you are interested in such things, feel free to drop by the platform reformat committee website.
Regarding the Greens.
I personally have never heard of this situation you describe, I suppose it is possible.
I personally think, as mentioned, that simply suggesting more government regulation will help the commons is rather dubious. There are other alternatives, some already in use today, just insufficiently.
We do get along rather well with the Greens, however. The Greens, Populists and Libertarians are all endorsing a Senatorial candidate in Maryland - as a matter of fact, if it wasn't for some quick Democratic action he'd be listed as all 3 on the ballot.
-- perl -e'print pack"H*","6e656d6f406d38792e6f7267"'
I cant help but question the research. I remember reading an article a few years ago in a norwegian newspaper that stated that the norwegian (or rather the scandinavian) mosquitoes are the most agressive. This was supposed to be because our summer is pretty short and cold... giving the mosquitoes a short time to find a victim.
Any commets? I think I smell blood?
".. sealing their bodies in a foil sack, tied under the chin, and collecting and distilling the sweat that poured off them. ... Logan will not divulge the names of the chemicals until they are patented."
Obviously, the chemical compounds are balsackaswetious and ascrakadripus. Any fool could see that.
Join the Slashcott! Feb 10 thru Feb 17!
Apparently, eating Marmite (Vegemite in Australia) helps make one's blood less palatable to Mosquitoes (maybe it's the high levels of vitamin B), so they'll pick on someone else. Does the USA have this wonder food? I'd like to know if this is a myth or not - one for Adam and Jamie I should think!
I saw a demo long ago on a Boy Scout trip. The demonstrator made sure to only let the mosquito land right in the middle of his biceps. Then he waited until the mosquito looked almost full, just about ready to leave. He then "made a muscle" as hard as he could and, sure enough, the mosquito popped.
Cool. Eeeew. Very dumb, considering the diseases.
When I was kid I'd sometimes spend the night out in my clubhouse and wake up with welts from my legs to my eyelids.
Luckily, for today's kids, the mosquitos can't get on MySpace; so they're liable to never come in contact with one.
Shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves in three generations: your philanthropy kills the future producers in your own family first because you reserve the most of your excess as inheritance assets to your offspring making sure they never develop any of the productive tendencies and indeed develop the most powerful sense of entitlement and conspicuous consumption that the following generation will have nothing to pass to their offspring, and they must compete at a disadvantage with other families that are 60 degrees out of phase.
If other people are communists and their economic ideas are so freaking inferior, then you don't need to SAY anything derogatory about collectivism or tax funded public works. Your magic invisible hand will do them in by evolutionary superiority. Ayn Rand was a WHINER.
(Isn't the devil's advocate a kind of troll? Socrates?)
--- Nothing clever here: move along now...
Beelzebug (n.): Satan in the form of a mosquito, that gets into your bedroom at three in the morning and cannot be cast out.
Hardly a scientific study, that, but it certainly might be worth a study, and I'll be carrying on with it in the current insufficiently tested state...
Think you can escape mosquitoes by not living next to standing water? Well nature has a backup plan (especially in New Hampshire), the black fly. These little f**kers breed in cold, running streams. Their larvae attach themselves to the rocks. They are about the size of a tick. Instead of jabbing you with a dainty proboscis they scrape away a little dot of skin and slurp up the blood leaving you with a nice little spot for itching or a home for bacteria.
"mosquitoes are pretty good proof that there is no god"
No, they are proof that god is telling you not to live next to swamps and ponds. I saw a documentary where they filmed a lake in northern Sweden during the height of mosquito season. It literally sounded like a chainsaw and the air was gray with them. I've even read that reindeer herders in Siberia during the summer have to move their herds to protect them from the dense swarms (the thawed tundra surface becomes one big bog). They supposedly have found animals almost bled dry by them.
The only defense I've found that truly works against mosquitoes and black flies is a bug hat, long sleeves, and long pants. Basically dress like a beekeeper.
"rainfall would fill the insides of the tires with just enough water to make them each a breeding well for mosquitoes."
Drilling drain holes around the rim of the tires would fix that.
"I dream of the day when mosquitoes are endangered organisms."
Maybe some day they'll invent a pill that makes your blood toxic to mosquito eggs (your blood feeds the eggs in the female's belly). If not then maybe we can bioengineer mosquitoes that inject statins into you with each bite. "Hey, I itch like crazy but my cholesterol has never been lower!"
It is by the juice of the coffee bean that thoughts acquire speed, the teeth acquire stains. The stains become a warning
Kilos per hectacre is what I meant.
It comes out to roughly two pounds per acre, which is what was recommended.
Many farmers didn't give a shiat.
DDT was cheap & they had crop dusters just pour it on.
Maybe an ounce was all they needed, but it certainly wasn't what was recommended at the time & it most definitely wasn't even close to what they used per acre.
[Fuck Beta]
o0t!
Down here in Singapore there have been people who set up these traps for mosquitoes - They swear by it, it seems. The trap is a container of water with a membrane just at the surface. The mosquitoes can lay their eggs through it, but the larvae are unable to penetrate when they need to, and drown there. The rationale is that mosquitoes who expend their energies uselessly on these traps will not breed elsewhere.
Starbucks, Harbuckle of Breath.
Politics has a lot to do with technology, even though most people don't like to think about it.
When the U.S. was founded back in 1777, it was a Libertarian paradise. No welfare state, no standing army, no EPA, no income taxes-- and a whole lot of decentralization. This kind of government worked well for that period of time.
But times have changed. Technology has advanced.
War, which used to be fought slowly over the course of months, by commanders who might not have even heard from their commanding officers in weeks, became a lightning-fast test of brinksmanship. The next world war might be over in the course of a few hours if nuclear missiles are involved. Thus, we need a standing army of some kind, and some kind of defense establishment.
Industry, which used to be a bunch of artisans sitting in their homes plying their craft, became a massive, centralized, mechanized undertaking. Pollution became a serious problem, not only because of the lives it takes directly, but because of its long-term fatalities and effects on the landscape. Some chemicals do not naturally biodegrade-- for example, PCBs. So there needed to be an Environmental Protection Agency of some kind. Another problem was that since the consumers were now remote from the actual site of production, they began to have less and less idea of what they were consuming. To stop unscrupulous factory owners from selling tainted products, the Food and Drug Administration was formed.
These are only a few examples. Now, you can argue that these parts of the government have not done their job as well as they could. Or you could propose something to replace them. But you must first show that whatever would replace them would be better.
For example, if the Food and Drug Administration was replaced by a cartel of private businesses that refused to do business with anyone outside of the cartel, would this really be a fairer solution than the FDA as it is now? Government agencies are at least theoretically accountable to the public, whereas a cartel would not be. And to be considered a success, a cartel would have to have at least as much coercive power over producers as the FDA has now. So I do not believe there would be any advantage to this arrangement.
Too often, political philosophies ignore the real and concrete issues of the day, and I'm afraid Libertarianism has been no exception.
"Any connection between your reality and mine is purely coincidental." -Slashdot
and MEAN Prairie Home Companion...
Slash word image: fondling... (really, I took a ksnapshot of it, too...)
Previously: "Linux... Toward the Sunrise..." Now: "Linux... Toward the-- No, now, part of Every Sunrise"
50% better in detecting humans? 500/sec beating of the wings?! ...sorry, I'll stick with the wii ones
p.s. and I won't even start with the bloodsucking capacity
In Rainbow Mars he had people from an industrial polluted future, who where used to it, traveling back in time. They had to wear suits though, because they didnt build up enough CO2 with each breath in the old clean air. Then in one story they accidentaly destroyed Henry Ford's prototype and the time shift or whatever killed everyone in the future because the air changed before they did.
"Sic Semper Tyrannosaurus Rex."
Down here in South Africa we had a discussion the other day regarding mosquito evolution. The buggers here are now able to sting through clothing. They still concentrate mainly on exposed ankles but if you sit quietly every now and then you will find that one comes and sits on a covered area and proceeds to try and sting through it. I have found that they can sting through thin socks or thin t-shirt material. It's best to wear tall boots since they find ankles still most attractive.
I am convinced that although the electric bug zappers take out a lot of insects, and can be enjoyable to watch, they also seem to attract all the bugs from your neighbors yards into yours so put the bug zapper in your neighbors yard problem solved
"healthy food supply"?
They don't eat the blood, they (males and females) eat nectar.
well....i've been living in athens for all my life and haven't heard of a super breed of mosquitoes. Ok' there are the usual mosquitoes you get all over greece but i for one can say that athens hasn't got the marshes or still water that "dangerous" (see infected) mosquitoes can breed. The ones that are bread in athens (city mosquitoes) are not that harmful they just bite. Last summer when i was doing my time in the greek army i was stationed in a unit close to the greek-turkish borders in the north, where the place is full of marshes and rivers,i can say that those "choppers" were utterly dangerous and annoying.A piece of advice. the article says that the info was taken from a newspaper called "ta nea - (the news)",which is a daily newspaper that when it doesnt have any proper news to display, they make up stories such as this one. So....dont fear that greece is full of diseases and shit like that, its silly..lol...
Roses are red, violets are blue, most poems rhyme, but this one doesn't...
Air pollution and cramped housing conditions in Athens, Greece, are creating a new breed of mosquitoes which are bigger, faster
Are you sure it's not just all those steroids and stuff from snacking on olympic athletes that is producing mosquitoes that are "swifter, higher, stronger"?
sudo ergo sum
While the Yahoo News article link is a good summary of the original article from the Greek News daily newspaper Ta Nea July 4, 2006 story, if you want a link to the original story here it is: http://www.tanea.gr/print.php?e=A&f=18578&m=N15&aa =1
Of course you may not be able to read Greek!
In that case go to the WorldLingo URL translator tool http://www.worldlingo.com/en/websites/url_translat or.html and enter in the URL, choose
the language you want to translate from (Greek) and to (?English) and you get a
pretty good machine translation of the complete text of the original article.
Happy reading...
For those few who haven't figured it out yet, most of the things ascribed to Quayle were made up by his liberal opponents.
Check out his own comments on the event in this article. While the media did blow it out of proportion, and it was used as an avenue to attack his intelligence, it did actually happen. As did several other gaffes. (Be sure to scroll down to read the things he actually DID say after the false attribution given by a Republican.)
If it's for-profit but free, you're not the customer -- you're the product (e.g., the Slashdot Beta's "audience").
A few years back, there was the big scare in the US about "Africanized Bees". I wonder now if there will be a scare campaign for "Europeanized Mosquitos".
--- It's not my fault this post looks redundant. I just type too slow.
Since we are arguing in generalties it is hard to respond with anything substantive,
but I'd like to note that on the generality front I see technology as being a solution as well and even
encouraging less centralisation.
Communication technology in particular. As we improve the avenuse of communication there is less need
for centralisation.
Information technology as well. As we improve our aggregation, it becomes easier to identify "cheaters" in society.
I am hopeful that, without invoking a magic internet saviour, it is possible to start building information
aggregators that help to inform folks and reduce the need for beaurocracies which often have a hard time catching
the cheaters anyway. Distribute the monitoring.
That is not to say I don't agree strongly that there should be stiff penalties for those who knowingly cause
harm to others. That is not in disagreement with libertarian principles - those folks the FDA cracked down on
were hardly honouring some libertarian code. There is a difference between chaos and a free society.
-- perl -e'print pack"H*","6e656d6f406d38792e6f7267"'
Whoa, neat!
- Bigger
- faster
- more capacity
- color vision
- better olfactoric sensors.
That's a lot of improvement, can't wait to get my hands on those.
I'm wondering when they will be out, what they will cost and if they run Linux.
Mostly moths. Not so many mosquitos.
I'll be in Athens (briefly) next week, so I'll let you know if I come across any of these critters; or they me.
Here in the UK, one of my colleagues was recently bitten by a horsefly (in Wales) and had to be hospitalised to control the subsequent allergic reaction. She has always been OK in the past - anecdotal evidence that Welsh horseflies are evolving into horse-superflies?
That was hillarious! I loved the part about the aviation fuel. Thanks! :^)
testing out my trending skills
If I had any say over the Gates foundation, I would direct huge sums toward the permanent mass reduction or elimination of the mosquito. I would justify it as a way to stall the spread of malaria and west nile, but deep down I'd really just want to kill the fuckers.
DDT cannot be locally-determined for widespread use because it has produced DDT-resistent strains all over the world. These populations then migrate, spreading DDT-resistent populations. Thus reducing the use of DDT for human usage for protecting homes against insects. In most of the areas where malaria is a problem, DDT-resistent strains are the norm because of abuses.
P.S. junkscience is a propaganda organization started by the tobacco industry to discredit science in the minds of the U.S. population in order to improve tobacco sales. Given that you barely completed secondary school that might appeal to you, but it really shouldn't. It's full of lies, and the DDT issue is one of them. Cigarette smoke is not good for you, by the way.