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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.
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.
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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.
Did Dan Quayle write this summary?
As much as I would like to make fun of Quayle, mosquitoe is the British spelling much like colour is the British spelling of color.
Visit Jonesblog and say hello.
This speaks nothing to the possiblity that Athenians are getting smaller, slower, and smellier.
As a rule, I never trust dark brown ketchup.
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.
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.
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.
...live in the city. The air quality is so bad here I'd be amazed if any mosquitoe could survive long term.
Helloooooo? Athens is a city .
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.
Lack of food?
Enhanced hunting capabilities often REQUIRES more energy to keep the organism alive, so if Athens wasn't such a fertile feeding ground they wouldn't have had the resources to get bigger/better.
But don't worry, pretty soon people will be complaining about the glut of birds feeding on the skeeters followed by the glut of cats eating the birds, followed by....
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!
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
But don't worry, pretty soon people will be complaining about the glut of birds feeding on the skeeters followed by the glut of cats eating the birds, followed by....
And then the gorillas freeze to death?
i'd hit it so hard, if you pulled me out you'd be the king of britain [bash.org]
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.
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!
If you'd read the article, they aren'te creating mosquito's, the mosquito's are evolving into different form that has better traits for surviving. It's not a research project or a planned thing. It's naturally happening.
"Welcome to america, where we drive on parkways and park on driveways."
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.
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 can imagine they'd be a pain in the ass. Or thigh. Or hand. Or practically anywhere, for that matter.
*rimshot*
Ne Cede Malis.
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
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!
It sounds like maybe you saw crane flies or another species, not mosquitoes. We have crane flies here in the Pacific NW. They look like giant mosquitoes, but they actually eat mosquitoes.
...the future crusty old bastards are already drinking the Kool-Aid.
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
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.
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.
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).
Perhaps this might be more meaningful:
% echo colour | spell -b
% echo color | spell -b
color
% echo mosquito | spell -b
% echo mosquitoe | spell -b
mosquitoe
.. paranoid crackpot leftover from the days of Amiga.
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.
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
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
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!
Mosquito 2.0 - Ah, screw it, I'm not upgrading until the "point one" release. You know the round numbers are always unstable.
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.
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.
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.
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.