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Universal "Death Stench" Repels Bugs of All Types
Hugh Pickens writes "Wired reports that scientists have discovered that insects from cockroaches to caterpillars all emit the same stinky blend of fatty acids when they die and that the death mix may represent a universal, ancient warning signal to avoid their dead or injured. 'Recognizing and avoiding the dead could reduce the chances of catching the disease,' says Biologist David Rollo of McMaster University 'or allow you to get away with just enough exposure to activate your immunity.' Researchers isolated unsaturated fatty acids containing oleic and linoleic acids from the corpses of dead cockroaches and found that their concoction repelled not just cockroaches, but ants and caterpillars. 'It was amazing to find that the cockroaches avoided places treated with these extracts like the plague,' says Rollo. Even crustaceans like woodlice and pillbugs, which diverged from insects 400 million years ago, were repelled leading scientists to think the death mix represents a universal warning signal. Scientists hope the right concoction of death smells might protect crops. Thankfully, human noses can't detect the fatty acid extracts. 'I've tried smelling papers treated with them and don't smell anything strong and certainly not repellent,' writes Rollo in an e-mail. 'Not like the rotting of corpses that occurs later and is detectable from great distances.'"
Maybe for some bugs, but for those nasty caca roches, I get a bowl, wipe the top 4 inches around inside with vegtable oil then put whatever inside... coffee grounds, bananas... whatever... There are tons of dead ones in there but that doesn't stop more from coming. Also, cockroaches are cannibals.
we will come! :) We don't care if other people build it either
-Mister cockroach.
The article says humans cannot detect the fatty acid extracts, but I wonder if this theory expands to mammals. After getting a couple of squirrels with my tube trap, squirrels now seem afraid to enter. My wife thought they might "smell death"
The same thing works on sharks. I watched a Discovery show where they got the sharks into a feeding frenzy, dropped some of the repellent (dead shark material) into the water, and all of the sharks took off in seconds.
Thinking about it, I doubt very much that humans millennia ago smelled dead human and though, "Hey, I wonder what killed him. I'm going to go see."
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Your anecdote does nothing to invalidate the article's data.
It makes sense for any animal to avoid a site where its own are dead.
It's the same category of reflex that makes us want to throw up when someone pukes (being social animals we often eat together), that makes us universally find some smells offensive (pretty much always originally attached to something potentially toxic), etc.
May contain traces of nut.
Made from the freshest electrons.
Several gardening experts claimed that grinding up bugs and spraying them on crops would repel bugs, but field tests have shown no special results. Perhaps this only works in confined spaces like were cockroaches live.
All ideas^H^H^H^H^Hprocesses in this post are Patent Pending. (as well as the process of patenting all postings)
Well I think you would have to leave it around for it to start rotting, I assume most people clean up the squashed roach after they squash it.
How are they going to use this for protecting crops? If ants are repelled, wasps and bees will be, too, and there goes your pollination.
I claim first use of "Error No. 0B" - or "No. 0B error." It'll be the new ID 10T!
So the solution to live cockroaches on my floor is dead cockroaches?
As someone living in a gentrifying neighborhood, any chance this works on hipsters?... (some ground up Converse All-Stars and stovepipe jeans?)
What sort of stench does slashdotters emit that predominantly serve as a warning signal to females? And why is there no research on it?
It doesn't surprise me that penicillin (an antibiotic) doesn't work too well against a virus. That's not a mutation.
Perhaps you meant bacteria that are immune to penicillin (which, in many cases, are the result of stupid people insisting on trying to treat viral infections with antibiotics).
The meek may inherit the earth, but the strong shall take the stars.
Is this why there's an article today that RAID's days may be numbered?
A few decades ago, Edward O. Wilson proved that ants mark their trails with scent by removing their organs individually and smearing them around. Eventually he found one that would cause them to follow the trail, and would demonstrate his discovery by writing his name in ants.
I heard a recorded lecture where he told this story, and he also mentioned that they discovered the "dead ant" smell that would signal the colony that "this one is dead, go put it on the pile." When they put the scent on a live ant, the other ants would carry it off to the pile, ignoring the fact that it was squirming the whole way there. And until the stinky ant cleaned itself off enough, they would keep putting it back every time it left the pile.
Maybe for some bugs, but for those nasty caca roches, I get a bowl, wipe the top 4 inches around inside with vegtable oil then put whatever inside... coffee grounds, bananas... whatever... There are tons of dead ones in there but that doesn't stop more from coming. Also, cockroaches are cannibals.
Got a roach problem? Cheap boric acid, sold in plastic bottles everywhere. Don't dump it, pour it, spoon it. Don't waste time preparing mixtures of food and boric acid. Snip the top off of the plastic top. Tip the bottle a little bit, and squeeze. Practice until you can create clouds of fine particles floating in the air. Globs and clumps of white powder do you no good at all - you want a very fine cloud to float out, so that it can settle and coat everything.
Get rid of kids and pets for a couple days - some people say this stuff is bad for them.
Proceed to walk all around the house, puffing powder into every corner, nook, crevice, and cranny. Don't forget to crawl under the sink, behind the toilet, behind doors - everywhere. Get the cracks between window frames, behind mirrors, closets, every where! Got a crawlspace under the house? Get down there and puff away. Don't forget the attic, if you have one. Powder the water heater, and the cubby hole that it stands in. (gas heater? this stuff isn't flammable, but for safety sake, you might turn the gas off for a few hours) Get under and behind appliances like microwaves, refrigerators, freezers, washers, dryers and dishwashers.
Perhaps most importantly, puff this stuff into all cracks between baseboards, paneling, corners of rooms, door frames. If you can get a tool behind a baseboard or panel, pry it out slightly to puff dust behind it.
I've cleaned out unbelievable infestations in repossessed mobile homes. They don't come back! Three or four of those 1 pound bottles will take care of the largest single wide mobile home, I've used six in doublewides.
If no one is actually living in the home, there's no need to "clean up" right away. Leave everything like it is, so that if you've missed anyplace, those cannibal roaches come out to consume the dead.
When it is time to clean up - just sweep and mop floors. There's no need to vacuum the dust from inaccessible places. Just leave it to aid in prevention of future infestations.
For ten dollars or less, you can accomplish what the high dollar pest control companies cannot.
NOTE: Dusting for roaches may be less effective in the moist basements inhabited by geeks.
This seems like bunk to me. I've cleaned some very nasty rentals, and I've removed roach grave yards by the pound. Every roach I've ever seen doesn't bat an eye at eating their departed comrades.
The very high degree of conservation of this trait across species suggests that there are already strong selective pressures to maintain it. Selective use of this stuff is not likely to counter that. Also most evolution happens through frequency shifts of alleles already present in the population, not through creation of new alleles by mutation. Given the long evolutionary history, there may not be many non-functioning alleles for this trait to promote. Mutations are random and infrequent, and most are lethal. It could be many, many years before a suitable mutation arises.
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Dry Land?
All that is necessary for the triumph of good is that evil men do nothing.
Isn't it cute to note that so many /. geeks are now also apparently insect experts
That may be the very thing that prevents the bug population from ever developing a resistance to this. Any group that does, will be exposed to the perils that they were once protected from (via their aversion to the smell).
FATMOUSE + YOU = FATMOUSE
Great, finally there's a way to get these damn lobsters off my crops!
You know, this actually might work out: 1) Use the repellent for X seasons, until no longer effective due to the bugs losing their fear of dead bugs. 2) Spread a known (bug-only!) disease the next Y seasons, until no longer effective due to the bugs regaining their fear of dead bugs. 3) See 1) Actually, the same would theoretically work with antibiotics - have the FDA remove all, say, penicillin-based antibiotics from the market (except special cases, like where someone is allergic to every other antibiotic, or the only thing a specific bacteria is susceptible to is penicillin-based drugs) for a few years. Studies show that bacteria quickly lose resistance to antibiotics (at least in the lab) when no longer routinely exposed - it takes more energy to produce the resistant proteins/plasmids, and the resistant bacteria are quickly outcompeted. Cycle in/out 1-2 major groups like this every few years, and the "superbugs" that have people so freaked out will be susceptible again. There, I solved that problem - 1 billion dollars, please. I'll take local checks. Really, it's simple. Use evolutionary genetic patterns to our advantage - it's like hacking for the biosphere! ...Cue: "what could possibly go wrong" here...
The scent of a dead cockroach might repel other cockroaches. But throw a dead hooker in a ditch and see how fast the bugs congregate.
Have gnu, will travel.