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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.'"
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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?)
Joe? Are you alright? Joe? JOE?
Doesn't work for me either! My car's windshield and hood are plastered with dead insects. You would think that would warn other insects to stay away but no, after every road trip, there are just MORE bugs splattered on my car. I call BS.
Is this why there's an article today that RAID's days may be numbered?
A friend of mine would kill one roach, and stick it on a toothpick (or a "pike" as he called it) and stood it up on a bottle-cork at the entrance to a hole -- as an "example to the others!" He swore it worked.
I just thought he was crazy. Apparently he was on to something.
I don't know any more than you do, but here's a possible scenario: when bugs died, they emitted a slight odor as an accidental part of the decomposition process. Insect X is born with a gene that makes him dislike that odor, so he and his offspring avoid diseased corpses and are slightly less likely to die. But it's not foolproof, because the odor is slight.
Later, one of those insects develops a "be extra stinky when you die" gene. Maybe it means he has more of a certain chemical in his exoskeleton, which bacteria like. It doesn't really help him survive, but it doesn't hurt him either. He has some offspring, and later dies. All his offspring avoid his corpse like crazy, and start doing the same for each other's corpses. Now that whole population is less likely than before to catch disease, and that particular gene keeps getting passed on.
Think of the gene itself as an organism, with the actual insect being just a host. Would those organisms help either other reproduce? I think so.