Associative learning turns DEET from aversive to appetitive in Aedes aegypti

gobdovan 5 hours ago | parent | next [-]

In plain English, they made mosquitos like repellent.

	▲	Y-bar 4 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Tldr: Repelln’t.

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zeafoamrun 4 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Could this already be happening out in the wild?

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OutOfHere 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I hope these mosquitoes were not released in the wild.

The simple answer would be to add a natural strongly repellent gentle oil to the DEET spray.

	▲	plmpsu 13 minutes ago \| parent \| next [-]
		Yeah, I would not be surprised if this learned behavior is passed on epigenetically. This is almost like gain of function research potentially.
	▲	Foobar8568 2 hours ago \| parent \| prev \| next [-]
		A couple years back, I spray some DEET on my shoes, 5 seconds later, a tiger mosquito tried to bite me on that spot (and yes on the shoe itself, just insane to see it trying ). They already loved that shit.
	▲	AyyEye 3 hours ago \| parent \| prev \| next [-]
		At that point just skip the deet.
	▲	cbdevidal 2 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		Spray made from lemon eucalyptus works[1]. Not as well as DEET, but it works. [1] https://www.consumerreports.org/health/insect-repellent/oil-...

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trhway 4 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

that explains. I was always wondering why in Siberia (where i worked for 2 summers back then at university times) coming out from house with freshly applied DEET you're getting covered with mosquitos - i was attributing that to the especial ferociousness of the mosquitos there - yet it sounds like the smell of DEET for them in those towns may have become like a BBQ smell for us :)

	▲	HPsquared 2 hours ago \| parent \| next [-]
		A bit like how capsaicin was evolved to prevent things being eaten by mammals, but... Well.. humans came along and developed a taste for it. "Evolution! Can you give me capsaicin, to deter mammals? I want birds to spread my seeds!" https://youtu.be/1fW2uTRdUJU
	▲	MiracleRabbit 4 hours ago \| parent \| prev \| next [-]
		Freshly marinated in DEET
	▲	raverbashing an hour ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		So maybe the solution is to apply DEET to a bug zapper