How do Mosquitos Find Their Target?
Female mosquitos need to suck the blood of animals to survive. As part of attempts to develop mosquito repellents, scientists have studied the parasitic habits of mosquitos in detail. The result is repellents that actually work pretty well. If trapped in an empty cage, a swarm of mosquitos will settle down on the walls on the cage and do nothing much. However, about every hour, half the mosquitos will detach from the wall and fly to another part of the cage. This mosquito rest half-life reminds scientists of the half-life of radioactive substances – the duration after which half the material decays. When the cage is filled with high concentrations of carbon dioxide, the rest half-life drops from an hour to about six minutes. Mosquitos are much more active. This is because carbon dioxide is released by animals when they exhale, giving away their presence. However, this burst of activity does not last forever – after a while, the mosquitos get used to the carbon dioxide and return to the
Female mosquitos need to suck the blood of animals to survive. As part of attempts to develop mosquito repellents, scientists have studied the parasitic habits of mosquitos in detail. The result is repellents that actually work pretty well. If trapped in an empty cage, a swarm of mosquitos will settle down on the walls on the cage and do nothing much. However, about every hour, half the mosquitos will detach from the wall and fly to another part of the cage. This mosquito rest half-life reminds scientists of the half-life of radioactive substances — the duration after which half the material decays. When the cage is filled with high concentrations of carbon dioxide, the rest half-life drops from an hour to about six minutes. Mosquitos are much more active. This is because carbon dioxide is released by animals when they exhale, giving away their presence. However, this burst of activity does not last forever — after a while, the mosquitos get used to the carbon dioxide and return to
Female mosquitos need to suck the blood of animals to survive. As part of attempts to develop mosquito repellents, scientists have studied the parasitic habits of mosquitos in detail. The result is repellents that actually work pretty well. If trapped in an empty cage, a swarm of mosquitos will settle down on the walls on the cage and do nothing much. However, about every hour, half the mosquitos will detach from the wall and fly to another part of the cage. This mosquito rest half-life reminds scientists of the half-life of radioactive substances ?the duration after which half the material decays. When the cage is filled with high concentrations of carbon dioxide, the rest half-life drops from an hour to about six minutes. Mosquitos are much more active. This is because carbon dioxide is released by animals when they exhale, giving away their presence. However, this burst of activity does not last forever ?after a while, the mosquitos get used to the carbon dioxide and return to their
