Question:
I think I was watching Sam and Diane last week when they had an episode
about mosquito repellants on. They did an informal study on how many
mosquitos got repelled with different methods
They had a coil of stuff that makes smoke when you light it like a
candle, and it had quite an effect. The citronella candles did just
about nothing. The ultraviolet light ZAPPed insects but most of them
weren't mosquitos. Seems that mosquitos are attracted to black. Some
of the mosquitos that got zapped just happened to wander into the trap.
They're not looking for light, but for blood.
The only repellant that really worked well was DEET applied to the
skin. The mosquitos avoid that like the plague.
But I was surprised that their study showed that the ultrasonic
repellants did something like 27 percent better than their control
group, which was nothing at all. That's not much but it's significant.
But for a buggy night, 27 percent just isn't enough to keep the insects
away. They'll still eat you up.
They did say that DEET can be a problem for children and others. It's a
chemical that is applied to the skin, so use with caution and always
obey the directions.
Answer:
I caught that show too. I also read last year that a group of
university
students (meticulously) counted the various insect species that were
found in zappers located from around the Philadelphia area. It was
sadly
discovered that the majority of insects that were destroyed by this
piece
of electronic equipment were of the benevolent type.
Again, we find a typical situation where someone comes up with a
'brilliant' idea, but fail to do any actual research into the efficacy
of
the prospective product. In this case, the result of this invention is
that a million-plus units are sold around the country, only to augment
the survival of the very species it was intended to thwart! Some much
for the intelligence of the species that created the "Zapper"!
