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Panentheism etc.
NATURE WORSHIP: - Wicca and witchcraft or other shamanic attunements akin to the kind of ethic and awe the great and beautiful (FREE) North American Indians had before the arrival of the 'civilized' men from the Old World. "A Guide to Nature...
Pre-Christian American Technology
The Caral pyramids are older than the ones on Giza’s Plateau according to some academics. The mummies found in the Hebrides and Canary Islands have similar interment procedures to those in Peru. There are many things that show advanced technology...
Rediscovering the Mind
REDISCOVERING THE MIND: From the viewpoint of a modern microbiologist, we hear the call for integration and common sense in sciences that are all too often devising separate stakes and battlements to pontificate from, on high. The 'experts' thus...
Star-Fire Ceremony
The Star-Fire Ceremony: The Templar flag Columbus and da Gama traveled under was the dominant economic (and therefore if for no other reason) force in the three centuries before they set sail. Not just in Europe as we have shown, but in the entire...
Zimbabwe and Biotechnology
Two years ago, drought and famine ravaged Zimbabwe. Many Zimbabweans cheated death by a whisker as their leaders haggled over whether to accept food aid, especially maize (corn) from the World Food Programme (WFP). The borne of contention...
 
Mosquitoes like my blood

Here in Mauritius, mosquitoes are in paradise. The male mosquitoes have all the fruits they’ll ever dream of – god knows whether they actually dream – all year long while the female mosquitoes can choose from a numerous number of tourists to feed on.

It is of no surprise that tourists get bitten more than we, locals do. And the reaction which occurs on the tourists’ skin is quiet unusual to me. A large red swelling develops. It is about twice the size that the one which would have formed on my skin if I was to get bitten. Apparently the bite that a tourist receives is also more irritant. In my opinion, this is because foreigners are not as used to get mosquito bites than Mauritians do. But one thing is for sire though: some people do get bitten more than others.

Why is this so? Or rather, why are some people bitten less? James Logan, a research student at the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) has found that some people give off ‘masking’ odours that prevent mosquitoes from detecting them. Another study, done earlier by Professor John Pickett and his team, showed that the number of flies circulating around


a herd depended on certain cows being present. Professor Pickett and his team discovered that unattractive – to mosquitoes at least - individuals gave out different chemical signals from other cows. To be sure about this fact, the unattractive cows were removed and the number of flies bothering the herd did indeed increase. These ‘ordinary’ cows had not been camouflaged by the unattractive cows’ special ‘masking’ odour and therefore the flies were attracted to the ‘ordinary’ cows.

After some other experiments, it was concluded that the famous ‘masking’ odours were acting as repellents or as a cover up. This finding could lead to a new type of insect repellent. These would be both safer and more effective.

Next time you get bitten, just think that the mosquitoes are not attracted by your ‘sweet’ blood but by your own odour.

About the Author

Khalil A.Cassimally is the editor in chief of Astronomy Journal and Astronomy Journal Ezine. He is also the co-founder of the RCPL Astronomy Club.
He is currently Senior Columnist at BackWash.com and Columnist for bbc.co.uk h2g2 The Post where he writes 'Not Scientific Science' column.

 

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