The Music Of Skrillex Shown To Be Effective Mosquito Repellent

Almost a decade ago, Skrillex hit an electronic music home run with their song, Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites.” That little ditty wound up earning notoriety for Skrillex by winning three GRAMMYs, but now there’s a whole new level of greatness being achieved. Research has shown that playing it can also be an effective repellent against mosquitoes.

In this case, a group of scientists wanted to examine how sound can affect the feeding and mating habits of skeeters. One of the environments was silent; the other had Skrillex blowing out of a speaker. Then, a “swarm of hungry female mosquitoes who’d gone 12-hours without a meal” were unleashed into a cage with a hamster that was restrained. Hardly a fair fight.

In the “no music” environment, it took an average of 30-seconds for the mosquitoes to have at the hamster. Within the Skrillex environment? Researchers found the hamster was treated to “delayed response time and reduced visitation,” along with reduced “blood feeding activity.” In other words…the little critter didn’t get attacked. At least, not right away.

The running theory’s that the pumping vibrations of the loud music may have “confused” the mosquitoes, and, since they need wing-vibrations to attract mates, the little blood-suckers also had around “five times less sex” while the music played.

Conventional wisdom is that these observations could lead to more research in audio-based repellents.

Source:Vice


Sponsored Content

Sponsored Content