Look, I’ll be honest, I thought this was an April Fools joke when I first saw it, but no, it turns out mosquitos can be repelled by Skrillex.
[jwplayer GfoHcP6v]
According to a recently published study, they’re so turned off (or on, depending on how you read into it) by Skrillex that it stops them from both sucking your blood and also fucking.
The research was conducted by a team of scientists specialising in disease-carrying mosquitos who say that sound is “crucial for reproduction, survival, and population maintenance of many animals,” so they decided to specifically test the effect electronic music would have as a repellent.
You see, low-frequency vibrations facilitate sexual interactions in insects, but “noise disrupts the perception of signals from” members of the same species, as well as hosts, ie, you. The researchers decided that the Skrillex hit, Scary Monsters And Nice Sprites, was perfect for this because it has a mix of very high and very low frequencies.
Females of the species – Aedes aegypti – which forced to cop the tune were said to be “entertained” by it and attacked hosts later than mosquitos not listening to the music. In other words, the dubstep delayed or lowered bloodsucking in the insects.
Scientists also noted that the mosquitos in the dubstep rave group were having sex “far less often” than their silent counterparts.
“The observation that such music can delay host attack, reduce blood feeding, and disrupt mating provides new avenues for the development of music-based personal protective and control measures against Aedes-borne diseases,” the study reads.
Great news for fans of Skrillex or similar dubstep. Fire it up at your next picnic.
