Researchers within the Netherlands turned a serious music competition into an surprising laboratory to research a query that has lengthy puzzled scientists and bug-bitten people alike: What makes some individuals extra irresistible to mosquitoes than others?
For 3 consecutive days on the Lowlands competition in Biddinghuizen, Netherlands, scientists arrange a singular pop-up analysis web site inside a sequence of delivery container laboratories.
As a substitute of ready for his or her favourite band, tons of of festivalgoers lined as much as volunteer for the “Mosquito Magnet Trial,” a examine designed to measure their private attractiveness to the bugs.
Contained in the make-shift lab from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. every day, teams of individuals rested their arms towards clear acrylic packing containers that had caged mosquitoes.
Because the bugs responded to the human scent, a digicam and pc system recorded mosquito actions and calculated a singular attraction rating for every particular person.
The examine, which included over 500 volunteers, yielded a variety of outcomes, with some individuals sending mosquitoes scurrying to a sugar feeder whereas others grew to become instantaneous magnets.
The workforce’s findings, printed in a preliminary report at bioRxiv.org, reveal some stunning hyperlinks between sure habits and mosquito attraction.
The researchers found that competition attendees who had not too long ago consumed beer had been 44% extra engaging to mosquitoes than individuals who did not, and up to date hashish customers had been additionally considerably extra interesting to the bugs.
Individuals who had slept in shut proximity to a different particular person the earlier night time additionally registered a better attraction rating to the mighty little biters.
Nonetheless, the workforce did discover a easy option to fend off the tiny bloodsuckers. Individuals who had utilized sunscreen had been about half as engaging to the mosquitoes as those that had not, suggesting a possible deterrent impact.
Based on Felix Hol, a quantitative biologist who led the examine at Radboud College Medical Middle in Nijmegen, Netherlands, the general public’s eagerness to take part was a spotlight of the challenge.
Hol cautioned that the findings ought to be interpreted with care, given the examine’s unconventional setting and the precise inhabitants of volunteers.
Not like a conventional, highly-controlled lab surroundings, the competition’s circumstances launched many variables. The researchers additionally famous that the examine inhabitants—principally younger, camping-enthused attendees—will not be consultant of most of the people.
Regardless of these limitations, the examine presents a enjoyable and enlightening have a look at mosquito conduct and what may make individuals kind of inclined to bites.
Extra info:
Sara Lynn Blanken et al, Blood, sweat, and beers: investigating mosquito biting preferences amidst noise and intoxication in a cross-sectional cohort examine at a big music competition, bioRxiv (2025). DOI: 10.1101/2025.08.21.671470
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Why mosquitos is perhaps drawn to you (2025, September 20)
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