Tell me what color you wear and I’ll tell you how much mosquitoes like you

After “put on a cardigan, it’s refreshing” is usually followed by “be careful with this color, it attracts mosquitoes.” Depending on which grandmother you ask, the problem could be yellow, red, white, or black. There are different opinions, but the truth is that not everyone likes the same thing. scientific basis. In fact, until recently there were not many Scientific research about. However, in February last year, a group of scientists from Washington University published a study that analyzed why colors have more closeness mosquitoes.

What was known before is how they usually feel attracted by heat and carbon dioxide (CO2). Mostly females try to feed by sucking warm-blooded animals. If you look for the heat they emit from their bodies and the CO2 they give off when they breathe, finding them will be much easier. It was suspected that the theme of warmth also had a certain connection with colors. After all, the darkest, for example black, absorb more heat. And the truth is that mere observation suspected that mosquitoes love dark colors.

But these scientists went even further. What they did was take a few mosquitoes of the species Aedes aegyptiand check what colors they had favoritesboth in the presence and absence of your favorite carbon dioxide.

Favorite colors of mosquitoes

To conduct the study, the authors placed dots of different colors in a cell where mosquitoes were later introduced.

In some cases doused the target with CO2but not in others. So they saw that they were more attracted to dark colors with a high component red, orange or blue. Also for black. On the other hand, white colors, like white, did not matter to them. But all this was observed only in the presence of carbon dioxide. If this gas was not sprayed into the chamber, colors were indifferent to them.

This makes a lot of sense in the fact that we humans love ourselves as much as mosquitoes. Finally, color spectrum of our skinregardless of hue, red and orange wavelengths predominate.

Mutant research

The next step in this study was to take genetically modified mosquitoeswith mutations in photoreceptors that process different wavelengths of the electromagnetic spectrum. In particular, mutated genes. opsin-1 D opsin-2, which contain information for the synthesis of short-wavelength and long-wavelength photoreceptors. Also the receiver gr3involved in the processing of signals associated with carbon dioxide.

They found that both mutations are associated with long wavelength photoreceptors and gr3 they removed those mosquito preferences. Therefore, this could be taken into account when introducing mutations into mosquito populations to prevent diseases carried by these insects. However, this will require additional research.

For now, the only thing we can do to avoid them, especially in areas where they can transmit disease, is to cover as much skin as possible with clothes and avoid wetlands and areas where they are more concentrated. Can we avoid wearing orange, red or blue? Yes, we could, but our skin would still be the same color. And we can’t stop breathing either, so we have no choice but to resort to other options.