Tropes

popsci_2013 02309.txt

#Building A Better Bed bug Trap An old folk remedy involving hairy bean leaves strewn around the bedroom may have a new life as a modern bed bug trap according to new research from the University of California Irvine and the University of Kentucky. With insecticide resistance on the rise such a device could be a helpful tool for treating bed bug infestations. Although its mechanisms weren't known at the time the tactic dates back to at least 1678 when The english philosopher John Locke wrote of placing kidney bean leaves under the pillow or around the bed to keep bed bugs from biting as he traveled through Europe. In the early twentieth century the approach was also common throughout the Balkans according to a 1927 report from the Imperial and Royal Austro-Hungarian Army. That report suggested the leaves stunned the bloodsucking bugs as they traveled from hiding places to their sleeping hosts during the night; in the morning the bug-covered leaves were removed and burned (dense infestations could allegedly amass over two pounds of the buggy leaves in a single room). American entomologists studying the effect in the 1940s noted the bed bugs could hardly be induced to move from the leaves and microscopic images suggested that fine curved hairs called trichomes on the bottom of the leaves snagged the bugs'feet. Now the California-Kentucky team has zoomed in even closer to reveal that the leaves'sharp trichomes actually pierce the bugs'feet like meat hooks immobilizing them. It was astonishing to me that it worked at all says Catherine Loudon a physical biologist at UC-Irvine and lead researcher of the new study You see this big muscular bug vigorously struggling and it's astonishing to me that the little tiny microscopic hairs don't snap. Loudon's team tipped single male bed bugs from a glass vial onto the bottom surface of kidney bean leaves which usually captured the bugs within seconds (they used males rather than a mix of both sexes to avoid making baby bed bugs). A low-vacuum scanning electron microscope (LV-SEM) allowed the researchers to examine the bugs while they were trapped still on the leaves. The images revealed that the trichosomes sometimes hooked the bugs'feet like Velcro but more often went right through. Some bugs were able to rip themselves free by breaking the trichome or rending their own flesh but they were recaptured usually. While there is no evolutionary connection between bed bugs and bean leaves similar trichomes on other plants are known to capture ants aphids bees flies and leafhoppers among other species. Scientists hypothesize that the structures first evolved for other reasons possibly to retain water with the defensive role coming later. Of course keeping fresh bean leaves on hand isn't an easy bed bug fix says Loudon: The inconvenience of bean leaves is that not everyone wants them scattered around their bed room. Synthetics mimicking the surface of the bean leaf however could be placed as a ring around the bed legs a floor mat at the door a strip on the bed board it could be something one put's in one's suitcase Loudon adds since bed bugs really only get from one place to another by walking or being carried. Ideally a synthetic version would have the same geometry and physical properties as a real leaf meaning the trichomes would be in the same locations and would move the same way as a bug walks through. To do this Loudon and her team used dental impression putty to create negative molds from the surface of the real bean leaves then filled these molds with epoxies of varying strengths and stiffnesses. While the spacing of the trichome replicas matched the original leaves perfectly none of the synthetic leaves worked as well as the real leaves in part because the thin hooked ends of many of the trichomes broke off during the molding process. And unlike the natural trichomes which are hollow the synthetic versions were meant solid which they moved differently as the bugs walked through. Loudon adds that the team is working on new synthetic versions that may address these issues and has also optioned the technology to an undisclosed company. Of course a bed bug trap only works if a bed bug actually walks through it which means it is unlikely that even a crafty biomimetic material will be a final solution for a bed bug infestation but instead one part of an approach that may include heat steam vacuuming and insecticides. Brooke Borel is a contributing editor at Popular Science and is writing a book about bed bugs for the University of Chicago Press. Follow her on Twitter@brookeborel . What a strange sound Don't let the bed bugs bite. as my mother or grandmother said to me as a child in a tone of voice that made no difference it suggested bugs might actually bite me but rather just the tone of voice to give me peace and warmth to sleep be...lol. Great story brooke! I always enjoy reading your stuff. I recently read something you wrote in a local brooklyn paper. Its always nice to hear a brooklyn girl! Hey everyone my name is joe and i am a pest control tech located in brooklyn new york . i own my own pest control business so maybe i can shed some light on this. She is correct when she says there is a growing resistance on bed bugs by the use of pesticides. Any scientific break through are positive. Its a step in the right direction for a more green method to get rid of bed bugs. Many people are looking for much more safe ways to get rid of bed bugs without the use of pesticides and this could be one one day! I am gonna get ahead of the game and start to plan many many bean plants:).I try to educate everyone on bed bug prevention methods on my free time or anything bed bug related so if you have any bed bug questions and would like a professional opinion please visit my site at http://www. bedbugs-brooklyn. com and click the contact us link and ask away. i try to help out any frantic people on my down time. my company does hundreds of bed bug services monthly so i have had first experience on bed bug behaviors and methods. again brooke great story i look forward to another bed bug story from you:)Sooooooo...Brook Borels big blue book of bed bugs...Its one of the best articles i have read about bed bugs. Its is truely a great method to eradicate bed bug infestation through green methods without using pesticides. But I will still say prevention is better than curewe should always take precaution to avoid bed bug problem. For more details on precautions you can visit http://www. brooklynpestcontrolservices. co o

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