A study titled The electronic song “Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites” reduces host attack and mating success in the dengue vector Aedes aegypti has just been published in the Acta Tropica journal, and it pretty much does what it says on the box.
The researchers hypothesised that an intense song such as Skrillex’s Grammy-winning debut single Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites would disrupt mosquitos as they tried to feed off a poor hamster.
A study has found that, much like humans, the vital processes of mosquitos are fundamentally disrupted when listening to Skrillex.
The study placed two swarms of hungry mosquitos in a pair of cages, both containing a restrained hamster. One cage remained silent, the other had Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites blaring through a nearby speaker.
In the “music on” environment, mosquitos displayed “delayed response time and reduced visitation” to the hamster, and the scientists also noted “blood feeding activity had low occurrence when music was played”.
The cherry on top was that mosquitos in the Skrillex cage “copulated far less than their counterparts kept in the environment where there was no music entertainment.”
In layman’s terms, the mosquitos listening to Skrillex sucked less blood and fucked less than their clear-headed counterparts.
So what does this mean? I’d say the general hypothesis around the difficulty of having sex while listening to dubstep remains fully intact. Knowing that I can keep the mozzies around without sticky, smelly repellent is just the cherry on top.
