After “put on a cardigan, it’s refreshing”, usually comes “be careful with that color, it attracts mosquitoes”. Depending on which grandmother you ask, the problem may be in yellow, red, white or black. There are all kinds of opinions, but the truth is that not all enjoy the same scientific basis. In fact, until recently there was not much scientific investigation about. However, last February, a team of scientists from the University of Washington published a study in which it was analyzed why colors have more affinity the mosquitos.
What was known before is that they usually feel attracted by heat and carbon dioxide (CO2). Basically, females seek to feed by sucking on warm blooded animals. If you look for the heat emitted by their bodies and the CO2 they release with their breath, it will be much easier to find them. It was suspected that the theme of heat also had a certain relationship with colors. After all, the darkest, like black, absorb more heat. And the truth is that, by mere observation, it was suspected that mosquitoes love dark colors.
But these scientists they went one step further. What they did was take some mosquitoes of the species Aedes aegyptiand check what their colors were favoritesboth in the presence and absence of your beloved carbon dioxide.
Mosquitoes’ Favorite Colors
To carry out this study, its authors placed dots of different colors in a chamber into which the mosquitoes were later introduced.
In some cases doused the target with CO2, but not in others. Thus, they saw that they were more attracted to dark colors with a high component red, orange or cyan. And also for black. On the other hand, white colors, like white, did not matter to them. But all this was only observed in the presence of carbon dioxide. If this gas was not sprayed into the chamber, the colors were indifferent to them.
This makes a lot of sense for the fact that we humans like us so much that mosquitoes do. In the end, the color spectrum of our skinregardless of hue, is dominated by red and orange wavelengths.
Mutant studies
The next step in this study was to take genetically modified mosquitoese, with mutations in the photoreceptors that process the different wavelengths of the electromagnetic spectrum. Specifically, the genes were mutated opsin-1 Y opsin-2, which contain the information for the synthesis of short and long wave photoreceptors. And also the receiver Gr3involved in the processing of signals associated with carbon dioxide.
They found that both mutations related to long-wave photoreceptors and that of Gr3 they eliminated these mosquito preferences. Therefore, this could be taken into account when introducing mutations in mosquito populations to prevent diseases transmitted by these insects. However, that would require more research.
At the moment, the only thing we can do to avoid them, especially in areas where they can transmit diseases, is to cover the as much skin as possible with clothes and avoid wetlands and areas where they are more concentrated. Could we avoid wearing orange, red or cyan? Yes, we could, but our skin would still be the same color. And we can’t help but breathe either, so we have no choice but to resort to other options.