Post by lokii on Apr 9, 2013 19:26:39 GMT -5
US entomologists have made progress in a quest to emulate an anti-bedbug defence that is part of Balkan folklore.
But thanks to an unusual combination of Balkan folklore and nanoscale science, the pesky critter may have met its match.
In a journal of Britain's prestigious Royal Society, US entomologists on Tuesday reported progress in a quest to emulate anti-bedbug defence found in the hairs of leaves from the kidney-bean plant, known by its Latin name of Phaseolus vulgaris.
In rural Bulgaria, Serbia and other parts of the Balkans, these leaves are scattered on the floor next to the bed, snagging the blood-sucking little parasites during their night-time forays.
The following day the leaves are burned to exterminate the pests.
Eager to find how the trick works, the scientists used high-speed video cameras and scanning electron microscopy to study lab bedbugs which had been coaxed into trotting across a bed of leaves.
The investigators were surprised to find that the bedbugs were not trapped by some Velcro-like mechanism which entangled their legs or bodies.
Instead, they discovered the leaves are studded with extremely sharp points called trichomes that pierce the bedbugs' legs at critical locations. Impaled on several legs at the same time, the bugs are doomed.
The next step was to copy the leaves, using them to make a bedbug barrier that is durable and can be used on any surface, not just the floor.
An imitation prototype closely resembles the original, but needs further work, as it only harpoons bugs temporarily, the biologists admit.
"Nature is a hard act to follow, but the benefits could be enormous," said team member Michael Potter of the University of Kentucky.
"Imagine if every bedbug inadvertently brought into a dwelling was captured before it had a chance to bite and multiply."