• Bencodec@waveform.social
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    3
    ·
    1 year ago

    I read once that ironically one of the most important ecological niches for mosquitos is that they keep humans out of a bunch of places that allow those habitats to be preserved. It’s their annoyance and medical danger to people that makes them so valuable to the ecosystem.

  • Ozymati@lemmy.nz
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    1 year ago

    Unfortunately, we probably can’t. A LOT of things eat mosquitos.

    I’ll settle for a repellent that works or better yet something that makes me no longer react to bites.

    • Evilsmiley@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      0
      ·
      1 year ago

      There is some promising research with gene drives, which are essentially genes that when passed on to offspring, overwrite the other copy of the gene from the other parent.

      It may be possible to introduce non disease spreading mosquitoes with gene drives into the wild and within an extremely short time all mosquitoes in the population would be non disease carrying.

      Of course, this is something that you may not be able to reverse once done, so it’s a pretty drastic step to take after very intense scrutiny.

      • Ozymati@lemmy.nz
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        I’d be more than fine with this, I just don’t want us to hate mosquitoes into a four pests scenario.

        • Evilsmiley@sh.itjust.works
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          edit-2
          1 year ago

          True, the issue of being bitten would not go away. Perhaps a gene that makes them not attracted to biting humans somehow, but that would be a lot harder to implement

  • happyhippo@feddit.it
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    1 year ago

    OP, take your nail, the sharpest you have.

    Now press it firmly into the sting, then rotate by 90° and repeat.

    Dunno if it’s placebo but makes some itching go away for me.

    • nuttydepressor@lemmy.ml
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      1 year ago

      We have a suction tool, I think it’s literally called the bug bite thing or something. Basically it suctions on to your arm where the bite was and you pull your skin up into this tube and it sucks out the venom that causes the itching as well as the stinger if one was left behind.

      My wife and I haven’t had a bug bite any time we’ve had that thing handy, so mainly we just put it on each other’s nipples for shits & gigs. I can’t really say that it’s effective, but it is fun.