No Cockroaches
A new study recently done has proven that cockroaches can detect static electric fields with their antennae’s. The antennae’s of cockroaches act like a persons hair when a balloon is rubbed on it, and are pulled towards the static field, which in turn signals the cockroach to avoid these fields.
Scientists did not think that cockroaches had evolved this ability, but rather it was a side effect from having long thin antennae’s. The cockroaches get a sensation that something is touching their antennae when the static electricity acts upon them, in turn creating an avoidance reaction.
A Tube was set up with a Y intersection, on one opening of the Y a static field was created, while the other section of the Y had nothing. 85% of the time the cockroaches went in the opening that had no static charge.
This paves the way for new studies in using electrical charges as a new form of pest control. Though the fields used in the experiment sound impressive at around 2kv, the fact that this is static electricity with no current and insignificant power means it is not dangerous. ‘You would probably get a charge similar to this from walking across a carpet.
So similar static voltages could safely be used to keep insects out of buildings by surrounding doors or ventilation shafts with an electrical field. This could either be done by an active circuit, or by a lower-tech system, perhaps involving a brush on the bottom of a door that would charge an area of floor whenever the door was opened, preventing insect access.
One of our own scientists and authors Professor Masakazu Takahata here at Hokkaido University, has been using magnetic fields to understand how the gravity receptors of crayfish function was also involved in the experiments.
And now that we are on the subject of cockroaches, an interesting fact that I bet most people don’t know about…. Drumroll please…… There are no cockroaches in Hokkaido! It was hard for me to believe, especially from the stories that we hear about cockroaches being able to survive nuclear Holocausts. But it is true, I have had many people say that they have never seen one their entire life. So if you are the type of person who just cringes at the site of a cockroach…. Come to Hokkaido, the land of no cockroaches!
Tokyo is a different though, check out the Youtube video of a roach problem in the Tokyo subways.. Until next time.. Take Care all!
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