This made me laugh even though it’s not funny. (?)
In the 1960s the US Army considered several arthropod species for use in a portable insect ambush detector or a stationary intrusion detector device.
Bed bugs didn’t make the cut (PDF):
When one walks into a room where a dish of newly hatched, unfed bedbugs is exposed, the bugs almost instantly respond to the human presence and become active. It appeared, therefore, that this stage of this species would be a good candidate for development as a biosensor. The problem is one of converting the bugs’ activity into noise which can be picked up through a phono pickup. [...]
Adult Cimex lectularius also appeared to have promise. They normally are at rest and are aroused only when a host is at hand. In preliminary tests, cell sensitivity was a problem and in addition, the insects did not quiet down readily after being stimulated.
Never go in against a Sicilian…
Updated to add: This weird article has been in my head all day. I’ll try to find sources that describe how bed bugs act in the presence of a host. If there are any.
These pages may be of related interest:
Comments on this entry are closed.