Yay For Evolution..

 
I would still be skeptical of the claim as they failed to mention blood types of those in the study, which is a very important factor. Mosquitoes have preference to blood types, and I have no doubt that different physical traits can produce different pheromones. They have been shown to prefer O type people, which is what I am. If they took the scent from someone with a blood type that isn't preferred and put it on one arm of an O type person, there's no doubt they'd go after the arm without the scent. I don't see it as repelling, just that it's not their preference and they're going to go towards their preference. The whole stress/diseased thing doesn't click for me either cause I have Lyme disease which brings about a ton of physical stress (with the gray hairs that come with it) and they still love eating me alive.
 
Plus, this was published in 09 and they said they hope to have a commercial product to market in a year or 2.. and I haven't seen any bug repellants that rely on naturally created human repellants. I would of bought it to try it out if there was.
 

 
Consider yourself lucky.. I'd say in my 29 years, I've had at least 100 ticks sink their jaws into me and that's low-balling it. I was the kind of kid who'd come home from school and pretty much go straight to exploring in the woods, come in to eat dinner, and go back out til it was time to sleep. Some days I was covered in ticks, ended up getting the nickname 'tick boy' from my ex stepmother.

 

 
I'm not arguing just to argue, but reason being is I've been doing my fair share of (amateur) research and experimenting. I'm not against synthetics, but I am a firm believer that if something is a product of nature, there's another product of nature that can counteract it.. just a matter of finding the needle in the haystack. So it's a possibility that a human could naturally produce something that actually repels, but I highly doubt it. There really isn't any cases that I know of or could find of an animal producing a chemical repellant. It would be a wasted effort evolutionary speaking, because insects are incredibly fast evolvers compared to animals. A horse's tail serves 2 purposes, to swat away flies and emotional cues. If they ever evolved a chemical repellant, it really wouldn't be that long until the insects that target them evolve a way around it, or even worse, use it as a marker. I am pretty convinced that these mosquitoes (Mosquito Aedes) have adapted, at least some, to citronella since it's commercialization. Every single time I've used it, it was like chumming the water for sharks.. worse than when I went with nothing. It took awhile to convince me, so I tried it several times and learned to not use it during mosquito season. Synthetic repellants can work wonders, but I don't doubt that if their recipes don't change often, insects will evolve to counteract it. Bacteria are quick evolvers too, that's how MRSA came about. Once antibiotics were mass produced and wide spread, they'd evolve to get passed it. Then we'd switch it up and they evolved again. Say we created a chemical that specifically targeted mosquitoes and was proven to have no effect whatsoever and covered the world with it all at the same moment, I'd say there is a 99.9999999% chance that a few mosquitoes exist where the chemical would have no effect. The survivors would then have a free for all. It's evolution, it's a never ending battle.. and since insects are superior to animals in how fast they evolve, animals get stuck with physical means, not chemical. On a side note, that's why I am not really worried about the bees. Even if man made chemicals are adding to their disappearance, there's more than likely one individual who is already unaffected by said chemical.. just "waiting" for the rest to die off so it can have it's population boom.
 
But yeah, it's more than likely that they just don't like you.. and that is something worth looking into in itself just for knowing. If humans could produce a natural repellant, I probably would of been experimenting with it. I've done the garlic thing, and while I love garlic, you pretty much have to enough it to the point where you start to smell it in your piss.. It'd be cool if there was something we produced that could repel them, but even if we figured it out, making it widespread will just force them to evolve to combat it. Then it would need tweaked and they'd evolve again. If we did find something and insisted on commercializing it, I'd put it in a creme if a spray isn't working. There's a few different bonding agents that could probably hold it in. Hell, human pheromones get infused in products like deodorants and soaps as it is. I would just take solace in knowledge that they're avoiding you cause you don't have what they prefer. Maybe they prefer something that only O type people can produce, but maybe a few O type people don't produce it? I don't know, but I am pretty sure we (or most animals from fish and amphibians on up) don't naturally produce insect repellant. Plants can cause they evolve quickly too, that's why we use them to repel.

 

I agree that they're not as fast as bacteria, but they're not far up the line. In terms of speed ranking, it'd probably go something like bacteria, plants and insects (the 2 of them are the majority of chemical warfare), fish and amphibians, reptiles and birds, then mammals starting with rodents. Life that relies on mass numbers in reproduction typically adapts and evolves quicker. They have thousands of offspring each one with mutations. With the kind of variety and adaptability, it doesn't take them long. Repellants typical offend one or more of the insects senses, but that doesn't mean it'll work on them all. There's a good chance that there's at least one out there with a mutation that changes how offended they are, if at all. While it might not be as varied as humans, its similar to us with having variety. Some people hate certain smells while others love them, tolerances vary. That's why it would be best on an as needed basis, but if one thing is for sure, there's many of us out there without care for control. The best way is only using it when needed and a variety. Plus, we've been using natural repellants for ages now.. so the ball could of been rolling for awhile only to get a push with the age of commercialization.

Insecticides are a lil different. My hypothetical insecticide is more specific, while pretty much all of them are broad as you said. It'd be a chemical that targets only mosquitoes and is completely inert to everything and anything else, even microbes. That's pretty much an impossible scenario, but if it were doable it'd have to target the mosquito specifically. With the billions and billions out there, there's a high probability that one of them is already different in that what we targeted on them has a mutation and renders it ineffective on the individual. Said individuals would then pretty much have the house all to themselves and go wild.. making babies that are resistive as well.

With our bees though, I believe that even with a broad attack, that there are ones out there that are less effected, if at all. I've used insecticides before where there was one or two that just didn't want to die or took way longer than the others. While I don't believe the tin foil conspiracy about the farmer breeding bees that are resistant to Monsanto's Roundup and they had the government come in and destroy his bees, but I do believe he was working on it or at least trying. With as fragile as nature is, it's pretty damn tough at the same time. I have "faith" that our bees will make it out in the end.. even better if we stabilize the recipe and keep it that way so they can play catch up.

Maybe that's just me though cause while I don't like most of the damage we do, I believe that everything will work out. It sucks always looking at it grimly, like with the plastics everywhere. Give it time and all that plastic will just open up a niche for microbes to eat and break down once they evolve into it.

 

While I hate the way it feels on my skin, I've had some success with DEET. They are really bad right now, like really fucking bad. If I am walking the trail at work, if I stop a swarm catches up to me. They swarm the dogs too.. I sprayed myself the other day, everywhere but my face.. and I got a bunch of bits on my face. Even with the DEET, I still get some here and there. I try to kill those bastards ASAP though cause if they resist DEET and I let them live, that just means I'll have to deal with most of their babies resisting DEET.