A.Y. Chen Illustration & Design
  • Home
  • Portfolio
    • National Science Foundation (NSF)
    • Science magazine art
    • Vector Art
    • Black & White
    • Classic work
  • Animation
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • Children's book art

We are family!

8/12/2015

0 Comments

 
Let’s wrap up this topic with discussing some alternatives to DEET. These compounds have shown some mosquito-repelling characteristics, and are mainly the extracted oils from certain fragrant plants. To show you what the chemical formulas for these oils look like, I’ve drawn a few of them here. I think you’ll see that there’s a certain resemblance in chemical structure to DEET? If you remember back to the days where I talked about how mosquitoes likely identify odors, you’ll recall that it takes two proteins with specific shapes to form the receptor that captures the odor molecule. So, if another molecule can fit into these same receptors used to identify something tasty, but actually doesn't trigger anything identifiable because it's a different chemical, then guess who gets "confused"  and can't find dinner after all?
DEET and other similar chemicals, disgusing or confusing mosquitoes using DEET
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.


    The purpose of this blog is to explore more effective and exciting ways to communicate science.

    Archives

    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.