Mosquitoes prove to be the main attraction at Science Museum Lates event

By Chris Rixson

ARCTEC mosquitoes stole the show when the Bug Off! 2018 campaign headed across London to the Science Museum for a frantic, bustling three hours of bug-friendly experiments, mosquito myth busting, travel health advice and malaria-related questions.

The ‘Lates’ event in July delivered a highly-engaged and knowledgeable audience of adults keen to learn more about the behaviour of mosquitoes and how they can best protect themselves from biting insects.

Alongside our sponsor Glenmark Pharmaceuticals, ARCTEC’s enthusiastic entomologists spoke to more than 200 visitors, many of whom were buzzing at the prospect of testing their attractiveness to our live mosquitoes, safe in knowledge that they are sealed in our custom mozzie boxes!

The experiment, which involves comparing how many mosquitoes respond with biting behaviours when a forearm is placed over the top of it, threw up results at both ends of the scale – reinforcing what we already knew, that mosquitoes are attracted to certain human odours, and repelled by others.

We also put the public’s sense of smell to the test, by seeing if they could sniff out the distinct malaria odour as accurately as medical detection dogs and used UV light to uncover how thorough our visitors are when applying repellent.

Plus, we ran a competition to see who could create the best mosquito origami – who knew adults could be so competitive!?

The evening was a great success, and we hope everyone who came to the Bug Off! stand left with a greater understanding of how mosquitoes behave and the importance of protecting yourself against vector-borne diseases whilst travelling.

Join the buzz on Twitter: @BugOff_Official #BugBodyReady

For more handy travel tips, visit www.bug-off.org