"Hungry ticks have some slick tricks. They can zoom through the air using static electricity to latch onto people, pets and other animals, new research shows.
"Humans and animals naturally pick up static charges as they go about their days. And those charges are enough to give ticks a boost to their next blood meal, according to a study published Friday in the journal Current Biology."
medicalxpress.com
This video shows a tick being levitated by the static electricity on a nylon ball:
If you go to the link above to the formal study, it has additional videos showing the "flying" of small insects toward statically charged objects. The study concludes with these words:
"Because electrostatic charge has been unveiled as a mediator for tick attraction, strategies and technologies can now be developed to disrupt this electrical interaction. For example, the treatment of livestock, pets, or human clothing with anti-static coatings may well reduce the rates of tick infestation in these contexts. Indeed, many synthetic fiberes readily accumulate electrostatic charge at much higher magnitudes than natural materials. Conceivably, outdoor clothing made from fibers with minimal or nil capacity for electrostatic charging, or treated with anti-static coatings, could reduce encounters with ticks."
My commonsense takeaway is to avoid synthetic fiber clothing if you want to minimize tick attachments in the great outdoors. Since cotton and leather don't build up much static electricity charge, it makes sense to wear garments made of these natural materials just as native Americans and early settlers did.
"Humans and animals naturally pick up static charges as they go about their days. And those charges are enough to give ticks a boost to their next blood meal, according to a study published Friday in the journal Current Biology."
Hungry ticks can use this static trick to land on you and your pets
Hungry ticks have some slick tricks. They can zoom through the air using static electricity to latch onto people, pets and other animals, new research shows.
This video shows a tick being levitated by the static electricity on a nylon ball:
If you go to the link above to the formal study, it has additional videos showing the "flying" of small insects toward statically charged objects. The study concludes with these words:
"Because electrostatic charge has been unveiled as a mediator for tick attraction, strategies and technologies can now be developed to disrupt this electrical interaction. For example, the treatment of livestock, pets, or human clothing with anti-static coatings may well reduce the rates of tick infestation in these contexts. Indeed, many synthetic fiberes readily accumulate electrostatic charge at much higher magnitudes than natural materials. Conceivably, outdoor clothing made from fibers with minimal or nil capacity for electrostatic charging, or treated with anti-static coatings, could reduce encounters with ticks."
My commonsense takeaway is to avoid synthetic fiber clothing if you want to minimize tick attachments in the great outdoors. Since cotton and leather don't build up much static electricity charge, it makes sense to wear garments made of these natural materials just as native Americans and early settlers did.