Re: [IAEP] [Sugar-devel] Turn your frequency generator into a super powerful mosquito repeller
Good to know, I wont be trading in my net just yet then. Cheers Sean On 21 July 2011 11:20, Chris Leonard cjlhomeaddr...@gmail.com wrote: On Wed, Jul 20, 2011 at 6:27 PM, Caryl Bigenho cbige...@hotmail.com wrote: So my verdict, so far, is there seems to be a possibility of reducing the number of mosquitos in an area with the right frequency but it will not eliminate them entirely. You will probably still be bitten. Go for the nets! Low-tech, but a lot more effective! Caryl More or less the same conclusion that international public health professionals have arrived at, leading to the large-scale distribution of insecticide-laced bed nets in malaria-endemic areas. cjl ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
Re: [IAEP] [Sugar-devel] Turn your frequency generator into a super powerful mosquito repeller
Hi Caryl, Just curious to know if you tried any experiments with your computers and insect problem. I note that some antenna are useful at fractions of the wave length too, like 1/2 or 1/4 so there is a broader spectrum that could be experimented with there. Sean On 8 July 2011 18:08, Caryl Bigenho cbige...@hotmail.com wrote: Hi Let's put this to a test! With all the flooding we are having in Montana this summer the clouds of mosquitos are really fierce! Our family is visiting with their PCs and I have a Mac. We can try this in the next couple of days and see if it really works. It says it can be barely audible. I was curious to see how low these notes would be and found this interesting chart (link below). Many of the instruments listed are no longer in daily use and exist mainly in museums, but some, such as the bass viol and bassoon are very common. In fact, my husband has his bassoon here with him in Montana! But, I don't think he wants to play a continuous low note... he has better things to do! We can find an appropriate tone generator for our test. http://www.contrabass.com/pages/frequency.html http://www.contrabass.com/pages/frequency.htmlCaryl Date: Fri, 8 Jul 2011 15:34:30 +1000 From: qu...@laptop.org To: s...@lpnz.org CC: olpc-ocea...@lists.laptop.org; iaep@lists.sugarlabs.org; sugar-de...@lists.sugarlabs.org; deve...@worldclassproject.org.uk Subject: Re: [IAEP] [Sugar-devel] Turn your frequency generator into a super powerful mosquito repeller The speakers don't work very well at the frequency range specified by that article for mosquito repelling; 45 Hz to 67 Hz. The article fails to mention how much sound is needed; e.g. in dBm. It gives a subjective measure only. Other articles on the site mention secrets of ancient geometry and crystal harmonizers. This really doesn't impress me. Is there any evidence base for repelling mosquitos using low frequency sound? Is there any evidence that enough of the population of mosquitos is repelled? All it takes is for one strain to not be repelled and it will breed up. -- James Cameron http://quozl.linux.org.au/ ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
Re: [IAEP] [Sugar-devel] Turn your frequency generator into a super powerful mosquito repeller
Hi Sean and all... Yes, I have been experimenting quite a bit with this. I have used several apps on my iPod touch for this. We are having the worst mosquito year I can remember because of all the flooding here along the Yellowstone River, so I have lots of chance to experiment. I tried generating the frequency they said was that of a dragonfly which it was claimed would scare the mosquitos away. Didn't do a thing! I have also tried a little app that generates the frequency of the male mosquitos (NoMosquitos ... free at the app store). The theory is that only the females who have already mated will be interested in biting and that they don't want to have anything to do with the males any more. I would say it is very slightly effective. If Ms Mosquito already has your scent and is diving in for her dinner, it doesn't do much. However, the number of hovering mosquitos is definitely diminished, but not eliminated. Today I also tried the new Off mosquito repellant device that has a tiny fan that dispenses a repellant around you. It is great if you are sitting still, but not so much if you move around... like when working in the yard. Interestingly, the little fan produces a sound similar to the male mosquito sound on the iPod... just a bit lower pitch. I wonder if it helps in the process??? So far the best thing I have found (if you don't want to wear deet) is to wear thick clothing they can't sting through (sweats work) and add a hat with a mosquito net veil. So my verdict, so far, is there seems to be a possibility of reducing the number of mosquitos in an area with the right frequency but it will not eliminate them entirely. You will probably still be bitten. Go for the nets! Low-tech, but a lot more effective! Caryl Date: Thu, 21 Jul 2011 08:45:24 +1200 Subject: Re: [IAEP] [Sugar-devel] Turn your frequency generator into a super powerful mosquito repeller From: s...@lpnz.org To: cbige...@hotmail.com CC: qu...@laptop.org; olpc-ocea...@lists.laptop.org; iaep@lists.sugarlabs.org; sugar-de...@lists.sugarlabs.org; deve...@worldclassproject.org.uk Hi Caryl, Just curious to know if you tried any experiments with your computers and insect problem. I note that some antenna are useful at fractions of the wave length too, like 1/2 or 1/4 so there is a broader spectrum that could be experimented with there. Sean On 8 July 2011 18:08, Caryl Bigenho cbige...@hotmail.com wrote: Hi Let's put this to a test! With all the flooding we are having in Montana this summer the clouds of mosquitos are really fierce! Our family is visiting with their PCs and I have a Mac. We can try this in the next couple of days and see if it really works. It says it can be barely audible. I was curious to see how low these notes would be and found this interesting chart (link below). Many of the instruments listed are no longer in daily use and exist mainly in museums, but some, such as the bass viol and bassoon are very common. In fact, my husband has his bassoon here with him in Montana! But, I don't think he wants to play a continuous low note... he has better things to do! We can find an appropriate tone generator for our test. http://www.contrabass.com/pages/frequency.html Caryl Date: Fri, 8 Jul 2011 15:34:30 +1000 From: qu...@laptop.org To: s...@lpnz.org CC: olpc-ocea...@lists.laptop.org; iaep@lists.sugarlabs.org; sugar-de...@lists.sugarlabs.org; deve...@worldclassproject.org.uk Subject: Re: [IAEP] [Sugar-devel] Turn your frequency generator into a super powerful mosquito repeller The speakers don't work very well at the frequency range specified by that article for mosquito repelling; 45 Hz to 67 Hz. The article fails to mention how much sound is needed; e.g. in dBm. It gives a subjective measure only. Other articles on the site mention secrets of ancient geometry and crystal harmonizers. This really doesn't impress me. Is there any evidence base for repelling mosquitos using low frequency sound? Is there any evidence that enough of the population of mosquitos is repelled? All it takes is for one strain to not be repelled and it will breed up. -- James Cameron http://quozl.linux.org.au/ ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
Re: [IAEP] [Sugar-devel] Turn your frequency generator into a super powerful mosquito repeller
On Wed, Jul 20, 2011 at 6:27 PM, Caryl Bigenho cbige...@hotmail.com wrote: So my verdict, so far, is there seems to be a possibility of reducing the number of mosquitos in an area with the right frequency but it will not eliminate them entirely. You will probably still be bitten. Go for the nets! Low-tech, but a lot more effective! Caryl More or less the same conclusion that international public health professionals have arrived at, leading to the large-scale distribution of insecticide-laced bed nets in malaria-endemic areas. cjl ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
Re: [IAEP] [Sugar-devel] Turn your frequency generator into a super powerful mosquito repeller
On Fri, Jul 08, 2011 at 01:53:22AM -0400, Chris Leonard wrote: The article probably also fails to mention that peer-reviewed scientific tests of this concept prove it to be useless. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/290 I disagree. Those tests were of 20-70 kHz, not 45-67 Hz. I've found no peer-reviewed tests of low frequency sound, but then I don't know where to look. Got any ideas? (I do see another study on NIH showing high frequency sound induced increased biting rates ... http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20618651 ) -- James Cameron http://quozl.linux.org.au/ ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
Re: [IAEP] [Sugar-devel] Turn your frequency generator into a super powerful mosquito repeller
Hi Let's put this to a test! With all the flooding we are having in Montana this summer the clouds of mosquitos are really fierce! Our family is visiting with their PCs and I have a Mac. We can try this in the next couple of days and see if it really works. It says it can be barely audible. I was curious to see how low these notes would be and found this interesting chart (link below). Many of the instruments listed are no longer in daily use and exist mainly in museums, but some, such as the bass viol and bassoon are very common. In fact, my husband has his bassoon here with him in Montana! But, I don't think he wants to play a continuous low note... he has better things to do! We can find an appropriate tone generator for our test. http://www.contrabass.com/pages/frequency.html Caryl Date: Fri, 8 Jul 2011 15:34:30 +1000 From: qu...@laptop.org To: s...@lpnz.org CC: olpc-ocea...@lists.laptop.org; iaep@lists.sugarlabs.org; sugar-de...@lists.sugarlabs.org; deve...@worldclassproject.org.uk Subject: Re: [IAEP] [Sugar-devel] Turn your frequency generator into a super powerful mosquito repeller The speakers don't work very well at the frequency range specified by that article for mosquito repelling; 45 Hz to 67 Hz. The article fails to mention how much sound is needed; e.g. in dBm. It gives a subjective measure only. Other articles on the site mention secrets of ancient geometry and crystal harmonizers. This really doesn't impress me. Is there any evidence base for repelling mosquitos using low frequency sound? Is there any evidence that enough of the population of mosquitos is repelled? All it takes is for one strain to not be repelled and it will breed up. -- James Cameron http://quozl.linux.org.au/ ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
Re: [IAEP] [Sugar-devel] Turn your frequency generator into a super powerful mosquito repeller
/James Cameron wrote: Is there any evidence base for repelling mosquitos using low frequency sound? --/ There is an Article that says that the experiments done with low and high frecuencies failed: http://bugjammer.com/reports/coro/index.htm /Another type of electronic mosquito repeller is claimed to mimic perfectly the sound of dragon-flies, natural enemies of mosquitoes. In this case Schreiber et al (1991) measured that the frequency emitted was 30 Hz, much lower than the minimum frequency reported for the mosquito wing beat (Clements 1999). Schreiber et al (1991) with field and laboratory tests in Florida and Curtis (1994) with laboratory trials in London, England also_* report negative results of this device *_in eliciting a repellent effect on mosquito females. /Paolo Benini Montevideo/ / ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
Re: [IAEP] [Sugar-devel] Turn your frequency generator into a super powerful mosquito repeller
Thanks, Chris, James, Caryl It's true emulating a dragon fly's wing beat maybe a bit simplistic or ineffective The article probably also fails to mention that peer-reviewed scientific tests of this concept prove it to be useless. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/290 science is not just a proof of facts, though is it? That's wisdom in a muzzle. Proof of Concept, yes that's the sort of thing universities are interested in. But a proof one way or the other, does it really matter, if all that does is rearrange the facts and concepts into configurations of what we already know. Better to discern originality from a nearly infinite number of possibilities; combinations that are especially meaningful useful or beautiful. - Poincare, H. *; )* So the speakers maybe a limit, but sure Caryl I can think of worse things you could try! Testing may even be irrelevant in kHz; this has something to do with the insect's antenna and the wavelength (w) which the insects can tune into. Insect antenna work in a similar way to conductive metal antenna; apparently the wave (w) needs to be able to repeat twice on the length of one antenna for the antenna to be effective. You might get an idea of wave lengths compared to things at this site: http://mynasadata.larc.nasa.gov/ElectroMag.html Imagine that a mosquito's antenna are smaller than the body of a honey bee but kind of comparable, in a scale with buildings and atoms in it. @James I've found no peer-reviewed tests of low frequency sound, but then I don't know where to look. Got any ideas? A Dr. Phillip S Callahan author of *Tuning into Nature *might be a good place to start, I found some interesting science in it, perhaps a bit drowned out of existence and under explored (with all the big money traditionally in corporate ag-chems and insecticide . . . etc ), and not without character. Callahan does presents a blueprint for insect control: but how to eliminate the insecticide and the not suffer the mosquito? Some challenges there both beyond my scope, and present level of understanding. *Tuning into Nature* has some good tables, for example how antenna vibrations effect the reception of pheromones, how insect antenna operate mostly around infrared, and approximate cps for insect antenna groups. As a case study *Tuning into Nature* is more about moths which are at the other end of the spectrum to mosquitoes antenna vibrational frequency (approximately 8-65 cps for moths and 200-500 cps for mosquitoes). Other articles on the site mention secrets of ancient geometry and crystal harmonizers. This really doesn't impress me. Is there any evidence base for repelling mosquitos using low frequency sound? Sorry I don't have much in the way of evidence for you: But I also think I understand your hesitation, I noticed the 'incredible' peripherals on that earlier web site, 'but there is no need to take a trip into dullsville either'! Really though, the more incredible something is and can challenge you to take a creative adventure the less necessary it is that it exists as proof. Ancient geometry is not exactly airy fairy. Is it not just human math, which is more closely aligned to individual experiences, psychological and physiological preferences and in particular our imaginations? Geometry may seem natural to us as a basis of proportion and shape yet the features of geometry to the ancients also had to dissect the natural world. Arithmetic on the other hand also an ancient form, has probably arisen through the cycles of the seasons and commerce. Neither is an ideal form of mathematics, short of logical communication. . . but with insects and mosquitoes they just wont hear the numbers*. * *; )* Sean ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
Re: [IAEP] [Sugar-devel] Turn your frequency generator into a super powerful mosquito repeller
Thanks Paolo, didn't see your message there, good to have some more info. Sean SL Otago, New Zealand On 8 July 2011 20:58, nanon...@mediagala.com wrote: ** * James Cameron wrote: Is there any evidence base for repelling mosquitos using low frequency sound? -- * There is an Article that says that the experiments done with low and high frecuencies failed: http://bugjammer.com/reports/coro/index.htm *Another type of electronic mosquito repeller is claimed to mimic perfectly the sound of dragon-flies, natural enemies of mosquitoes. In this case Schreiber et al (1991) measured that the frequency emitted was 30 Hz, much lower than the minimum frequency reported for the mosquito wing beat (Clements 1999). Schreiber et al (1991) with field and laboratory tests in Florida and Curtis (1994) with laboratory trials in London, England alsoreport negative results of this device in eliciting a repellent effect on mosquito females. *Paolo Benini Montevideo* * ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
Re: [IAEP] [Sugar-devel] Turn your frequency generator into a super powerful mosquito repeller
On 08.07.2011, at 08:08, Caryl Bigenho wrote: Hi Let's put this to a test! With all the flooding we are having in Montana this summer the clouds of mosquitos are really fierce! Our family is visiting with their PCs and I have a Mac. We can try this in the next couple of days and see if it really works. It says it can be barely audible. I was curious to see how low these notes would be and found this interesting chart (link below). Many of the instruments listed are no longer in daily use and exist mainly in museums, but some, such as the bass viol and bassoon are very common. In fact, my husband has his bassoon here with him in Montana! But, I don't think he wants to play a continuous low note... he has better things to do! We can find an appropriate tone generator for our test. http://www.contrabass.com/pages/frequency.html Caryl Easy to test using an XO. In Etoys, select the sound category in any object's viewer, drag out the play frequency of tile, make the script ticking. You should hear the sound now, and you can click on the green down-arrow to lower the frequency: inline: PastedGraphic-2.png On my XO it becomes inaudible at 200 Hz using the built-in speakers. Plugging in good headphones it goes way below 30 Hz. - Bert - ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
Re: [IAEP] [Sugar-devel] Turn your frequency generator into a super powerful mosquito repeller
On Fri, Jul 8, 2011 at 2:05 AM, James Cameron qu...@laptop.org wrote: On Fri, Jul 08, 2011 at 01:53:22AM -0400, Chris Leonard wrote: The article probably also fails to mention that peer-reviewed scientific tests of this concept prove it to be useless. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/290 I disagree. Those tests were of 20-70 kHz, not 45-67 Hz. I've found no peer-reviewed tests of low frequency sound, but then I don't know where to look. Got any ideas? (I do see another study on NIH showing high frequency sound induced increased biting rates ... http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20618651 ) James, You are quite right, I did not pay close enough attention to the units (Hz vs kHz) , but at least I provided the citation so I could be challenged :-) I was a GenBank Fellow at the NIH National Library of Medicine, so PubMed is my go-to database fo biomedical publications, there are others that might be checked (e.g. Agricola for agriculture) , but I suspect that PubMed would have the relevant literature if it existed. It has over 20 million citations from thousands (if not tens of thousands) of journals, including the J Am Mosq Control Assoc. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/290#where I found the citation I provided. As the mosquito is the unofficial state bird of New Jersey, (where I grew up), and NJ mosquitos have been know to carry off small children, I have a natural skepticism of any claims to be able to deter them that are not rigorously tested :-) cjl ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
Re: [IAEP] [Sugar-devel] Turn your frequency generator into a super powerful mosquito repeller
On Fri, Jul 8, 2011 at 7:49 AM, Bert Freudenberg b...@freudenbergs.de wrote: On 08.07.2011, at 08:08, Caryl Bigenho wrote: Hi Let's put this to a test! With all the flooding we are having in Montana this summer the clouds of mosquitos are really fierce! Our family is visiting with their PCs and I have a Mac. We can try this in the next couple of days and see if it really works. It says it can be barely audible. I was curious to see how low these notes would be and found this interesting chart (link below). Many of the instruments listed are no longer in daily use and exist mainly in museums, but some, such as the bass viol and bassoon are very common. In fact, my husband has his bassoon here with him in Montana! But, I don't think he wants to play a continuous low note... he has better things to do! We can find an appropriate tone generator for our test. http://www.contrabass.com/pages/frequency.html Caryl Easy to test using an XO. In Etoys, select the sound category in any object's viewer, drag out the play frequency of tile, make the script ticking. You should hear the sound now, and you can click on the green down-arrow to lower the frequency: On my XO it becomes inaudible at 200 Hz using the built-in speakers. Plugging in good headphones it goes way below 30 Hz. - Bert - ___ Sugar-devel mailing list sugar-de...@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/sugar-devel Absolutely we should use things like this as an opportunity for kids to do some science. (FWIW, you can use Turtle Art to generate sine waves as well, by importing a python block) [[0, [start, 2.0], 0, 100, [null, 1]], [1, [userdefined, pysamples/sinewave.py], 0, 142, [0, 2, null]], [2, [number, 100], 58, 142, [1, null]]] Where you set number to whatever Hz you want. -walter -- Walter Bender Sugar Labs http://www.sugarlabs.org ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
Re: [IAEP] [Sugar-devel] Turn your frequency generator into a super powerful mosquito repeller
The speakers don't work very well at the frequency range specified by that article for mosquito repelling; 45 Hz to 67 Hz. The article fails to mention how much sound is needed; e.g. in dBm. It gives a subjective measure only. Other articles on the site mention secrets of ancient geometry and crystal harmonizers. This really doesn't impress me. Is there any evidence base for repelling mosquitos using low frequency sound? Is there any evidence that enough of the population of mosquitos is repelled? All it takes is for one strain to not be repelled and it will breed up. -- James Cameron http://quozl.linux.org.au/ ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
Re: [IAEP] [Sugar-devel] Turn your frequency generator into a super powerful mosquito repeller
The article probably also fails to mention that peer-reviewed scientific tests of this concept prove it to be useless. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/290 cjl On Fri, Jul 8, 2011 at 1:34 AM, James Cameron qu...@laptop.org wrote: The speakers don't work very well at the frequency range specified by that article for mosquito repelling; 45 Hz to 67 Hz. The article fails to mention how much sound is needed; e.g. in dBm. It gives a subjective measure only. Other articles on the site mention secrets of ancient geometry and crystal harmonizers. This really doesn't impress me. Is there any evidence base for repelling mosquitos using low frequency sound? Is there any evidence that enough of the population of mosquitos is repelled? All it takes is for one strain to not be repelled and it will breed up. -- James Cameron http://quozl.linux.org.au/ ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep