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If a blood-sucking, buzzing bitch is in the same county, she will find me. And feast.
No, this is not the first line in my new lesbian vampire novel.
I am a mosquito all-you-can-eat buffet. A smorgasbord. A slop-trough. You get the idea. But, as a new article in the journal Science explains, I have the metaphors all wrong.
I am a symphony hall; a dim, romantic piano bar; a frenetic 80s disco dance floor on ladies' night.
You see, for mosquitoes it truly don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing.
A receptive female mosquito ito emits a tone, say a G; an interested male emits a tone a perfect fifth higher, a D. When the notes align and the pitch is right, they create an audible (to those with wings or fancy recording equipment) overtone.
Mosquitoes mate only when this overtone is present.
Males without perfect pitch don't get to play.
It just goes to show you, guys: your pick-up line better be pitch perfect.
photo credit: Visuals Unlimited/Corbis via npr.org
1 comment:
I know I'm very attractive (to blood-sucking insects, anyway!), and I've always thought myself to be musical...just never knew the two might be related somehow! Fascinating, indeed!
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