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What is healthy for a cat is death for a mosquito

14.01.2002

The common plant catnip (catnip), which attracts cats even more strongly than valerian, turns out to have the opposite effect on mosquitoes.

A few years ago, American entomologists Joel Kote and Chris Peterson showed that cockroaches do not like the smell of catnip. Now they decided to investigate the attitude of mosquitoes to this plant. A group of 20 mosquitoes was placed in a long glass tube, half of which was treated with a 10% solution of nepetapactone, the main ingredient in catnip essential oil. After XNUMX minutes, it turned out that only four mosquitoes remained in the smeared half of the tube with the solution, the rest flew into the clean half.

When the solution was diluted ten times, five mosquitoes could endure its smell, that is, its activity decreased slightly. For comparison, we conducted the same experiment with the best modern synthetic repellent - DEET (dietiptoluamtz). Eight or nine bloodsuckers out of 20 experimental subjects remained in the half of the tube he smeared. If nepetalactone turns out to be harmless to human skin, it can be used to repel mosquitoes.

In the meantime, the discoverers of the unexpected effect intend to patent this remedy. However, it is not clear from the text of the patent application whether the smell of a person protected by a new mosquito repellent will attract cats from all over the area.

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Shrimp will help in the extraction of uranium 06.09.2012

In an attempt to make it easier for the shrimp and crab industry to dispose of the shells, scientists unexpectedly discovered a cheap way to extract uranium from seawater.

As you know, the reserves of uranium ore on Earth may soon run out, which will put an end to obtaining energy using nuclear power plants. However, there is another, practically inexhaustible, billions of tons, source of uranium - ocean water. But since the content of uranium in it does not exceed 3,3 milligrams per ton, its extraction remains unprofitable today.

Chemists have been struggling with this problem for a long time and have made some progress in recent years. The best results were obtained by Japanese researchers at the beginning of the 2003st century. They created a mat of plastic fibers impregnated with molecules that both bound the fibers and absorbed the uranium. In 100, with the help of such a mat, the Japanese "got" a kilogram of uranium out of the water. Such carpets up to 200 meters long can be lowered to a depth of XNUMX meters. They are taken out of the water, washed with an acid solution to release the uranium, and put back into the water.

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According to Dr. Robin Rogers, who leads the research team, their mat is capable of collecting twice as much uranium as a Japanese one. This brings it closer to the standards of industrial use, although, says Rogers, their results "are not yet very good for the modern economy." He, nevertheless, is sure that by modernizing the received methodology, his group will be able to find a way out.

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