In a recent study done at the University of Kentucky, scientists looked to see how bedbugs were escaping death from a common pesticide. Researchers collected 21 groups of these bedbugs from around the country and used the pesticide on the groups of bedbugs to see how they were not dying from it. They found that the bedbugs could turn on diverse genes on their outer covering, and the genes would help to keep the pesticide out, and they would also help to pump the pesticides away from the bedbug's nerve cells. Scientists have not found any other insect that uses this kind of defense against pesticides.
NOS Themes:
- Science is Collaborative: The researchers worked together to figure out how the bedbug was escaping unharmed from the pesticides.
- Science is Based on Evidence: The researchers collected many samples to be sure that this is the defense that the bedbugs were using.
- Role of Motivation and Curiosity: The scientists must have been curious once they decided to conduct this experiment.
This is a cool topic Mitchell. I think it suits our unit of evolution well because this is an example of artificial selection. It seems as though some sort of mutation must have occurred with the bed bugs which makes them resistant to these pestisides. The strange thing about this is how quickly the bed bugs adapted to the pesticides, because normally it would take many generations for a population to adapt to an obstacle like this.
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ReplyDeleteMarcus is right, it's weird that the bedbugs have adapted to the pesticides so quickly, but then again, many bacteria have adapted quickly to our antibiotics we have.
ReplyDeleteAnother NOS theme would be science is subject to debate and tentative. A pesticide made to kill off bedbugs now doesn't work on them anymore. Bedbugs have learned to adapt and now we must find another pesticide that works on them.