It might sound like one, but this is not an April Fools.
A new study has found that dubstep could be the answer to not getting attacked by mosquitoes, should you have no insect repellent at hand.
The BBC reports that according to a recent scientific study, the way to avoid mosquito bites is to listen to electronic music - specifically dubstep, specifically by US artist Skrillex.
Now, there's a whole other argument about whether Skrillex IS even dubstep (or music, according to your dad), but that's for another day. Today the most important thing is keeping the mozzies away.
The track chosen was Skrillex's (real name Sonny Moore) 2010 hit Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites.
Before detailing the experiment, researchers noted that it is known that electronic music disrupts mating habits in insects. They found that the noise makes it harder for them to receive signals from hosts. The specific mosquito in question is the species Aedes aegypti, known as the yellow fever mosquito.
This song in particular was chosen because of its mix of very high and very low frequencies.
"In insects, low-frequency vibrations facilitate sexual interactions, whereas noise disrupts the perception of signals from conspecifics [members of the same species] and hosts," the scientists said.
The full study can be found on the National Center for Biotechnology Information's website.
It states that "Adults exposed to music copulated far less often than their counterparts kept in an environment where there was no music."
Female adult mosquitoes were "entertained" by the track and attacked hosts later and less often than those in a dubstep-free environment.
Scientists said "the occurrence of blood feeding activity was lower when music was being played".
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The scientists also found that mosquitoes exposed to the song had sex "far less often" than mosquitoes without music.
"The observation that such music can delay host attack, reduce blood feeding, and disrupt mating provides new avenues for the development of music-based personal protective and control measures against Aedes-borne diseases."
So, next time you're in a hot country and have no repellent just make sure you have a bluetooth speaker and a Spotify account.
