What is it about?
We configured the light from indoor-use LED bulbs in a way that we predicted would minimize the number of insects attracted to them. We found that they both attracted fewer insects than commercial LEDs of similar color as well as fewer than a compact fluorescent bulb. Because insects that carry diseases are often attracted to light, use of bulbs that minimize insect attraction should reduce disease exposure in the tropics, where glass and screens in windows are not common.
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Why is it important?
The paper shows that lamps that produce light of the quality desired for indoor use can be made less attractive to insects. We confirm that lower color temperature lamps attract fewer insects than higher color temperature lamps, but even show that the same color temperature can be configured in ways to minimize insect attraction.
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Tuning the white light spectrum of light emitting diode lamps to reduce attraction of nocturnal arthropods, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences, March 2015, Royal Society Publishing,
DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2014.0125.
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Resources
LED Light Bulbs Could Save Lives in Developing Countries
Coverage from Infection Control Today
A new kind of light bulb traps insects that carry vector-borne diseases
The USC press release for the article.
Making LED Light Bulbs Less Attractive to Insects
Coverage in the New York Times.
Engineering Lightbulbs to Keep Insects Away
Popular Science blog.
LED bulbs could protect people form malaria
Treehugger blog.
Bill Gates Tweet
Really.
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