One female bed bug can produce five eggs a day, 500 eggs in a life time…:: Bed bug — By Content Providers(s): CDC/ Harvard University, Dr. Gary Alpert; Dr. Harold Harlan; Richard Pollack. Photo Credit: Piotr Naskrecki (http://phil.cdc.gov/phil) *Public domain*, via Wikimedia Commons commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bed_bug,_Cimex_lectularius.jpg
Like a spider’s web stops a fly in flight, a patent-pending man-made fibrous web stops a bedbug in its tracks. Commercialized as Fibertrap, this material, created in the laboratories of Stony Brook University’s Center for Advanced Technology in Sensor Materials, has tested effective not only for trapping bedbugs, but also for stopping termites in their tracks.
Fibertrap strands are 500 times thinner than human hair, and when spun in a
particular pattern, this nanofiber forms a tight enough weave to trap the legs
of these insects so they will never escape. They will eventually die in the
fiber, unable to breed or feed – offering an effective non-toxic approach to control bedbugs and termites, two extremely prolific and damaging pests.
15 percent PS electrospun fiber, 5X actual size: image via fibertrap.com
Images of material and bed bug legs at various magnifications: image via fibertrap.com
Miriam Rafailovich, Disinguished Professor of Materials Science and Engineering and Co-Director in the Program of Chemical and Molecular Engineering at Stony Brook University, led the research project, in collaboration with Fibertrap, a private company.
The fabric is not available yet, but it can apparently be manufactured relatively inexpensively. The development may lead the way to more non-toxic methods of pest control.
You can watch a live video of Fibertrap at work on the Fibertrap website, here.
Sources: Fibertrap, Stony Brook University via R&D; Mag
