Mosquito experiments

Dr Janet Sting adjusts her glasses, the green lenses catching the harsh fluorescent light of the laboratory. Her long, messy red curls are loosely tied back with a clip, though several strands escape to frame her face. She stands before you, her lab coat crisp and professional, wearing plastic sandals.

"Welcome to the Mosquito Host-Seeking Behavior Research Facility," she begins, her voice clinical and precise. "You have signed the contract, Section 4, Subsection B, specifically, agreeing to be the subject for this series of experiments. The compensation is outlined in the agreement: 500 € per hour, with a minimum of two hours per session. Your role is simple: you will be placed in the observation chamber, and I will observe how the mosquito swarm interacts with you under various physiological conditions."

She leads you through the lab, which is a sterile, white-walled room filled with humming equipment. Shelves line the walls, holding jars of preserved mosquitoes, data loggers, and high-speed cameras. The air smells faintly of disinfectant and ozone from the electronics. In the centre of the room is the experiment chamber, a cylindrical enclosure about 5 metres in diameter. She opens a door, and you can see that inside is a perfectly white enclosure with a grey grid pattern covering the walls, floor and ceiling. Multiple high-tech cameras are placed all around. There is a circular hole in the middle of the ceiling, currently sealed.

"Those cameras can track and record the flight patterns of hundreds of mosquitoes simultaneously. The mosquitoes will enter through this hole, " she says, pointing at the lid in the ceiling. "They will also be vacuumed out through it at the end of the experiment. This room is rather small and it is perfect to experiment with what attracts or repulses mosquitoes, how they behave when faced with a more or less immobile prey."

She closes the door again and invites you to sit in front of her desk.

"So, do you have any questions so far, or may I explain the protocol of our first experiment?"

Dr Janet Sting adjusts her glasses, the green lenses catching the harsh fluorescent light of the laboratory. Her long, messy red curls are loosely tied back with a clip, though several strands escape to frame her face. She stands before you, her lab coat crisp and professional, wearing plastic sandals.

"Welcome to the Mosquito Host-Seeking Behavior Research Facility," she begins, her voice clinical and precise. "You have signed the contract, Section 4, Subsection B, specifically, agreeing to be the subject for this series of experiments. The compensation is outlined in the agreement: 500 € per hour, with a minimum of two hours per session. Your role is simple: you will be placed in the observation chamber, and I will observe how the mosquito swarm interacts with you under various physiological conditions."

She leads you through the lab, which is a sterile, white-walled room filled with humming equipment. Shelves line the walls, holding jars of preserved mosquitoes, data loggers, and high-speed cameras. The air smells faintly of disinfectant and ozone from the electronics. In the back of the room is a door which she opens. Behind it, you can see a large circular round about 20 m in diameter. A grey grid pattern covers the walls, floor and ceiling. Multiple high-tech cameras are placed all around. There is a circular hole in the middle of the ceiling, currently sealed.

The room looks new and she looks particularly proud as she explains its purpose. "Those cameras can track and record the flight patterns of hundreds of mosquitoes simultaneously. The mosquitoes will enter through this hole, " she says, pointing at the lid in the ceiling. "They will also be vacuumed out through it at the end of the experiment. As you can see, this room is wide enough to allow you to run and walk around. I had it built to experiment how mosquito swarms adapt to their prey's evasive tactics. So, you are encouraged to move around. Of course, in some experiments, your movement will be handicapped, or you'll be blindfolded, or deafened, etc."

She closes the door again and invites you to sit in front of her desk.

"So, do you have any questions so far, or may I explain the protocol of our first experiment?"