Listening To Rush Limbaugh Kills Beetles’ Appetite and Libido – Update

Imagine you had a beetle infestation problem and you needed a non-toxic way to deter their invasion into your home. Researchers at Northern Arizona University have determined that playing Rush Limbaugh, and other “loud and annoying noises” are a remarkably effective deterrent to beetles’ livelihood. Rock music works too, but that’s somewhat to be expected, and not nearly as fun of a headline.

Discovery Blog has the details:

If you play right-wing radio-host Rush Limbaugh to a bunch of bark beetles, could the sound kill them? Or could rock music make make insects so annoyed that they’ll stop whatever they’re doing? In one of the goofier experiments we’ve heard of lately, scientists decided to find out.

The researchers had a serious goal: to find a way to combat invasive beetles and to stop their destructive, tree-destroying, bark-eating behavior. The answer: loud, nasty, and offensive noises.

Changing ecosystems and climate change have allowed destructive bark beetles to spread out through new territories, where they’re wreaking havoc on the ponderosa, pinyon, and lodgepole pines. So scientists took infested trees back to the lab and played the “nastiest, most offensive sounds” they could think of to the beetles in the bark. Enter, Limbaugh, Queen, and Guns n’ Roses.

Perhaps the lesson in all of this? Devotees of Limbaugh appear to be much less likely to have insect infestation problems in their homes. They may also have less appetite and sex-drive, but we’re choosing to accentuate the positive.

Read the entire post at Discovery Blog.

UPDATE – Noel Sheppard at NewsBusters points out that Limbaugh’s voice is not as annoying as scientists had “hoped”:

In the end, Limbaugh’s voice didn’t accomplish what these “scientists” hoped:

He and his colleagues found that while Limbaugh and the heavy metal initially bothered the beetles, the insects mostly ignored the sounds after a while.