this post was submitted on 07 Oct 2024
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Science Memes

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the flies (mander.xyz)
submitted 1 month ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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[–] [email protected] 136 points 1 month ago (6 children)

Did they study the paint chemicals themselves to see if that by itself was a natural bug repellant?

Did they check if the paint chemicals are even safe for cows?

πŸ€”

[–] [email protected] 62 points 1 month ago (1 children)

What if it's just the white stripes (not the band)? Do white cows have the same number of flies? What if you paint them with black stripes?

Maybe those are answered in the article, but I'll never read it.

[–] [email protected] 52 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Yes. They had a control group with only black stripes along with an unpainted group. I would have to assume they also checked the paints for potential repellents, but I only skimmed the article.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6776349/

[–] [email protected] -3 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

There is also the paint creating a barrier.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

OK, but they didn't count bites. They counted how many flies landed on the cow. So it being a barrier is irrelevant

[–] [email protected] -3 points 1 month ago

Instead of unpainted black they should have done painted black, or done both.

[–] [email protected] 40 points 1 month ago (2 children)

I haven’t read the study, but most of these would need a placebo group, so divide the herd into thirds, one with no paint, one with stripes, and one fully painted white to get a baseline for each group. Also would be good to randomize which group each cow goes in each day so to rule out one cow who is especially tasty to flies.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 1 month ago

Also blindfold the scientists and the cows so it's double blind. We don't want the cows acting in a fly-attracting way because of placebo.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Those groups also have another characteristic that changes: the amount of the cow covered in paint.

How do you determine if its that vs the stripes or colors?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

You paint a second control group the colors and patterns they already are

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Did this study do that? The abstract didnt mention it.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Probably not. I was just answering your question - that's how you'd eliminate that variable from the experiment

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago

Right thank you for the clarification.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 month ago (2 children)

I've not seen the study referenced, but if I were doing it I'd have cows I painted with white paint, white stripes, black paint, and a control I left unpainted.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

Yes, obviously. But are the flies possibly repelled by the paint? Are the flies even able to bite through the paint?

Edit: 50% stripes, 50% reduction in bug bites.

Coincidence? I think not.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Somebody posted the study in this thread if you're curious

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago

This study is posted in another comment here, but they left out the black paint group.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 month ago (1 children)

A control group where they mix the colors together and paint them grey would answer that

[–] [email protected] -1 points 1 month ago

Can a biting fly even penetrate paint, to consume that precious bovine blood?

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 month ago

What if you actually read the study before asking questions πŸ˜…πŸ˜œπŸ€”