(Credit: Shutterstock) If a tree drops in the forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound? Humans may never know, but mosquitoes might. Until now, it was thought that mosquitoes could only hear a few inches away, but new research shows that they can detect sound from up to 32 feet away. This surprising ability allows Aedes aegypti mosquitos to track down distant mates and even tune in to human speech. The study, published on February 7 in the journal Current Biology, also offers another surprise for scientists. Mosquitos are adept listeners even without eardrums, something previously thought necessary for long-range hearing.
Mosquitoes are vastly different from humans, and that includes the way they pick up sound. We detect noises with our eardrums, which sense pressure from sound waves and send signals to the brain. Mosquitoes, on the other hand, rely on their tiny ...
