Fleas have inspired researchers hoping to guard implants against bacterial settlement.
A much bigger animal is now proving similarly inspirational for a Massachusetts-based research team.
Supposedly stubborn but highly intelligent, donkeys have sebaceous glands which secrete a compound which provides protection against deer ticks. More precisely, the smell of the chemical substance (E)-2-Octenal repels the ticks.
It prevents them from biting and potentially spreading lyme disease: an illness which alongside nerve and limb damage can also lead to inflammation of the heart.
In lab-based tests, the natural substance was just as effective as commercial chemical repellents. A collaboration with an American firm could mean alternatives are soon available.
Mosquito repellent (already redundant?) no longer needs human test subjects.
