Research Article
The Consciousness in Mosquitoes 
,
Devendra Kumar Chaturvedi2 ,
Soam Prakash1 
2 Electrical Engineering Laboratory, Faculty of Engineering, Dayalbagh Educational Institute, Dayalbagh, Agra-282005, India
Author Correspondence author
Journal of Mosquito Research, 2016, Vol. 6, No. 34 doi: 10.5376/jmr.2016.06.0034
Received: 09 Nov., 2016 Accepted: 01 Dec., 2016 Published: 13 Dec., 2016
Richa, Chaturvedi D.K., and Prakash S., 2016, The consciousness in mosquitoes, Journal of Mosquito Research, 6(34): 1-9 (doi: 10.5376/jmr.2016.06.0034)
Mosquitoes are significant insect responsible for variety of fatal diseases spreading worldwide. Every strategy to control mosquito population resulted trivial as mosquito borne diseases are still causing several million deaths annually. The present study is an attempt to investigate endogenous electric and magnetic energy emission of mosquito larvae with an aim to understand the role of energy field in evolution of their fundamental biology. It will enable us to understand how electric and magnetic energy involved in their development and survival over the years. These experiments include larval population of Culex quinquefasciatus, Anopheles stephensi, and Aedes aegypti. We have studied electric energy of mosquito larvae in-vitro with improved DEI Meridian Energy Analysis Device (DEI
1 Introduction
Mosquitoes and humans co-existed more than thousands of years in this world. It is well known that mosquitoes carry many fatal diseases killing millions of people annually (Bhatt et al., 2013; WHO Malaria report, 2015). Mosquitoes have adapted vigorously to counter every combat of humans to eradicate them. Thus, any attempt to remove entire species would lead to unforeseen damages to existing ecosystem and food chain (Fanet, 2010). A novel approach is hence warranted to effectively manage the mosquito population to prevent them from spreading vector borne diseases. In order to develop a smart and innovative technique to control mosquitoes, we need to understand the fundamental biology and physics of mosquitoes. There are very few bio-physical studies available on the energy dynamics of mosquitoes. Kahn and Offenhauser (1949) measured the sound of vector mosquitoes and inferred that pitch and tones are species specific. Also that, with sound energy mosquito population can be controlled. Strickman et al. (2000) studied the magnetic energy emission of adult mosquitoes with superconducting quantum interference device and also observed living mosquitoes in applied uniform magnetic fields. It was then concluded that some species of mosquitoes have been able to orient themselves in an applied magnetic field and the application of magnetic field alters feeding behavior of some mosquitoes. However, it is still unknown that how electromagnetism play significant role in the development of organization and evolution of mosquitoes consciousness (Strickman et al., 2000). Hence, in present investigation, we have studied electric and magnetic energy emission of the living mosquito larvae as both of them are constituting component of electromagnetic field. This will enable us to explore the possible correlation between biological energy field (biofield) and mosquito consciousness during metamorphosis. Also, the energy emissions have been studied with respect to their population dynamics. This could be further exploited to alter the behavior of mosquitoes for better control methods.
2 Materials and Methods
The experiment was done in two phases. At first, living mosquito larvae were subjected to study their electric energy emission with a sensor, DEI Meridian Energy Analysis Device (DEI MEAD). In the second phase, magnetic energy emission from larvae was assessed by Superconducting Quantum Interference Device (SQUID).
2.1 Maintenance of mosquito larvae
Larvae and population of Culex quinquefasciatus, Anopheles stephensi and Aedes aegypti were reared and maintained in deionized water containing glucose and yeast powder in separate containers. Their colonies were maintained at temperature 25°C, relative humidity 75±5% and 14 h of photoperiod (L/D). The different larval instars of each species were kept in separate enamel containers (dimension-25 cm length×15 cm width×5 cm depth), at a density of 200 individuals per container.
2.2 Experimental
To study electromagnetic energy emission from larval population, self-designed experiment was set up. Each set of experimentation constituted six test tubes. First four test tubes contained 25, 50, 75 and 100 live larvae of the same instars (all four instars) of Cx. quinquefasciatus as showed in Figure 1. Similar design of experiment was repeated for all instars of An. stephensi and A. aegypti.
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Figure 1 Experimental setup for Cx. quinquefasciatus depicting the experimental setup for energy assessment with DEI MEAD |
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Rest of the two test tubes contained blank test tube and deionized water as a control. Each test tube of this set was then subjected to improved DEI MEAD (Meridian Energy Analysis Device) to study the electric energy emission from live mosquito larvae population. Thereafter, to confirm magnetic energy emission, fourth instar from each individual of three species was subjected to SQUID separately. These assessments have been repeated seven times to avoid error.
2.3 Bioelectromagnetic energy measurement devices and software
An improved Meridian Energy Analysis Device (MEAD) energy measurement setup was developed in electrical engineering lab of Dayalbagh Educational Institute, Dayalbagh, Agra, India (DEI MEAD) (Chaturvedi and Satsangi, 2014; Chaturvedi et al., 2015). A block diagram of MEAD assembly is shown in Figure 2.
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Figure 2 Block diagram of DEI Meridian Energy Analysis Device (DEI MEAD) a device assembled for measurement of electric energy of mosquito population |
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This technology now is very well known in traditional complementary medicine system as Electro Meridian Analysis System (MEAD Analyzer) to assess meridian energy of human body (Huang, 2011; Chen, 2013). Here, the improved device was checked for reliability and repeatability of the data acquired from mosquito larvae before initiation of this study. Also, graphic presentation with average value of total seven replicates of the experiment could be recorded.
2.4 Meridian energy analysis device (DEI MEAD)
2.4.1 Sensor
To measure electromagnetic energy emission of mosquito larvae, a sensor was developed in laboratory. The sensor comprises of a hollow cylindrical copper electrode. All test tubes containing live larvae were placed sequentially into core of this electrode. The measured energy emission shows energy emission level of living mosquito larvae. In this assembly, the sensor is connected to computer through DAQ card (National Instrument USB 6009) and to measure energy emission, LabVIEW software has been used in our experiments (Chaturvedi and Satsangi, 2014; Chaturvedi et al., 2015).
2.4.2 DAQ
The signals, analog of waveforms from the mosquito population were sampled by process of data acquisition system (DAQ) and converted it into digital numeric values. The values were then processed by DEI MEAD system (Chaturvedi and Satsangi, 2014; Chaturvedi et al., 2015).
2.4.3 Computer interface
The interface we have used here is a bus-powered National Instruments USB 6009 B Series multifunction data acquisition (DAQ) module with built in signal connectivity. It has 8 analog inputs; 48 kS/s sample rate; two analog outputs; 12 digital I/O lines (Chaturvedi and Satsangi, 2014; Chaturvedi et al., 2015).
2.4.4 Software
National Instruments provides a development environment and system design platform “Laboratory Virtual Instrumentation Engineering Workbench (LabVIEW) for visuals. The advantage of LabVIEW is its extensive compatibility for accessing instrumentation hardware. It includes drivers and abstraction layers for other type of instruments. Several bus powered devices are also included or are available for inclusion. These present themselves as graphical nodes. The compatibility of hardware devices are interfaced with standard software offered by abstraction layers. Also, provided driver interfaces are fast enough to save program development time. After measurement of energy emitted by mosquito larvae, procured data were analyzed and interpret by MATLAB R2008b (Chaturvedi and Satsangi, 2014; Chaturvedi et al., 2015).
2.5 Superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) measurement
Fourth instar of each of the Cx. quinquefasciatus, An. stephensi and A. aegypti were subjected for assessment of their magnetic energy emission at conventional SQUID magnetometer system (model Quantum Design ever cool MPMS XL-7) at Department of Physics, IIT Delhi, India as presented in Figure 3.
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Figure 3 Superconducting Quantum Interference Device utilized for the measurement of magnetic emission from mosquito larvae |
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The field range of SQUID device is ± 7.0 Tesla with stability of 1 ppm/hour and range of magnetic moment measurement is ± 5.0. This SQUID magnetometer consists of two superconductors separated by thin insulating layers to form two parallel josephson junctions enabling to measure extremely low magnetic energy emission from living organisms also. The sample was prepared by transferring one larva at a time in a polycarbonate capsule with deionized water sealed with non-magnetized teflon tape. This has been repeated for each species separately. Assessment of magnetic moment was done at room temperature for eight hours in SQUID. The upright movement of sample produces an alternating magnetic flux in superconducting pickup coil. The coil in turn with a SQUID antenna, transfers measured magnetic flux to an rf SQUID device. This device acts as a magnetic flux to voltage converter. Voltage is then amplified and read out by magnetometer’s electronics. The experiment was repeated thrice and average values were analyzed for results. The graph was plotted with ORIGIN® 8 software.
3 Results
Table 1 depicts observations recorded with DEI MEAD, which shows evidence of electric energy emission from larval population. Figure 4a, Figure 4b, Figure 4c and Figure 4d depict energy pattern recorded from Cx. quinquefasciatus, Figure 5a, Figure 5b, Figure 5c and Figure 5d from An. stephensi and Figure 6a, Figure 6b, Figure 6c and Figure 6d from A. aegypti. We could record a gradual rise in intensity of energy emitted with increase in population size in all three species. Similar trend could be seen with Anopheles’s larval developmental stages, where it was observed that fourth instar larvae population emits more strong electrical signals (112.4, 61.43, 188.8 and 316.3 microV) than first instar (-15.1, 61.43, 61.43 and 163.4 microV). Energy assessment from population sizes (25 larvae, 50 larvae, 75 larvae and 100 larvae) of mosquito larvae showed that the test tube with 100 larvae (fourth instar) showed maximum energy emission in all three species. In case of Cx. quinquefasciatus, An. stephensi and A. aegypti (fourth instar) it was 265.3 microV, 316.3 microV and 290.8 microV respectively. Readings procured from both the controls, were not found significant here.
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Table 1 Measurement of electrical energy from first, second, third and fourth instars of Cx. quinquefasciatus, An. stephensi and A. aegypti population with DEI MEAD |
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Figure 4a A comparative graph between electric field and time of first instar of Cx. quinquefasciatus from DEI MEAD, depicting the increase in magnitude of their electric field with its growth in population size |
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Figure 4b A comparative graph between electric field and time of second instar of Cx. quinquefasciatus from DEI MEAD, depicting the increase in magnitude of their electric field with its growth in population size |
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Figure 4c A comparative graph between electric field and time of third instar of Cx. quinquefasciatus from DEI MEAD, depicting the increase in magnitude of their electric field with its growth in population size |
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Figure 4d A comparative graph between electric field and time of fourth instar of Cx. quinquefasciatus from DEI MEAD, depicting the increase in magnitude of their electric field with its growth in population size |
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Figure 5a A comparative graph between electric field and time of first instar of An. stephensi from DEI MEAD, depicting the increase in magnitude of their electric field with its growth in population size |
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Figure 5b A comparative graph between electric field and time of second instar of An. stephensi from DEI MEAD, depicting the increase in magnitude of their electric field with its growth in population size |
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Figure 5c A comparative graph between electric field and time of third instar of An. stephensi from DEI MEAD, depicting the increase in magnitude of their electric field with its growth in population size |
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Figure 5d A comparative graph between electric field and time of fourth instar of An. stephensi from DEI MEAD, depicting the increase in magnitude of their electric field with its growth in population size |
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Figure 6a A comparative graph between electric field and time of first instar of A. aegypti from DEI MEAD, depicting the increase in magnitude of their electric field with its growth in population size |
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Figure 6b A comparative graph between electric field and time of second instar of A. aegypti from DEI MEAD, depicting the increase in magnitude of their electric field with its growth in population size |
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Figure 6c A comparative graph between electric field and time of third instar of A. aegypti from DEI MEAD, depicting the increase in magnitude of their electric field with its growth in population size |
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Figure 6d A comparative graph between electric field and time of fourth instar of A. aegypti from DEI MEAD, depicting the increase in magnitude of their electric field with its growth in population size |
To study magnetic energy emission from larvae, Superconducting Quantum Interference Device (SQUID) was used. The data recorded with SQUID showed that a living mosquito larva also emits a subtle weak magnetic energy. All of the selected species were diamagnetic in nature as in Figure 7a, Figure 7b, and Figure 7c where A. aegypti was most diamagnetic among all as compared to control, Figure 7d. However, these patterns of their energy emission varied in of the species as expected. After analyzing the observations, an interesting phenomenon was recorded that each species of mosquito larvae radiated specie specific energy emission. This indicates towards a fingerprint energy emission in the diversity of mosquitoes. However, this needs further validation by analyzing other mosquito species and comparing them in same environment.
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Figure 7a Measurement of magnetic moment from a fourth instar larvae of Cx. quinquefasciatus with SQUID |
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Figure 7b Measurement of magnetic moment from a fourth instar larvae of An. stephensi with SQUID |
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Figure 7c Measurement of magnetic moment from a fourth instar larvae of A. aegypti with SQUID |
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Figure 7d Measurement of magnetic moment from deionized water as control with SQUID |
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4 Discussions
The consciousness is fundamental in universe and could be expressed in humans as highest form. However, the question is how consciousness evolved from its primitive stage to premier form? A possible answer could be concealed in evolution of consciousness. To explore continuous development of living organism, an evolution paradigm could be visualized. Studying consciousness in mosquitoes may provide some links to progressive event of evolution (Richa et al., 2013; Richa et al., 2014; Richa et al., 2015). Significantly, Scerri (2014) elucidated that insect possess sense consciousness which is different from self-consciousness. We could observe sense consciousness in mosquitoes during their development and metamorphosis. It was seen that awareness in each of the instar of larvae is not same. Among the all four instars of each species, it was seen that fourth instar produces strongest electric field. Thus, it could be said that fourth instar is most aware and active larvae. With the study of magnetic energy emission in mosquito larvae, it was also seen that all species have similar pattern of energy emission (Figure 7a; Figure 7b; Figure 7c). Higher taxonomic positions with an increasing support complexity provide better harmonized results and a higher degree of consciousness during development in larvae. The sense consciousness in mosquitoes is expressed by their actions when interacting with surroundings. They may sense possible danger from other prey present nearby and escape. A new experience helps them to adapt for a better survival in environment (Scerri, 2014).
Plenty of researches are available to control mosquito population with different types of radiations such as radioisotopes (Bruce-Chwatt, 1956), radio frequency and microwave (Wang and Tang, 2001), magnetic field (Pan and Liu, 2004; Verdon, 2013) pulsed electric field (Pinpathomrat et al., 2010), electric field screens (Wijenberg et al., 2013) whereas, studies on assessment of endogenous subtle energy present in mosquitoes have been in scarce. However, available researches about energy system in mosquitoes shows that, insect’s cuticle can viably accumulate electric charge produced by friction (Heuschmann, 1929) and also react to electric field by altering their behavior (Newland et al., 2008). Though, it is not very clear that the electromagnetic energy produced in these organisms serve significant role in their development and existence. Hence, it was pertinent to carry out this study to assess electric and magnetic energy from mosquito population. Strickman et al. (2000) studied magnetic properties of dried adult mosquitoes. They reported that among 13 species of mosquitoes, only Ps. columbiae, contained ferromagnetic material internally. Rest of them didn’t show significant magnetic remanence. Also, three of these species of Anopheles could orient themselves in a magnetic field.
Further, in the present investigation, active larvae population was subjected for energy emission evaluation. With improved DEI MEAD we were able to record electrical energy emission from all instars of three species of selected mosquitoes. The magnitude of energy emission gradually declined from fourth instar to first instar (Figure 4a; Figure 4b; Figure 4c; Figure 4d; Figure 5a; Figure 5b; Figure 5c; Figure 5d; Figure 6a; Figure 6b; Figure 6c; Figure 6d). Also, 10.75 × l07 electromagnetic units were measured from adult Cx. quinquefasciatus (Strickman et al., 2000) whereas in our study, we could record diamagnetic pattern with SQUID in fourth instar of the same species. Similar pattern could be seen in An. stephensi and Ae. aegypti. The result provides evidence and supports electromagnetic regulation and organization in mosquito larvae.
5 Conclusions
Thus, we can conclude here that measurement and study of electromagnetic emission from Cx. quinquefasciatus, An. Stephensi and Ae. aegypti with DEI MEAD and SQUID data is in support of objective of the study. Also, we could observe here that electromagnetic energy in mosquitoes could play a significant role in development and metamorphosis of mosquitoes, and hence could be an integral part of their consciousness. It could be further explored in future for designing better control methods for mosquito population. The magnitude of electromagnetic emission from mosquitoes decline in more complex and dormant pupal stage, as they are encapsulated by thick chitinous covering. Degree of the consciousness could also be found to be in accordance with their developmental stages and metamorphosis in each species of mosquitoes.
Acknowledgement
We are sincerely grateful to Prof. P.S. Satsangi Sahab, Chairman of Advisory Committee on Education, Dayalbagh Educational Institute. We acknowledge and thank Prof. Ratnamala Chatterjee and her team to provide SQUID facility at Department of Physics, Indian Institute of Technology at Delhi (IITD). We also would like to thank Prof. Prem K. Kalra at Indian Institute of Technology at Delhi (India) for his support.
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