News Life

Microwaving an insecticide restores its mosquito-killing power

Heating deltamethrin allows it to kill mosquitoes resistant to its usual form

A close up photo of a mosquito resting on a log.

Anopheles mosquitoes (one shown) spread malaria and are becoming increasingly resistant to insecticides. But scientists may have found a new way to get ahead of the pests: a microwave.

ePhotocorp/iStock/Getty Images Plus

By Tina Hesman Saey

Heating an insecticide can give it new life.

Microwaving the insecticide deltamethrin rearranges its crystal structure but doesn’t change its chemical composition. The rearrangement renews deltamethrin’s ability to kill mosquitoes that have become resistant to the insecticide, researchers report April 21 in Malaria Journal.