Fatal Attractions

Entomopathogenic nematodes are perhaps the tiniest and more specialized jumpers of the animal kingdom. I discovered that these jumping parasites can be pulled directed to their insect prey (e.g., fruit flies), if the later is charged with static electricity. I presented my results, in collaboration with my colleagues at Georgia Tech and UC Riverside, at the APS March Meeting 2023 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Science News and New Scientist covered this discovery.