Making LED Light Bulbs Less Attractive to Insects

Making LED light bulbs give off less blue light might help protect people from insect-borne diseases, according to a scientist who specializes in the environmental effects of artificial light. The scientist, Travis Longcore, a professor of spatial sciences at the University of Southern California, is working with Royal Philips, a Dutch electronics company, to develop bulbs less attractive to insects. He took experimental Philips LED bulbs whose mix of red, blue, green and white could be “tuned” and tested them against off-the-shelf LEDs and compact fluorescent bulbs — all suspended at night over traps of soapy water in the Santa Monica Mountains.