ONE PIECE AT A TIME: Fighting Zika Mosquitos With Tires.

Using the appeal of tires to mosquitoes, the Canadian and Mexican researchers found a way to beat the bugs at their own game. The tires attract the mosquitos into the ovillanta, where researchers create a pseudo “pond” inside—a perfect place to lay eggs. At the bottom of it is a strip of paper to collect the eggs. Every few days, the researchers removed the strip and destroyed the eggs.

After filtering the liquid, they reintroduced it into the ovillanta, allowing the pheromone that female mosquitos release when laying eggs to attract even more mosquitoes. This pheromone, a sort of perfume that the female releases, lets others know that it’s safe to lay eggs. In other words—the longer it’s used, the more appealing and successful it becomes.

Typical bucket traps catch about 2,700 eggs per month, but this ovillanta method could catch seven times more.