Name: Bedbugs may help to solve crimes
Uploaded: 2025-11-25T15:08:54.586Z
Duration: 1 min 41 s
Description: Bedbugs may hold the key to unsolved crimes, as scientists in Malaysia have discovered. The blood they suck contains DNA that can identify potential suspects, turning them into silent witnesses.

Bedbugs may hold the key to unsolved crimes, as scientists in Malaysia have discovered. The blood they suck contains DNA that can identify potential suspects, turning them into silent witnesses.

A university laboratory in Penang has found that bedbugs can retain human DNA for up to 45 days after feeding, offering a new tool for forensic investigations. By analyzing DNA sequences from blood meals, researchers can obtain genetic markers that may help identify suspects, even if they have left no other evidence at a crime scene.

The study involved letting bedbugs feed on volunteers and then extracting DNA from the insects. Because bedbugs tend to remain near their feeding sites, they can serve as silent witnesses, preserving crucial evidence that could assist law enforcement in solving crimes.

Bedbugs may help to solve crimes

This university lab in Penang has a message for criminals, don't let the bedbugs bite. Experiments conducted here over nearly five years have shown that the insects can retain DNA for up to 45 days after feasting on human prey. They love to lurk in headboard cracks, mattress seams and pillow covers, meaning they could be the key to pinpointing a suspect, even one who has apparently left no trace. Not bad for an insect known in Malaysia as the enemy in the bed. Researchers have been letting the bugs suck the blood of willing victims in the name of science. The resulting DNA sequences called short tandem repeat or STR markers give a wealth of data that should leave even the most careful criminal sweating. The bugs become engorged on the blood and barely move from where they fed, making them the perfect silent witnesses. The scientists hope the discovery might also rehabilitate the insects reputation as infuriating pests, though anyone who's shared a bed with them might be difficult to convince.

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