Researchers at UC Irvine and the University of Kentucky are now developing materials that mimic the geometry of kidney bean leaves, on which microscopic hairs called trichomes stab the bugs' legs and trap them.
The study, published Wednesday in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface, was inspired by a centuries-old Eastern European remedy of scattering kidney bean leaves on the floor next to beds. The bug-encrusted leaves were then burned in the morning to exterminate the insects.