For hundreds of years, people have placed kidney bean leaves near their beds and pillows to stop bed bugs from biting them. However, they weren’t quite sure how or why this was effective. Now scientists have discovered that the leaves have tiny, little spikes that impale the bed bugs’ feet, trapping them in place. This knowledge may lead to a new method to control bed bugs if scientists can replicate the spikes in a synthetic material. Read more about this at:

– Building A Better Bed Bug Trap (Popular Science)
– Sticky-Fingered Plant May Hold the Secret to Snaring Bed Bugs (Wired)
– Entrapment of bed bugs by leaf trichomes inspires microfabrication of biomimetic surfaces (Journal of the Royal Society)