https://youtu.be/87rC10_-8_8 Bed bugs have evolved right along with the travel industry. But it isn’t just beds that get infected with these nocturnal blood-sucking arthropods; they frequently show up in libraries and other public spaces, most recently airplanes. Even military bases are susceptible. Fort Knox evacuated 3,000 employees during a 2017 bed bug infestation. Clearly, the bed bug plague is marching on. Treatment of infestations is expensive, typically costing more than $2,000 for exterminators to spray pesticides throughout the home. Like so many pests, bed bugs continue building resistance to traditional solutions. Insecticides used by professionals can be toxic to humans, one of many reasons inventor Dan Short’s Arthroshield is being heralded as a revolution in the uphill fight against bed bugs and other arthropods, such as ticks. Short, who has spent his career designing fabrics, wasn’t looking for a bed bug solution when he discovered this technology. He was creating a sharp grid of fabric for peak athletic performance. He noticed that his design actually cut arthropods’ skeletons, including bed bugs and ticks, which causes them to lose body moisture and die from dehydration. News of Layer One’s commercial availability has also been welcomed by the travel and hospitality industries. Layer One, an all-natural compound, absorbs the waxes that cover the outer surface (exoskeleton) of the insect. The bugs become dehydrated without this coating. Short predicts that the Layer One technology could cut the national proliferation of bed bugs by 40–50%. According to Ricky Hicks, co-founder of the kentucky textile co., this development is significant given that a 2018 survey indicated that 97% of pest professionals had treated bed bugs in just the last year. The product—which is not harmful to humans or pets—could reduce hotels’ need to spend an average of $1,400 per roomon bed bug prevention, a cost that is passed on to the traveler. You can calculate what such a treatment would cost for your entire home! Layer One has recently developed a spray bottle solution designed for direct application on mattresses, armchairs, sofas, and other furniture. This new pesticide-free product is completely safe for people and their pets. Working with entomologist Dr. Sean O’Keefe, the Layer One team has designed a pesticide-free material that has already been tested by the EPA and that is approved for sale in all 50 states. The Arthroshield, which Hicks calls “bed bug razor wire,” offers even more prevention when placed on top of a mattress. The Kentucky-based Arthroshield co-founders are equally excited about another potential outcome of their product development: returning textile jobs to the Bluegrass State. “Arthroshield is the type of innovation that can revitalize the textile industry and bring textile jobs back,” says co-founder Kyle Bullock. Once a fabric manufacturing hub, Kentucky has lost 78,000 textile jobs according to Dan Short. Arthroshield will require precise sewing and other textile skills that could provide a boon to local Kentucky economies. Despite the common beliefs that bed bug infestations are the result of poor personal or domestic hygiene and that most people affected are in lower-income brackets, the opposite is true. Bed bugs continue to fester within elite hotels and even in business class seating on international flights. Since expensive chemical solutions have proven ineffective against the epidemic, it is time for travelers, the travel industry andthe military to adopt a new strategy and test Layer One products.