Malaysian scientists discover how bed bugs could help catch criminals

This photo taken on October 8, 2025, shows researchers identifying the gender of bed bugs at a laboratory of the Science University of Malaysia (USM) in George Town, on Penang Island. [MOHD RASFAN / AFP]

Under glaring laboratory lights, a research assistant extends his forearm and carefully inverts a mesh-topped container onto his skin to allow a wriggling mass of bed bugs to feed on his blood, all in the name of science.

Long-loathed as itchy household pests, the blood-sucking insects have revealed a darker, more intriguing potential as Malaysian scientists have discovered they can be turned into unlikely crime-busting allies.