Mosquitoes

There's one animal that ruins summer evenings: the mosquito. While mosquitoes don't carry any diseases in the UK, their itchy bites are far from fun.Everyone has a friend who gets covered in mosquito bites and a friend who doesn't get a single one. That's because mosquitoes use their sense of smell to find people to bite, and some people smell better to them. We can change how we smell using perfume, soaps, our diet, and so on, but which changes can stop us from being bitten by mosquitoes?1. Soap brandAs we all know,…

Quirks and Quarks16:33Scientists explore what makes you attractive — to mosquitoesIt's the million-dollar question that comes around every summer: What's the best way to keep bloodsucking mosquitoes away? The results from two new studies are getting us closer to that answer in ways that better reflect what happens in natural settings. It turns out that what distinguishes a mosquito magnet from a repellent is their personal scent signature — a mix of chemicals influenced by exercise, the cosmetic products we use and maybe…

Researchers created a giant sniffing arena for mosquitoes, all in hopes of understanding why they’re so drawn to us. Among other things, they found that human body odor was more alluring to the insects than the mere presence of carbon dioxide, a chemical that we exhale.Get Ready For Another Summer of Invasive Lanternflies | Extreme EarthPlenty of research has tried to figure out how female bloodsucking mosquitoes find and choose the humans they feed on. But according to study author Conor McMeniman, these studies often…

In the dead of night, 200 bloodthirsty creatures make their way through a tented mesh arena the size of an ice rink. Scientists study them from afar, pumping in air scented with the aroma of human prey. They’re hoping to reveal just what triggers these deadly predators. This isn’t the setup for an upcoming zombie movie. “It’s the world’s largest multichoice smell test for mosquitoes”—a giant experiment to figure out why the deadly insects prefer some people over…

Mosquitos and the humans they feed on seem to have something in common: a discerning palate for soap. In a new study this week, scientists have found that female, blood-sucking mosquitos are drawn to certain kinds of soaps commonly used by people while repelled by others, though sometimes in unexpected ways. The findings might eventually help us develop better mosquito repellants.Chukwudi Iwuji Talks Working on Guardians of the Galaxy 3 After PeacemakerNo animal is deadlier to humans than the mosquito, thanks to the many…

Some 500 years ago, a city-living, human-biting form of the yellow fever mosquito Aedes aegypti began to hitch rides out of West African ports during the Transatlantic Slave Trade. It spread to the Americas and then to Asia, causing centuries of disease outbreaks to ripple through the colonial world. Today, its globally invasive descendants act as the main disease vector for the yellow fever, Zika, chikungunya, and dengue viruses, collectively causing hundreds of…

Adult female Culex mosquito taking a blood meal. Credit: CDCFighting back against mosquitoes by deactivating their sperm.A recent study conducted at UC Riverside makes it likely that proteins responsible for activating mosquito sperm can be shut down, preventing them from swimming to or fertilizing eggs. This research could be a significant step in controlling the populations of Culex mosquitoes, the common household variety that spreads encephalitis and the West Nile Virus.“During mating, mosquitoes couple tail to tail,…

An Aedes aegypti mosquito.Image: Shutterstock (Shutterstock)Researchers in Japan say they’ve discovered “super” resistant mosquitoes in Asia. In a study published this week, they detail finding populations of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes—a common disease vector—in Vietnam and Cambodia carrying several mutations believed to confer strong protection against the most widely used insecticides. The discovery should merit urgent action to prevent these mutations from spreading globally, they argue.A. aegypti mosquitoes are one of…

In order to better understand how mosquitoes spread diseases such as malaria, it's important to know how far they range within a given region. A new technique could help scientists do so, and it involves feeding the insects DNA.First of all, aren't there simpler methods of seeing where a captured mosquito initially came from?Well, unlike the case with birds, it would be extremely tricky to catch mosquitoes, put tiny leg bands on them, then later recapture those same mosquitoes and read the leg bands. One existing…

The Aedes aegypti mosquito is not just a nuisance—it’s a known carrier of dengue, yellow fever, chikungunya, and Zika viruses. Distinguished by the black and white stripes on its legs, the species is one of the most dangerous to humans.In the Brazilian city of Indaiatuba, an effort is underway to eliminate these pests before they have a chance to spread illness. The weapon: more Aedes aegypti mosquitoes—but ones genetically engineered to kill their own kind. Made by British biotechnology firm Oxitec, the mosquitoes seem…