In mid-June, while standing deep within the northern boreal forest, it’s possible to feel a sensation similar to one felt in mid-December at the same spot. It’s a sting to exposed skin, delivered in December by bitter air and in June by the stab of the mosquito. The mosquito has buzzed its way into most […]
Without their keen sense of smell, mosquitoes wouldn’t get very far. They rely on this sense to find a host to bite and spots to lay eggs. And without that sense of smell, mosquitoes could not locate their dominant source of food: nectar from flowers. “Nectar is an important source of food for all […]
For female mosquitoes, finding their next meal is all about smelling and seeing. Through behavioral experiments and real-time recording of the female mosquito brain, a team of scientists, led by researchers at the University of Washington, has discovered how the mosquito brain integrates signals from two of its sensory systems — visual and olfactory […]
Female mosquitoes are known to rely on an array of sensory information to find people to bite, picking up on carbon dioxide, body odor, heat, moisture, and visual cues. Now researchers reporting in the journal Current Biology on March 28 have discovered how mosquitoes pick up on acidic volatiles found in human sweat. The key is […]