Ever wonder why mosquitoes seem drawn to your body like magnets? Scientists now understand the method the insects use to find their human prey, and it involves three steps.Rico says that they're God's way of proving she had a bad sense of humor during Creation...
According to new research published in the journal Current Biology, mosquitoes are attracted by the scent of CO2, which is found in human breath. The insects can pick up on this trigger from a distance of ten to fifty meters. Moving in closer, mosquitoes pick up on visual cues to find their target, an idea the researchers tested with a black spot on the floor of a wind tunnel. They can use sight to find humans from five to fifteen meters. Finally, mosquitoes are attracted by the heat of the human body, which researchers confirmed with a heated glass panel that otherwise blended in with its surroundings. The insects can be drawn to heat from within a meter.
While scientists already knew that these three elements contributed to mosquitoes’ homing method, this is the first time they understand how all three parts work together.
17 July 2015
Damned bugs
Mosquitoes challenge Rico's commitment to ahimsa on a regular basis, and Sarah Begley has a Time article about how they do it:
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