Mosquitoes surprise researcher with their 'weird' sense of smell
That's how neuroscientist Meg Younger describes her team's findings about how skeeters hone in on human aromas. And that could lead to better ways to keep us bite- and disease-free.
A new study published in Thursday's edition of Cell reports that a mosquito's sense of smell is more complicated than we once thought. And it may explain how this pesky insect is so good at seeking you out at a barbecue or in your bedroom, and digging its proboscis into your skin — as well as lead to new strategies to ward off the potentially deadly diseases transmitted by its bite.
, a neuroscientist at Boston University, is co-author of the study. When I visited her lab,
