Student Article
Always Bugged By Mosquitoes? Blame Your Body Odor
Infrared (adjective): A type of light that can’t be seen but can detect heat.
Microbe (noun): A tiny living thing that is so small you need a microscope to see it. Includes bacteria, viruses, fungi, and other microscopic organisms.
Why do mosquitoes seem to love biting some people but not others?
A giant mosquito experiment in Africa
To answer this, scientists built a giant outdoor mosquito arena in Zambia, about the size of an ice rink — that’s around 35,000 cubic feet! This experiment was one of the first real-world tests to see how Anopheles gambiae mosquitoes — the type that spreads malaria — find people from a distance.
Testing body odor with fake skin
Each night, researchers released 200 hungry mosquitoes into the arena. They used heated landing pads set to the same temperature as human skin — about 95°F. Six people slept in tents around the arena. Air from their tents, carrying their body odors, was pumped to the landing pads using air tubes.
Some smells attract mosquitoes more than others
Infrared cameras watched which pads the mosquitoes landed on. The results were surprising — one person’s body odor kept the mosquitoes away every night! Scientists discovered that everyone has a different mix of around 40 body chemicals that may come from diet, skin, microbes, and breath. Some of these mixes seem to be more attractive to mosquitoes.
How this research could help
These findings may help scientists create better traps by using smells mosquitoes love. That means fewer bites and fewer diseases like malaria.
© Noa Leach / Our Media
Infrared (adjective): A type of light that can’t be seen but can detect heat.
Microbe (noun): A tiny living thing that is so small you need a microscope to see it. Includes bacteria, viruses, fungi, and other microscopic organisms.