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How Mosquitoes Changed Everything

In these days of insecticides and drained swamps, those of us who live in the rich, temperate world have become accustomed to the luxury of not thinking very much about mosquitoes and the risks they carry. But the insects are still killing more than eight hundred thousand people a year, primarily in Africa...

Globalization is helping to spread a new generation of mosquito-borne illnesses once confined to the tropics, such as dengue, perhaps a thousand years old, and chikungunya and Zika, both of which were first identified in humans only in 1952. Meanwhile, climate change is dramatically expanding the ranges in which mosquitoes and the diseases they carry can thrive. One recent study…

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Featured

 Mosquitopia Part 1: Killing Mosquitoes? The Pros and Cons

Global warming is ushering us into a new mosquito epoch. Ready or not, mosquitoes are coming faster than before; both indigenous and non, disease-carrying and not, human-biting and not. What are we to do with these buzzing creatures, and what has already been done with them? Are we able to control, or locally exterminate them, and with what side effects? Or is it more realistic to admit that Aedes, Anopheles, and Culex are really controlling us?

 This May Be the Deadliest Creature on Earth

Scientists aim to alter the genetics of mosquitoes to prevent them from being vehicles of deadly diseases.

 Unleashing a New Weapon on the Mosquito: A Mosquito

Aedes aegypti spreads arboviruses, including dengue and yellow fever, which can severely sicken or kill people. But these are special Aedes aegyptis: They carry a type of bacteria that can neutralize those deadly viruses.

 West Nile virus-carrying mosquitoes are getting harder to kill. Here’s how you can protect yourself

Scientists are reporting increasing insecticide resistance among American Culex mosquitoes that spread West Nile virus to humans.

Articles of Interest

A Pivotal Mosquito Experiment Could Not Have Gone Better

An extremely common microbe can stop the insects from spreading the virus that causes dengue fever.

Fighting the ‘Cockroach of Mosquitoes’

The Zika-carrying Aedes aegypti species bites by day and hides indoors by night, making it hard to eliminate.

Here's how you can identify dangerous, virus-spreading mosquitoes

We couldn't possibly catalogue the thousands of species of mosquitoes. But here are six you need to know about - including one, Aedes vexans , that is extremely common, but (exhale!) mostly harmless and another ( Anopheles ) that is actually a genus (including hundreds of species)...

How a Tiny Bacterium Called Wolbachia Could Defeat Dengue

Scientists are immunizing mosquitoes against disease with the help of a common microbe.

How pesticides can actually increase mosquito numbers

The blood suckers evolve resistance, but their predators don’t, according to a new study in Costa Rica.

How the Lowly Mosquito Helped America Win Independence

The blood-sucking insect has played a leading role in the rise and fall of empires throughout history.

Introducing the Debug Project

Mosquitoes kill more people than every other animal combined. The diseases they spread sicken hundreds of millions of people each year. Towards the end of 2014, some of us at Google started exploring what we could do to help solve the mosquito problem. Serendipitously, around that same time, Verily was founded (initially as Google Life Sciences) with the objective of solving hard problems in science and biology with the ultimate goal of preventing disease on a global scale. It was a perfect match.

Mosquito Myths

Several myths are debunked.

Mosquito: Know What The The Skeeter Syndrome Is All About

You can count on one hand the number of creatures that can evoke as much disdain as mosquitoes do. There are around 3,000 species of mosquitoes all throughout the world, and each one can spread more diseases than any other creature on the planet. Outdoors, they ruin picnics and barbeques just by their presence alone. Planning to hike in the woods? Carry with you everything you need to repel these mosquitoes or suffer ruin.

Mosquitoes might be humanity’s greatest foe. Should we get rid of them?

The deadliest killer in human history might not be guns or bombs, cancer or car accidents. It’s a pesky insect that most of us don’t think twice about: the mosquito.

New Weapon to Fight Zika: The Mosquito

The biotech bugs could become one of the newest weapons in the perennial battle between humans and mosquitoes, which kill hundreds of thousands of people a year by transmitting malaria, dengue fever and other devastating diseases and have been called the deadliest animal in the world.

Unseen Suburban Danger: Children Dying of Mosquito-Borne Diseases

I think of mosquito-borne infections in the United States – that is, primarily West Nile virus, and the much less well-known La Crosse virus and Eastern equine encephalitis virus – as a problem of adults. I had no clue they were so dangerous to children. (And if I didn't, most of you probably didn't either.)

Why Are Mosquitoes So Bloody Hard to Swat?

Mosquitoes fly at about two kilometers per hour (1.2 mph), which sounds slow, but at their size, it’s like you flying over 100 times that! They are going blindingly fast for something that small.

Why Don't We Just Kill All the Mosquitoes?

Answers to every possible mosquito question.

You Have No Idea How Good Mosquitoes Are at Smelling Us

The insects have infinite backup plans for hunting us down.

Resources

Chikungunya

The multisyllabic chikungunya is the new kid on the arbovirus block, a promising member of a squad of up-and-coming arthropod-transmitted viruses that are gaining ever more attention thanks to climate change and globalization - Rebecca Kreston

Dengue

There’s no risk of getting dengue from these lab-reared mosquitoes, but the bites itch just the same - Bill Gates

Malaria

Malaria kills and its main victims are children and women. We can stop this scourge so people can live with dignity and go to work and school - Youssou N'Dour

West Nile Virus

West Nile Virus is here to stay. It's not something to be afraid of, but something to be concerned with - Aaron Devencenzi

Yellow Fever

Nature had found the perfect place to hide the yellow fever virus. It seeded itself and grew in the blood, blooming yellow and running red - Molly Caldwell Crosby

Zika

Until very recently, almost no one had heard of the Zika virus. The few familiar with the mosquito-borne illness didn't think they had any reason to be concerned by it.

Debug

Bad mosquitoes spread disease. Good mosquitoes can stop them. Debug is a group of scientists and engineers developing technology to raise and release sterile mosquitoes to eliminate the ones that carry disease.

Mosquito Joe

The importance of mosquito control is often underestimated, but you should remember that these tiny insects are the deadliest animals in the world, carrying diseases that cause severe illness and death.

Mosquito World

Welcome to Mosquito world, a comprehensive mosquito control guide all about mosquitoes; what they are, how they feed, why they bite and most importantly, how to get rid of them.

World Mosquito Program

The World Mosquito Program uses safe and natural bacteria called Wolbachia to prevent the transmission of mosquito-borne viral diseases such as dengue, Zika, chikungunya and yellow fever.