mosquitoes

Researchers Find Ways to Keep Mosquitoes Out of Home Rain Barrels

Researchers Find Ways to Keep Mosquitoes Out of Home Rain Barrels

For water conservationists concerned about keeping pests out of their rain collection barrels, researchers from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign have some helpful advice. A new study, published in Journal of Medical Entomology, looked into the presence of mosquitoes in rain barrels in the central Illinois region and determined the most effective ways to prevent […]

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    Alarm as Florida Set to Begin Release of Genetically Engineered Mosquitoes

    Alarm as Florida Set to Begin Release of Genetically Engineered Mosquitoes

    By Jake Johnson Environmentalists and Florida residents voiced concern and outrage Monday as state government officials and the biotechnology giant Oxitec announced plans to move ahead this week with a pilot project that involves releasing up to a billion genetically engineered mosquitoes in Monroe County over a two-year period. Presented by local authorities as an […]

    GMO Mosquitoes to Control the Spread of Disease Carries Unknown Risks

    GMO Mosquitoes to Control the Spread of Disease Carries Unknown Risks

    By Natalie Kofler, Françoise Baylis, Graham Dellaire, Landon J Getz Every year, around one million people die of mosquito-borne diseases according to the World Health Organization (WHO). This is why mosquitoes are considered one of the deadliest living creatures on the planet — not because they are lethal themselves, but because many of the viruses […]

    New Research Shows Malaria Can Spread In Cooler Climates

    New Research Shows Malaria Can Spread In Cooler Climates

    By Marlene Cimons For nearly a century, scientists thought that malaria could only spread in places where it is really hot. That’s because malaria is spread by a tiny parasite that infects mosquitoes, which then infect humans — and this parasite loves warm weather. In warmer climates, the parasite grows quickly inside the mosquito’s body. […]

    Climate Crisis Could Spread Dengue Fever Through Most of Southeast U.S.

    Climate Crisis Could Spread Dengue Fever Through Most of Southeast U.S.

    If greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise until 2080, dengue fever could spread through much of the southeastern U.S. by 2050. That’s one of the findings in a study published in Nature Microbiology Monday on the potential spread of the mosquito-borne disease, which currently kills around 10,000 people per year and sickens 100 million. The […]

    Giant Mosquitos Swarm North Carolina

    Giant Mosquitos Swarm North Carolina

    Flooding from Hurricane Florence has activated dormant “gallnipper” (Psorophora ciliata) eggs, among others, leading to the hatching of billions of unusually large mosquitoes. Gallnippers lay their eggs in moist, low-elevation areas, where heavy rains or flooding trigger eventual hatching. In less than a week, larvae grow to adult size, which is about three times that […]

    ‘Partying’ Spiders Blanket Greek Beach on 1,000-Foot Cobweb

    ‘Partying’ Spiders Blanket Greek Beach on 1,000-Foot Cobweb

    Arachnophobes beware. A shoreline by the Greek town of Aitoliko has been swamped by a mass of mating spiders and 1,000 feet of their cobwebs. Earlier this week, a local named Giannis Giannakopoulos uploaded a YouTube video and posted several pictures of the spectacle on his Facebook page, showing shrubs, palm fronds and other greenery […]