Tag Archives: mosquitoes

So Make the Blood Hotter

In the latest issue of PNAS, researchers report that drinking body-temperature blood causes mosquitoes to undergo a classic heat-shock response: The mosquito’s body temperature increases dramatically when it takes a blood meal from a warm-blooded, vertebrate host. By using the … Continue reading

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Virologists Shouldn’t Bring Their Work Home

In a brilliantly titled Science Now story, Martin Enserink reports on a strange cluster of patients infected with an extremely odd virus: A U.S. vector biologist appears to have accidentally written virological history simply by having sex with his wife … Continue reading

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Oxitec: Biotech Geniuses, PR Morons

British biotech company Oxitec is at it again: Some 6000 transgenic mosquitoes developed to help fight dengue were released in Malaysia on 21 December, according to a statement issued by the country’s Institute for Medical Research (IMR) in Kuala Lumpur … Continue reading

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Genetically Modified Mosquitoes: Available Now, Apparently

Count me among those surprised by this: About a year ago, genetically modified (GM) mosquitoes were released into the wild—and they have been flying under the world’s radar screen until last week. On 11 November, British company Oxitec announced that … Continue reading

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You’re Grounded, Girl

In a new twist on the elegant sterile insect technique, researchers have now made a strain of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes where the females can’t fly. As the accompanying press release explains: UCI researchers and colleagues from Oxitec Ltd. and the … Continue reading

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Sterile Mosquitoes: The Next Big Antimalarial?

Catching up on some old news, I noticed that the November issue of the Malaria Journal has a supplement dedicated to the most elegant insecticide ever developed: the sterile insect technique (SIT). As the accompanying press release explains: SIT involves … Continue reading

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Foreclosed Swimming Pools Attract Bottom-Feeders

Awhile back, I commented on the finding that abandoned swimming pools at foreclosed houses are producing a boom in mosquito-borne infections. Now, it seems, some Floridians have found a way to deal with at least one aspect of the abandoned … Continue reading

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As If Foreclosure Weren’t Bad Enough

In the summer of 2007, the incidence of West Nile virus cases in Bakersfield, CA shot up 276%. Simultaneously, the rate of home foreclosures in the area went up 300%. The two numbers are very similar, but obviously that’s just … Continue reading

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