UC Santa Barbara finds mosquitoes use infrared to track humans
Turns out, mosquitoes are way more high-tech than we thought.
A new study from UC Santa Barbara found that these tiny bloodsuckers use infrared radiation (basically, your body heat) to track you down.
They combine this with the usual suspects like carbon dioxide and human odor, making them super efficient at finding people.
This matters because as disease-carrying mosquitoes like Aedes aegypti spread to new places, knowing how they hunt could help us fight back.
Findings could improve mosquito traps
Female mosquitoes need blood to develop eggs and use a combination of signals (CO2, smell, and heat) to zero in on humans.
The researchers discovered special structures in their antennae that sense infrared heat.
When they tested it out, skin-temperature warmth (about 34 Celsius) made mosquitoes twice as interested, but only if there was also CO2 and odor around.
These insights could lead to better traps and smarter ways to stop diseases like dengue and Zika from spreading in places like California and Florida.