What if we killed all mosquitoes?
The deadliest animals are not lions, spiders or snakes, but the tiny mosquitoes that suck our blood, make us itchy and infect us with disease.
Ecology
May 12, 2026
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Page 2: Research news on disease vectors
Disease vectors are living organisms, typically arthropods such as mosquitoes, ticks, fleas, sandflies, and triatomine bugs, that biologically or mechanically transmit pathogenic agents between hosts, thereby enabling the spread of infectious diseases within populations and ecosystems. In vector-borne disease systems, pathogens often undergo essential developmental or replication stages within the vector (biological transmission), or are passively carried on contaminated body parts (mechanical transmission). Research on disease vectors encompasses their ecology, population dynamics, host-feeding behavior, vector competence, insecticide resistance, and interactions with environmental and climatic factors, informing surveillance, risk modeling, and integrated vector management strategies for disease control.
Dengue outpaces virus-blocking mosquitoes in Brazil
Brazilian scientist Luciano Moreira tenderly handles a glass box of swarming mosquitoes infected with a bacterium that blocks the transmission of dengue.
Ecology
May 12, 2026
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Why are some people mosquito magnets? Clues are emerging
Ever felt like mosquitoes bite you while ignoring everyone else? Scientists are now making progress in deciphering the complex chemical cocktail that makes particular people more enticing to these disease-spreading bloodsuckers.
Plants & Animals
May 12, 2026
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Meet the mosquito terminator—a spider that likes us and eats our enemies
As a child, the mere glimpse of a spider used to send me screaming and running for cover. I was convinced that spiders were my enemies. I thought they were out to get me.
Plants & Animals
May 11, 2026
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From pantry to pest control: Garlic kills the mood for mosquitoes as well
Garlic is not a substance that most people consider an aphrodisiac. It turns out that mosquitoes agree. In fact, a new Yale study finds that garlic also functions as a de facto birth control for mosquitoes and other winged ...
Molecular & Computational biology
May 7, 2026
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More than one in three Norwegian dogs shows signs of tick-borne disease
Ph.D. student Hanne Kloster at the University of Agder (UiA) is behind the first Norwegian study to look at three tick-borne diseases in dogs simultaneously, covering the whole country. The paper is published in the journal ...
Plants & Animals
May 7, 2026
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Scientists map genetic switches on mosquito reproductive genes, advancing tools to fight disease
Scientists at Keele University have created the first detailed map of the genetic "switches" that control reproduction in disease-carrying insects such as Anopheles gambiae, the mosquito species most responsible for malaria ...
Biotechnology
May 5, 2026
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Scientists uncover beetle transport system for newly identified 'towering' nematodes
In 2025, Konstanz scientists looked very closely at rotting fruit in local orchards, and observed what no one had before—worms, hundreds of them, twisting skyward into self-assembled living structures known as "towers." It ...
Plants & Animals
May 4, 2026
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Widespread genetic exchange in disease-causing parasites revealed
Mississippi State University biologist Matthew W. Brown is part of an international research team whose latest findings, published this spring in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, are reshaping scientific ...
Evolution
May 1, 2026
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Buried in soil, a 100-million-year-old bacterial toxin could reshape pest control and antibiotic discovery
In every backyard, park, and playground on Earth, the ground is teeming with a type of bacteria called Streptomyces—one of the most abundant organisms on the planet. While these dirt-dwelling microbes are known for producing ...
Cell & Microbiology
Apr 30, 2026
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