Next-gen insect repellents to combat mosquito-borne diseases

Nearly 700 million people suffer from mosquito-borne diseases—such as malaria, West Nile, Zika and dengue fever—each year, resulting in more than 1 million deaths. Increasingly, many species of mosquitoes have become ...

Researchers compare 'natural' mosquito repellents to DEET

Every summer while preparing for long weekends at our family cabin in the north woods of Minnesota, we'd face the same dilemmas. What food should we bring? Is SPF 50 sunscreen enough protection? And, most importantly, which ...

Mosquito-repelling chemicals identified in traditional sweetgrass

Native North Americans have long adorned themselves and their homes with fragrant sweetgrass (Hierochloe odorata), a native plant used in traditional medicine, to repel biting insects, and mosquitoes in particular. Now, researchers ...

Sniffing out new repellents: Why mozzies can't stand the DEET

The smell of mozzie repellent is as much a part of summer as barbecues and the cricket. Despite supermarket and pharmacy shelves overflowing with insect repellents, there are actually only a few active ingredients to be found ...

Fruit flies help scientists sniff out new insect repellents

By following the "nose" of fruit flies, Yale scientists are on the trail of new insect repellents that may reduce the spread of infectious disease and damage to agricultural crops. That's because they've learned for the first ...

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