How Mosquitos Track You

Mosquitos are one of nature's deadliest disease carriers, killing more people than any other animal by spreading diseases like West Nile Virus, Malaria & Zika. But how do these tiny insects find you in the first place?
University of Washington Biology Professor Jeffery Riffell has spent his career studying the neuroecological basis of behavior, and he's here to discuss the "decisions" mosquitos make when it comes to how they track their prey.
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#Nature #Mosquitos #Biology
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[@SimulationNPC]

If anyone ever finds a way to make mosquitoes extinct, that person deserves a Nobel prize.

[@javiazar]

Someone already figured it out, and they got the Nobel prize for it.
Using CRISPR-Cas9 we’ll make mosquitoes go extinct on Earth by the end of the century.

[@kris301]

If you take them out though, wouldn't it be dooming untold amounts of other animals to starvation? Dragonflies, bats, nighthawks, ect. Minor inconvenience of getting bit here and there with the tiny tiny chance of contracting something isn't that bad. Human population is way too high anyways. Frig em!

[@dpMosaic]

​@@kris301No, bc all of what you named don't eat mosquitoes as a "regular meal" for lack of better words.. I imagine it would be similar to humans getting rid of something like cheese(string cheese specially). I guess, name a snack that's not necessarily bad for you and is popular enough for most people to have it in their kitchen most days. But get rid of whatever that snack may be (extinction) we'd all still be fine without it

[@jarrettthomas4865]

@@dpMosaicI highly disagree with you. And I’d like to say I’m not a dr. But I’m just thinking about it. I’d imagine it would be like if you took out plankton. That would have dire consequences on the whole aquatic world. Mosquitoes are so abundant that enough of them, important creatures can live off these, humans even might have to one day 😉

[@LayOreo1]

I hate mosquitos would be better if they didn't exist

[@millar5k399]

Agreed

[@Red-cr8sj]

Fun fact: if mosquitos went extinct absolutely nothing would change to the environment. They are legit more useless that wasps

[@juniorsaheehinternational7996]

@@Red-cr8sj yeah litteraly

[@frog382]

@@Red-cr8sj Wasps are very useful and contribute to the ecosystem

[@drakZes]

@@Red-cr8sj That is wrong. They provide a very big portion of biomass in the food chain, e.g. they are eaten by birds, frogs and other animals. Some of them also polinate flowers.

[@rasik1173]

They even know we turned off the lights and they bite us from our back side of body

[@Mcthindi]

That's horrific information..i wish won't have search for it!

[@juniorsaheehinternational7996]

same

[@SwampGas703]

mosquitos being tortured 😍

[@TheVeganeater]

Mosquito fly for fly fishing is my go to dry fly. Trout eat them up like crazy

[@badbrother_2023]

I've been killing mosquitoes and you tube recommended this for me

[@musicloverhoney]

Perhaps a biological agent that humans can harbor in their blood, but which mosquitoes are susceptible to?

[@toasthernandez5930]

Nah it’s simple. We make clothing have new tech to repel infrared so they rely on vision which could make their reactions slower to react to thus easier to crush. On top of that if we do a similar tactic with our cologne and perfume we also disrupt the smell. It’s not permanent. But it’ll buy us time. Just my opinion.

[@secondary2nd]

But we couldn’t even supply enough toilet paper, Lol.

[@dogboydom]

Bruh… we don’t need more cologne and Infared shirts… they can and have bioengineered an entire generation of sterile mosquitoes. Making the next generation half the size it was last time. If we keep doing it every year, cutting the population in half over and over, eventually they will be no more.

[@cacocorlino3666]

I hate mosquitoes so much I watch videos on then to try to learn about them. When I catch one I rip out its sucker and wings and throw it hoping it starves to death.

[@abigailgarcia8291]

Wow…yes! I approve.

[@godfingah]

Fast forward 2 years... augmented reality helmets for mosquitos

[@jaybee9253]

Those mosquitoes are wise

[@YoussefR54YT]

Mosquitos are really disturbing and yes they are useless but there is only one thing thats useful about a mosquito, they catch tiny insects lurking around in the night those insects can be dangerous so yeah but i still want mosquito extinct.

[@Elektra_Flare]

Mosquitoes are not useless at all. They are an essential piece of the puzzle in nature. Many animals eat mosquitoes and would have to change their diet or go extinct if they were completely eradicated. I encourage you to actually think about this more.

[@dogboydom]

I wonder how often they get bitten by mosquitos at work.

[@felipequinones3878]

There is here a lot

[@Hanma007]

Mfkin mosquitoes I hate them.

[@felipequinones3878]

Get to work

[@miyukinishikiori1300]

Sinner!

[@85ht27]

I just killed one after it bit me didn’t last 30 seconds after that 😈