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Put away the DEET. A big Nature paper back in March attracted a further evaluation this week. David Triggle of SUNY at Buffalo, asks Have you ever wondered how that pesky mosquito finds you in the middle of the night? The answer lies in the ‘chemical space’ mapped out by insects, revealed by the characterization of odorant receptors in Drosophila and the malaria mosquito Anopheles¹.

The reason why you get bitten and your partner doesn’t could be down to differences in your sweat, and your skin microflora. The increased prospects for controlling malaria (and the less fatal but annoying itchy bites) are well worth investigating.