City-Loving Mosquitoes Invade the US

New compound 'thousands time more effective than DEET'

(NEWSER) - Life may soon get a lot tougher for mosquitos and other bugs that like to dine on human blood. Researchers have discovered a compound that completely jams an insect's sense of smell, making it much harder for mosquitos to find their prey, Discover reports. Early tests suggest that the compound is thousands of times more effective than DEET, the active ingredient in most mosquito repellents, and appears to work on all insects, including flies and ants. More»

They have a smell...that comes from their feces

(NEWSER) - Bedbugs are back in a big way, with infestations closing at least two stores in New York City recently. AOL News lists five things you should know about these creepy crawlers:

1. They smell: If you can smell their sweet, musky scent, chances are you’ve already got an infestation on your hands. Even grosser: The scent comes from their feces.

Trained hounds in high demand as infestations rise

(NEWSER) - The resurgence of an old pest has created new jobs for dogs. Bedbug infestations have soared in American cities over the last four years, creating boom times for exterminators, especially those using canny canines trained to detect the tiny suckers. Handlers say the dogs can expertly sniff out infestations and work their way through buildings a lot faster than exterminators looking for visual traces of the bloodsuckers. More»

Tiny, frenetic munchers invade homes, snack on electrical wiring

(NEWSER) - Billions of "crazy ants" are munching their way through Gulf Coast counties in Florida and Texas, the Wall Street Journal reports. The tiny insects, believed to have originated in the Caribbean, happily make their homes in human dwellings and are tough to dislodge once they move in. The ants often chew through electrical wiring, shorting equipment, and experts fear they may soon be costing the region billions of dollars in damages, like the fire ants that plague the South. More»

Insects from different continents treat each other as family

(NEWSER) - In what may be a first for the animal kingdom, one giant family of ants has established itself in different parts of the world, the BBC reports. Researchers studying the species known as Argentine ants in Europe, the US, and Japan found that they had a strikingly similar chemical profile, suggesting a familial relation. They also wouldn't fight one another. More»