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SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2009
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NEWS ABOUT: mosquito

mosquito stories: 13 news summaries

 Stress Keeps Mosquitoes Away 

Scientists near bug spray derived from body chemicals

Sep 2, 09 8:46 AM CDT
(Newser) - Mosquito magnets, take note: British scientists have identified which bodily chemical odors make some people less attractive to mosquitoes, and they may be ones related to stress, the Wall Street Journal reports. It’s thought that the insects avoid anxious people in favor of healthier prey, a finding that could... More »

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science • stress • mosquito • chemical • DEET • insect repellent

(Newser) - Scientists fear that winged invaders could wipe out native species on the islands where Charles Darwin developed his theory of evolution, the Times of London reports. Mosquitoes have been hitching rides to the Galapagos on incoming aircraft, and now Galapagos species—including iguanas, tortoises, and Darwin's finches—are in serious... More »

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malaria • mosquito • Charles Darwin • Ecuador • ecosystem • Galapagos Islands

 'Star Wars' Scientists 
  Take Aim at Mosquitoes 

Anti-malaria Weapons of Mosquito Destruction can zap bugs 100ft away with lasers 

Mar 14, 09 4:06 AM CDT
(Newser) - Rocket scientists who worked on ways to beat Soviet missiles a generation ago are now using their lasers to zap mosquitoes, the Wall Street Journal reports. Researchers looking for ways to combat malaria have rejigged "Star Wars" technology to create a contraption that can pick off individual mosquitoes from... More »

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malaria • mosquito • parasite • disease control • laser

Gates Lets Mosquitoes Fly at Audience

Stunt underscores malaria threat shouldn't be for 'only poor people'

Feb 5, 09 8:49 AM CST
(Newser) - Bill Gates had the audience buzzing yesterday as he released a jar of mosquitoes at the TED2009 conference in California during a presentation on eradicating malaria, reports MSNBC. The bugs were not carrying the disease. "Not only poor people should experience this," Gates explained, according to a witness... More »

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Microsoft • Bill Gates • malaria • Facebook • mosquito • Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation • Twitter • TED2009

(Newser) - Birds and bees get all the attention, but mosquitoes have some love moves all their own, scientists say. It seems that when a boy mosquito meets a girl and things turn romantic, their wings beat at precisely the same speed to create a sort of harmonic mating song, the BBC... More »

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mosquito • insects • mating rituals

 Foreclosed Pools 
 a Mecca for 
 Skateboarders 

Pool builders hard hit by housing crisis

Dec 29, 08 8:12 AM CST
(Newser) - Skateboarders in California are making the most of the mortgage crisis: they’re turning the swimming pools at foreclosed homes into skate parks. Tracking local foreclosures, one Fresno skater arrives at empty homes with a pump and buckets, drains the pools, and hops on his board, the New York Times ... More »

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foreclosure • mosquito • housing crisis • swimming pool • skateboarding

Glossies

 Mosquitoes: a Cure for Malaria? 

Scientist takes risks to find cure

Dec 13, 08 4:02 AM CST
(Newser) - Mosquitoes land, swap a little of your blood for parasites that head straight to your liver, and so cause a million malaria-related deaths every year, writes Jason Fagone in Esquire. But what if you took those same mosquitoes and irradiated them? You get weakened parasites that make the perfect vaccine,... More »

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Africa • malaria • vaccine • mosquito • PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative • Dr. Stephen Hoffman

 Watershed Vaccine 
 May End Malaria Toll 

If trials work as expected, shots could save millions of children

Dec 9, 08 1:45 AM CST
(Newser) - Scientists have developed a promising vaccine against malaria, a devastating disease that kills a milion people a year, most of them young children. Trials of the breakthrough vaccine enter the final phase next year and it could be widely available by 2012, reports the Los Angeles Times. Successful trials have... More »

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Kenya • medical breakthrough • malaria • Ethiopia • GlaxoSmithKline • Tanzania • vaccine • mosquito • Zambia • World Health Organization • Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation • Rwanda • RTS,S • PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative

Cheap Malaria Drug Holds Promise for Millions

It's based on 2000-year-old herbal remedy

Jun 4, 08 3:15 AM CDT
(Newser) - The lives of millions of children  may be saved by a new technique for producing a malaria drug at a 10th of the cost of current treatments, making it accessible the world's most impoverished people, reports the Independent.  The technique involves inserting a dozen synthetic genes into yeast cells,... More »

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malaria • genetic modification • artemisinin • UC Berkeley • mosquito • World Health Organization • Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation • genetic engineering • Chinese medicine • synthetic biology • bioreactor • Artemesia annua • wormwood • Royal Society • Jay Keasling

 $10 Mosquito Nets Move Young Donors to Save Lives

Malaria solution is hands-on way to help

Jun 2, 08 9:11 AM CDT
(Newser) - Mosquito nets, at $10 a pop, are a low-cost, effective way to prevent malaria—and they've become a cause célèbre for young people across the country, who've raised millions in donation drives, the New York Times reports. “You can say $10 saves a life,” says one... More »

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Africa • malaria • public health • mosquito

 End Malaria Deaths by 2010: UN 

Providing Africa with nets, spray could save 1M lives a year

Apr 25, 08 12:43 PM CDT
(Newser) - The world must take action now to end malaria deaths—currently at 1 million per year—by 2010, UN chief Ban Ki Moon said today. "We have the resources and the know-how, but we have less than 1,000 days" to meet the goal, said Ban on the first... More »

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Africa • United Nations • disease • malaria • mosquito • Ban Ki-Moon

West Nile Turns Down Volume on Songbirds

Scientists hear trouble in quieter North American backyards

May 17, 07 1:44 PM CDT
(Newser) - The West Nile virus is responsible for a major decline in North American bird populations, and the sudden quiet speaks volumes to environmental scientists. Beyond a lack of birdsong, a new National Zoo study reports, the decimation signals far-reaching ecological problems that have emerged since the mosquito-borne virus appeared on... More »

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environment • health • disease • birds • West Nile virus • infection • mosquito • species • animal

(Newser) - Genetically modified mosquitoes that cannot pass on malaria may help reduce the spread of the disease that now causes a million deaths a year, mostly children. A new study shows that the lab-designed bugs could out-breed their natural competition, eventually driving them out altogether and eliminating the route through which... More »

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evolution • parasites • health • disease • malaria • tropical diseases • genetic modification • research • mosquito

13 Stories


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