• Skip to main content
  • Skip to header right navigation
  • Skip to site footer
  • WordPress
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube
Science Update

Science Update

Sharing Science | Satisfying Curiosity | Debunking BS

  • Spotlights
  • Reality Check
  • Why Is It?
  • Radio Archives
  • Sciup @ School
Home » Radio Archive » Daily Show » Hungry Mosquitoes

Hungry Mosquitoes

May 13, 2009
https://podcast.scienceupdate.com/090513_sciup_hung.mp3

Podcast: Play in new window

BOB HIRSHON (host):
How mosquitoes find you….I’m Bob Hirshon and this is Science Update.

(SFX: buzzing of a mosquito) Mosquitoes seem very adept at finding people to bite. But listener Bruce Robertson from Kalamazoo, Michigan, asked how they locate us, since they’re small and don’t fly very quickly. We consulted entomologist Dennis LaPointe of the U.S. Geological Survey’s Pacific Island Ecosystem Research Center in Hawaii. He says mosquitoes follow the plumes of carbon dioxide, or CO2, that warm-blooded animals exhale.

DENNIS LAPOINTE (USGS):
And as they fly upwind into this plume, they’re getting closer and closer to the source of this CO2.

HIRSHON:
Then when they’ve almost reached their target, the backyard pests use other chemical cues, as well their ability to sense body heat and humidity, to home in on their prey. If you’ve got a science question, call us at 1-800-WHY-ISIT. If we use it, you’ll win a Science Update mug. I’m Bob Hirshon for AAAS, the science society.

Category: Daily ShowTag: Animal Behavior, Biology, Chemistry
Previous Post:Life Light
Next Post:Nickel & Oxygen

Sidebar

Radio Program Archives

Want to learn more about the brain? The environment? Here you can browse the topics that come up regularly on Science Update.

Search the Archives

Categories

  • Daily Show
  • Station Download
  • Weekly Show

Find By Tag

  • 2020
  • Acoustics & Sound
  • Aging
  • Animal Behavior
  • Anthropology
  • Archaeology
  • Astronomy & Space
  • Biology
  • Brain Science
  • Bugs
  • Chemistry
  • Children & Families
  • cicadas
  • Climate & Weather
  • Communications
  • Computer Science
  • Economics & Business
  • Education
  • Energy
  • Engineering & Technology
  • Environment & Conservation
  • Genetics & Evolution
  • Geology
  • Marine Science
  • Materials Science
  • Mathematics
  • Medicine & Health
  • Microbiology
  • Nanotechnology
  • Nutrition & Food Science
  • Paleontology & Dinosaurs
  • Physics
  • Plants & Agriculture
  • Political Science
  • Reality Check
  • Social & Behavioral Sciences
  • Sports & Fitness
  • spotlight
  • Spotlight Bugs
  • Terrorism & War
  • Why Is It? Questions
  • Wildlife
  • Year in Review

Find By Date

Science Update
  • About Science Update
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • YouTube

Recent Posts

Mayan Honeybee hives
House sparrow wearing top hat rides aboard a red fireworks rocket

Copyright © 2023 · Springtail Media LLC · All Rights Reserved · Powered by Pongos