These Bacteria Might Make A Better Mosquito Repellent

In the search for new compounds to fight off mosquitos, researchers have struck pay dirt in an increasingly common location: Soil bacteria.

A pair of molecules produced by a species of insect-infecting bacteria appear to convince mosquitos not to feed on human blood, researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison report Wednesday in Science Advances. The find could eventually serve an alternative to chemical insect deterrents like DEET.

The researchers were looking at a genus of