by Some people are particularly attracted to mosquito bitesmay have something to do with their smell. According to a study published in the journal Cell, researchers at The Rockefeller University in New York designed an experiment to compare the effects of odors on mosquitoes in different populations. They asked 64 volunteers recruited at the university and nearby to put nylon stockings on their forearms and collect their scent. The nylon stockings are then placed inside different traps at the end of the long tube, releasing the mosquitoes. The researchers found that mosquitoes tended to go to the socks with the most attractive smells: the most attractive and the least attractive by a factor of 100. Researchers have conducted experiments with the same population over many years, with essentially the same results. Their further research found that the skin of people who were most attractive to mosquitoes had certain high levels of acid. The researchers also genetically modified the mosquitoes to disrupt their sense of smell, but mosquitoes still flock to the same population, and they have alternate ways to find their targets.
