I don't remember how to post GIFs on here 😅 Going to try to make this post all fancy, then I just stared at the screen completely blanking out. I used to post GIFs a lot on here, no memory of how I did it 🤭😅

Anyway, this was some pretty interesting shit about female mosquito brains!

Scientists discover how the mosquito brain integrates diverse sensory cues to locate a host to bite

”Their findings, published July 18 in the journal Current Biology, indicate that, when the mosquito’s olfactory system detects certain chemical cues, they trigger changes in the mosquito brain that initiate a behavioral response: The mosquito begins to use her visual system to scan her surroundings for specific types of shapes and fly toward them, presumably associating those shapes with potential hosts."

This study focused on the olfactory cue that triggers the hunt for a host: carbon dioxide, or CO2. For mosquitoes, smelling CO2 is a telltale sign that a potential meal is nearby.

“Our breath is just loaded with CO2,” said corresponding author Jeffrey Riffell, a UW professor of biology. “It’s a long-range attractant, which mosquitoes use to locate a potential host that could be more than 100 feet away.”

"Prior research by Riffell and his collaborators has shown that smelling CO2 can “prime” the mosquito’s visual system to hunt for a host. In this new research, they measure how CO2 triggers precise changes in mosquito flight behavior and visualize how the mosquito brain responds to combinations of olfactory and visual cues."

What a dream job, scientists made a little sci-fi arena to study the mosquitoes sensory abilities.... Like.... OMG!!

little tiny tools+

tiny arena+

parasitic bugs=

Micro-Thunderdome

Link to article/citations