Prolonged rains increase the amount of stagnant water in the environment in which mosquitoes breed. This increases the risk of mosquito-borne diseases.
Mosquitoes are one of the deadliest creatures because they are carriers for many lethal viruses.
Shutterstock
There’s a big market for new treatments for TB, malaria and other ailments. But most of these diseases afflict low-income people unable to pay for medicine.
Australia’s dengue cases are usually limited to far north Queensland.
Shutterstock
Mosquito-borne dengue virus returned to central Queensland after being absent for decades. But while most Australian cases involve travellers, this one is locally acquired.
A female deer tick on a piece of straw.
Steve Ellingson/Shutterstock.com
Vast amounts of standing water in Houston and other hurricane-flooded areas are dangerous not only because of toxins. The water is a dangerous breeding ground for mosquitoes that transmit Zika.
Several sites in the US are releasing bacteria-infected mosquitoes as a way to fight mosquito-borne viruses that threaten people. What’s the science – and how well will it work?
Revellers at a carnival in Sao Paulo wear mosquito masks in a reference to the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which can spread dengue and Zika on February 4, 2016.
Paulo Whitaker/Reuters
Our immune system protects us but when it comes to some mosquito-borne disease, it can work against us. What are the implications for the development of a Zika virus vaccine?
New research shows common local mosquitoes aren’t able to spread Zika. This means Australia is unlikely to see a major outbreak of the disease. But a risk remains in northern Queensland.
Imagine if all these people were gathering valuable data for public benefit?
Scott Cresswell/Flickr
If we can solve the privacy issues, placing trackers on people and the things we make can teach us a great deal about ourselves and the world around us.
Sorting pupae of genetically modified mosquitoes before release to the wild.
Paulo Whitaker/Reuters
Insecticides and mosquito nets only get you so far. Synthetic biologists are ready to take the battle against mosquito-borne disease to the level of DNA – which might spell the insects’ ultimate doom.