USDA entomologist Dan Kline stands by a mosquito trap, center, in an environment set up to mimic a South Florida backyard. Image: Meredith Rutland Bauer
Dan Kline with a sheet of Aedes aegypti eggs, each the size of a period. Image: Meredith Rutland Bauer
Hundreds of mosquitoes swarm inside a holding container inside a USDA lab. The mosquitoes are fed meals of sugar cubes and blood. Image: Meredith Rutland Bauer
Kline has started to learn their game. He recently discovered that the mosquitos love smelly socks by conducting an experiment where he put 200 mosquitoes in a box and baited a trap with carbon dioxide and a smelly sock. "I got 199," he said, smiling. Researchers are now working on ways to make these habits fatal to the mosquitoes.Outside the USDA lab, Kline and I sloshed our way through wet grass toward a mosquito trap testing area. The story-high screened-in rectangle seems out of place by the red brick buildings. The Army tent inside is even more jarring. Next door, bug screens surround lines of hedges and a white-roofed pergola.Read more: How Canadian Scientists Plan to Fight Zika With Old Tires and Milk
An Army tent sits in a screened-off area outside a Gainesville, Florida where scientists test repellants, USDA lab. Image: Meredith Rutland Bauer
