Mosquitoes see red when they look at your skin, and that brings them in for a bite, according to new research showing that these insects find certain colors more attractive.
The findings mean that what you wear can reduce your chances of being bitten, but there's little you can do in terms of your skin. That's because everyone's skin gives off a strong red-orange signal that's highly attractive to mosquitoes.
"I used to say there are three major signals that attract mosquitoes: your breath, your sweat and the temperature of your skin," said senior study author Jeffrey Riffell, a professor of biology at the University of Washington in Seattle. "In this study, we found a fourth signal: the color red, which can be found not only on your clothes, but also in everyone's skin. The shade of your skin doesn't matter, we' re all giving off a strong red signal."
Researchers found that when a common species of mosquito called Aedes aegypti detects carbon dioxide（CO2）from our breath, it then looks for specific colors-including red, orange and black—to find its meal of blood. But it ignores colors such as green, purple, blue and white.
"Mosquitoes appear to use smell to help them distinguish what is nearby, like a host to bite," Riffell said. "When they detect specific compounds, like CO2 from our breath, that smell stimulates the eyes to scan for specific colors and other visual patterns, which are associated with a potential host, and then they head to them."
That process is similar to when a person smells something good. "Imagine you' re on a sidewalk and you smell pies," Riffell said. "That's probably a sign that there's a bakery nearby, and you might start looking around for it. Here, we started to learn what visual elements mosquitoes are looking for after smelling their own version of a bakery."
Knowing which colors do or don't tempt mosquitoes may lead to better repellents（驱虫剂）, traps and other methods to prevent mosquitoes.
