Can DEET attract mosquitoes? A lab study offers clues
A recent study indicates that yellow fever mosquitoes can learn to associate the insect repellent DEET with food. This finding suggests that the repellent, typically viewed as a deterrent, may actually become attractive to these mosquitoes under certain conditions. The research raises questions about the effectiveness of DEET in real-world scenarios.
- ▪Yellow fever mosquitoes can learn to associate DEET with a meal.
- ▪The study was published in the Journal of Experimental Biology.
- ▪Researchers are unsure how DEET works, with some suggesting it scrambles mosquito senses.
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| Original publisher | Science News |
| Canonical URL | https://www.sciencenews.org/article/deet-repellent-attract-mosquitoe-spray |
| Publication time | Fri, 29 May 2026 07:11:47 +0000 |
| Retrieval time | 2026-05-29T07:19:58.503Z |
| Last seen | 2026-05-29T07:20:06.816Z |
| Headline source | Publisher (no WeSearch rewrite) |
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| Summary | WeSearch · cerebras-chat (WeSearch summarizer) |
| Summary source text | contentText |
| Citation coverage | Summary is a WeSearch-generated derivative; primary citation is the original publisher URL. |
| Cluster | YvxYXq9qCME8 |
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| Publisher visit | Yes — open original |
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| Retrieval / RAG | May the content be exposed for third-party retrieval-augmented generation? | Not asserted |
| Model training | May the content be used to train AI models? | Not asserted |
| Commercial reuse | May the content be reused commercially? | Not permitted |
Basis: Derived from the published RSS/Atom feed. Contact: [email protected]. Reviewed: 2026-07-24.
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News Life Can DEET attract mosquitoes? A lab study offers clues Exposing the insects as they feed can turn the repellent into an attractant Repellents can fend off yellow fever mosquitoes (Aedes aegypti, shown) on the hunt for blood, but a new study suggests that the insects can learn to associate the common repellent DEET with a meal. Puripat1981/iStock/Getty Images Plus By Erin Garcia de Jesús 16 hours ago Share this:Share Share via email (Opens in new window) Email Share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook Share on Reddit (Opens in new window) Reddit Share on X (Opens in new window) X Print (Opens in new window) Print Listen to this article This is a human-written story voiced by AI. Got feedback? Take our survey .
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Excerpt limited to ~120 words for fair-use compliance. The full article is at Science News.
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