I feel sympathy for students who have to do the scut work in scientific studies on their way to becoming a scientist, like sorting through millions of insects or timing and measuring poop. Finally, one of these sacrificial lambs is getting the recognition they deserve. Chris Zuo was an undergraduate when he volunteered to help with a study on mosquitos (he now has a masters) at the University of Georgia. He wore a mesh suit, presumably the kind of mesh used for mosquito netting, and went into a room with 100 mosquitos. In four minutes he was covered with mosquito bites.
They found the mesh suit didn't work, but that wasn't even what the study was about. Instead, they were studying the flight patterns of mosquitos on their way to detecting a human target. Zuo didn't quit the study, however. He was game to try again, using other methods of protection so that the researchers could get high-speed video of the insects' flight patterns. Read what Zuo went through, and what the team discovered about how mosquitos detect a target at the Conversation.
(Image credit: David L. Hu, Georgia Tech)
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