Mosquitoes are developing resistance to insecticides

Humans have used everything from screens to chemical repellants to protect themselves from mosquitoes and the diseases they carry. Now, however, scientists say mosquitoes are finding ways to adapt to insecticides and other recent changes in their environments.
A new study on mosquito adaptability has big ramifications for public health workers, and for anyone out on a warm night, trying to avoid both mosquito bites, and the itchiness and disease those bites might bring.
Hosssein Asgharian, a molecular biology Ph.D. candidate at USC, and lead author of a study on mosquito evolution began with a question. He wanted to know if mosquitoes were able to adapt to changes to the environment made by humans, including the use of pesticides.
Asgharian and a group of scientists focused their study on two different strands of mosquitoes found in two different parts of the world: Russia and California. The first strand, Culex pipiens, is known as an urban or suburban mosquito. It can be found near p