Scent of a human: The mosquito olfactory system defies dogma to ensure attraction to humans

Mosquitoes are strongly attracted to humans, and their bites not only cause intense itch but can beget severe diseases. In this issue of Cell, Herre et al. reveal that non-canonical olfactory circuit organization and coding likely endow mosquitoes with a robust ability to locate human hosts.

Automated summary

In this article, the authors reveal that mosquitoes' strong attraction to humans may be attributed to non-canonical olfactory circuit organization and coding, which enables them to locate human hosts effectively.