New theory on DEET: mosquito just dislikes it

Earlier this year, researchers announced they had solved a mystery: how DEET works. DEET, the most popular mosquito repellent, jams odorant receptors in insect nervous systems, masking other odors that attract the bugs.

Not so fast, say Walter S. Leal and Zainulabeuddin Syed of the University of California, Davis. In a paper in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, they have a simpler explanation. Mosquitoes, they say, smell DEET directly and avoid it.

All I know is that DEET is tremendously useful here in Woods Hole.