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Scientists Accidentally Found a Weird New Way to Stop Mosquitoes From Mating

A Yale study found that garlic triggered a taste receptor that made some insects lose interest in mating and laying eggs.

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Since at least 2005, researchers have known that garlic works just okay as a mosquito repellent. Last year, The Washington Post quoted a mosquito expert who called garlic “extremely mild at best” as a deterrent. It’s not a new idea. Plenty of people have learned the hard way that garlic rolls can repel a potential mate on a first date, for instance. But that same idea might be getting applied to mosquitoes, as new research from Yale University, published in Cell, suggests that maybe we shouldn’t think of garlic as a way to repel mosquitoes from us, but as a way to repel mosquitoes from each other.

Researchers led by biologist John Carlson weren’t originally trying to create insect birth control when they........

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