This Season’s Bug Repellent: Your Outfit

You might want to assess your summer wardrobe—it could help prevent you from being eaten by mosquitoes. Skeeters seem to be drawn to certain colors, found a new study in Nature Communications. When University of Washington researchers placed mosquitoes in a test chamber with a colored dot at the bottom and sprayed carbon dioxide inside (when we exhale, this is what attracts the buggers), they flew toward dots that were red, orange, black, or cyan (a teal-like shade) and ignored ones that were green, blue, purple, or white. When CO₂ wasn’t sprayed, the mosquitoes ignored all colors. Scientists say these findings could help develop better deterrent methods. But for now, it can’t hurt to use this info for your own protection and deck yourself out in hues that may keep you from being bitten.