Latest Walter Leal Stories
Researchers in the Department of Entomology, University of California, Davis, have discovered that the fruit fly has a native odorant receptor that detects the silkworm moth's sex pheromone, and that it's "amazingly more sensitive" than the moth's odorant receptor. Their work could open research doors for insect-inspired biosensors.The odor detector or OR is a means of chemical communication that helps insects find mates. The olfactory link between silkworm moths (Bombyx mori) and...
UC Davis chemical ecologist Walter Leal identifies the chemical source of an annoying attractionWhen the time came for chemical ecologist Walter Leal to test whether humans make a natural odor that attracts mosquitoes, Leal himself was the first to volunteer."I measured my own levels," Leal said. "I thought I would set a good example. If you do it first, then others won't be scared."In truth, there was little, if any, reason to be frightened. The scientists were looking...
Chemical ecologists in the Walter Leal lab at the University of California, Davis, have identified the dominant odor naturally produced in humans and birds that attracts the blood-feeding Culex mosquitoes, which transmits West Nile virus and other life-threatening diseases. The groundbreaking research explains why mosquitoes shifted hosts from birds to humans and paves the way for key developments in mosquito and disease control.Entomology professor Walter Leal and postdoctoral researcher...
Scientists at the University of California, Davis, have identified the dominant odor naturally produced in humans and birds that attracts the blood-feeding Culex mosquitoes, which transmit West Nile virus and other life-threatening diseases.The groundbreaking research, published this week in the early online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, explains why mosquitoes shifted hosts from birds to humans and paves the way for key developments in mosquito and disease...
No more big stink: Scent lures mosquitoes, but humans can't smell itA University of California, Davis research team led by chemical ecologist Walter Leal has discovered a low-cost, easy-to-prepare attractant that lures blood-fed mosquitoes without making humans hold their noses.The synthetic mixture, containing compounds trimethylamine and nonanal in low doses, is just as enticing to Culex mosquitoes as the current attractants, Leal said, but this one is odorless to humans.The research,...
DEET's not sweet to mosquitoesSpray yourself with a DEET-based insect repellent and the mosquitoes will leave you alone. But why? They flee because of their intense dislike for the smell of the chemical repellent and not because DEET jams their sense of smell, report researchers at the University of California, Davis.Their groundbreaking findings were published Monday, Aug. 18, in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS)."We found that mosquitoes can smell DEET and they...
