Sometimes, mosquitoes drink until they burst. The swelling and itch of a typical mosquito bite come from the insect's saliva. Mosquitoes love warm weather and bodies of water where they can breed. They also love human perspiration, breath, and body heat. Developed by USDA researchers in the 1950s and first used by the military in 1956, it is the active ingredient in 97 percent of mosquito repellents on the market today.
Folkloric remedies abound.
Some people believe that ingesting garlic and vitamin B1, which then exude from the pores, repels bugs. Such are the offerings from the network nation for the new fall season. And that's not even counting the shows. If people were half as interested in what's on ABC as they are in its embattled entertainment president, Jamie Tarses, the network might be in better shape. Speculation about whether Tarses, recently portrayed as an ineffective manager in a scathing New York Times Magazine cover story, would remain at the network overshadowed everything else on the tour.