Mosquitoes get used to Deet and ignore it, so basically we're screwed

You know that annoying guy at the barbecue who keeps insisting the mosquitoes are biting, even though he's covered in Deet-laced bug repellent? He's probably right. London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine researchers say that although mosquitoes are deterred by the neurotoxin when they first encounter it, they soon get used to it. As a test, scientists covered a human arm in Deet. First the bugs rejected it, but three hours later, they bit happily. Researchers attached electrodes to the insects' antennae and found that after catching that first whiff, their olfactory systems changed and they became desensitized. "Mosquitoes are very good at evolving very, very quickly," a researcher explained. Bring on the bug zapper. [Source]

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