Scientists have figured out how the mosquito brain uses signals from its visual and olfactory systems to identify, track, and home in on a host for its next blood meal. For a new study in Current Biology, researchers conducted behavioral experiments and real-time recording of the female mosquito brain and discovered that when the mosquito's olfactory system detects certain chemical cues, they trigger changes in its brain that initiate a behavioral response: The mosquito begins to use her visual system to scan her surroundings for specific types of shapes and fly toward them, presumably associating those shapes with potential hosts. Only female mosquitoes feed on blood, and the results give scientists a much-needed glimpse of the sensory-integration process that the mosquito brain uses to locate a host. They say the findings will help develop new methods for mosquito control and reduce the spread of mosquito-borne diseases. The study focused on the olfactory cue that trigg...