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Want to make yourself less appealing to mosquitoes? Our quiz has surprising ideas

NPR | By Andee Tagle,

Published July 8, 2025 at 4:00 AM CDT

Do your ankles feel like a buffet these days? Test your knowledge of tactics to prevent bites.

When it comes to preventing mosquito bites, many people turn to the obvious solutions: bug sprays or just staying indoors. But there are other effective, science-backed ways to keep those pesky mosquitoes at bay, some of which may surprise you.

Sammy Ramsey, a professor of entomology at the University of Colorado, Boulder, and Brian Byrd, a professor of environmental health sciences at Western Carolina University, share some of these tactics, which Life Kit has turned into a quiz.

See whether you can guess the answers to these questions. They may save you from a few mosquito bites!

This story was edited by Meghan Keane and Hannah Chinn. The visual editor is Beck Harlan. We'd love to hear from you. Leave us a voicemail at 202-216-9823, or email us at LifeKit@npr.org.

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Corrected: July 15, 2025 at 1:00 PM CDT

An earlier version of the quiz incorrectly suggested that the only reason why mosquito repellent works is because it masks your body odor. In fact, it also produces a taste on your skin that mosquitoes don’t like.